CA's Brown Scales Back Plan Shifting Prison-Parole Work To Cities, Counties ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California Gov. Jerry Brown has backed away from a controversial plan to shift responsibility for managing certain prisoners and parolees to local governments, reports the Los Angeles Times. Brown scaled back his proposal after law enforcement groups and municipalities loudly condemned his initial plan. Local officials said their jails are already overcrowded, and they had too few parole agents to monitor more ex-convicts. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said that the original proposal endangered public safety. Brown downsized the plan by stripping dozens of crimes from the list of offenses that would cause an inmate to be housed in local jails rather than state lockups. He shrank sharply the number of added cases that local parole agents must manage. The revised plan reduces the number of parolees that Brown initially wanted counties to supervise by 80,000 and the number of offenders they would have to incarcerate by 8,000. Brown has proposed to transfer money and responsibility for nearly $6 billion in state programs to local governments in the coming budget. It is a linchpin of his campaign promise to bring government "closer to the people," and he hopes to use the changes to persuade the public to support more taxes to balance the budget. |
Two National Juvenile Justice Groups Oppose Obama's Reform Initiative ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two national juvenile justice organizations are strongly opposing President Obama's proposal to overhaul federal funding for juvenile justice, reports Youth Today. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice, which represents the state advisory groups, said the plan would "jeopardize ongoing state efforts to achieve and sustain compliance" with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act . Obama would create a $120 million incentive grant system to replace $130 million of formula funds and block grants to states. Only states that complied with the four key federal requirements could compete for the funds. Even then, a compliant state might not get funding. The coalition eight states would be ineligible because they are not in compliance. "If states are denied equal access to federal resources," said the group, "this number would likely increase." The Campaign for Youth Justice, which campaigns against the practice of prosecuting juvenile offenders as adults and incarcerating them in adult facilities, said the proposal is "inconsistent with the Administration's position on the law." The administration is misleading, the campaign said, when it compares the proposal with Obama's Race to the Top initiative in the Department of Education. |
Plea Deal Offer in 18-Year Dugard Kidnapping Case: 440 Years to Life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy and Phillip Garrido have confessed to kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard 20 years ago, the Sacramento Bee reports. The two reportedly kept Dugard as a sex slave for the 59-year-old convicted kidnapper and rapist for 18 years. The confessions were part of an effort by Phillip Garrido to win some leniency in an 18-month-old court case that could send both defendants to prison for life. Defense attorney Stephen Tapson says prosecutors have offered Nancy Garrido a plea deal if she agrees to a sentence of 241 years and eight months to life, while her husband has been offered a sentence of 440 years to life. "Admittedly [Nancy] cooperated with him, under his authority, under his thumb," he said. "So, obviously, [] if we go (to trial) we're going to have to argue Stockholm syndrome and Patty Hearst stuff and so on. And there's already psychiatric evidence to show she was under his thumb." The case has dragged on since Dugard was found alive in August 2009, and she testified in September before a grand jury about her captivity. Dugard got a $20 million payment from the state for lapses by parole agents who supervised Garrido while she was being held captive. |
Majority of Oregonians Believe Crime is Rising Even When It's Down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crime rates are declining, but 52 percent of 1,569 adults surveyed by Portland State University believe crime is on the rise, The Oregonian reports. The disparity between perception and reality, said criminologist Brian Renauer, can affect everything from public policy to law enforcement's ability to keep the public safe. He directs the university's Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute, which which conducted the telephone survey last year. Respondents who said they thought crime had climbed were more inclined to define themselves as conservative. They typically did not have bachelor's degrees, reported their family income at less than $50,000 and said they were dissatisfied with the criminal justice system. Of that group, 45 percent ranked punishment and enforcement as top crime-control measures. Sociologists long have studied fear as an indirect effect of crime, and conclude it has contributed to everything from political campaigns with a law-and-order bent to the rapid growth of gated communities and the security industry. Some studies show a strong correlation between fear of crime and media consumption -- from the abundance of crime reports in newspapers and on TV to the plethora of forensics and cop dramas on the tube night and day. A 2009 Purdue University survey found that those who watched lots of crime shows estimated real-world deaths due to murder at 2 1/2 times more than non-viewers |
How Mobile Devices, Social Media Help Sexual Predators Find Targets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual predators, pornographers, and prostitution rings are capitalizing on the rising popularity of mobile devices and social media to victimize children, police and child safety experts tell USA Today. CyberTipline, the nation's hotline for reporting sexual exploitation of children, received 223,374 reports in 2010, nearly double the 2009 number. The soaring use of social networks, online games, smartphones, and webcams has translated into "more opportunities for potential offenders to engage with children," says Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is testing software that automatically scours seedy websites for evidence of child prostitution. If the technology from start-up DigitalStakeout proves effective, states could use it to monitor Facebook and Twitter for signs of predators stalking children. Children routinely divulge information about themselves across the Web, says John Whitaker of the Georgia bureau's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit. Often they do it away from home, on laptops and smartphones. "There is no real way for parents to monitor it all," he says. Services like Foursquare and Gowalla offer incentives for using a smartphone's GPS locator to post on Facebook and Twitter where the user is located. This makes it easy for predators to discover a potential victim's whereabouts |
40% of Cases On Atlanta Court's "Rocket Docket" Are Dismissed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 4 in 10 cases in Fulton County GA's "rocket docket" were dismissed in in the last six months of 2010, a rate nearly twice as high as other big cities with similar courts, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The judge who oversees the rocket docket, which expedites low-level felony cases, says dismissals are high because of the low quality of many cases he gets from police and prosecutors. The Fulton County district attorney places blame on the judges for the dismissal rate, arguing judges side with defendants too often when defense attorneys challenge evidence and police searches. A lighter case load that weeds out weak cases, argues Chief Magistrate Richard Hicks, would give judges more time to concentrate on the most serious cases. The so-called rocket docket Hicks oversees is expected to handle low-level felonies within nine weeks of arrest. The court became the center of controversy when Georgia State Patrol Trooper Chadwick LeCroy was shot to death in December. The accused gunman had walked out of jail days after being charged with an attempted car break-in because the arresting officer failed to testify in court. In July, the career criminal got 60 days plus probation on a cocaine plea despite being on probation. District Attorney Paul Howard took judges to task for lenient sentencing. Judges say the system is so overcrowded that it's tough to give cases the full attention they deserve. |
McNeil Island, WA -- Only Remaining U.S. Island Prison -- Closing In Budget Cut ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Washington State's 135-year-old McNeil Island prison will close April 1 because of state budget cuts, reports the Seattle Times. Inmates formerly worked on ferries that served the island, were part of road crew,s and labored on island farms. These days, the daily ferries carrying inmates, visitors and corrections staff have mostly been replaced by large barges as workers strip the sprawling prison of anything salvageable. McNeil Island, a former federal prison, at its peak was home to 1,700 inmates and has housed the likes of Charles Manson and Robert Stroud, better known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz." Operating it has been a costly proposition because of the logistics involved in transporting everything by water. Washington State took over McNeil Island in 1981, five years after it was closed by the Bureau of Prisons. It is the only U.S. prison accessible only by boat or air. The closure will save the state an estimated $8.6 million per year. The state spends roughly $1,200 more per inmate each year to house inmates at McNeil Island than at other state prisons. "It's sad that we have to do it," said corrections Eldon Vail, superintendent of McNeil Island from 1992 to 1994. "It was a good location for a prison; you had a moat and additional protection from folks getting out and getting free. |
TX Suspect in Fire That Killed 4 Kids Flees to Nigeria Before Charges are Filed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Houston day care operator's ability to slip out of the U.S. before she was charged in last week's fire that claimed the lives of four children has prompted questions about whether law enforcement or prosecutors dropped the ball, the Houston Chronicle reports. Jessica Tata, 22, left Texas on Saturday on a flight bound for Nigeria. One day later, a charge of reckless injury to a child was filed. But it was too late. Tata was gone. Houston Fire Department arson investigators said it took at least four approaches to the Harris County District Attorney's Office before prosecutors filed charges against Tata on Sunday. Fire Marshal Richard Galvan said an arson investigator told prosecutors on Friday they had a tip that Tata was preparing to leave the United States. "The state had to establish there were no other employees or adults on site at the time the defendant (Tata) left the residence," said Donna Hawkins, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. Tata operated an at-home day care for children. |
Godwin To Leave As Memphis Police Director, Collect $377,000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin retires this spring after 37 years with the city, he'll walk away $377,000 richer thanks to some generous city retirement policies, says the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Godwin, 59, announced last week that he would retire April 14 after he was unable to reach an agreement with Mayor A C Wharton to remain as director. His departure payment includes about $100,000 for unused sick leave, vacation days, and holidays. The remainder of the $377,000 involves interest and a retroactive $93,500-a-year pension that Godwin will be paid for each of the three years he has been enrolled in the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan. That retroactive pension comes on top of the annual salary Godwin already earned over that period. His most recent salary was about $120,000 annually. "That's a big number," City Councilman Shea Flinn said. "I think a lot of people are going to have a problem with that number." |
Why No One Who Helped Orchestrate Financial Crisis Is Going To Prison ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two and a half years after the financial system nearly collapsed, it appears that none of the highly paid executives who helped start the disaster will ever see jail time, like Michael Milken in the 1980s, or Jeffrey Skilling in the Enron disaster, says New York Times columnist Joe Nocera. It's a difficult question whether anybody should. In the 1980s, when nearly 1,000 savings and loans - a third of the industry - collapsed, costing the government billions, there were more than 1,000 major felony convictions, says William Black, a former regulator who teaches law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. The federal government threw enormous resources at those investigations. There were a dozen or more Justice Department task forces, involving more than 1,000 FBI agents. With the FBI now focused on terrorism, there isn't a lot of manpower left to dig into potential crimes that may have taken place during the financial crisis. Fewer than 150 of the bureau's agents are assigned to mortgage fraud. Lawyers who represent white collar defendants say that outside of New York, there aren't nearly enough prosecutors who understand the intricacies of financial crime and know how to prosecute it. Sheldon Zenner, a Chicago attorney says, "These kinds of cases are extraordinarily difficult to make. They require lots of time and resources." |
Oklahoma Second Chance Program For Women Claims 90% Success Rate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Oklahoma program has given women a second chance so they don't end up like the more than 2,500 women incarcerated in the state's prisons, The Oklahoman reports. State officials estimate 90 percent of women who've entered the female prison diversion programs haven't re-entered the criminal justice system. Currently, 133 women are enrolled. Sequita Smith, 44, was charged with a felony count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. She is a rare case in the program. Many women have committed drug or money crimes. "I snapped one day," said Smith, who had no previous criminal record before lashing out at her boyfriend. She says her life has turned around since entering the program. When she graduates next month, she plans to come back and volunteer. Smith is on probation. She was on a path to having it revoked before a judge sent her to the program. Katie Hayden, program manager, said the women work to identify the behaviors that got them in trouble. "Doing drugs, selling drugs, writing hot checks, getting angry and all of these behaviors meet a need they have," Hayden said. "We help them identify what it is they really need and find a way to address it positively." |
Sacramento Now Features the Hydroponics "Wal-Mart Of Weed" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Wal-Mart of weed has come to Sacramento, reports the Sacramento Bee. That's the moniker embraced by weGrow, a cavernous hydroponics store marketing itself as a retail outlet for people cultivating marijuana for personal medicinal use. The 10,000-square-foot weGrow store is the first national franchise for a company that bills itself as a supply and training destination for legal pot growers. The gardening emporium doesn't sell marijuana, but it is billed as "the first honest hydro store" and will be followed by weGrow stores in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, and Oregon in coming months. With California, 14 other states and the District of Columbia legalizing marijuana for medical use, the hydroponics industry is exploding. Unlike weGrow, most hydroponics outlets avoid any mention of marijuana, billing themselves only as generic suppliers for people growing anything from peppers to rosemary. The 'm' word is also avoided by some growing equipment and nutrient suppliers that either operate in states where medical marijuana is illegal - or don't want to offend organic farmers or other customers growing nonmedicinal products. |
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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