Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Forensic skills will go forever warns MP - Main Section - Yorkshire Post
Forensic skills will go forever warns MP - Main Section - Yorkshire Post
"A specialist technique used to identify the bombs used in the 7/7 terror attacks will be lost to the UK when the Government closes down its main forensics service, a Yorkshire MP has warned.
Hull North MP Diana Johnson told the Commons that the controversial closure of the national Forensic Science Service (FSS) will mean key scientific expertise will be lost to the country for good.
The FSS is due to be shut down at the end of next month as part of the Coalition Government’s programme of public spending cuts, leading to hundreds of job losses – including the closure of a large laboratory in Wetherby,
The Government plans to farm all forensics work out to the private sector in the future.
But Ms Johnson warned that private firms may not be able to adequately fill the gap.
“I shall highlight one area in which I think we are going to lose a particular technique,” she told MPs.
“It is known as ‘DART-MS’. The technology allows chemicals to be analysed very quickly — indeed, it was used in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings — and substances to be identified within hours instead of days.
“The FSS was the only UK provider able to do that analysis, and no private provider has come forward to pick up the process.”
Ms Johnson also warned of a ‘brain drain’ from the UK’s forensics community as a result of the closure, with under a third of the 147 staff at Wetherby who were expected to transfer over to the private sector actually doing so."
"A specialist technique used to identify the bombs used in the 7/7 terror attacks will be lost to the UK when the Government closes down its main forensics service, a Yorkshire MP has warned.
Hull North MP Diana Johnson told the Commons that the controversial closure of the national Forensic Science Service (FSS) will mean key scientific expertise will be lost to the country for good.
The FSS is due to be shut down at the end of next month as part of the Coalition Government’s programme of public spending cuts, leading to hundreds of job losses – including the closure of a large laboratory in Wetherby,
The Government plans to farm all forensics work out to the private sector in the future.
But Ms Johnson warned that private firms may not be able to adequately fill the gap.
“I shall highlight one area in which I think we are going to lose a particular technique,” she told MPs.
“It is known as ‘DART-MS’. The technology allows chemicals to be analysed very quickly — indeed, it was used in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings — and substances to be identified within hours instead of days.
“The FSS was the only UK provider able to do that analysis, and no private provider has come forward to pick up the process.”
Ms Johnson also warned of a ‘brain drain’ from the UK’s forensics community as a result of the closure, with under a third of the 147 staff at Wetherby who were expected to transfer over to the private sector actually doing so."
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Keli Goff: Do You Live in a Rapist-Friendly State? (Yes, There Is Such a Thing.)
Keli Goff: Do You Live in a Rapist-Friendly State? (Yes, There Is Such a Thing.)
"Hitting the lottery once in a lifetime will never happen to most of us, but Brian Brockington just hit the criminal justice system jackpot, not once, not twice, but three times. DNA evidence has linked him to three sexual assaults, but lucky old Brian will soon be released from prison without ever serving a single day for any of the assaults in question.
So is Brian Brockington just one of the "luckiest" men alive? Perhaps. But he had some help. Continuing the lotto metaphor, you could say the powers that be screwed up and now all of us have to pay up, starting with the women DNA evidence links him to assaulting. Or in casino terms one might say the slot machines are severely broken and those in charge of the house haven't made repairing them a priority. As a result we'll likely see a lot more Brian Brockingtons winning the criminal lotto in coming years. Allow me to explain.
As reported in the New York Daily News:
Brockington, 35, was arrested on rape charges in 2007 and his cousin Rodney Howard, 36, was arrested two years later after their DNA matched evidence from a 1993 gun-point attack on a 29-year-old woman. But because of a police backlog, the DNA evidence from the crime wasn't processed for nearly a decade -- and prosecutors filed charges a day after the crime's 10-year statute of limitations expired, said Steven Reed, spokesman for the Bronx DA. The DA's office realized their error only after the cousins were arrested -- and prosecutors were forced to drop the rape charges.
Brockington was subsequently linked to two other sexual assaults.
The scary thing about the Brockington case (you know, besides the fact that an alleged serial rapist will likely soon be walking among us) is that the current system virtually insures that Brockington will not be the last alleged rapist set free by what some are calling a "technicality" but increasingly looks like willful legal negligence. Not simply on the part of police and prosecutors, but on the part of legislators.
In interviews with representatives from organizations dedicated to aiding survivors of sexual assault and improving the criminal justice system's prosecution of sex crimes, I learned that as the current system stands the release of the Brian Brockingtons of the world is virtually inevitable, caused by a nearly perfect storm of the following:
• Only five states in America have no statute of limitations for any felony, meaning any felony crime can be prosecuted at any point at which prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence, even if the alleged crime took place decades earlier.
• Only 27 states have explicit DNA exceptions on the books rendering statute of limitations non-enforceable or significantly widening the time frame for such limitations should DNA evidence link a suspect to a crime.
• The Justice Department estimates there are at least 100,000 rape kits from unsolved sex crime cases waiting to be tested at labs around America.
• The actual amount of evidence waiting testing nationwide is much higher than 100,000, because before DNA collection became the norm there was no universal standard for storage of such evidence. This means there is an untold amount of evidence stored in unknown places and unaccounted for, some of it misplaced and misfiled for decades.
You do the math. This means that in a plurality of states, regardless of whether or not DNA evidence successfully links a perpetrator to past crimes, there is very little our criminal justice system can do to insure that perpetrator will serve any time. The reason? Because of a woefully antiquated and inept system that at the very least has been slow to adapt to the 21st century, and at the very worst has consciously chosen to treat sex crimes as low on the list of legislative and prosecutorial priorities."
"Hitting the lottery once in a lifetime will never happen to most of us, but Brian Brockington just hit the criminal justice system jackpot, not once, not twice, but three times. DNA evidence has linked him to three sexual assaults, but lucky old Brian will soon be released from prison without ever serving a single day for any of the assaults in question.
So is Brian Brockington just one of the "luckiest" men alive? Perhaps. But he had some help. Continuing the lotto metaphor, you could say the powers that be screwed up and now all of us have to pay up, starting with the women DNA evidence links him to assaulting. Or in casino terms one might say the slot machines are severely broken and those in charge of the house haven't made repairing them a priority. As a result we'll likely see a lot more Brian Brockingtons winning the criminal lotto in coming years. Allow me to explain.
As reported in the New York Daily News:
Brockington, 35, was arrested on rape charges in 2007 and his cousin Rodney Howard, 36, was arrested two years later after their DNA matched evidence from a 1993 gun-point attack on a 29-year-old woman. But because of a police backlog, the DNA evidence from the crime wasn't processed for nearly a decade -- and prosecutors filed charges a day after the crime's 10-year statute of limitations expired, said Steven Reed, spokesman for the Bronx DA. The DA's office realized their error only after the cousins were arrested -- and prosecutors were forced to drop the rape charges.
Brockington was subsequently linked to two other sexual assaults.
The scary thing about the Brockington case (you know, besides the fact that an alleged serial rapist will likely soon be walking among us) is that the current system virtually insures that Brockington will not be the last alleged rapist set free by what some are calling a "technicality" but increasingly looks like willful legal negligence. Not simply on the part of police and prosecutors, but on the part of legislators.
In interviews with representatives from organizations dedicated to aiding survivors of sexual assault and improving the criminal justice system's prosecution of sex crimes, I learned that as the current system stands the release of the Brian Brockingtons of the world is virtually inevitable, caused by a nearly perfect storm of the following:
• Only five states in America have no statute of limitations for any felony, meaning any felony crime can be prosecuted at any point at which prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence, even if the alleged crime took place decades earlier.
• Only 27 states have explicit DNA exceptions on the books rendering statute of limitations non-enforceable or significantly widening the time frame for such limitations should DNA evidence link a suspect to a crime.
• The Justice Department estimates there are at least 100,000 rape kits from unsolved sex crime cases waiting to be tested at labs around America.
• The actual amount of evidence waiting testing nationwide is much higher than 100,000, because before DNA collection became the norm there was no universal standard for storage of such evidence. This means there is an untold amount of evidence stored in unknown places and unaccounted for, some of it misplaced and misfiled for decades.
You do the math. This means that in a plurality of states, regardless of whether or not DNA evidence successfully links a perpetrator to past crimes, there is very little our criminal justice system can do to insure that perpetrator will serve any time. The reason? Because of a woefully antiquated and inept system that at the very least has been slow to adapt to the 21st century, and at the very worst has consciously chosen to treat sex crimes as low on the list of legislative and prosecutorial priorities."
Monday, February 27, 2012
Statute of limitations could be eliminated for violent crimes - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports
Statute of limitations could be eliminated for violent crimes - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports
"Madison (WQOW) - One violent, unsolved crime may cause the statute of limitations on three different types of crimes to be eliminated. A State Assembly committee took the first step towards that end this week. The legislation approved by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Corrections stems from just one truly brutal crime committed more than a decade ago.
"In 1999, a young woman was dragged off the front porch of her mother's home... into a park across the street... brutally stabbed about the neck, face, arms about 25 times and left to die," says former Appleton Police Detective Randall Cook.
But, somehow, that young woman, who has only been identified as "Heather" survived.
"It took at least ten years to really feel like myself again and regain my spirit. It's not the same and never will be because I think about this everyday," Heather says.
Heather doesn't have closure, because her attacker has never been caught.
But despite the horrific nature of that incident, even if the man who did it held a press conference here at the capitol today and said he was guilty, he couldn't be arrested for a crime.
"I was pretty astounded to find out that the statute of limitations was only six years," says Rep. Jim Steineke (R-5th Assembly District).
Representative Jim Steineke of Kaukauna authored the Assembly bill to eliminate that statute of limitations on attempted homicide, first-degree sexual assault and attempted first degree sexual assault.
"The victims of these crimes have to live with the physical and emotional scars of the crimes for a lifetime, but yet, under current law, we're letting the perpetrators have some peace of mind after six years, it just doesn't make any sense," Rep. Steineke says."
"Madison (WQOW) - One violent, unsolved crime may cause the statute of limitations on three different types of crimes to be eliminated. A State Assembly committee took the first step towards that end this week. The legislation approved by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Corrections stems from just one truly brutal crime committed more than a decade ago.
"In 1999, a young woman was dragged off the front porch of her mother's home... into a park across the street... brutally stabbed about the neck, face, arms about 25 times and left to die," says former Appleton Police Detective Randall Cook.
But, somehow, that young woman, who has only been identified as "Heather" survived.
"It took at least ten years to really feel like myself again and regain my spirit. It's not the same and never will be because I think about this everyday," Heather says.
Heather doesn't have closure, because her attacker has never been caught.
But despite the horrific nature of that incident, even if the man who did it held a press conference here at the capitol today and said he was guilty, he couldn't be arrested for a crime.
"I was pretty astounded to find out that the statute of limitations was only six years," says Rep. Jim Steineke (R-5th Assembly District).
Representative Jim Steineke of Kaukauna authored the Assembly bill to eliminate that statute of limitations on attempted homicide, first-degree sexual assault and attempted first degree sexual assault.
"The victims of these crimes have to live with the physical and emotional scars of the crimes for a lifetime, but yet, under current law, we're letting the perpetrators have some peace of mind after six years, it just doesn't make any sense," Rep. Steineke says."
Friday, February 24, 2012
Is Paso Robles fabricating crime statistics?
Is Paso Robles fabricating crime statistics?
"Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon is proclaiming a dramatic drop in crime under her watch, but the numbers she provides to back up her claim don’t match those furnished by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI.
Local law enforcement agencies regularly report accumulated crime numbers to the DOJ which sends them on to the FBI.
Solomon claims credit for an 11.7 percent drop in the city’s crime rate since she became chief in 2007. However, according to FBI crime totals for Paso Robles from 2007 through 2010, the eight major crime categories have risen an average of 2.2 percent per year and violent crimes such as assaults, rapes, and murders have actually increased an average of 6.74 percent annually. (Data for 2011 is not yet available.)
City officials have provided data that appears to show the total numbers for major crimes in Paso Robles from 2002 to 2006 were higher than totals provided to CalCoastNews by the Justice Department and the FBI. Then, immediately after Solomon became chief, crime totals provided by the city were significantly lower than those the city reported to the DOJ and the FBI.
Crime statistics can vary slightly between what is reported by the DOJ and the FBI because of the difference in federal and state government classifications of crimes such as rape, according to officials from the FBI, the DOJ and local law enforcement. However, in these cases, the numbers reported by the DOJ and the FBI are primarily the same, and simply do not coincide with numbers the city provided as its FBI report numbers.
The crime statistic discrepancy comes amid swirling allegations that Solomon sexually assaulted several of her officers; the claim of a drop in crime has been offered by Solomon to local media outlets as evidence of her job performance.
Solomon responded to a CalCoastNews public records request by delivering a graph showing Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) from the FBI’s reported crime numbers for Paso Robles from 2002 through 2011. The graph appears to support Solomon’s claim that the city’s crime rate has dropped 11.7 percent since she became chief.
However, while many of the crime numbers align with the FBI’s reported numbers, large discrepancies in burglaries are common, with as many as 54 more burglaries a year reported before Solomon was appointed chief.
In comparing only the eight major crimes Solomon used to back her claim, FBI numbers show an average 2.2 percent increase per year in Paso Robles.
Solomon did not respond to questions asking why the crime numbers provided the media by her department do not match those provided by the DOJ and the FBI."
"Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon is proclaiming a dramatic drop in crime under her watch, but the numbers she provides to back up her claim don’t match those furnished by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI.
Local law enforcement agencies regularly report accumulated crime numbers to the DOJ which sends them on to the FBI.
Solomon claims credit for an 11.7 percent drop in the city’s crime rate since she became chief in 2007. However, according to FBI crime totals for Paso Robles from 2007 through 2010, the eight major crime categories have risen an average of 2.2 percent per year and violent crimes such as assaults, rapes, and murders have actually increased an average of 6.74 percent annually. (Data for 2011 is not yet available.)
City officials have provided data that appears to show the total numbers for major crimes in Paso Robles from 2002 to 2006 were higher than totals provided to CalCoastNews by the Justice Department and the FBI. Then, immediately after Solomon became chief, crime totals provided by the city were significantly lower than those the city reported to the DOJ and the FBI.
Crime statistics can vary slightly between what is reported by the DOJ and the FBI because of the difference in federal and state government classifications of crimes such as rape, according to officials from the FBI, the DOJ and local law enforcement. However, in these cases, the numbers reported by the DOJ and the FBI are primarily the same, and simply do not coincide with numbers the city provided as its FBI report numbers.
The crime statistic discrepancy comes amid swirling allegations that Solomon sexually assaulted several of her officers; the claim of a drop in crime has been offered by Solomon to local media outlets as evidence of her job performance.
Solomon responded to a CalCoastNews public records request by delivering a graph showing Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) from the FBI’s reported crime numbers for Paso Robles from 2002 through 2011. The graph appears to support Solomon’s claim that the city’s crime rate has dropped 11.7 percent since she became chief.
However, while many of the crime numbers align with the FBI’s reported numbers, large discrepancies in burglaries are common, with as many as 54 more burglaries a year reported before Solomon was appointed chief.
In comparing only the eight major crimes Solomon used to back her claim, FBI numbers show an average 2.2 percent increase per year in Paso Robles.
Solomon did not respond to questions asking why the crime numbers provided the media by her department do not match those provided by the DOJ and the FBI."
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Government of Canada Provides $1.8 Million for Victims of Crime in Saskatchewan
Government of Canada Provides $1.8 Million for Victims of Crime in Saskatchewan
"REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwire - Feb. 22, 2012) - The Government of Canada announced today $1.8 million in funding to support victims of crime in Saskatchewan. The announcement was made by the Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Don Morgan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Saskatchewan.
"Our Government is committed to providing victims of crime, especially young victims, with the services and support they require," said Minister Nicholson. "We will continue to ensure that resources and programs are in place to better respond to the needs of victims of crime in Saskatchewan and across Canada."
The funding aims to improve programs and services to residents of Saskatchewan, particularly children, who have been victims of crime. Specifically, the funding will:
make it easier and less stressful for children to provide full and candid testimony in criminal court proceedings. This includes doing so from outside the courtroom or through witness screens;
give families of missing persons, including the families of murdered and missing Aboriginal women, easier access to specialized support and services;
provide consistent, responsive, timely, and culturally sensitive support services to victims of crime and traumatic events in northern Saskatchewan; and,
ensure victims services workers have access to the training/learning resources they need and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues to share best practices.
"We thank the federal government for their ongoing commitment to victims of crime programs in Saskatchewan," said Minister Morgan. "The dedicated people who run these programs support victims from the time a crime is committed and throughout the court process. Too often, in the past, victims' needs have been left behind in the criminal justice system and these programs go a long way to correcting that."
The funding was made available through the Victims Fund, a grants and contributions program administered by the Department of Justice Canada. The Fund currently has $10.2 million a year available to give victims of crime a more effective voice in the criminal justice system.
More information about the Fund, and the Government's approach to victims of crime, can be found at the Department of Justice Canada's website."
"REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwire - Feb. 22, 2012) - The Government of Canada announced today $1.8 million in funding to support victims of crime in Saskatchewan. The announcement was made by the Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Don Morgan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Saskatchewan.
"Our Government is committed to providing victims of crime, especially young victims, with the services and support they require," said Minister Nicholson. "We will continue to ensure that resources and programs are in place to better respond to the needs of victims of crime in Saskatchewan and across Canada."
The funding aims to improve programs and services to residents of Saskatchewan, particularly children, who have been victims of crime. Specifically, the funding will:
make it easier and less stressful for children to provide full and candid testimony in criminal court proceedings. This includes doing so from outside the courtroom or through witness screens;
give families of missing persons, including the families of murdered and missing Aboriginal women, easier access to specialized support and services;
provide consistent, responsive, timely, and culturally sensitive support services to victims of crime and traumatic events in northern Saskatchewan; and,
ensure victims services workers have access to the training/learning resources they need and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues to share best practices.
"We thank the federal government for their ongoing commitment to victims of crime programs in Saskatchewan," said Minister Morgan. "The dedicated people who run these programs support victims from the time a crime is committed and throughout the court process. Too often, in the past, victims' needs have been left behind in the criminal justice system and these programs go a long way to correcting that."
The funding was made available through the Victims Fund, a grants and contributions program administered by the Department of Justice Canada. The Fund currently has $10.2 million a year available to give victims of crime a more effective voice in the criminal justice system.
More information about the Fund, and the Government's approach to victims of crime, can be found at the Department of Justice Canada's website."
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mandatory drug sentences 'colossal mistake', Canada told - Politics - CBC News
Mandatory drug sentences 'colossal mistake', Canada told - Politics - CBC News
"An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians.
Imposing long jail terms for minor drug offences has been a mistake in the U.S. and won't work in Canada," said Eric E. Sterling, who once served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
"When you start going down this road of building more prisons and sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince yourself that this is going to deter people you've made a colossal mistake," said Sterling, who is the president of the Maryland-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.
"We have learned the hard way that long sentences are not deterring people from selling drugs when the profits are so great."
Sterling is one of 28 current and former law-enforcement officials in the U.S. who have written to Canadian senators, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the premiers.
They take issue with Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which includes mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offences and is currently being studied in the Senate.
The letter, written by the organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is the latest salvo in the dispute over Bill C-10, as well as the debate over the legalization of marijuana."
"An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians.
Imposing long jail terms for minor drug offences has been a mistake in the U.S. and won't work in Canada," said Eric E. Sterling, who once served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
"When you start going down this road of building more prisons and sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince yourself that this is going to deter people you've made a colossal mistake," said Sterling, who is the president of the Maryland-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.
"We have learned the hard way that long sentences are not deterring people from selling drugs when the profits are so great."
Sterling is one of 28 current and former law-enforcement officials in the U.S. who have written to Canadian senators, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the premiers.
They take issue with Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which includes mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offences and is currently being studied in the Senate.
The letter, written by the organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is the latest salvo in the dispute over Bill C-10, as well as the debate over the legalization of marijuana."
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Plan to end juvenile justice division faces fight
Plan to end juvenile justice division faces fight
"A group of criminal justice leaders are preparing to fight a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to entirely phase out the state's Division of Juvenile Justice over the next three years and return the most violent and troubled youths to county facilities, despite support for the proposal by some experts.
Probation chiefs, district attorneys and others say they will spend the next several months trying to persuade the Democratic governor to remove the proposal, which Brown says will save the state more than $100 million a year, from his budget. Many county officials believe the plan will unduly place the burden of incarcerating serious juvenile offenders on counties and put existing, successful rehabilitation programs at risk.
The officials were relieved last month when Brown backed off an earlier plan to shutter the state facilities this year, unless counties ponied up $125,000 a year per offender. Instead, in his latest budget proposal, released in January, the governor offered to work with county officials over the next year to come up with a smooth transition plan.
2015 closure proposed
Under Brown's plan, the state would stop accepting youths in January and close the Division of Juvenile Justice by June 30, 2015. Counties would not be able to send new juvenile offenders to the state agency between 2013 and 2015, but the state would continue to house those youths already in state facilities.
Gil Duran, a spokesman for Brown, said the governor believes that juvenile offenders "can be better treated at the local level, where they can be closer to their families and communities." He pledged the administration would continue to "talk with local officials and listen to their concerns so that we can effectively and sensibly implement necessary changes."
This week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office bolstered Brown's assertion that the counties can deal with the last 1,100 youths that remain in the Division of Juvenile Justice and cost the state an average of $179,400 a year per offender.
The number of juvenile offenders overseen by the state agency has sharply declined since 1996, following lawsuits and a series of reforms that encouraged counties to keep more youths at home but also raised the cost of housing offenders at the state level."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/20/BA311N818B.DTL#ixzz1n2KHfVvL
"A group of criminal justice leaders are preparing to fight a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to entirely phase out the state's Division of Juvenile Justice over the next three years and return the most violent and troubled youths to county facilities, despite support for the proposal by some experts.
Probation chiefs, district attorneys and others say they will spend the next several months trying to persuade the Democratic governor to remove the proposal, which Brown says will save the state more than $100 million a year, from his budget. Many county officials believe the plan will unduly place the burden of incarcerating serious juvenile offenders on counties and put existing, successful rehabilitation programs at risk.
The officials were relieved last month when Brown backed off an earlier plan to shutter the state facilities this year, unless counties ponied up $125,000 a year per offender. Instead, in his latest budget proposal, released in January, the governor offered to work with county officials over the next year to come up with a smooth transition plan.
2015 closure proposed
Under Brown's plan, the state would stop accepting youths in January and close the Division of Juvenile Justice by June 30, 2015. Counties would not be able to send new juvenile offenders to the state agency between 2013 and 2015, but the state would continue to house those youths already in state facilities.
Gil Duran, a spokesman for Brown, said the governor believes that juvenile offenders "can be better treated at the local level, where they can be closer to their families and communities." He pledged the administration would continue to "talk with local officials and listen to their concerns so that we can effectively and sensibly implement necessary changes."
This week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office bolstered Brown's assertion that the counties can deal with the last 1,100 youths that remain in the Division of Juvenile Justice and cost the state an average of $179,400 a year per offender.
The number of juvenile offenders overseen by the state agency has sharply declined since 1996, following lawsuits and a series of reforms that encouraged counties to keep more youths at home but also raised the cost of housing offenders at the state level."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/20/BA311N818B.DTL#ixzz1n2KHfVvL
Friday, February 17, 2012
Reply to comment | California Progress Report
Reply to comment | California Progress Report
"As California and the nation continue to struggle with budget crises, creative and cost-effective approaches in the provision of services for high-needs youthful offender populations are becoming increasingly necessary.
Leaders in California, Georgia and New York have recently called for reform or “realignment” of their out-of-date state-run juvenile justice systems. While the urgency for reform in many states is a result of strained state budgets, it serves as an opportunity to engage juvenile justice stakeholders to restructure their juvenile justice systems in a more efficient and effective manner.
One population to pay particular attention to when planning for juvenile justice realignment is the disproportionate number of youth with mental health needs in juvenile facilities, known as the “crossover caseload.”
These highest-needs youth have historically been neglected during times of reform, when in fact they are the youth most in need of quality, individualized care. As a result of 1980s mental health system reform, juvenile justice systems, in effect, replaced public psychiatric hospitals in the care of mentally ill youth; despite the fact that the juvenile justice system lacks the resources to provide adequate services for this population.
Although rates of juvenile incarceration have been declining, a disproportionate number of youth in this crossover caseload are still being confined, between 50-70 percent nationally and 42 percent in California, according to conservative estimates.
Resource-strained counties in California have continued to institutionalize this crossover caseload because their probation departments do not have sufficient expertise or resources for creative alternative services, such as community supervision and therapy. However, access to treatment in state-run facilities is arguably worse.
Currently California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities has very limited bed space for youth in need of intensive mental health treatment. Roughly 13 percent of all DJF beds are designated for youth with mental health needs, while 75 percent of youths at intake have serious mental health diagnoses."
"As California and the nation continue to struggle with budget crises, creative and cost-effective approaches in the provision of services for high-needs youthful offender populations are becoming increasingly necessary.
Leaders in California, Georgia and New York have recently called for reform or “realignment” of their out-of-date state-run juvenile justice systems. While the urgency for reform in many states is a result of strained state budgets, it serves as an opportunity to engage juvenile justice stakeholders to restructure their juvenile justice systems in a more efficient and effective manner.
One population to pay particular attention to when planning for juvenile justice realignment is the disproportionate number of youth with mental health needs in juvenile facilities, known as the “crossover caseload.”
These highest-needs youth have historically been neglected during times of reform, when in fact they are the youth most in need of quality, individualized care. As a result of 1980s mental health system reform, juvenile justice systems, in effect, replaced public psychiatric hospitals in the care of mentally ill youth; despite the fact that the juvenile justice system lacks the resources to provide adequate services for this population.
Although rates of juvenile incarceration have been declining, a disproportionate number of youth in this crossover caseload are still being confined, between 50-70 percent nationally and 42 percent in California, according to conservative estimates.
Resource-strained counties in California have continued to institutionalize this crossover caseload because their probation departments do not have sufficient expertise or resources for creative alternative services, such as community supervision and therapy. However, access to treatment in state-run facilities is arguably worse.
Currently California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities has very limited bed space for youth in need of intensive mental health treatment. Roughly 13 percent of all DJF beds are designated for youth with mental health needs, while 75 percent of youths at intake have serious mental health diagnoses."
Reply to comment | California Progress Report
Reply to comment | California Progress Report
"As California and the nation continue to struggle with budget crises, creative and cost-effective approaches in the provision of services for high-needs youthful offender populations are becoming increasingly necessary.
Leaders in California, Georgia and New York have recently called for reform or “realignment” of their out-of-date state-run juvenile justice systems. While the urgency for reform in many states is a result of strained state budgets, it serves as an opportunity to engage juvenile justice stakeholders to restructure their juvenile justice systems in a more efficient and effective manner.
One population to pay particular attention to when planning for juvenile justice realignment is the disproportionate number of youth with mental health needs in juvenile facilities, known as the “crossover caseload.”
These highest-needs youth have historically been neglected during times of reform, when in fact they are the youth most in need of quality, individualized care. As a result of 1980s mental health system reform, juvenile justice systems, in effect, replaced public psychiatric hospitals in the care of mentally ill youth; despite the fact that the juvenile justice system lacks the resources to provide adequate services for this population.
Although rates of juvenile incarceration have been declining, a disproportionate number of youth in this crossover caseload are still being confined, between 50-70 percent nationally and 42 percent in California, according to conservative estimates.
Resource-strained counties in California have continued to institutionalize this crossover caseload because their probation departments do not have sufficient expertise or resources for creative alternative services, such as community supervision and therapy. However, access to treatment in state-run facilities is arguably worse.
Currently California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities has very limited bed space for youth in need of intensive mental health treatment. Roughly 13 percent of all DJF beds are designated for youth with mental health needs, while 75 percent of youths at intake have serious mental health diagnoses."
"As California and the nation continue to struggle with budget crises, creative and cost-effective approaches in the provision of services for high-needs youthful offender populations are becoming increasingly necessary.
Leaders in California, Georgia and New York have recently called for reform or “realignment” of their out-of-date state-run juvenile justice systems. While the urgency for reform in many states is a result of strained state budgets, it serves as an opportunity to engage juvenile justice stakeholders to restructure their juvenile justice systems in a more efficient and effective manner.
One population to pay particular attention to when planning for juvenile justice realignment is the disproportionate number of youth with mental health needs in juvenile facilities, known as the “crossover caseload.”
These highest-needs youth have historically been neglected during times of reform, when in fact they are the youth most in need of quality, individualized care. As a result of 1980s mental health system reform, juvenile justice systems, in effect, replaced public psychiatric hospitals in the care of mentally ill youth; despite the fact that the juvenile justice system lacks the resources to provide adequate services for this population.
Although rates of juvenile incarceration have been declining, a disproportionate number of youth in this crossover caseload are still being confined, between 50-70 percent nationally and 42 percent in California, according to conservative estimates.
Resource-strained counties in California have continued to institutionalize this crossover caseload because their probation departments do not have sufficient expertise or resources for creative alternative services, such as community supervision and therapy. However, access to treatment in state-run facilities is arguably worse.
Currently California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities has very limited bed space for youth in need of intensive mental health treatment. Roughly 13 percent of all DJF beds are designated for youth with mental health needs, while 75 percent of youths at intake have serious mental health diagnoses."
Thursday, February 16, 2012
REGION: Local ACLU creates criminal justice watchdog job
REGION: Local ACLU creates criminal justice watchdog job
"In the face of sweeping changes to the way the state houses prisoners, the American Civil Liberties Union has hired watchdogs to keep an eye on how those changes are implemented, a local ACLU leader said last week.
To that end, the San Diego and Imperial counties chapter of the ACLU recently hired North County native Margaret Dooley-Sammuli to review criminal justice and drug policies related to "realignment," which is what the state has dubbed the massive changes that went into effect last fall.
Under realignment, certain inmates serving time for felonies will stay in county jails instead of getting shipped off to state prison. The sentences for the inmates don't change; only their housing does.
Many people, including criminal justice scholars and the county's law enforcement leaders, have hailed realignment as a chance to not only overhaul rehabilitation of prisoners, but also to implement more effective practices to cut down on recidivism and give convicted criminals a chance to successfully reintegrate into society.
In a state where 70 percent of its parolees landed back behind bars within three years, better reintegration into society translates into improved public safety, said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the local ACLU chapter.
Keenan said the decision to create watchdog jobs like Dooley-Sammuli's "is about the best possible public safety outcome for all people."
"We have a chance to make things better in this moment, and we should all be focused on doing things sensibly," Keenan said.
Under realignment, the county has said it expects to see an extra 2,000 convicted criminals in local jails each year, inmates who would have otherwise gone to state prisons.
"At the local level, what I will be doing is watching the (local) implementation of realignment and working with public safety agencies to bring our concerns and recommendations," Dooley-Sammuli said. "We'd like to support a good implementation of realignment.
"Exactly how and what role the ACLU plays will sort of depend on what the county is doing to implement realignment," she said."
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/region-local-aclu-creates-criminal-justice-watchdog-job/article_b230f2a3-b2fb-5b5d-8494-bd1594024329.html#ixzz1mZLMC41N
"In the face of sweeping changes to the way the state houses prisoners, the American Civil Liberties Union has hired watchdogs to keep an eye on how those changes are implemented, a local ACLU leader said last week.
To that end, the San Diego and Imperial counties chapter of the ACLU recently hired North County native Margaret Dooley-Sammuli to review criminal justice and drug policies related to "realignment," which is what the state has dubbed the massive changes that went into effect last fall.
Under realignment, certain inmates serving time for felonies will stay in county jails instead of getting shipped off to state prison. The sentences for the inmates don't change; only their housing does.
Many people, including criminal justice scholars and the county's law enforcement leaders, have hailed realignment as a chance to not only overhaul rehabilitation of prisoners, but also to implement more effective practices to cut down on recidivism and give convicted criminals a chance to successfully reintegrate into society.
In a state where 70 percent of its parolees landed back behind bars within three years, better reintegration into society translates into improved public safety, said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the local ACLU chapter.
Keenan said the decision to create watchdog jobs like Dooley-Sammuli's "is about the best possible public safety outcome for all people."
"We have a chance to make things better in this moment, and we should all be focused on doing things sensibly," Keenan said.
Under realignment, the county has said it expects to see an extra 2,000 convicted criminals in local jails each year, inmates who would have otherwise gone to state prisons.
"At the local level, what I will be doing is watching the (local) implementation of realignment and working with public safety agencies to bring our concerns and recommendations," Dooley-Sammuli said. "We'd like to support a good implementation of realignment.
"Exactly how and what role the ACLU plays will sort of depend on what the county is doing to implement realignment," she said."
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/region-local-aclu-creates-criminal-justice-watchdog-job/article_b230f2a3-b2fb-5b5d-8494-bd1594024329.html#ixzz1mZLMC41N
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
'This is the model that forensic science should be'
'This is the model that forensic science should be'
"AFTER YEARS of working in the public and private sectors of forensic science, Arthur Young, a forensic-biology specialist, realized that neither system was working.
"We were sitting around saying no matter how you cut this pie, it's always bad," he said. "We thought maybe the solution was a different cut of the pie."
So, in 2010, Young and his partners founded Guardian Forensics, a small lab in Abington that operates as a nonprofit agency.
"We realized forensic science, which exists at the boundary of science and the law, that politics was being added into the equation, as if things weren't hard enough already," Young said.
Guardian Forensics serves defense attorneys, police agencies and private citizens. The work is done for less than at most private labs, Young said, and, sometimes, he even takes a loss.
Last year, residents in Chester were irate when a cop fatally shot Daniel Simms. The cops needed to prove that a gun found at the scene had been in Simms' hands. Young processed the DNA for free because he didn't want the residents to think that he might be biased.
"Simply because, if you were the family of Daniel Simms and the results come back that your relative had the gun, well, you're going to say this guy was paid to get the results they wanted," Young said."
"AFTER YEARS of working in the public and private sectors of forensic science, Arthur Young, a forensic-biology specialist, realized that neither system was working.
"We were sitting around saying no matter how you cut this pie, it's always bad," he said. "We thought maybe the solution was a different cut of the pie."
So, in 2010, Young and his partners founded Guardian Forensics, a small lab in Abington that operates as a nonprofit agency.
"We realized forensic science, which exists at the boundary of science and the law, that politics was being added into the equation, as if things weren't hard enough already," Young said.
Guardian Forensics serves defense attorneys, police agencies and private citizens. The work is done for less than at most private labs, Young said, and, sometimes, he even takes a loss.
Last year, residents in Chester were irate when a cop fatally shot Daniel Simms. The cops needed to prove that a gun found at the scene had been in Simms' hands. Young processed the DNA for free because he didn't want the residents to think that he might be biased.
"Simply because, if you were the family of Daniel Simms and the results come back that your relative had the gun, well, you're going to say this guy was paid to get the results they wanted," Young said."
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
FayObserver.com - Racial Justice Act hearing: Political scientist says juror ideology, not racism, can explain study's results
FayObserver.com - Racial Justice Act hearing: Political scientist says juror ideology, not racism, can explain study's results
"A political scientist testified at the Robinson Racial Justice Act hearing Monday that juror ideology, not racism, can explain the results of a statistical study that said local and North Carolina prosecutors have dismissed black jurors more frequently than whites from capital murder trials.
Polls repeatedly have found that black Americans are likely to be politically liberal, oppose the death penalty and mistrust the criminal justice system more than whites and other racial groups, said Christopher Cronin of the Methodist University political science department, in testimony for the prosecution.
There has been previous prosecution testimony that black jurors cited in the statistical study were peremptorily dismissed not because of their race, but because they expressed reservations about the death penalty, had criminal records or other factors that made them undesirable to the prosecution.
Lawyers for defendant Marcus Reymond Robinson contend that the stated reasons are nothing more than a pretense attempting to hide an underlying racism.
Robinson, who is black, is on death row for the 1991 murder of Erik Tornblom, who was white. Now Robinson is attempting to use the Racial Justice Act of 2009 to prove there was racism in the selection of his jury and in the criminal justice system in general in capital murder trials.
If he wins his claim, Robinson will have his sentence converted to life in prison without parole. His lawyers are using a statistical study, by researchers from Michigan State University, that said prosecutors since 1990 have been more than twice as likely to dismiss otherwise qualified black potential jurors than non-black jurors. They say it shows racism in the selection of his jury, which had nine whites, two blacks and one American Indian.
Cronin testified that there is an inherent risk in such studies that attempt to ferret out racism. "It's difficult to pin that down," he said. The study may ascribe the prosecutors' juror strikes to being race-based when they are based on other facts, he said.
"Race as a variable is one of the variables, and may simply indicate a minority population that has a cultural and political ideology that would make it less likely to be favored by the majority population, which is represented by the state," Cronin said. "And the state's interest is to represent that majority population and its intent for laws, punishment, etc."
Race "is sometimes simply a placeholder for a minority populations divergent political opinions," he said.
In cross-examination from Robinson lawyer James Ferguson II, Cronin said it is wrong to assume that every black person would have the same opinion on the death penalty or any other issue.
"I think you can make generalizations, but to make assumptions, that would be dangerous," Cronin said."
"A political scientist testified at the Robinson Racial Justice Act hearing Monday that juror ideology, not racism, can explain the results of a statistical study that said local and North Carolina prosecutors have dismissed black jurors more frequently than whites from capital murder trials.
Polls repeatedly have found that black Americans are likely to be politically liberal, oppose the death penalty and mistrust the criminal justice system more than whites and other racial groups, said Christopher Cronin of the Methodist University political science department, in testimony for the prosecution.
There has been previous prosecution testimony that black jurors cited in the statistical study were peremptorily dismissed not because of their race, but because they expressed reservations about the death penalty, had criminal records or other factors that made them undesirable to the prosecution.
Lawyers for defendant Marcus Reymond Robinson contend that the stated reasons are nothing more than a pretense attempting to hide an underlying racism.
Robinson, who is black, is on death row for the 1991 murder of Erik Tornblom, who was white. Now Robinson is attempting to use the Racial Justice Act of 2009 to prove there was racism in the selection of his jury and in the criminal justice system in general in capital murder trials.
If he wins his claim, Robinson will have his sentence converted to life in prison without parole. His lawyers are using a statistical study, by researchers from Michigan State University, that said prosecutors since 1990 have been more than twice as likely to dismiss otherwise qualified black potential jurors than non-black jurors. They say it shows racism in the selection of his jury, which had nine whites, two blacks and one American Indian.
Cronin testified that there is an inherent risk in such studies that attempt to ferret out racism. "It's difficult to pin that down," he said. The study may ascribe the prosecutors' juror strikes to being race-based when they are based on other facts, he said.
"Race as a variable is one of the variables, and may simply indicate a minority population that has a cultural and political ideology that would make it less likely to be favored by the majority population, which is represented by the state," Cronin said. "And the state's interest is to represent that majority population and its intent for laws, punishment, etc."
Race "is sometimes simply a placeholder for a minority populations divergent political opinions," he said.
In cross-examination from Robinson lawyer James Ferguson II, Cronin said it is wrong to assume that every black person would have the same opinion on the death penalty or any other issue.
"I think you can make generalizations, but to make assumptions, that would be dangerous," Cronin said."
Friday, February 10, 2012
Chicago Can Learn About Crime Reduction from New York - NYTimes.com
Chicago Can Learn About Crime Reduction from New York - NYTimes.com
"Chicago gnashed its teeth as the New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
It should do the same over crime.
More notable than the Giants’ unforeseen playoff run is a stunning decline in crime in New York that shatters many assumptions about law enforcement and could serve as a road map for Chicago.
It explains why Franklin E. Zimring, a criminal justice expert at the University of California, Berkeley, will headline an A-list symposium hosted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab on Friday. His new book, “The City That Became Safe,” (Oxford University Press, 2012), is mostly about New York, but it should be required reading for policy makers and nervous citizens here.
“We thought the only way to reduce crime was to lock people up,” Mr. Zimring said. “In New York, incarceration went down and crimes went down.”
For the past century, ups and downs in crime have fit a pattern nationwide. In the early 1990s there was a sharp rise amid a crack cocaine epidemic, and New York and Chicago had strikingly similar crime rates.
The fluctuations gave birth to a powerful conventional wisdom that law-enforcement strategies couldn’t have much impact, noted Roseanna Ander, executive director of the crime lab.
Poverty, inequality, racism, drug use and gang wars were cited as root causes that couldn’t really be overcome by even the most vigilant beat officers. If there was a consensus, it was simple and macho: arrest more people and lock ’em up.
But New York is lapping Chicago and nearly every big city by any index one inspects. The homicide rate alone in New York is about one-third of Chicago’s. And New York’s incarceration rates have fallen rapidly even as robbery, burglary, auto theft, larceny, rape and assault rates have declined faster than elsewhere.
Mr. Zimring, a former University of Chicago law school professor, has exhaustively analyzed New York’s dramatic drop over the past 20 years. He scrutinized factors like economic inequality, children in single-parent homes, accessibility to guns, immigration patterns, you name it. He dissected patterns like heavy immigration by Asians, who have low crime rates, and New York’s persistently higher youth unemployment and poverty rates.
Nothing really seems to account for New York’s differences other than increases in police resources and strategies focused on serious crime, and not, according to Mr. Zimring, the often mythologized “quality of life,” or so-called “broken windows” strategies that concentrate on, say, public prostitution or gambling.
Thus, limiting drug violence by shutting open-air drug markets proved to be a far bigger and smartly executed priority than chasing hookers.
All that is relevant to Chicago since Garry F. McCarthy, the new police superintendent, is a product of the New York Police Department. Mr. McCarthy, who will join Mr. Zimring at the symposium on Friday, most recently led the police force in another crime-plagued city, Newark, and introduced New York’s now-famous Compstat system there. For sure, to read “The City That Became Safe” is to wonder if duplication here might bring salvation, even if the author himself is uncertain about some elements.
Mr. McCarthy has made Compstat, a process of data mapping and analysis, a crucial part of Chicago’s crime-fighting campaign.
In Compstat sessions, local commanders must go into granular detail about recent crimes and face tough but fair-minded questioning from bosses."
"Chicago gnashed its teeth as the New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
It should do the same over crime.
More notable than the Giants’ unforeseen playoff run is a stunning decline in crime in New York that shatters many assumptions about law enforcement and could serve as a road map for Chicago.
It explains why Franklin E. Zimring, a criminal justice expert at the University of California, Berkeley, will headline an A-list symposium hosted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab on Friday. His new book, “The City That Became Safe,” (Oxford University Press, 2012), is mostly about New York, but it should be required reading for policy makers and nervous citizens here.
“We thought the only way to reduce crime was to lock people up,” Mr. Zimring said. “In New York, incarceration went down and crimes went down.”
For the past century, ups and downs in crime have fit a pattern nationwide. In the early 1990s there was a sharp rise amid a crack cocaine epidemic, and New York and Chicago had strikingly similar crime rates.
The fluctuations gave birth to a powerful conventional wisdom that law-enforcement strategies couldn’t have much impact, noted Roseanna Ander, executive director of the crime lab.
Poverty, inequality, racism, drug use and gang wars were cited as root causes that couldn’t really be overcome by even the most vigilant beat officers. If there was a consensus, it was simple and macho: arrest more people and lock ’em up.
But New York is lapping Chicago and nearly every big city by any index one inspects. The homicide rate alone in New York is about one-third of Chicago’s. And New York’s incarceration rates have fallen rapidly even as robbery, burglary, auto theft, larceny, rape and assault rates have declined faster than elsewhere.
Mr. Zimring, a former University of Chicago law school professor, has exhaustively analyzed New York’s dramatic drop over the past 20 years. He scrutinized factors like economic inequality, children in single-parent homes, accessibility to guns, immigration patterns, you name it. He dissected patterns like heavy immigration by Asians, who have low crime rates, and New York’s persistently higher youth unemployment and poverty rates.
Nothing really seems to account for New York’s differences other than increases in police resources and strategies focused on serious crime, and not, according to Mr. Zimring, the often mythologized “quality of life,” or so-called “broken windows” strategies that concentrate on, say, public prostitution or gambling.
Thus, limiting drug violence by shutting open-air drug markets proved to be a far bigger and smartly executed priority than chasing hookers.
All that is relevant to Chicago since Garry F. McCarthy, the new police superintendent, is a product of the New York Police Department. Mr. McCarthy, who will join Mr. Zimring at the symposium on Friday, most recently led the police force in another crime-plagued city, Newark, and introduced New York’s now-famous Compstat system there. For sure, to read “The City That Became Safe” is to wonder if duplication here might bring salvation, even if the author himself is uncertain about some elements.
Mr. McCarthy has made Compstat, a process of data mapping and analysis, a crucial part of Chicago’s crime-fighting campaign.
In Compstat sessions, local commanders must go into granular detail about recent crimes and face tough but fair-minded questioning from bosses."
Thursday, February 9, 2012
New pretrial program will screen defendants, offer 'risk score' to judges | NOLA.com
New pretrial program will screen defendants, offer 'risk score' to judges | NOLA.com
"The process for determining who remains behind bars and who goes free after an arrest in New Orleans has remained largely unchanged through the years. There are a small number of defendants who are able to quickly secure their release -- sometimes on their own recognizance -- after an attorney contacts a judge.
But most defendants booked with state crimes, both major and minor, end up appearing before a judge or magistrate commissioner who evaluate the defendant's charges, rap sheet and other factors before setting a cash bond amount.
Those who can afford the bond are released, while those who can't remain in jail.
But starting this month, a new pretrial services program could change that process for good.
For the first time, a screener hired by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice will offer judges an independent assessment of whether a defendant can be safely released back into the community pending trial.
The screener will meet with the defendant before the bond hearing, and will ask a series of questions about his or her employment status and living situation. That information, along with detailed information about the defendant's criminal history, will then be entered onto a form and scored to measure that person's risk to public safety. Screeners will also attempt to verify certain information by phone."
"The process for determining who remains behind bars and who goes free after an arrest in New Orleans has remained largely unchanged through the years. There are a small number of defendants who are able to quickly secure their release -- sometimes on their own recognizance -- after an attorney contacts a judge.
But most defendants booked with state crimes, both major and minor, end up appearing before a judge or magistrate commissioner who evaluate the defendant's charges, rap sheet and other factors before setting a cash bond amount.
Those who can afford the bond are released, while those who can't remain in jail.
But starting this month, a new pretrial services program could change that process for good.
For the first time, a screener hired by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice will offer judges an independent assessment of whether a defendant can be safely released back into the community pending trial.
The screener will meet with the defendant before the bond hearing, and will ask a series of questions about his or her employment status and living situation. That information, along with detailed information about the defendant's criminal history, will then be entered onto a form and scored to measure that person's risk to public safety. Screeners will also attempt to verify certain information by phone."
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW: Paul Butler | Washington Examiner
THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW: Paul Butler | Washington Examiner
"Butler is a law professor at George Washington University and former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He'll be giving a lecture on Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library downtown on the relationship between hip-hop and the criminal justice system, called "Let's Get Free: How Hip Hop Music Can Improve Our Justice System."
How do hip-hop and the criminal justice system relate?
Hip-hop contains an amazing description of how the criminal justice system doesn't work now and it contains first-rate recommendations for how we can all be safer and freer. So what I'm going to do in the presentation is use hip-hop video and music to show how if we listen to hip-hop we will have an improved justice system.
What has been the impact of hip-hop on American culture?
I think hip-hop has changed American pop culture. It's changed race relations. It's changed the music business and it's changed youth culture. So hip-hop is very influential. It's very interesting in part because it's mainly music created by young black men -- and young black men are the group most likely to be incarcerated and to drop out of high school. And financially they are among the worst off. So we have people who are on the one hand on the low end of well-being, but on the other hand they are creating this amazing product that is one of the most successful American cultural exports ever. Hip-hop is a phenomenon all over world."
"Butler is a law professor at George Washington University and former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He'll be giving a lecture on Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library downtown on the relationship between hip-hop and the criminal justice system, called "Let's Get Free: How Hip Hop Music Can Improve Our Justice System."
How do hip-hop and the criminal justice system relate?
Hip-hop contains an amazing description of how the criminal justice system doesn't work now and it contains first-rate recommendations for how we can all be safer and freer. So what I'm going to do in the presentation is use hip-hop video and music to show how if we listen to hip-hop we will have an improved justice system.
What has been the impact of hip-hop on American culture?
I think hip-hop has changed American pop culture. It's changed race relations. It's changed the music business and it's changed youth culture. So hip-hop is very influential. It's very interesting in part because it's mainly music created by young black men -- and young black men are the group most likely to be incarcerated and to drop out of high school. And financially they are among the worst off. So we have people who are on the one hand on the low end of well-being, but on the other hand they are creating this amazing product that is one of the most successful American cultural exports ever. Hip-hop is a phenomenon all over world."
Monday, February 6, 2012
Prison misconduct findings shed light on crowding problem
Prison misconduct findings shed light on crowding problem
"UT Dallas criminologist Dr. Robert Morris and doctoral student Erin Orrick won the 2012 William Simon/Anderson Publishing Outstanding Paper award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for their article that shows offenders who return to prison on technical parole violations are far less likely to engage in prison misconduct.
The findings of the paper entitled, “Do Parole Technical Violations Pose a Public Safety Threat? An Analysis of Prison Misconduct,” could help decrease prison populations without putting a strain on public safety at a time when state and federal prisons are overcrowded and the operating costs of correctional facilities have soared.
“The idea behind the study was in response to the need for reductions in the prison population,” said Morris, a professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. “We need to know which candidates for release pose a minimal threat to public safety.”
Other criminologists have recommended that one way to decrease prison populations is by not having some parole violators, also known as technical violators, return to prison. A technical violation is when an offender violates a condition of their parole. Examples of technical violations range from failure to report to a parole officer or missing a curfew.
Between 1980 and 2000, state prisons experienced a seven-fold increase in the number of people returning to prison based on a technical parole violations rather than a new criminal offense, according to the paper.
However, little research has been done about inmates’ behavior after their parole is revoked and they return to prison. Morris and Orrick carried out the first analysis of its kind to determine whether technical violators are a threat to public safety by examining their behavior while incarcerated.
“There is a pretty good argument to be made that people who are most well-behaved while incarcerated may be better candidates for abstaining from crime once they get out,” Morris said.
The two researchers examined more than 15,000 disciplinary records of male inmates incarcerated between May 1, 2004 and May 31, 2006 in a large Southern state. They looked at three different types of prison misconduct related to property, violence and drugs. And they compared these misconduct types between offenders returning to prison for a second time based on a new crime they committed and technical violations.
“What we found was for each category of misconduct, technical violators were far less likely to engage in misconduct compared to those returning to prison for a new offense,” Morris said.
Orrick, a doctoral student in criminology, said the research could aid policymakers who are looking for ways to decrease prison costs without having a huge impact on public safety."
"UT Dallas criminologist Dr. Robert Morris and doctoral student Erin Orrick won the 2012 William Simon/Anderson Publishing Outstanding Paper award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for their article that shows offenders who return to prison on technical parole violations are far less likely to engage in prison misconduct.
The findings of the paper entitled, “Do Parole Technical Violations Pose a Public Safety Threat? An Analysis of Prison Misconduct,” could help decrease prison populations without putting a strain on public safety at a time when state and federal prisons are overcrowded and the operating costs of correctional facilities have soared.
“The idea behind the study was in response to the need for reductions in the prison population,” said Morris, a professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. “We need to know which candidates for release pose a minimal threat to public safety.”
Other criminologists have recommended that one way to decrease prison populations is by not having some parole violators, also known as technical violators, return to prison. A technical violation is when an offender violates a condition of their parole. Examples of technical violations range from failure to report to a parole officer or missing a curfew.
Between 1980 and 2000, state prisons experienced a seven-fold increase in the number of people returning to prison based on a technical parole violations rather than a new criminal offense, according to the paper.
However, little research has been done about inmates’ behavior after their parole is revoked and they return to prison. Morris and Orrick carried out the first analysis of its kind to determine whether technical violators are a threat to public safety by examining their behavior while incarcerated.
“There is a pretty good argument to be made that people who are most well-behaved while incarcerated may be better candidates for abstaining from crime once they get out,” Morris said.
The two researchers examined more than 15,000 disciplinary records of male inmates incarcerated between May 1, 2004 and May 31, 2006 in a large Southern state. They looked at three different types of prison misconduct related to property, violence and drugs. And they compared these misconduct types between offenders returning to prison for a second time based on a new crime they committed and technical violations.
“What we found was for each category of misconduct, technical violators were far less likely to engage in misconduct compared to those returning to prison for a new offense,” Morris said.
Orrick, a doctoral student in criminology, said the research could aid policymakers who are looking for ways to decrease prison costs without having a huge impact on public safety."
Friday, February 3, 2012
Longer prison sentences do not cut crime, claims Justice Secretary Ken Clarke - mirror.co.uk
Longer prison sentences do not cut crime, claims Justice Secretary Ken Clarke - mirror.co.uk
"The veteran Tory Cabinet minister said that locking criminals up for longer risked fuelling crime as jails became overcrowded.
And Mr Clarke said that it was the media, not soft judges, who were undermining public confidence in the justice system.
The incendiary remarks came after Tory MP Nicola Blackwood told him that people wanted to see a more “effective deterrent”.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “I think that the lack of confidence within the public is not just due to a thirst for punishment beyond reason.
Advertisement >>
“There is also the fact that re-offending rates are high and the point about sentencing is you want to see that it is effective, and it is an effective deterrent against re-offending.”
Mr Clarke agreed that re-offending was the “biggest weakness of our system” but said that more attention was needed on the “reform of more offenders".
And he hinted at softer sentences, calling for a “more intelligent use of the prisons estate”.
Mr Clarke said: “Some people have held the belief, which is quite understandable, for years, that in order to cut re-offending you’ve got to deter people by sending more and more people to prison for longer and longer sentences.
“It is my personal opinion that the evidence completely refutes that - that does not work, particularly if it makes the prisons overcrowded, unresponsive places where they toughen up and meet some rougher friends and then are released to fend for themselves in the outside world.”
Senior Tory MP Edward Leigh pointed out that 37% of convicted burglar were spared jailed in 2009."
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2012/02/03/longer-prison-sentences-do-not-cut-crime-claims-justice-secretary-ken-clarke-115875-23733290/#ixzz1lKz6kjfg
"The veteran Tory Cabinet minister said that locking criminals up for longer risked fuelling crime as jails became overcrowded.
And Mr Clarke said that it was the media, not soft judges, who were undermining public confidence in the justice system.
The incendiary remarks came after Tory MP Nicola Blackwood told him that people wanted to see a more “effective deterrent”.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “I think that the lack of confidence within the public is not just due to a thirst for punishment beyond reason.
Advertisement >>
“There is also the fact that re-offending rates are high and the point about sentencing is you want to see that it is effective, and it is an effective deterrent against re-offending.”
Mr Clarke agreed that re-offending was the “biggest weakness of our system” but said that more attention was needed on the “reform of more offenders".
And he hinted at softer sentences, calling for a “more intelligent use of the prisons estate”.
Mr Clarke said: “Some people have held the belief, which is quite understandable, for years, that in order to cut re-offending you’ve got to deter people by sending more and more people to prison for longer and longer sentences.
“It is my personal opinion that the evidence completely refutes that - that does not work, particularly if it makes the prisons overcrowded, unresponsive places where they toughen up and meet some rougher friends and then are released to fend for themselves in the outside world.”
Senior Tory MP Edward Leigh pointed out that 37% of convicted burglar were spared jailed in 2009."
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2012/02/03/longer-prison-sentences-do-not-cut-crime-claims-justice-secretary-ken-clarke-115875-23733290/#ixzz1lKz6kjfg
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Ombudsman urges far-reaching bill to boost rights of crime victims
Ombudsman urges far-reaching bill to boost rights of crime victims
"OTTAWA — Canada's justice system is far too offender-centric and it's time to "shift the conversation" to ensure victims are treated more fairly, Canada's new ombudsman for victims of crime said in her first report to be released Thursday.
Noting victims have few legislated rights and entitlements compared to offenders, Sue O'Sullivan called for an "Omnibus Victims' Bill" to address the lack of access to offender information, meaningful participation at parole hearings and financial support for victims.
"Right now, the imbalance between the rights of offenders and the rights of victims are very stark in this country," she said in an interview the day before her report was to be made public.
"Despite all the good intentions, the conversations about victims have been focused for the most part on offender-related issues and we think it's time to tackle this head on."
While the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda, including Bill C-10, the so-called omnibus crime bill now under review in the Senate, contains some provisions for victims, O'Sullivan, who was named the ombudsman for victims of crime in Aug. 2010, said it's not enough.
"We need to go farther," said O'Sullivan, whose report contains some 20 recommendations aimed at rebalancing the justice system.
Victims, she said, should have access to a current photo of the offender in question at the time of their release from prison, as well as information about their incarceration and participation in any rehabilitation programs.
They should have an "automatic right" to attend parole hearings and should have the option to do so via video or teleconference. O'Sullivan argued victims also should be able to access recordings or transcripts of such proceedings.
Canada, she added, is far behind the United States when it comes to using technology to "enhance access to information for victims." The U.S. has developed a telephone and web portal that allows registered victims to access offender information after hours and O'Sullivan is urging the Canadian government to develop something similar.
She's also called for the federal victim surcharge convicts are required to pay, unless they could show proof of undue hardship, to be doubled and made mandatory. The fee is meant to support provincial and territorial victims' services but O'Sullivan said too many offenders are getting out of it."
Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Ombudsman+urges+reaching+bill+boost+rights+crime+victims/6090243/story.html#ixzz1lFdKTPMF
"OTTAWA — Canada's justice system is far too offender-centric and it's time to "shift the conversation" to ensure victims are treated more fairly, Canada's new ombudsman for victims of crime said in her first report to be released Thursday.
Noting victims have few legislated rights and entitlements compared to offenders, Sue O'Sullivan called for an "Omnibus Victims' Bill" to address the lack of access to offender information, meaningful participation at parole hearings and financial support for victims.
"Right now, the imbalance between the rights of offenders and the rights of victims are very stark in this country," she said in an interview the day before her report was to be made public.
"Despite all the good intentions, the conversations about victims have been focused for the most part on offender-related issues and we think it's time to tackle this head on."
While the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda, including Bill C-10, the so-called omnibus crime bill now under review in the Senate, contains some provisions for victims, O'Sullivan, who was named the ombudsman for victims of crime in Aug. 2010, said it's not enough.
"We need to go farther," said O'Sullivan, whose report contains some 20 recommendations aimed at rebalancing the justice system.
Victims, she said, should have access to a current photo of the offender in question at the time of their release from prison, as well as information about their incarceration and participation in any rehabilitation programs.
They should have an "automatic right" to attend parole hearings and should have the option to do so via video or teleconference. O'Sullivan argued victims also should be able to access recordings or transcripts of such proceedings.
Canada, she added, is far behind the United States when it comes to using technology to "enhance access to information for victims." The U.S. has developed a telephone and web portal that allows registered victims to access offender information after hours and O'Sullivan is urging the Canadian government to develop something similar.
She's also called for the federal victim surcharge convicts are required to pay, unless they could show proof of undue hardship, to be doubled and made mandatory. The fee is meant to support provincial and territorial victims' services but O'Sullivan said too many offenders are getting out of it."
Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Ombudsman+urges+reaching+bill+boost+rights+crime+victims/6090243/story.html#ixzz1lFdKTPMF
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Police Integrity Lost: A Study of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested
Police Integrity Lost: A Study of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested
"Newswise — BOWLING GREEN, O.—A Bowling Green State University criminal justice team is developing the first national profile of police integrity through an analysis of police crime committed by sworn law enforcement officers. A National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant in excess of $260,000 will fund the work of criminal justice faculty members Dr. Philip Stinson, principal investigator for the project, and co-investigators Drs. John Liederbach and Steven Lab. NIJ is a branch of the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.
The focus of the 24-month research project is to study the arrest records of on- and off-duty law enforcement officers across the nation. It builds on previous studies by Stinson and Liederbach published in Police Quarterly, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and International Journal of Police Science and Management.
According to Stinson, the research is important because “there are no comprehensive statistics available on problems with police integrity, and no government entity collects data on criminal arrests of police officers in the U.S.”
“The lack of statistics on police crime should be troubling to police executives, researchers, policymakers and the general public,” Stinson added.
While the overall purpose of the project is to promote police integrity by gaining a better understanding of police crime and agency responses to officer arrests, there are several distinct goals established for the study.
Stinson and his colleagues expect to determine the nature and extent of police crime in the U.S.
“Police agencies cannot formulate effective policies to confront these problems until they know what types of crimes police are most likely to commit and the factors that seem to influence their commission,” Stinson said.
A second goal is to find out how law enforcement agencies discipline officers who are arrested and the considerations that contribute to those decisions. The team will determine benchmarks for comparisons of how organizations handle various types of offenses committed by police officers, including which they tend to sanction or ignore.
The research team will also seek to discover to what extent police crime arrests correlate with other forms of police misconduct. This information may help guide the development of strategies to better identify problem officers and those at risk for engaging in police misconduct and devise early intervention processes."
"Newswise — BOWLING GREEN, O.—A Bowling Green State University criminal justice team is developing the first national profile of police integrity through an analysis of police crime committed by sworn law enforcement officers. A National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant in excess of $260,000 will fund the work of criminal justice faculty members Dr. Philip Stinson, principal investigator for the project, and co-investigators Drs. John Liederbach and Steven Lab. NIJ is a branch of the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.
The focus of the 24-month research project is to study the arrest records of on- and off-duty law enforcement officers across the nation. It builds on previous studies by Stinson and Liederbach published in Police Quarterly, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and International Journal of Police Science and Management.
According to Stinson, the research is important because “there are no comprehensive statistics available on problems with police integrity, and no government entity collects data on criminal arrests of police officers in the U.S.”
“The lack of statistics on police crime should be troubling to police executives, researchers, policymakers and the general public,” Stinson added.
While the overall purpose of the project is to promote police integrity by gaining a better understanding of police crime and agency responses to officer arrests, there are several distinct goals established for the study.
Stinson and his colleagues expect to determine the nature and extent of police crime in the U.S.
“Police agencies cannot formulate effective policies to confront these problems until they know what types of crimes police are most likely to commit and the factors that seem to influence their commission,” Stinson said.
A second goal is to find out how law enforcement agencies discipline officers who are arrested and the considerations that contribute to those decisions. The team will determine benchmarks for comparisons of how organizations handle various types of offenses committed by police officers, including which they tend to sanction or ignore.
The research team will also seek to discover to what extent police crime arrests correlate with other forms of police misconduct. This information may help guide the development of strategies to better identify problem officers and those at risk for engaging in police misconduct and devise early intervention processes."
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