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
Thursday, February 16, 2012
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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