Tag: Reform

Judges Are Locking Up Children for Noncriminal Offenses Like Repeatedly Disobeying Their Parents and Skipping School — ProPublica

Michigan’s juvenile justice system is archaic. Counties act with little oversight, and the state keeps such poor data it doesn’t know how many juveniles it has in custody or what happens to them once they’re in the system.
— Read on www.propublica.org/article/judges-are-locking-up-children-for-noncriminal-offenses-like-repeatedly-disobeying-their-parents-and-skipping-school

States Can Shorten Probation and Protect Public Safety

Overview

More than 3.5 million, or 1 in 72, adults were on probation in the United States at the end of 2018—the most recent year for which U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data is available—more than triple the number in 1980. Nationwide, on any given day, more people are on probation than in prisons and jails and on parole combined. At its best, probation—court-ordered correctional supervision in the community—gives people the opportunity to remain with their families, maintain employment, and access services that can reduce their likelihood of re-offending while serving their sentences. But, as previous research by The Pew Charitable Trusts has shown, the growth and size of this population have overloaded local and state agencies and stretched their resources thin, weakening their ability to provide the best return on taxpayers’ public safety investments, support rehabilitation, and ensure a measure of accountability. One key factor driving the size of the probation population is how long individuals remain on supervision.

You can get the report HERE

Incoming Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón Promises Criminal Justice Reform – KQED

Nearly 20 years ago George Gascon was the deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. This month he was elected as the city’s new district attorney overcoming fierce opposition from law enforcement groups. Gascon, the former district attorney and police chief of San Francisco, campaigned on a platform of criminal justice reform, including a promise to stop prosecuting children as adults, not seeking the death penalty and possibly reopening investigations into fatal shootings by police officers. We’ll talk to Gascon about his ideas for reform and his close election, defeating LA’s first Black district attorney partly by galvanizing the support of Black Lives Matter activists.
— Read on www.kqed.org/forum/2010101880966/incoming-los-angeles-district-attorney-george-gascon-promises-criminal-justice-reform

Attorney General William Barr condemned by 39 prosecutors for ‘dangerous and failed’ approach to criminal justice – The Washington Post

“We know policies based on fear don’t work; they simply deepen divides and promote a false narrative,” 41 elected prosecutors wrote in a joint statement.
— Read on www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/02/13/attorney-general-barr-prosecutors/

Report finds Tens of Thousands of New Yorkers Jailed Because of Unaffordable Bail | New York Civil Liberties Union

NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties Union released a report today on five years of bail data in eight small, medium and large upstate New York counties, which found tens of thousands of New Yorkers spent time in jail before trial because they could not make bail. The report, Presumed Innocent for a Price, draws from 2010-2014 data obtained through public records requests
— Read on www.nyclu.org/en/press-releases/report-finds-tens-thousands-new-yorkers-jailed-because-unaffordable-bail