The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/author/jackatme/)
A study released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) revealed that 14 percent of state and federal prisoners and 26 percent of jail inmates reported experiences that met the threshold for serious psychological distress (SPD).
An Urban Institute study released June 21 says body cameras have a “civilizing effect” on police encounters even when a civilian is unaware that an officer is wearing a camera– suggesting that the cameras may be changing the way officers behave.
A report issued last week by the American Civil Liberties Union implores the business community to put people with criminal records– that’s one-third of adults in the U.S.– back to work, for the good of the economy.
To mark Father’s Day on Sunday, The Beat Within, a San Francisco-based prison writing workshop, asked inmates of juvenile detention facilities to “write the letter you always wanted (or maybe never wanted) to write” to their Dads. Here’s a first sampling of the letters they produced.
Keir Bradford-Grey, chief defender of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, believes it will. In a conversation with The Crime Report, she argues that the work of local jurisdictions and community groups in developing problem-solving courts, diversion programs and other reforms will be hard to reverse.
Crime rates in California have plummeted—especially among youth—over the last 35 years. At the same time, nonwhites have become the majority in the state. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice says the parallel trends refute arguments that immigration threatens public safety.
Black homicide defendants in Louisiana are more likely than whites to face charges making them eligible for the death sentence in cases in which their victims are white, according to a Northeastern University study.
New York City ‘violence interruptors’ now use social media to intervene when online conflicts threaten to spill over into violence. Mike Perry and Samuel Jackson tell Crime Report editor Stephen Handelman how they do it in the latest episode of “Criminal Justice Matters.”
An Urban Institute study released June 1 found that sudden spikes in gun violence can reduce the growth of new businesses, while neighborhoods with higher gun violence had fewer retail and service businesses, and fewer new jobs. The study looked at six U.S. cities.
The lack of state-enforced standards represents a “missed opportunity” for helping youth avoid the harmful lifetime consequences of involvement with the justice system, according to a report released May 31 by Strategies for Youth, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based nonprofit.