California Runs Out of Money to Fund Mandated 1st-Offender Drug Treatment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California county officials who administer the state's treatment-not-jail program for certain drug offenders are struggling with a lack of funding that's not likely to improve, but advocates say ignoring the mandate simply isn't an option, reports the Contra Costa (CA) Times. Officials are trying to figure out how they'll continue to provide the same treatment without the money to pay for it. Enacted by 61 percent of voters in November 2000 as Proposition 36, the law says first- and second-time nonviolent, simple drug possession offenders must be given the opportunity to receive substance-abuse treatment instead of jail time. It would take another voter-approved ballot measure to undo it. Prop. 36 allocated $120 million per year for only five years, and as the state's budget crisis worsened, the legislature and governor declined to ante up. They set aside $108 million in 2008-09 but just $18 million in 2009-10, and then zeroed it out for this current fiscal year. Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal includes no money for it in 2011-12. A $45 million infusion of federal economic stimulus funds in 2009 is now all but gone, and the coffers are empty. It's a mandate with no money. |
Questions on $100,000 Per Predator Cost Of Locking up VA Sex Offenders ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nearly a decade ago, Virginia launched a program to keep sexual predators locked up once their prison sentences ended after learning that a serial child rapist who had kidnapped and brutalized a boy and then buried him alive might go free. State legislators are struggling with the escalating cost of the program that has kept hundreds of felons detained as the state faces growing needs in education, health care, and transportation, reports the Washington Post. As of January, 252 sex offenders had been indefinitely committed, costing more than $100,000 per felon every year. That population is expected to more than double within five years, causing even the program's biggest supporters to question whether the state can afford to keep so many sexual predators locked up for so long. "Are we being too aggressive in this?" asked Paul Martin Andrews, 51, whose harrowing experience as the young captive of Robert Ausley in 1973 led him to lobby the state to fund indefinite civil commitment for dangerous criminals. "It looks like someone is being overzealous or committing everyone they can." |
Chemical Weapons Case At High Court Tests Reach Of Federal Prosecutions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A criminal case before the Supreme Court today sounds like a soap opera, NPR reports. In 2005, Carol Anne Bond, a Philadelphia suburbanite, was sentenced to prison for six years for violating U.S. laws to carry out a 1993 chemical weapons treaty for attempting to harm her husband's mistress with chemicals. Bond cites the 10th Amendment to the Constitution - a Tea Party favorite because it highlights states' rights. It says that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution [] are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." She argues that Congress exceeded its authority by using a chemical weapons treaty to criminalize the kind of activity routinely dealt with under state law. In short, she maintained that the federal government had treated a simple assault as if it were a terrorist attack. If Bond had faced state instead of federal charges, she would likely have been subject to three months to two years in prison, rather than six years |
IL Crime Victims: Evaluate Inmates Before Any Early Release ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the second article in a series, the Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph examines the 2009 move by former state corrections director Michael Randle to change a policy that inmates must serve at least 60 days in prison before release. The action, "and the often-misinterpreted publicity about it - lit a political firestorm that cost him a promising career in Illinois, added an unexpected controversy to Pat Quinn's race for governor, and forced the ouster of several senior [corrections] staff members." "We shot ourselves in the foot by ending [a 'good-time' release program]," corrections official Cory Foster said. Victims' rights advocates want to see a thorough evaluation before inmates are released. "We're not wed to a specific number of days. The real issue is that people were released before they had time to be adequately evaluated," said Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, founder of www.illinoisvictims.org,a victims rights group. Notification rules should be strictly followed so victims know when offenders are released, she said. |
Ohio Gov. Kasich Launches Attack On Prescription Drug Abuse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ohio Gov. John Kasich came to Portsmouth, a community ravaged by the abuse of opiate-based prescription drugs and illegal opiates such as heroin, to announce creation of a multiagency drug task force guided by former Attorney General Betty Montgomery, reports the Columbus Dispatch. He signed an order allowing treatment agencies to use a new generation of medications to wean people off opiate addiction, and announced a $100,000 grant for the Counseling Center, a private, nonprofit drug-treatment agency in Portsmouth. "The devil was running rampant in this county," Kasich said. "We really believe that Scioto County can be the tip of the spear to engage this battle that a lot of Ohioans don't know is going on. We need a focused attack on the evil that lurks in this county that's destroying families." Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, was enthusiastic about the governor's order, which will allow treatment agencies to use new drugs such as Suboxone to treat people addicted to painkillers or heroin. |
Series On NJ Cop, Firefighter Steroid Use Wins Polk Award For Star-Ledger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amy Brittain and Mark Mueller of the Newark Star-Ledger were named winners of a 2010 George Polk Award in Journalism for "Strong at Any Cost," their series that "revealed rampant steroid use and fraud among cops and firefighters in New Jersey." The judges said that, "the tenacious work of the Star-Ledger tandem resulted in a wave of action from state lawmakers and the presidents of New Jersey's two largest police unions - including an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office and calls for random drug testing for steroids." The George Polk Awards have been administered by Long Island University since 1949. They memorialize CBS correspondent George W. Polk, who was slain covering the civil war in Greece in 1948. |
Super Bowl Proved a Bust As a Center for Sex Trafficking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before the Super Bowl in Dallas, Harriet Boorhem of the Promise House children's shelter, was told by the Dallas Police Department to expect thousands of underage prostitutes picked up during the sporting event. "We didn't get any," Boorhem tells Youth Today. "It seems the number was really inflated [] I don't know how it got blown up so big." A police spokesman said there was a total of one arrest for trafficking. That result defied the expectations of many. In November, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott labeled the Super Bowl "one of the biggest human-trafficking events in the United States." The KlaasKids Foundation reported 23 direct contacts with potential commercial sexual exploitation victims during the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami. The organization also reported recovering six missing children and "intervening in four potentially dangerous situations, removing five girls from potential recruitment or exploitation by pimps." |
Third St. Petersburg Officer Shot Dead In A Month; Manhunt Underway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A massive manhunt was under way today for the killer of St. Petersburg police officer David Crawford, a 25-year police veteran who was shot dead last night as he investigated a report of a prowler downtown, reports the St. Petersburg Times. Crawford, 46, was shot about 10:30 p.m. when he confronted a man walking on the street. A resident in the area had reported a suspicious man wearing a hoodie and carrying a brick walking in his yard. The shooting came one month after two St. Petersburg police officers were shot to death, the city's first police fatality in 31 years. "This is too much, not again," resident Don Enge said today. "I can't stand to see this. It's just not fair." |
NY Wrongful Conviction Panel Urges Reforms On Witness ID, DNA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A New York State task force examining the causes of wrongful convictions and ways to prevent them has recommended improving eyewitness identifications and expanding the state's DNA databank, reports the Albany Times-Union. The panel has a list of other issues to tackle, such as videotaping suspects' statements and interrogations by police and further discussion on DNA evidence. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman created the New York State Justice Task Force in 2009. It is co-chaired by Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and Court of Appeals Associate Judge Theodore Jones. In his State of the Judiciary address last week, Lippman said, "Nothing is more damaging to the pursuit of justice than the conviction of an innocent person." Since DNA was first used over 20 years ago, 266 DNA exonerations have been documented nationwide -- 27 of them in New York. "Every wrongful conviction is a double injustice that punishes the innocent and allows the guilty to go free, and an ugly stain on the reputation of the courts, chipping away at our legitimacy in the public eye," he said. Lippman said DNA samples are collected from those convicted of a felony or one of 35 misdemeanor offenses, which covers fewer than half the convictions in the state. |
Is California County's Early Inmate Release Causing Auto Thefts to Rise? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Fresno County, Ca., the financial crisis caused deep budget cuts at the sheriff's office, says California Watch. The sheriff laid off corrections officers and reduced the number of jail inmates. Now, some argue, auto thefts are on the rise because there are more criminals on the streets. While this scenario plays out in Fresno, some version of it could be coming to communities all over California. One of Gov. Jerry Brown's key budget fixes is shifting non-violent, low-level inmates from overcrowded state prisons to county jails - many of which are crowded too. It is cheaper for California to house them locally and the governor's office estimates saving $458 million with the change. It's not clear exactly how the county facilities will take these thousands of felons. Even if state officials avoid an early release program, local agencies might enact some kind of initiative themselves. In 2009, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office decided it could not afford to hold the inmates it already had after a round of funding cuts. The Fresno Bee reported that Sheriff Margaret Mims eliminated 75 jobs, with jail staffing taking the brunt of the hit to protect regular patrol jobs. Over the past year and a half, 15,000 inmates have been released early. Car thieves exit jail immediately after being booked as part of the sheriff's policy of not holding suspects on property crimes |
Another MA Parolee Arrest Prompts Calls To Re-Examine The Release System ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two recent cases in which men paroled from multiple life sentences went on to re-offend has a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council questioning whether the state needs to scrap the entire parole system, says the Salem (MA) News. Mary Ellen Manning, e member of the board that approves judicial and parole board appointments, said the system "is a sad mess" that ought to be replaced with something similar to the federal parole system. Sentencing ought to be done within strict guidelines, she believes. The arrest last week of Charles "Chucky" Doucette, 51, on domestic abuse charges raised questions about the parole board's controversial 2006 decision to parole him. Doucette was serving seven life sentences for an execution-style shooting and a pair of home invasions he committed while out on bail awaiting a retrial. He received a second-degree murder conviction, making him parole-eligible after 15 years. Doucette made parole on his first try and was released in 2007, over the objections of two parole board members and prosecutors, who argued against his release. |
Utah Prosecutor Upholds Police Fatal Killing Of Man Who Had Knife ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, in his first use-of-force ruling, said a West Valley City police officer was justified by law in shooting Brandon Chief to death, says the Salt Lake Tribune. The family attorney is calling for more oversight of officers and prosecutors who investigate fatal police shootings. "They wouldn't tell us anything," said Etta Chief, Brandon's mother, who arrived at her home Dec. 17 to learn her 21-year-old son had been taken to a hospital. Gill said police were called to the Chiefs' house, Brandon threatened them with a knife, and an officer shot him three times. Brandon's niece, 15, said, "it took 3 seconds" for the gunfire to start, she said. Jim Slavens, the family's attorney, said police could have done more to assess or de-escalate the situation before going into the house. "Nobody asked if he had a weapon, if anyone else was in there with him, what room he was in, what he had done," Slavens said. "Nobody tried to talk to anyone first." In large counties nationwide, it is the norm for prosecutors to review uses of force by police within their own county, said Scott Burns of the National District Attorneys Association, a former prosecutor. |
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Articles 22 Feb 2011
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