Blog Dec 20, 2010
Bringing the Missouri Model to California
The Missouri Model, focused on therapeutic rehabilitation, intensive supervision, and reentry support, has been touted for many decades as an exemplary approach to juvenile justice that puts the devastatingly archaic California style of congregate, institutional, and punitive care to shame. Advocates have frequently pushed for California to finally shed its demonstrably unsuccessful approach for the more enlightened, cost effective, and proven successful Missouri-style system. Critics have hit…
Blog Dec 11, 2010
Children Left Behind
I was browsing the Internet this morning and in the New York Times there was a blog posted by Charles M. Blow called American’s Most Vulnerable . He cited a report by Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund) called “Children Left Behind.” The report was about “the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) International Coordinating Centre provided the statistical results for the analysis of inequality in children’s health.” It was based upon data collected by the “Organization for…
Blog Dec 7, 2010
Navigating Change with Gordon Graham
I recently attended a training presented by Gordon Graham on his new curriculum entitled “Navigating Change: Charting Your Course.” This three-hour introductory overview provided what he terms a common sense approach to making life changes and facilitating change in others. The training was engaging and particularly illuminating in its nuanced understanding of human experience. Easy to understand examples and anecdotes enhanced the materials and tools discussed and placed basic…
The case is Schwarzenegger v. Plata and it epitomizes the dire circumstances of the nation’s penal system. With more than 2 million locked up on any given day, including about 1.5 million in prison (not to mention the fact that more than 7 million adults are somewhere in the criminal justice system on any given day — jail, prison, probation, parole), the country has come face to face with the inevitable result of its incessant need to punish. Not only does the US have the highest rate of…
Blog Nov 24, 2010
Lobbying in the Criminal Justice System
CJCJ’s brand new upcoming webpage “Interest Groups and Criminal Justice Policy” to be released in December 2010 represents the first attempt at exploring the influence of lobbying on crime-related policies in California. Among other topics we will provide detailed information on all the major lobbying organizations in California that have been involved in influencing criminal justice policies. Additionally we will examine the most important organizations in California that get involved in…