Tag: Criminal Justice Reform

Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem LIVESTREAM Harvard • Brave New Films (BNF) – YouTube

This version of the video is in 2 basic parts. The first part of the video is the movie “Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem” which is about 40 minutes. The second part is a group of experts that discuss the problem with the present criminal justice system. The main cause of the problems are of course driven by misdemeanor arrest and the police. America would be Nirvana if there were no police and no arrests. The experts never have to live with the consequences of their suggestions. I will comment more on the expert’s commentary but for now make your own assessment of the movie and the experts. It is interesting that ALL the experts had the SAME POINT of VIEW. It would have been nice to give someone with an opposing point of view to add some depth to the discussion.

The movie is Very interesting about all the aspects of misdemeanor enforcement, arrest, trial, conviction, and incarceration.

Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem exposes how our country’s history of racial injustice evolved into an enormous abuse of criminal justice powe…
— See the video HERE

The website for “Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem” is HERE

Forensic Science

REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods

“Forensic science” has been defined as the application of scientific or technical practices to the recognition, collection, analysis, and interpretation of evidence for criminal and civil law or regulatory issues. Developments over the past two decades—including the exoneration of defendants who had been wrongfully convicted based in part on forensic-science evidence, a variety of studies of the scientific underpinnings of the forensic disciplines, reviews of expert testimony based on forensic findings, and scandals in state crime laboratories—have called increasing attention to the question of the validity and reliability of some important forms of forensic evidence and of testimony based upon them. Get a copy of the report HERE

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward

The Senate Report also sets forth the charge to the Forensic Science Committee, instructing it to:

  1. assess the present and future resource needs of the forensic science community, to include State and local crime labs, medical examin-ers, and coroners;
  2. make recommendations for maximizing the use of forensic tech-nologies and techniques to solve crimes, investigate deaths, and protect the public;
  3. identify potential scientific advances that may assist law enforce-ment in using forensic technologies and techniques to protect the public;
  4. make recommendations for programs that will increase the number of qualified forensic scientists and medical examiners available to work in public crime laboratories;
  5. disseminate best practices and guidelines concerning the collection and analysis of forensic evidence to help ensure quality and con-sistency in the use of forensic technologies and techniques to solve crimes, investigate deaths, and protect the public;
  6. examine the role of the forensic community in the homeland secu-rity mission;
  7. [examine] interoperability of Automated Fingerprint Information Systems [AFIS]; and
  8. examine additional issues pertaining to forensic science as deter-mined by the Committee.

Get the Senate report HERE

Learned Helplessness, Criminalization, and Victimization in Vulnerable Youth | By Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Evangeline Lopoo, and Anamika Dwivedi (December 2020) – Square One Project

Learned Helplessness, Criminalization, and Victimization in Vulnerable Youth | By Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Evangeline Lopoo, and Anamika Dwivedi (December 2020) – Square One Project
— Read on squareonejustice.org/paper/learned-helplessness-criminalization-and-victimization-in-vulnerable-youth-by-elizabeth-trejos-castillo-evangeline-lopoo-and-anamika-dwivedi-december-2020/

President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice

President Trump signed an executive order to establish the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice – the first commission on law enforcement in half a century.

Access the website HERE

U.S. Department of Justice President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice Final Report December 2020

President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice Final Report, December 2020

Memorandum from the Attorney General, “The Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice,” January 21, 2020

List of Commissioners

Working Groups

Hearings

Weekly Commission Updates

Draft Report, President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, November 2020

Implementation Guide for Prosecutorial Performance Indicators

Select HERE for a copy of the article

Changes in prosecution are essential to criminal justice reform, but prosecutors have rarely had the data they need to define success beyond conviction rates. To address this problem, criminologists from Florida International University and Loyola University Chicago partnered with prosecutor’s offices from Chicago, Milwaukee, Jacksonville, and Tampa to develop a menu of 55 prosecutorial performance indicators (PPIs) and redefine success for prosecutors. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for choosing and implementing specific PPIs.

Building Safe, Thriving Communities Research-Based Strategies for Public Safety

Decades of harsh, carceral law enforcement practices have perpetuated cycles of violence and harm without making us safer. The number of individuals behind bars—particularly for low-level offenses—is not a measure of public safety, and in fact has tremendous costs and consequences that detract from the goal of creating healthy, stable communities. Progress toward this goal requires transformational change in the way we approach law enforcement practices, specifically in the fields of policing, prosecution, and sentencing. We cannot continue to use incarceration as our default solution. All over the country, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and lawmakers are reducing their reliance on enforcement and incarceration, and are instead implementing practices and policies that focus on reinvestment, research-based strategies, and community engagement.

The article can be access HERE