Blog Jan 5, 2009
Remembering Lloyd Ohlin
The death of Lloyd Ohlin in December 2008 was a great loss to the juvenile justice reform world because he was a scholar and a reformer. A University of Chicago trained sociologists, Professor Ohlin was best known for his seminal work Delinquency and Opportunity, which he co-authored with Richard Cloward another prominent sociologist. Published in 1960, the book is considered a classic because it was a thorough examination of the influence of social conditions such as poverty on…
Blog Jan 5, 2009
Media Hype and Distortion
A recent column by Steven Levitt in the New York Times on the subject of homicide is unusual. In this column he is referencing a recent study by James Fox of Northwestern University. Fox is one of the most often quoted criminologists in the country when it comes to homicide (here’s the link to his report ). The media are typically selective in their treatment of the subject of crime. Typical headlines dealing with Fox’s report include this one from the New York Times: “Homicides by Black…
Blog Dec 31, 2009
Drug War Update, the year 2008 in review
As far as the war on drugs is concerned, as far as 2008 is concerned we simply conclude that “the beat goes on.” More than $50.8 billion was spent on this never-ending campaign, with the states spending about 60% of the money. Almost 1.9 million were arrested for drug offenses during the year, 831,000 for marijuana alone, mostly possession. Almost 11,000 were incarcerated as a result of their arrest and conviction . As everyone knows, race and gender are of critical importance in…
Blog Dec 30, 2009
Do Black Teens Need More Policing?
Why do the news media adore James Alan Fox? He’s never been right. The Northeastern University criminologist perpetuates fossilized 19th century demographic dogmas that measure crime as a function of dark-skinned youth in the population, inflammatory racialized quips branding nonwhite teenagers as “sociopaths” and “superpredators,” and 25 years of horrendously wrong crime predictions. Now Fox and colleagues are back with another media-splashed study (conveniently…
Blog Dec 30, 2009
Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans Returning Home — Is this Vietnam Revisited or Vietnam Surpassed?
Returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are confronting unemployment, housing unavailability, domestic violence, substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries. Regardless of the number of tours in a war zone these veterans have served, their second war begins following discharge from the military — the war that begins when they return home. Although many of the challenges facing Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are similar to those confronted by Vietnam veterans…
From 2003 through the present, 4,200 Americans died and over 30,000 have been wounded in the war in Iraq. This toll has generated justifiable outrage among those who consider invading Iraq a colossal mistake. Indeed, President-elect Barack Obama, has pledged to end the war soon after taking office. Meanwhile, right here at home from 2003 through 2008, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports indicate that around 200,000 Americans died from overdoses of illegal drugs; SAMHSA surveys…
I don’t know about you but I’m sick and tired of reading about the “bailout.” A day does not go by without being reminded how much those already loaded with cash and goodies receive yet another Christmas present from we the taxpayers. I guess the proverbial “last straw” for me was the report by the Associated Press that asked 21 banks that had received at least $1 billion from the government four simple questions: “How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in…
Blog Dec 22, 2008
We can’t just shoot ‘em
California’s growing budget crisis and prison lawsuits are focusing more attention on a serious policy question: Are there better ways to reduce crime and treat criminals than by spending $36,000 in taxpayer dollars every year to lock up each low-level property and drug possession offender in state prison? California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports show the state now imprisons 30,000 offenders sentenced for non-invasion property crimes or simple drug possession, at a cost…
(ISSN 1530 – 3012) From the editor Racial Disproportionality in the American Prison Population: Using the Blumstein Method to Address the Critical Race and Justice Issue of the 21st Century Guns and Homicide: Is the Instrument-Focused Approach to Deterrence Efficacious? Guards or Guardians? A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Parenting Styles in Juvenile Correctional Programs Criminal History on a “Need To Know” Basis: Employment Policies that Eliminate the Criminal History Box…
Recent reports by the W. Haywood Burns Institute and NAACP deploring disproportionate minority confinement in juvenile facilities raise an important ongoing issue. It is true, as the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice’s own investigations agree, that black and brown youth receive increasingly harsh treatment as they move from arrest through sentencing stages that the juvenile justice system must address. But there’s another troubling issue. A key CJCJ mission has been to reduce the use of…
Dec 18, 2008
Just Released! Fall 2008 Justice Policy Journal
Just Released! Fall 2008 Justice Policy Journal: CJCJ’s Premiere Online Academic Journal As one of the first online criminal justice journals with contributions from renowned scholars, the Justice Policy Journal (JPJ) is quickly becoming among the most widely read and discussed journals in the field. The JPJ provides an international forum for researchers and policymakers to examine current justice issues and promote innovative policy solutions in a web based format that maintains the…
Blog Dec 13, 2008
Avoid Easy “Blame the Media” Path on Crime
Two starkly diverging pathways for President-elect Barack Obama’s crucial, so far unknown, public stance toward crime issues are emerging. This brief discusses the Easy Path: Blaming youth, gangs, popular culture, and “the media” that former President Clinton largely embraced. News reports are abuzz with a barrage of “shocking new studies” declaring popular-media influences such as television, movies, rap music, and internet sites are pivotal causes of violence by youth. Unfortunately,…