Adults With Mental Illness Are Overrepresented in Probation Population | The Pew Charitable Trusts

Adults on probation—supervision imposed by the court generally in lieu of incarceration—are more than twice as likely to have a serious or moderate mental illness as those in the general public, according to analysis of federal data from 2015 to 2019 by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
— Read on www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2024/01/adults-with-mental-illness-are-overrepresented-in-probation-population

See a .PDF version of the report HERE

Wrongful Convictions The Literature, the Issues, and the Unheard Voices | Office of Justice Programs

The report contains three chapters: Chapter 1 reviews 100 years of scholarship on wrongful convictions, ranging from early case studies of exonerations to more recent scientific analyses of wrongful convictions. The review finds that knowledge about the prevalence and causes of these serious miscarriages of justice remains limited and mixed at best. Chapter 2 focuses on several “elephants in the courtroom” that have not garnered significant attention among wrongful conviction scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and activists. This section examines the deep linkages between race, society, the administration of justice, and wrongful convictions. Chapter 3 discusses the major themes that emerged during the listening sessions in an effort to better understand the problems victims and those who have been exonerated face during the review of post-conviction innocence claims and after the exoneration. The report concludes with policy recommendations to help address the most pressing issues. 
— Read on www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/wrongful-convictions-literature-issues-and-unheard-voices

Taser And Social, Ethnic and Racial Disparities research programme

News report

Key findings from the research suggest:

  • There is a statistical relationship between ethnicity and increased use of Taser relative to other uses of force in some areas. This is mediated by other factors such as mental ill health, but police routine data collection needs to improve to properly understand these patterns;
  • The disproportionate use of Taser across different communities and populations stems from complex interactions between multiple factors, structures, and processes, both within and external to policing;
  • Policing takes place within a society fractured by inequality and structural racism in that Black and other ethnic minority populations are more likely than White people to live in areas of deprivation;
  • A combination of institutional priorities, policies, practices, and demands mean that policing is concentrated into areas of deprivation, which in turn disproportionately impacts on people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds relative to the White population;
  • Given that police are more active in deprived neighbourhoods, this in turn makes Taser use in those areas more likely;
  • Taser has become institutionalised as an organisational level response to perceived threat and risk, which increases its use in situations that previously have been resolved in other ways, such as through dialogue;
  • Police officers count Taser among the least dangerous use of force options available to them, and risks associated with its use are under emphasised during training. Insufficient time is dedicated to discussions of ethnic disproportionality and de-escalation during Taser training, which risks creating a further push towards the use of the weapon;
  • In contrast, affected communities experience Taser as a dehumanising and potentially lethal weapon. They also emphasised the psychological harms and racialised traumas generated through use of the weapon;
  • Public scrutiny mechanisms designed to hold police officers to account lack adequate support.

See the report here:

www.ucl.ac.uk/security-crime-science/sites/security_crime_science/files/taserd_report_13_dec_2023.pdf

Chicago Way w/John Kass: Discussion with Rafael Mangual

Excellent!

This podcast covered Policing, Racism, Progressive Prosecutor, & Cash Bail. Rafael Mangual is an expert on these topics. Also see Mangual’s book – there is a link to it at the like below.

Chicago Way w/John Kass: Kindness is for holiday parties, not revolving-door criminal courts – John Kass
— checkout the podcast at johnkassnews.com/chicago-way-w-john-kass-kindness-is-for-holiday-parties-not-revolving-door-criminal-courts/

Chicago Police Department 911 Response Time Data Collection and Reporting – Chicago Office of Inspector General

Executive Summary
The objectives of the inquiry were to determine the completeness rates of CPD response times recorded by CPD and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC), and to identify factors contributing to missing response time data for 911 calls for CPD service.

As a result of this inquiry, OIG found that CPD’s data collection of 911 response times is incomplete; the Department fails to record timestamps for various statuses throughout the dispatch and police response for a substantial number of 911 calls. Calls for high priority emergency events had a higher rate of recorded response times for all statuses that occur during a unit’s response (Acknowledge, Enroute, and On-scene) compared to calls for events with a lower priority classification. The timepoint in the police response process that is least often recorded is the On-scene time, or the time when the responding CPD unit arrives at the location of service; this remains true regardless of call priority level or geographic location. The On-scene status is the last time point in the sequence of events before responding members engage with an emergency event, which may contribute to the low On-scene time completeness rates. Additionally, the interface of the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which records a timestamp when CPD members enter their response status, displays the response status buttons sequentially, and is dependent on the previous status in the process being entered.
— Read on igchicago.org/publications/chicago-police-department-911-response-time-data-collection-and-reporting/

Get a copy of the report HERE

Criminal Convictions in New York State, 1980-2021 – Data Collaborative for Justice

This is the study used for the “Clean Slate Act”.

Criminal Convictions in New York State, 1980-2021

From 1980 to 2021, just over 6.6 million New York criminal cases impacting nearly 2.2 million people ended in a conviction.

The purpose of this study is to examine criminal convictions and attendant racial disparities in New York State from 1980 to 2021. This research brief expands on an earlier Data Collaborative for Justice study: Criminal Conviction Records in New York City (1980-2019).

— Read on datacollaborativeforjustice.org/work/racial-justice/criminal-convictions-in-new-york-state-1980-2021/