Tag: Criminal Justice System

Assessment Colorado Springs Police Department – Use of Force

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods that explore official police data, community and officer surveys and focus groups, and comparisons to peer agencies, we address the following research questions:

 What factors contribute to the use (and severity) of force by CSPD officers?

 How does CSPD use of force policy and training compare to similarly situated (i.e., peer) cities?

 Does the rate and severity of force align with racial/ethnic groups’ representation at risk for having

force used against them by police?

 What are possible explanations for any disparities found in police use and severity of force?

 What factors contribute to the likelihood of officer and citizen injuries?

 How do community members perceive use of force and police-community relations?

 How do CSPD officers perceive police use of force and police-community relations?

 What improvements should be made to CSPD’s use of force policies, training, and data collection

and analysis to meet current best practices?

coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/inline-images/cspd_use_of_force_final_transparency_matters_report_april_2022.pdf

Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department

This is an investigation into discrimination by the Minneapolis Human Rights Department.

Findings of Discrimination

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds there is probable cause that the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Specifically, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds that MPD engages in a pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing as evidenced by:

• Racial disparities in how MPD officers use force, stop, search, arrest, and cite people of color, particularly Black individuals, compared to white individuals in similar circumstances.

• MPD officers’ use of covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations, unrelated to criminal activity.

• MPD officers’ consistent use of racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language. The pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing is caused primarily by an

organizational culture where:

• MPD officers, supervisors, and field training officers receive deficient training, which emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers unnecessarily escalating encounters or using inappropriate levels of force.

• Accountability systems are insufficient and ineffective at holding officers accountable for misconduct.

• Former and current City and MPD leaders have not collectively acted with the urgency, coordination, and intentionality necessary to address racial disparities in policing to improve public safety and increase community trust.

Without fundamental organizational culture changes, reforming MPD’s policies, procedures, and trainings will be meaningless.

mn.gov/mdhr/assets/Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf

National Registry of Exonerations – Annual Report 2021

EXONERATIONS. The Registry recorded 161 exonerations in 2021.

YEARS LOST TO WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT. In 2021, exonerees lost an average of 11.5 years to

wrongful imprisonment for crimes they did not commit — 1,849 years in total for 161 exonerations.

OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT. Official misconduct occurred in at least 102 exonerations in 2021. Fifty-nine homicide cases — 77% of murder and manslaughter exonerations in 2021 — were marred by official misconduct.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL EXONERATORS. Professional exonerators — Innocence Organizations (IOs) and Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs) — continued to play essential roles. Jointly, they were responsible for 97 exonerations, 60% of the total. IOs and CIUs worked together on 31 of these exonerations in 2021. IOs took part in 67 exonerations, and CIUs helped secure 61 exonerations

www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/NRE Annual Report 2021.pdf

Vital City | Gun Violence is THE Crime Problem

This article discusses the impact of crime and fear of crime and not all fear of crime is equal. Gun violence disproportionately impacts peoples lives compared to property crime.

Gun violence, and the fear of gun violence, distort the lives of millions of
Americans.
— Read on www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/gun-violence-is-the-crime-problem

Desistance From Crime – Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice

A key step in advancing our knowledge in these areas is to examine how we think about and measure the process of individuals ceasing engagement in criminal activities, referred to as “desistance.” How we conceptualize this process can afect how we evaluate the efectiveness of laws and policies intended to provide or increase public safety. How practitioners view this process — and their role in supporting it — can infuence how they engage with clients across all stages of system involvement. Furthermore, programs and initiatives are ofen judged on their ability to reduce reofending and improve other outcomes. Having a clear understanding of what we consider desistance to be, incorporating policies and interventions that support desistance, and identifying best practices to evaluate these eforts is important work.

Recidivism — often defned as criminal acts or interactions with law enforcement that result in re-arrest, reconviction, or return to prison — has been the primary outcome for criminal justice research for decades, and it continues to be. The recidivism data available from federal, state, and local systems over time provide valuable information. For example, the data can help us gauge the performance of correctional programs and whether policies are successfully providing public safety to their communities. Practitioners can also use recidivism data to assess the risk of reofending for the populations they serve. Despite the value of this information, we must expand beyond recidivism in how we understand and examine individual behavior.

This volume takes important steps in describing how a desistance framework can move the feld forward across key decision points in the criminal justice system (e.g., at time of arrest, charging, pretrial release, case processing, disposition and sentencing, and reentry). Although research has focused on desistance for some time, the term and its accompanying knowledge base are far less known than recidivism. Recidivism is a discrete measure — that is, yes or no — and has a limit to the amount of information it can provide. Capturing where an individual is in the desistance process provides more nuanced information, better supports assessment of individual progress toward less criminal behavior, and facilitates a strengths-based perspective focused on building on individual assets to promote positive change. Incorporating desistance principles into the criminal justice feld has great potential to improve outcomes, elevate practices, better support those with system involvement, and more effectively use resources to provide safety to the community.

Get the report HERE:

www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/301497.pdf

Advancing Racial Equity: Shrinking Misdemeanor Prosecution in New York

Misdemeanors are under attack. Misdemeanors are what drives the criminal justice system at least at the local criminal court level. Misdemeanors are the crimes that directly and most often impact day to day life. This has led to a shift of the criminal justice system from being victim focused to offender focused. This has created drastic changes.

The link below has several reports on its webpage and there are also links to several additional articles.

Findings and policy recommendations from a comprehensive analysis of misdemeanor cases in NYC.
— Read on www.courtinnovation.org/publications/misdemeanor-race-NYC

Law Enforcement Statutory Database

This website is part of the National Conference of State Legislators.

This section has legislative changes for police reform. Not all legislation becomes law. This website might me the best place to search for legislative changes constituting police reform. There is a search section to search different State Laws.

Law Enforcement Statutory Database
— Read on www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/law-enforcement-statutory-database.aspx