Blog Nov 10, 2011
PORAC’s contribution to California’s prison crisis
The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), founded in 1953, is a special interest group that lobbies in Sacramento and influences California’s criminal justice policymaking. PORAC’s positions promoting incarceration and harsh sentencing goes against mainstream criminal justice policy — including mainstream conservatism. A new CJCJ publication, Promoting the “get tough” crime control agenda: The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) , reviewed…
Blog Nov 10, 2011
Veterans impacted by the criminal justice system
Veterans returning from war zones face copious challenges upon re-entering their communities and many encounter the criminal justice system in some capacity. CJCJ’s Senior Research Fellow, William (Bud) Brown conducts research on this issue. In his recent paper, published in CJCJ’s Justice Policy Journal (JPJ) earlier this year, Dr. Brown conducted a study finding that veterans with PTSD and alcohol dependency related to combat are more likely to be impacted by the criminal justice system. …
Blog Nov 4, 2011
America’s war on drugs [video blog]
~ CJCJ Senior Research Fellow, Mike Males
Blog Nov 3, 2011
Is Wall Street a gang? Part II
Not too many would note the irony that while police make hundreds of arrests for relatively minor offenses (e.g., disturbing the peace) — which usually end up being dismissed in court — within the confines of the buildings high above the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters there is rampant criminality. I mean this literally, for over the years the “top 1%” has indeed engaged in some of the worst crimes, destroying millions of lives while raiding the U.S. treasury of trillions of dollars. As…
Blog Oct 31, 2011
Time for juvenile justice reform
After 5 years, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) hosted their most successful national conference with over 3,000 registrants from across the country this year. From October 12th through October 14th, OJJDP presented over 65 workshops, utilizing 11 distinct tracks. The tracks provided particular perspectives, such as those specifically tailored for funders, law enforcement, and tribal communities, but also included more over-arching juvenile justice topics to…