Blog Sep 2, 2009
The end of an era?
A story in the Los Angeles Times caught my eye. The title tells most of the story: “California to close its largest juvenile prison .” The institution is the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino. They will convert it to an adult prison and eventually transfer the young offenders to other programs in the state, mostly in county facilities closer to their families. Stark has been part of what most experts consider one of the “dinosaurs” of juvenile institutions, the California…
Blog Aug 15, 2009
Treating kids under 12 as adults
A new study released by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin illustrates once again the punitiveness that remains an essential feature of American society. The title of the study is “From Time Out to Hard Time: Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System.” To see the complete study go to the following web site: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/images/file/From%20Time%20Out%20to%20Hard%20Time-revised%20final.pdf . The study began when the…
Blog Aug 10, 2009
Juvenile Mental Health Outlook
Listen to Daniel Macallair, Executive Director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, speak on the Juvenile Mental Health Outlook on KCBS View Full Clip
Blog Aug 6, 2009
San Francisco: The “Selma” of Drug Policing
In any given year over the last two decades, San Francisco Police Department arrests for simple possession of marijuana have varied by up to 300% over other years. After a 1999 peak (946 arrests), numbers plunged to 357 in 2007, then nearly doubled to 609 in 2008. Why? Who knows? Nobody seriously contends pot smoking varies that radically over time, if the streets’ sweet haze densities are any indicator. What has changed, and radically, is who’s getting arrested. In the peak year of 1999,…
Blog Jul 14, 2009
New California Crime Stats: The Good-Bad News
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. The 2008 figures show California’s crime index (key offenses reported to police) stands at its lowest level since 1963, including the lowest rates of homicide in 40 years. Among youth, 2008 arrest rates continue the trend of the last seven years, with felony rates at their…