Blog Jul 14, 2009
New California Crime Stats: The Good-Bad News
Just released Criminal Justice Statistics Center 2008 crime numbers and Center for Health Statistics 2007 death figures deal a double whammy to three decades of California’s criminal justice failure. But first, the ironies. The 2008 figures show California’s crime index (key offenses reported to police) stands at its lowest level since 1963, including the lowest rates of homicide in 40 years. Among youth, 2008 arrest rates continue the trend of the last seven years, with felony rates at their…
Blog Jun 23, 2009
Now the hard part of prison reform…
Last month, CJCJ released a detailed study documenting the feasibility, benefits, and cost savings of closing California’s juvenile prison system and transferring its dwindling roster of inmates to county detention facilities. The main obstacle now is to convince counties and traditionalists that the state will provide sufficient funding, which would be a fraction of the annual $250,000 per ward, $400 million total cost of state lockup. Juveniles are the easy part of deincarceration reform,…
Jun 22, 2009
Daniel Macallair writes on the question of budget cuts for the SF Public Defender’s office
Though many wish to see the public defender’s budget cut due to the current economic conditions, Daniel Macallair explains how this would be detrimental to the city in an article published on BeyondChron .
Blog Jun 22, 2009
Save the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office
Few events better reflect the priorities of elected officials more vividly than a budget crisis. It is during a budget crisis that policy-makers are forced to choose between the interests of powerful or popular constituencies and the needs of the less powerful and most vulnerable citizens. Presently, this drama is being played out in San Francisco where social and legal services to the poor are being slashed while Police and Fire Department budgets are being protected. This Faustian bargain…
Jun 22, 2009
Save the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office
Save the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office BeyondChron, June 22, 2009