Blog May 22, 2012
Inequality in America
As promised in my last blog , I will summarize the current level of inequality in the United States. In a word, it is ugly! By most measures, we are far behind other democratic societies, such as Canada, most European countries and Australia. One of the most common measures of income inequality is known as the Gini Index of Inequality (a value of 0 means perfect equality – everyone earns the same amount; and a value of 100 means perfect inequality – one person earns all), has gone up since…
Blog May 17, 2012
CJCJ response to Governor Brown’s May budget revise
On May 14, 2012 Governor Brown released the May revision to the budget for fiscal year 2012⁄13. The revision retracted both his original proposal for full juvenile justice realignment and the budget triggers that were implemented last year. The revised budget includes important juvenile justice reform measures. The proposal institutes a $24,000 annual per youth fee for utilizing state facilities; representing 13% of the total cost. As overuse of state facilities by some counties has created…
Blog May 16, 2012
Social class and education
In my last blog I discussed the importance of social class as a determinant of everything that matters in life. In this blog I quote a study that stated “Poverty and social disadvantage are most strongly associated with deficits in children’s cognitive skills and educational achievements.” Social class strongly correlates with the level of education one receives including the probability of dropping out, which in turn strongly relates to crime and delinquency. Two recent studies further…
In 2010, 71 percent of California’s jail population were those offenders who were unsentenced and awaiting resolution of their cases. This figure not only exceeds the pretrial detainee national average, but also represents a major shift away from the traditional use of jails where inmates are detained as a form of punishment. However, many of these pretrial detainees are not being held because they have been determined to be a danger to society or represent a flight risk. Rather, they remain…
Blog May 10, 2012
Misconceptions about high-risk youth offenders
The High Desert Daily Press featured a three-part story last week exploring how San Bernardino County prosecutes, supervises, and rehabilitates their juvenile offenders. Daily Press reporter Beatriz E. Valenzuela looked at patterns of juvenile crime and arrest reductions, the unbridled powers of local district attorneys to “direct file” juveniles into adult court , and the impact of adult realignment and Governor Brown’s juvenile realignment plan on local corrections systems. The facts…