Month: September 2018

Racial disparities in citations for marijuana offenses in Miami

City officials in 2015 created a new “citation” system for use in misdemeanor pot cases to keep more people out of prisons and jails. New data confirms that those citations are largely going to white residents while black residents are more often charged with criminal offenses that can result in prison sentences. It’s “a lot more complicated” than that, says a police spokesman.

News Article

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/pot-citations-are-given-to-whites-while-blacks-are-jailed-new-police-data-shows-10701707

ACLU webpage

https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/6440miamidadedisparities20180715spreads.pdf

Report

https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/6440miamidadedisparities20180715spreads.pdf

Dixon Exonerated, Released After Nearly 30 Years in Prison | WBEN 930am

By: Mike Baggerman & Dana CasulloBUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – After serving 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, Valentino Dixon is now a free man.
— Read on wben.radio.com/articles/dixon-exonerated-released-after-nearly-30-years-prison

I Wonder what were all the factors that came together to convict Mr. Dixon. Could the same thing happen today? What could have happened if this was a capital murder conviction?

News Article on the Hartford Civilian Police Review Board

For 12 years, dozens of people who filed complaints with a watchdog panel to report mistreatment by city police never had their cases investigated or even opened by the group, Hartford’s Civilian Police Review Board.

City lawyers, concerned that complaints of police misconduct substantiated by a third party could be used against Hartford in lawsuits, withheld from the board all cases in which the complainant was suing or considering suing the city from 2005 to 2017.

Read the news story here.

In Pennsylvania Blacks are sentenced to Life in Prison 18 times higher than whites

A new report on the state’s 5,300-strong lifer population from the Pittsburgh-based Abolitionist Law Project cites stark racial disparities: black Pennsylvanians are sentenced to life at a rate 18 times higher than white ones. It finds a disproportionate impact on young people: More than half of lifers were 25 or younger at commitment

news article:

 

Link to the report:

Seven States Ban Victim Aid to People with Criminal Records | The Marshall Project

Seven states won’t give victim aid to people with criminal histories. The policies fall hardest on black families.
— Read on www.themarshallproject.org/2018/09/13/the-victims-who-don-t-count

How does victim compensation fit with the concept of “social ledger”. Costs to victims calculated in as part of the punishment to defendants?

New CPRC Research: How a Botched Study Fooled the World About the U.S. Share of Mass Public Shootings: U.S. Rate is Lower than Global Average – Crime Prevention Research CenterCrime Prevention Research Center

New CPRC Research: How a Botched Study Fooled the World About the U.S. Share of Mass Public Shootings: U.S. Rate is Lower than Global Average – Crime Prevention Research CenterCrime Prevention Research Center
— Read on crimeresearch.org/2018/08/new-cprc-research-how-a-botched-study-fooled-the-world-about-the-u-s-share-of-mass-public-shootings-u-s-rate-is-lower-than-global-average/

If Lott’s study is accurate what is it’s impact? Lankford’s research has greatly impacted the response to school shootings, if Lankford work is inaccurate how will prevention and response to school shootings change??

Here is another new report about Lott’s school shooting study