The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/research-analysis/)
Not really, say two law professors. They argue in a Texas Law Review article that it’s time to rethink the centuries-old traditions of Western jurisprudence that have made witnesses the centerpiece of criminal and civil trials—and replace them with more dependable ways of arriving at the truth.
The flaws in the state’s justice system cycle thousands of people through jails with little effort to address the roots of their behavior, says the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. “The most important thing we can do is divert people charged with low level offenses from jail and connect them with recovery support as soon as possible,” said the co-author of a new study.
In a report examining state compliance with standards set by the Prison Rape Elimination Act for the detention of young people, the Campaign For Youth Justice argues that “loopholes” in implementation of the standards still leave many youths vulnerable to sexual or physical assault.
Can local justice systems prevent people who shouldn’t be detained from ending up behind bars? Sometimes all it takes is smarter communications, according to a study of an electronic alert system devised by Durham County authorities in North Carolina—one of six case studies released by the Urban Institute on promising reforms underway around the U.S.
Most common alternatives to incarceration are failing women and rural communities as they traditionally focus on men and nonrural jurisdictions, but a case study by the Urban Institute examines innovative approaches to meeting the need.
The number of U.S. residents who had some form of encounter with police dropped from 26 percent in 2011 to 21 percent in 2015, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study. But criminologist Rick Rosenfeld says the data doesn’t necessarily support the so-called “Ferguson Effect” theory that police are withdrawing services in response to anti-cop protests.
The Trump Administration has returned to failed policies that criminalize and dehumanize communities of color, argues a report by The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).
A recent study conducted for the National Bureau of Economic Research says the missing students were all in schools where local police partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Most people who experience unwanted sexual contact do not report it—for reasons such as the victim does not view the encounter as ‘rape,’ even when it fits the legal definition—according to a new report for students, journalists and researchers by the Journalist’s Resource at Harvard University.
The controversy over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination has focused attention on its potential impact on the Court’s legitimacy, but similar questions about the legitimacy of lower courts also need to be addressed, says the Center for Court Innovation (CCI).