j u s t c r i m

WHO | PREVENTION OF ACUTE DRUG-RELATED MORTALITY

PREVENTION OF ACUTE DRUG-RELATED MORTALITY IN PRISON POPULATIONS DURING THE IMMEDIATE POST-RELEASE PERIOD (WHO 2010):

The rate of acute drug-related mortality, or overdose deaths, among prisoners in the immediate post-release period is unacceptably high. Such incidents result from many factors, including decreased tolerance after a period of relative  abstinence during imprisonment and the concurrent use of multiple drugs which, with every additional illicit drug consumed in combination with opioids, nearly doubles the risk of death from opioids. Other important factors are the lack of pre-release counselling, post-release follow-up and failure to identify those at risk. Substance dependence is a chronic disorder with high relapse rates and often requires long-term continuous treatment. There is good evidence from trials and cohort studies that opioid substitution treatment reduces the risk of overdose among opioid users.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Prisoner Recidivism Analysis Tool

February 3, 2011    

This analysis tool allows users to calculate recidivism rates for persons released from state prisons. Recidivism rates may be generated for the entire sample of released prisoners or for released prisoners with specific demographic, criminal history, and sentence attributes. The tool uses data collected by BJS on a sample of persons released from state prisons in 1994 and followed for a 3-year period. These are the most recent recidivism data available until a new BJS study on the recidivism of state prisoners released in 2005 is published in 2012.

via bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov

In Terms of Alcohol Consumption, Europe and Russia Are Beating America at The Bar - TIME NewsFeed

Map of alcohol consumption via WHO

The report shows that Americans imbibed in an average of 7.5-9.99 liters of pure alcohol per person between 2003 and 2005. Nigerians, Argentineans and Australians drank an average of 10-12.49 liters, whereas Russian and many Europeans drank 12.5 liters and up.

Though America usually finds not winning to be tough medicine to swallow, this is one contest where not coming in first is a good thing. According to The Economist, "The WHO estimates that alcohol results in 2.5m deaths a year, more than AIDS or tuberculosis. In Russia and its former satellite states one in five male deaths is caused by drink." Yikes! (via The Economist)

via newsfeed.time.com

"All the Sara Kruzans deserve a chance"

LATIMES Editorial (January 4, 2011)):   "The controversial decision to shorten Esteban Nuñez's prison sentence has obscured a more important commutation that outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger granted a young woman who has fought to turn her life around from its almost unbelievably bad beginning.

Sara Kruzan had been abused physically and sexually for most of her young life before she was gang raped, then pushed into a life of prostitution at age 13 by the neighborhood pimp. When she was 16, she robbed and killed the man, a crime for which she was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Sixteen years later, Kruzan has earned an associate's degree through the local community college, has participated in many of the prison's rehabilitation programs and has shown a level of growth and maturity that makes her a promising candidate for rejoining society. Schwarzenegger's decision to reduce her sentence to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole gives her a chance to do just that.

Schwarzenegger Commutes Sentence of Human Trafficking Victim | Criminal Justice | Change.org

No country outside the United States allows children to be sentenced to life without the chance of parole, a life behind bars without the chance of redemption. In California alone, around 275 children have received such a sentence, belying the right-wing caricature of the state as a bastion of unchecked bleeding-heart liberalism.

On Sunday, outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) – set to be replaced today by the nominally liberal, prison guard-endorsed Jerry Brown (D) – granted clemency to one child whose story we've covered in-depth here at Change.org: Sara Kruzan.

Sara was sentenced to life without parole at 16 after she was convicted of killing the man who had raped and forced her into a life of prostitution three years earlier – when she was just 13. Now 33, Sara has spent more than half her life in a prison, where she has become both a model inmate and a poignant example of the evils of California's mass incarceration problem.

via criminaljustice.change.org

Let It Be

via www.youtube.com

[life goes on and on and on. so let it be]

the promising side of incarceration stories - giving back

Some important stories from the promising side of incarceration stories ...  Five Prison Charities Helping Inmates Give Back [Ben Murray] Conviction to Change: Five ways prison inmates are giving back -The Long Termers Organization, Chowchilla, California ...

"In the farmlands east of San Jose, behind the fences of the octagon-shaped Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW), members of one of the country's most active and effective women’s prison groups have an interesting new idea: they’d like to sponsor a Girl Scout troop.

"The plan, if they can do it, is to start a troop made up of daughters of inmates that, with the aid of outside coordinators, would be just like any other troop in America—except it would occasionally gather at the institution..."

[Via Prison Law Blog]