Blog Apr 3, 2010
CJCJ Opposes AB 2141
Congratulations to Patti Lee and Jeff Adachi of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office for their tireless effort in defeating AB 2141. Patti Lee served as the lead opposition by organizing CJCJ, Youth Law Center, and the Commonwealth Juvenile Justice Program along with the Public Defenders’ Offices from 5 counties, including San Francisco and Alameda to back her in this fight against the bill. Without Patti Lee and Jeff Adachi’s opposition and perseverance in defeating this bill, more youth…
Daniel Macallair, MPA, Executive Director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, article titled “Wasting Tax Dollars: Public Relations and the California Youth Corrections System ” was recently featured in the California Progress Report. Mr. Macallair discusses that despite the class action law suit (Farrell v Cate) against the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the state is not in full compliance with reforming the State’s youth correctional facilities. Further, the article exposes…
CJCJ’s Senior Research Fellow Mike A. Males, Ph.D. and professor of women’s studies at the University of Hawaii Meda-Chesney Lind were featured in the New York Times for their article, “The Myth of Mean Girls “. Read the article and help dismantle the myth. Image by Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch.
San Francisco’s Reentry Commissioner and Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice Program Director Gerald Miller discusses the hot topic of legalizing marijuana. Mr. Miller covers misconceptions of legalizing marijuana, the trends marijuana arrest rates have taken in the last twenty years, and some of the implications involved if marijuana were to be legalized. As indicated in the graph above, misdemeanor marijuana arrests have been on an upward trend since 1992. ~ In 1990 Marijuana…
Wasting Tax Dollars: Public Relations and the California Youth Corrections System California Progress Report, April 1, 2010
Apr 1, 2010
The Myth of Mean Girls
The Myth of Mean Girls New York Times, April 1, 2010
Read CJCJ’s newest study, ”
Blog Mar 25, 2010
An Epidemic of Abuse Inside Juvenile Institutions
At the close of my last blog (“More Abuse in Youth Prisons”) I suggested doing a simple search on the Internet and type in words like “abuse in juvenile institutions” and select some states at random. I said at the time that I would continue my search. And so I did. And what I found was way beyond what I expected. I don’t often like to use the word “epidemic” since it is so value-loaded and defies precise definition. One definition from Webster’s includes “widespread growth” and so I…
CJCJ is developing a new component to our public education efforts. We are creating regular news broadcasts to further educate the public regarding numerous important events occurring within the justice system. The stories we will cover deal with a number of issues to include policy change, violations of current criminal or juvenile justice policies, and much more. We believe you will benefit from our broadcasts, as they provide quick and easy access to key information on pressing criminal…
Blog Mar 19, 2010
The Effects of Formal Processing of Juveniles
In January 2010, the Campbell Collaboration published a report titled “Formal System Processing of Juveniles: Effects on Delinquency .” This report offers an analysis of the effects of formal processing of juveniles. The debate involving formal processing of juveniles has two components: deterrence and the labeling effect. Proponents argue that formal processing deters juveniles by scaring off low-level offenders. It is also believed formal processing screens high-level offenders allowing…
Blog Mar 19, 2010
Is California Failing its Youth?
The recent report titled “Proposition 63: Is the Mental Health Act Reaching California’s Transitional Age Foster Youth? ” from Children’s Advocacy Institute estimates that about 4,000 California youth age out of the foster care system annually. Proposition 63 provides services to Transition Age Youth (TAY) and Transition Age Foster Youth (TAFY). The report indicates that California is failing to provide services to these youth, with most counties receiving a grade “F”. Once a youth enters the…
Blog Mar 17, 2010
The Myth of an “Immigrant Crime Wave, Part II”
My earlier blog focused on long-term California statistics showing Latinos, the most immigration-impacted ethnicity, actually show bigger declines in arrests over the last three decades than do populations dominated by long-term residents, such as Whites. This blog uses national prison statistics to examine another dimension of this issue, with the same conclusion: contrary to popular claims, the U.S. is not suffering a recent immigrant crime wave, legal or illegal, second generation, or…