The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/research-analysis/)
Two briefing papers by the Vera Institute of Justice contend that criminal justice policy “is too often swayed by political rhetoric and unfounded assumptions.” According to Vera, assertions that “violent crime increases in a few cities equal a sweeping national problem” are not based on facts.
Under get-tough anticrime laws from the 1980s and 1990s, prisoners’ average length of stay has grown in every state since 2000, a report by the Urban Institute finds.
The use of federal criminal charges that carry a mandatory minimum prison term has dropped since 2011, reports the U.S. Sentencing Commission. That is likely to change under Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
A study finds widespread support among U.S. journalists for naming and publishing photos of perpetrators in mass shooting events. A co-author of the study says reporters were “largely ambivalent” about research showing that coverage can lead to “copycat” incidents.
Prisons should be wary of private communications firms that “exploit” incarcerated individuals by charging high fees for the use of their services, the Prison Policy Initiative warned in a study of a computer tablet program offered to Colorado prisoners.
A recent study by the New York City Mayor’s Office argues that “inadequate” or sensationalist coverage of Intimate Partner Violence—and in particular of homicides linked to domestic violence cases─prevents serious public debate on the issue.
An examination of 10,000 San Francisco criminal cases by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice found that race and ethnicity influence how long an individual is held in custody before trial, as well as the severity of the charges.
U.S. residents experienced an average 250,000 hate crime victimizations annually between 2004 and 2015, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported today. Between 2011-2015, some 54 percent of the cases were handled privately, through non-law enforcement, or were not considered important enough to report officially.
A redesigned New York City program aimed at helping at-risk youth learn work ethics and job skills while performing community service in their neighborhoods helped divert hundreds of young people from further involvement in the justice system, says a report released June 28.
The decline in marijuana seizures between 2010 and 2015 roughly tracks the period when U.S. states began enacting measures to legalize or decriminalize pot, according to the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime. Meanwhile, marijuana use among adults has risen.