Blog Oct 13, 2011
CA Policy: Round up
This blog concludes a nine-part CA policy series of blogs focused on California’s special interest groups and their impact on criminal justice policy. You can find the full series on CJCJ’s California Criminal Justice Interest Group Watch . The series aimed to answer the question: when it comes to promoting criminal justice policy in California, what works and why? I conducted my exploration of this issue through three channels: ~ Examining various marketing strategies deployed by…
Listen to this excellent podcast by Prison Photography’s Pete Brook, interviewing CJCJ’s Executive Director Daniel Macallair on the history of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and the evolution of criminal and juvenile justice in California. PPOTR #3: Interview with Dan Macallair of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice by Pete Brook
Blog Oct 7, 2011
CA Policy: The corporate interest
Kathy Lynch is the legislative advocate for two California bail agent associations: the California Bail Agents Association (CBAA ); and Golden State Bail Agents Association (GSBAA ). She founded Lynch & Associates in 1985. These two groups explicitly lobby for increases in the fee detainees must pay for bail-posting services. In California, the Department of Insurance regulates bail premiums (the amount of money paid to a bail bondsman for their services), which are set as a percentage…
Blog Oct 4, 2011
Annie E. Casey Foundation: No place for kids
Today, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released their newest publication, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration . It presents a fresh review of juvenile justice in America, and makes future recommendations for improving the system. Highlights include: ~ Roughly 60,500 youths in America are confined in correctional facilities (according to a 2007 census, and not including youths confined temporarily in detention centers). ~ Two of every five confined youths are…
Blog Sep 30, 2011
CA Policy: Playing the game
The Justice Policy Institute published its report, Gaming the System , in June 2011, documenting the political strategies employed by the private prison industry to promote national incarceration-driven criminal justice policies. The publication highlighted three approaches to influencing policy, including: ~ Campaign Contributions ~ Lobbying ~ Relationships and Associations How does it work in California? I have been writing a series of blogs documenting various lobbying efforts in…