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Scapegoating the Poor: Lizzie Buchen, Jul 22, 2014; The story of a single working mother who faces a decade in prison for allowing her daughter to play in a park unsupervised demonstrates our foolish reliance on incarceration and punishment as a way…
Violence Forecast: Sunny with an Occasional Hail of Bullets: Mike Males, Jul 15, 2014; Violence trends make fools of its debaters — or would, if anyone called them to account.
More money, more beds?: Kate McCracken, Jul 8, 2014; Kate McCracken discusses the upcoming allocation of $80 million dollars in construction funding for juvenile facilities in California, and suggests the state think outside the box.
Who's Really Dying from Guns in the United States?: Mike Males, Jul 7, 2014; 32,351 Americans died from gunfire in 2011. Nearly half of them were older white men shooting themselves.
Who's Threatening Murrieta's "Safety"?: Mike Males, Jul 2, 2014; A California city's mayor and shouting protestors claim 140 Latino women and child immigrants threaten their town's "safety." The city's own crime statistics suggest otherwise.
Cracking the Racial Disparity for Cocaine Sentencing: Antonia Cartwright, Jul 1, 2014; By equalizing treatment and punishment for crack and powder cocaine, Sen. Mitchell's SB 1010 recognizes drug abuse as a health issue and promotes racial equality.
Public Involvement in Politics Does Matter: Courtney Lam, Jun 26, 2014; CJCJ Post-Graduate Fellow Courtney Lam reflects on last week's Assembly Public Safety Committee in Sacramento.
Debtor’s Prisons, Part II: Randall Shelden, Jun 24, 2014; Senior Research Fellow explores the concept of the debtor's prison in this CJCJ blog.
An American Gun Death Every 16 Minutes in 2011: Mike Males, Jun 19, 2014; Senior Research Fellow Mike Males: But no one likes to talk about who's dying from guns, or how.
Remembering John Vasconcellos: Dan Macallair, Jun 17, 2014; With the death of former State Senator John Vasconcellos on May 29, the California criminal justice reform community lost one of its great champions. Vasco, as he was affectionately known, was one of…
Scared of Gun Violence? Run INTO a School!*: Mike Males, Jun 16, 2014; School and college campuses account for 5 out of every 10,000 shootings in the United States, but occupy 90% of our discussion of gun violence.
Harm Reduction: A Hard Pill to Swallow: Kate McCracken, Jun 10, 2014; San Francisco Sentencing Commissioner, Kate McCracken, reflects upon a recent visit to Seattle, Washington to learn more about the LEAD program, a police operated pre-arrest diversion program.
“Demographic Scapegoating”: How Leaders and Interests Profit from Social Crises: Mike Males, Jun 6, 2014; While invoking tones of concern and inclusion, American leaders exploit social problems to flatter powerful older constituencies by stigmatizing young people
New Complications Challenge No-Complications-Allowed Gun Debate: Mike Males, Jun 4, 2014; A gun-control lobby's incisive report disputes mass-shooting dogmas. A woman-hating shooter's rampage defies popular answers. Yet, America's gun policy debate remains rooted in ancient prejudices.
An Opportunity for Juvenile Justice Innovation in California: Antonia Cartwright, Jun 3, 2014; Counties currently seeking state funding have both immense responsibility to ensure continued best practices, and the valuable opportunity to build bridges between justice-involved youth and the…
Apartheid Schooling: Randall Shelden, May 29, 2014; Senior Researcher Randy Shelden discusses wealth and income inequality in this CJCJ blog.
Challenging Biases Against Economic Justice and Respectful Treatment of Youth: Mike Males, May 28, 2014; Economic justice and respectful treatment for young people in policy and discussion forums are both a moral imperative and epitomize the best of "what works" in criminal justice. I feel the Juvenile…
A Quest for Democracy in Sacramento: Brian Goldstein, May 27, 2014; On May 19, over 200 individuals came to the capitol as part of the second annual Formerly Incarcerated People’s Quest for Democracy.
Positive Efforts Toward Decreasing California's Pretrial Population: Courtney Lam, May 20, 2014; Unsentenced individuals comprise over 60% of California's statewide jail population. Therefore, decreasing the number of people detained pretrial can alleviate unnecessary use of jail beds and…
CJCJ Statement on the Governor’s Budget May Revision for FY 2014-15: Brian Goldstein, May 14, 2014; CJCJ's response to Governor Jerry Brown's FY 2014-15 Budget May Revision.
State Committee Recommends a Need for Data and Accountability: Brian Goldstein, May 13, 2014; On Thursday, May 8, California’s Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) heard a series of presentations from its Juvenile Justice Standing Committee (JJSC) around data, education, and…
Named legislation rarely protects the public: Lizzie Buchen, May 6, 2014; Bills authored in response to specific events are well-meaning but will rarely result in good public policy.
Building a New Juvenile Justice System: Kate McCracken, Apr 29, 2014; The Board of State and Community Corrections is responsible for allocating $80 million dollars in juvenile facility construction funding. It is time to use this fiscal allocation differently and…
California bill looks to send more youth to adult prison: Lizzie Buchen, Apr 25, 2014; SB 838 could dramatically increase the number of youth tried and sentenced in the adult criminal justice system. CJCJ strongly opposes this bill because it fails to deter crime, denies young people…
To Seal or Not To Seal – California Taking a Progressive Approach to Sealing Juvenile Records: Gabrielle Marchand, Apr 22, 2014; CJCJ's Gabrielle Marchand analyzes recent legislation for California's justice-involved youth, which provides them with a clean slate and ample opportunities for future success