Raising The Age: One Step Towards Fixing The Juvenile Criminal System

Javier Gonzalez, a 24-year-old from the South Bronx, looks down at the floor as he speaks. The traces of prison are tattooed on his body. “Dear God,” starts off the ink on his right arm, “I am a sinner and need forgiveness.” Gonzalez was arrested for the first time when he was 16 and was caught carrying a knife. A charge for weapons possession sent him to the Mohawk Correctional Facility, a medium security prison near upstate Utica, where the median age of inmates is 35. That initial charge altered the rest of his life. If Gonzalez had been arrested in Connecticut or New Jersey, he would not have to report his record to future employers. But because he was arrested at age 16 in New York State, Gonzalez was considered an adult and his record follows him wherever he goes. “If you’re old enough to commit the crime, you’re old enough to do the time,” he said. “That’s how they look at it.”

Approximately 46,000 minors come into contact with the New York courts each year. In 2009, 47,339 youths between the ages of 16 and 17 were arrested. More than half of those arrests were in New York City, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. New York and North Carolina are the only two states that set criminal responsibility at the age of 16. While the law is at the discretion of the court judge, minors arrested after their 16th birthday and sentenced to more than a year are often tried as adults and incarcerated in adult correctional facilities. New York also treats teens 13 to 15 years old as adults when they are accused of murder or other serious crimes. They are considered juvenile offenders, and are subject to mandatory imprisonment unless the ruling judge decides to make an exception.

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Effects of change in California criminal justice system difficult to discern

Critics of a year-old law shifting responsibility for thousands of convicted felons to the counties have seized on the brutal beating of a San Joaquin County woman – allegedly by a man released from jail just days before the attack – as evidence that the law is eroding public safety. But criminal justice experts say that understanding the law's effects will take more time and more information than a few headline-grabbing cases can provide.

Parolee Raoul Leyva allegedly beat Brandy Marie Arreola, then 20, into a coma in April. Shortly before the attack, Leyva had been sentenced to jail for 100 days for violating the conditions of his parole. He was released after two days because of overcrowding in the jail. Before the passage last year of the criminal justice reform law – AB109 – he would have been subject to prison time, rather than jail, for the parole violation.

Critics of prison realignment, as AB109 is commonly known, say crime rates are surging because fewer people such as Leyva are going to prison, and some may be getting out of jail early because of overcrowding. Leyva's last prison term was for motor vehicle theft, a nonviolent offense. Crimes classified as nonviolent are now met with jail or community supervision instead of prison. Violations of parole by nonviolent offenders also mean jail time rather than prison for the offender.

The law's enactment followed a court order to reduce the state's prison population. The prisons were at double their capacity at the time of the order. Since then, the prison population has dropped by more than 26,000 inmates.

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How Safe Are Trick-or-Treaters? An Analysis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween

States, municipalities, and parole departments have adopted policies banning known sex offenders from Halloween activities, based on the worry that there is unusual risk on these days. The existence of this risk has not been empirically established. "How Safe Are Trick-or-Treaters? An Analysis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween," by Mark Chaffin, Jill Levenson, Elizabeth Letourneau and Paul Stern, and published in the September 2009 issue of Sexual Abuse looks at this issue. Below is an overview of the article by the authors; you can read the full article here.

Violent Crime Jumps 18% in 2011, First Rise in Nearly 20 Years

Violent crimes unexpectedly jumped 18 percent last year, the first rise in nearly 20 years, and property crimes rose for first time in a decade. But academic experts said the new government data fall short of signaling a reversal of the long decline in crime.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported Wednesday that the increase in the number of violent crimes was the result of an upward swing in simple assaults, which rose 22 percent, from 4 million in 2010 to 5 million last year. The incidence of rape, sexual assault and robbery remained largely unchanged, as did serious violent crime involving weapons or injury.

Property crimes were up 11 percent in 2011, from 15.4 million in 2010 to 17 million, according to the bureau's annual national crime victimization survey. Household burglaries rose 14 percent, from 3.2 million to 3.6 million. The number of thefts jumped by 10 percent, from 11.6 million to 12.8 million.

The statistics bureau said the percentage increases last year were so large primarily because the 2011 crime totals were compared to historically low levels of crime in 2010. Violent crime has fallen by 65 percent since 1993, from 16.8 million to 5.8 million last year.

"2011 may be worse than 2010, but it was also the second-best in recent history," said Northeastern University criminology professor James Alan Fox.

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Report: Local Youth Programs Need More Funds, Oversight

Local juvenile probation departments are doing a better job and spending less money than state lockups when it comes to treating and rehabilitating troubled youths, according to a report released Wednesday by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. But the report’s authors say that counties need more money and more oversight from the state to ensure the progress continues.

“These county programs are doing a lot of really innovative things,” said Benet Magnuson, policy attorney at the criminal justice coalition. “They are doing it on shoestring budgets, and they are really finding ways to connect kids to community resources.”

In 2007, following reports of physical and sexual abuse at some of the state’s secure youth facilities, lawmakers began overhauling the juvenile justice system. In the years since, legislators have continued the reforms with the goal of keeping more youths in community programs close to their homes instead of sending them to far-flung state facilities. The population at state facilities has dropped precipitously, from about 5,000 in 2006 to fewer than 1,200 now. The state shuttered facilities, and now only six of the original 15 institutions remain open.

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Fighting crime in the computer age

Technology is changing at a dizzying pace, and law enforcement officers are having trouble keeping up. ew smartphones are being released constantly. Tablets like the iPad are replacing laptop computers. Almost everybody - including those who break the law - have access to a cellphone.

"We tend to play catch-up a lot of times because technology is changing so rapidly," said Jason Lee, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wyoming.

This new way of committing crime can pose a problem for law enforcement officers, who have to be knowledgeable about every new device. According to a 2011 report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center, that year marked the third in a row that it received more than 300,000 complaints. The center received 314,246 complaints, an increase of 3.4 percent from 2010.

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Novel courts handle low-level crimes across US .

In most courtrooms, spontaneous applause could get you thrown out. But in this San Francisco court, it's expected — and strongly encouraged for the defendants.

Bowls of hard candy rest in front of the judge's bench, as a reward for the men and women making their weekly court appearances and attending group therapy. Almost daily, the judge awards one standout a $5 grocery store gift card — while the gallery claps and cheers.

These scenes have played out thousands of times at the Community Justice Center, a novel, 4-year-old court system in the city's rough-edged Tenderloin district. It's one of about 40 community courts around the United States that tackle mostly low-level crimes in troubled neighborhoods using judges — not juries — to send defendants to drug treatment, shelter and social services, instead of handing down fines and time in overcrowded jails.

"We go to the root of the problems rather than just throwing them in jail," said the Community Justice Center's lone judge, Lillian Sing.

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Free Article from SAGE Open: A State of Emergency in Alabama: Prison Overcrowding

A State of Emergency in Alabama: Prison Overcrowding

From Larry Edward Spencer, Alabama State University, Montgomery, USA

Published on SAGE Open and available for free here: http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/2/3/2158244012460695.full

Larry Edward Spencer, Alabama State University, 915 S Jackson Street, Montgomery, AL 36101, USA Email: larrylezlie@aol.com

Abstract:

This study examines the Alabama Department of Corrections August 2009 Monthly Statistical Report and Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report, recent articles to explain the serious public safety issue of prison overcrowding within the state of Alabama, lack of funding and correctional staff, and increasing violence among inmates. It is imperative that the stakeholders take a restorative justice approach to offenders who commit nonviolent crimes or otherwise be prepared to release substantial numbers of violent inmates due to federal court intervention, expanding parole, and other types of early release programs. Violent offenders will pose a greater threat to the community. Correctional workers continue to be exposed daily to the risk of injury or death caused by severe prison overcrowding. The state could experience additional financial hardship to rebuild a destroyed correctional facility in an event of a riot. The excessive use of incarceration for nonviolent offenders is one of the most important issues facing the state of Alabama this decade.

Using death's clues to solve life's mysteries

Dr. Bill Bass opens the long, brown cardboard box, a slender rectangle that could hold long-stemmed roses. The forensic anthropologist reaches in to select a human skull. Three dozen people lean up in their chairs as the retired University of Tennessee anthropology professor cradles a dead man's head in his hands. Bass threads thin metal survey stakes — the type more often used to mark utility or property lines — through holes two bullets left in the skull. Neon orange flags at the stakes' tips protrude from the skull cavities.

A few people groan quietly; most appear enthralled. William M. Bass is in his element. He's holding bones and teaching.

It's a humid early evening in June at James White's Fort; Bass is speaking at the downtown landmark's $75-a-ticket "Forensics at the Fort" benefit. He talks for nearly an hour, holding up other skulls from his box to teach their stories. He answers questions until it's nearly dark, only ending when assistant Susan Seals gives him the "stop" signal from the back of the group.

The lecture is one of dozens that Bass, who retired from UT in 1995, gives in a year to groups that include churches, the Knoxville Bar Association and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. This night skulls substitute for one of the 15 or so sets of slides he often brings. Those images of decomposing corpses, shown at a breakfast lecture Bass gave at a forensic conference, once appalled crime writer Patricia Cornwell. To the 84-year-old Bass, maggot-covered bodies and bullet-pierced skulls are pieces to puzzles.

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Judges on Judging: Views from the Bench, Fourth Edition

New from SAGE and CQ Press. Don't forget IACFP members receive discounts on all SAGE books. See our member page for details. Judges on Judging: Views from the Bench, Fourth Edition Thoroughly revised and updated, the Fourth Edition offers insights into the judicial philosophies and political views of those on the bench. Broad in scope, this one-of-a-kind book features "off-the-bench" writings and speeches in which Supreme Court justices, as well as federal and state court judges, discuss the judicial process, constitutional and statutory interpretation, judicial federalism, and the role of the judiciary. Engaging introductory material provides students with necessary thematic and historical context, making this book the perfect supplement to present a nuanced view of the judiciary. Learn more. New to this Edition: Justice Joseph Story's classic, Commentaries on the Constitution Justice David Souter on constitutional interpretation and criticisms of "originalism" Justice Clarence Thomas on why he champions a jurisprudence based on "the original understanding" of the Constitution Judge Jeffrey Sutton on federal-state court relations and constitutional law More attention to rival theories of constitutional interpretation Completely revised and updated introductory essays Updated bibliography with listings of recent publications by justices and judges More Table of Contents Bundle it with...

Request Exam Copy Editor: David M. O'Brien, University of Virginia ISBN: 978-1-4522-2783-2 October 2012, 340 pages Stay connected with SAGE CQ Politics at Email alerts Safelist us