j u s t c r i m

Very Tough Love | This American Life

Part One. Ira reports from Glynn County Georgia on Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams and how she runs the drug courts in Glynn, Camden and Wayne counties. We hear the story of Lindsey Dills, who forges two checks on her parents' checking account when she's 17, one for $40 and one for $60, and ends up in drug court for five and a half years, including 14 months behind bars, and then she serves another five years after that—six months of it in Arrendale State Prison, the other four and a half on probation. The average drug court program in the U.S. lasts 15 months. But one main way that Judge Williams' drug court is different from most is how punitive it is. Such long jail sentences are contrary to the philosophy of drug court, as well as the guidelines of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. For violating drug court rules, Lindsey not only does jail terms of 51 days, 90 days and 104 days, Judge Williams sends her on what she calls an "indefinite sentence," where she did not specify when Lindsey would get out. (30 minutes)

via www.thisamericanlife.org

Former University of San Diego players, coach named in federal indictment over betting scandal

Two former University of San Diego basketball players - one the program's all-time leader in points and assists - and a former assistant coach are at the center of an ugly betting scandal, federal authorities announced Monday.

Brandon Johnson, the star player, Brandon Dowdy, former coach Thaddeus Brown and seven other people were named in a federal indictment that charges the individuals with running an elaborate gambling ring that affected the outcomes of games.

Among the claims are that the 24-year-old Johnson took a bribe to influence a February 2010 USD game and that Brown and Dowdy solicited another party to affect the outcome of a game at the University of California, Riverside in February. A federal grand jury handed up the indictment in San Diego Friday. It was unsealed Monday.

via www.nydailynews.com

Language of the gun : youth, crime, and public policy ...

Legal and public policies concerning youth gun violence tend to rely heavily on crime reports, survey data, and statistical methods. Rarely is attention given to the young voices belonging to those who carry high-powered semiautomatic handguns. In Language of the Gun, Bernard E. Harcourt recounts in-depth interviews with youths detained at an all-malecorrectional facility, exploring how they talk about guns and what meanings they ascribe to them in a broader attempt to understand some of the assumptions implicit in current handgun policies. In the process, Harcourt redraws the relationships among empirical research, law, and public policy. Home to over 150 repeat offenders ranging in age from twelve to seventeen, the Catalina Mountain School is made up of a particular stratum of boys-those who have committed the most offenses but will still be released upon reaching adulthood. In an effort to understand the symbolic and emotional language of guns and gun carrying, Harcourt interviewed dozens of these incarcerated Catalina boys. What do these youths see in guns? What draws them to handguns? Why do some of them carry and others not? For Harcourt, their often surprising answers unveil many of the presuppositions that influence our laws and policies.

via bernardharcourt.com

[ A close examination of American youth's "fascination with guns, their attraction to firearms, their lust for the weapons..." ]

JURIST - Paper Chase: US violent crime rate drops for fourth straight year: FBI

[JURIST] The FBI's preliminary annual crime statistics for 2010, released on Monday, show a decrease in violent crime [press release] for the fourth year in a row

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

via jurist.org

Men's Work ... | Orange County Register

ORANGE – Police are looking for two men who took an automated teller machine from a restaurant in Old Towne Orange.

The burglary occurred about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Haven Gastropub at 190 South Glassell Street near Almond Avenue, Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams said.

Haven Gastropub, located in downtown Orange, opened in September of 2009. FILE PHOTO BY H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTERADVERTISEMENTMore from Orange-Villa ParkDogs rescue students from finals stress3 injured when Saturn overturnsO.C. paramedics, on their dime, trying to get to Haiti

via www.ocregister.com

Walk This Way: Jaywalking Ticket Will Cost You $191 - LAist

Photo by RobeRT Vega via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Get caught jaywalking in DtLA and $191 is gonna race by your bank account faster than that unregistered car going the wrong way on 5th.

As reported last week in the Downtown News, the LAPD is taking a zero-tolerance approach to jaywalkers, especially in the Historic Core. The LA Times reports this effort as a way to help, "reduce accidents and prevent crime," with a crackdown acting as part car-safety and part thief-prevention to deter would-be jaywalkers from targeting and purse-snatching from law-abiding sidewalk dawdlers.

via laist.com

[sucking dry the bank accounts of jaywalking Angelenos is the worst sort of policy]

YES, YOU ARE A SUSPECT (video provided by Los Angeles Superior Court)

     

[VIDEOS CHOPPED INTO SHORT CLIPS - ALL AVAILABLE HERE] LAPD homicide detectives' video interrogation of LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus. Lazarus is being interrogated re the murder of Sherri Rasmussen, her ex-boyfriend's wife, in 1986.   At the time of the murder, Lazarus had been on the police force two years. It's 24 years later ... Sherri has been on the LAPD force for 26 years and has been promoted to Detective rank ...

Southern California Shopping Centers Ranked For Vehicle Thefts, Burglaries CBS Los Angeles- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of LA

By David Goldstein

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With Christmas around the corner auto thieves are gearing up for their shopping season… And it could be your car at the mall.

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/CBS.LA/post;tag=auto;tag=automobile;tag=breakins;tag=burglars;tag=car;tag=carthieves;tag=crime;tag=davidgoldstein;tag=garages;tag=grandtheftauto;tag=malls;tag=parkinglots;tag=shoppingcenters;tag=thieves;tag=news;tag=local;tag=investigative;tile=1;pos=1;sz=970x66;dcopt=ist;

via losangeles.cbslocal.com

Los Angeles Times' Crime GIS

Times launching database that maps, analyzes crime reports across L.A. County

Using daily reports from the LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff's Department, The Times is providing a comprehensive stream of data on serious crimes, tracking trends and offering alerts at the neighborhood level.

violent death ...

Surveillance for Violent Deaths --- National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2007

Surveillance Summaries

May 14, 2010 / 59(SS04);1-50

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

An estimated 50,000 persons die annually in the United States as a result of violence-related injuries. This report summarizes data from CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) regarding violent deaths from 16 states for 2007. Results are reported by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, marital status, location of injury, method of injury, circumstances of injury, and other selected characteristics.

who owns public crime data? (udo)

Who Owns Public Crime Data? (via TECHDIRT) http://bit.ly/aW9A17

"We've never worked the drug problem holistically"

US drug war has met none of its goals (AP) – 1 day ago. MEXICO CITY — "After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.  Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked.

"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified." 

This week President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great damage it causes" with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment.

Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget.

Kerlikowske, who coordinates all federal anti-drug policies, says it will take time for the spending to match the rhetoric.

"Nothing happens overnight," he said. "We've never worked the drug problem holistically. We'll arrest the drug dealer, but we leave the addiction..."

[An earlier post on the  2010 National Drug Control Strategy (ONDCP)]

 

a psa for frontline prison programming

The Prison Law Blog pulls together a great short list of current Frontline shows on prison and crime related issues.  Check it out:

"The PBS documentary series Frontline also makes its programming available online at www.pbs.org. Here are a few Frontline episodes to start with if you’re interested in prison and jail issues — note that each of these websites includes not just streaming video of the episode itself, but also links to a range of related resources and information:

• “The Released” (2009): What happens to mentally ill offenders after they leave prison, and why do so many return? A sequel of sorts to 2005’s The New Asylums (see below).
• “When Kids Get Life” (2007): What should be done with children who commit murder?
• “The Meth Epidemic” (2006): Why has meth use exploded in the U.S. and what policy solutions might work?
• “The New Asylums” (2005): Why are so many mentally ill men and women in prison, and what kind of treatment to they receive there? Focused on the Ohio state prison system.
• “The Plea” (2004): Examining the plea bargaining process that resolves 95%+ of criminal cases in the U.S.
• “Burden of Innocence” (2003): After years of wrongful imprisonment, what happens to men who are exonerated once they get out of prison?"

crime in cali 2008 ... advance release

Hot off Cyberwire ... From the Office of Attorney General Edmund G. Brown ..."Crime in California, 2008, Advance Release provides 2008 criminal justice data on crimes, arrests, adult felony arrest dispositions, citizens’ complaints against peace officers, and juvenile dispositions and placements. The full reports, Crime in California, 2008 and Juvenile Justice in California, 2008, will be completed later in 2009..."