The recent decision by the three judge panel in the Coleman/Plata case should be applauded as a short but positive step forward in forcing some degree of sanity upon the broken California prison system.  Unfortunately, the fact that a panel of Federal judges was forced to step in and force the state to make long overdue policy decisions is simply another poignant reminder of ou

Just released Criminal Justice Statistics Center 2008 crime numbers and Center for Health Statistics 2007 death figures deal a double whammy to three decades of California’s criminal justice failure. But first, the ironies.

Last month, CJCJ released a detailed study documenting the feasibility, benefits, and cost savings of closing California’s juvenile prison system and transferring its dwindling roster of inmates to county detention facilities.

I’m sure not too many people noticed but a brief news report from a newspaper in Chattanooga, Tennessee called attention once again to the perils of the privatization of prisons.  This story involves the settling of a lawsuit filed against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the leading private prison company in the world.

In my previous blog I referenced a recent book by Douglas Blackmon on the subject of convict leasing.  One of the enduring offshoots of this system has been the “chain gang,” popularized by the film “Cool Hand Luke” (with Paul Newman, which carefully tried to make it seem as if it were mostly white) and memorialized in several books (e.g., “I am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang

I stated in Part I of this blog that the prison system is “functional” in that it benefits some segments of the population.  One obvious segment it benefits is all of those who work inside.  Indeed, with $68 billion in annual expenditures on the American prison system plus strong unions in many states you have a very strong vested interest in keeping the prison a going concern (the “ref

Senator Jim Webb, an outspoken critic of America’s prison system, has argued that we need to “fix our prisons” (Parade Magazine),

I would like to offer a different perspective and pose the following question: Do we really need to “fix” or “reform” the prison?

Returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are confronting unemployment, housing unavailability, domestic violence, substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries.  Regardless of the number of tours in a war zone these veterans have served, their second war begins following discharge from the military – the war that begins when they return home.

In criminal justice debate and policy, it is important to keep up with often startling realities—and California’s contain plenty of surprises. Consider three statements often made about adult-court prosecutions of juveniles: