Age-old practices have slowly begun to shift at California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) as staff experiment with common-sense reforms, such as positive reinforcement, limiting use of isolation, and providing access to outdoor recreational space. However, barriers towards sustainable reform will exist as long as youth are housed in outdated institutions.
Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin on Thursday unveiled a new one-stop shop to provide various services to county jail inmates released under the guidelines established by Assembly Bill 109, the state’s prison realignment law.
Blog Feb 26, 2013
Part III: Trends in girls’ crime
It was noted in part II of this series that girls who run away from home are often doing so because of sexual abuse at home. As reported in the New York Times an estimated 1.6 million juveniles run away from or are thrown out of their homes each year; over half are girls.
Blog Feb 21, 2013
Who is causing crime in California?
Sensationalized stories and anecdotal information in the media over the past year may make you want to hide behind a closed door. In 2011, Realignment caused great concern that floods of state inmates would walk out of state prison and into the streets. This of course was not true, but over the last year media stories have highlighted concerns that Realignment is causing more local crime.
Newsroom Feb 20, 2013
Police hiring boom hits Bay Area departments
After years of cutbacks, layoffs — and now climbing crime rates — police departments throughout the Bay Area have begun taking on new recruits again.