17 Oct 2011

Drug Law Changes Prompt Steep Decline in NY Minority Inmates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nearly 40 years after tough new drug laws led to an explosion in prison populations, New York state has dramatically reversed course, chalking up a 62 percent drop in people serving time for drug crimes today compared with 2000, reports the Poughkeepsie Journal. The steep decline - driven, experts said, by shifting attitudes toward drug offenders and the dropping crime rate - means that nearly 16,000 fewer minorities serve state time today than in 2000, groups that were hardest hit by the so-called war on drugs. Overall, the prison population declined 22 percent. Advocates called the statistics "quite extraordinary" and "encouraging." When compared nationwide, New York's figures are especially stunning. Among the 50 states, New York charted the biggest drop in its prison rolls from 2000 to 2010, a decade when 37 state prison systems had double-digit population hikes. It was the state's 1973 drug laws, championed by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, that helped kick off a massive national prison buildup - and the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world. Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal

Conventional Wisdom Check: Does the Average Cop Die at Age 59? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Knoxville News Sentinel says there is meager factual basis for the often-repeated conventional wisdom that the average age of mortality for a police officer is 59. The figure often is attributed to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice, but the agency says it never conducted such a study. The issue is a key to police budget and benefit debates across the country. So how long do police officers live? About as long as the average American, according to some studies. In 2008, the California Public Employees' Retirement System released a report that concluded the average public safety officer who retires at 55 (about four years earlier than the average worker) lives to be 81 - the same age as the typical government worker. A 2006 report by the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System provided similar results. But some cling to the the age 59 mortality rate, including a Vanderbilt University professor who states, "(The) overall mean age of death for police officers in the United States is 59." He cites a United States Public Health Service Vital Statistics Special Report published in 1963 that studied causes of death in 1950 among only men ages 20 to 64. Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel

In the Bronx, He's the Guy Police Call When They Need to Fill a Lineup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The New York Times profiles Robert Weston, 45, who for the past 15 years has been providing police in the Bronx with "fillers" - the decoys who accompany the suspect in police lineups. Detectives often find fillers on their own, combing homeless shelters and street corners for willing participants. But in the Bronx, detectives often pay Weston $10 to find fillers for them. Across the nation, police lineups are under a fresh round of legal scrutiny, as recent studies have suggested that mistaken identifications in lineups are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. But for all the attention that lineups attract in legal circles, Weston's role in finding lineup fillers is largely unknown. Few defense lawyers and prosecutors, though they spar over the admissibility of lineups in court, have heard of him. Fillers are paid $10 in the Bronx, and Weston gets $10 for every lineup he fills--sometimes four a day, sometimes none. He says it is his primary source of income. New York Times

NY Museums, Churches Get Anti-Terrorism Grants; 'Ridiculous,' Says Critic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hundreds of New York nonprofit groups have gotten a slice of nearly $2 billion in national Homeland Security grants this year by claiming they face a "high risk" of a terror attack, reports the New York Daily News. They include a Long Island church that got $150,000 because one of its members hosts a radio show where Islam is sometimes discussed; a Rochester children's museum that got $75,000 in 2009 by claiming its colorful design made it a terror target from the air, and the New York City Police Museum, which got $75,000 in fiscal 2008 to upgrade security because of its "symbolic nature." "It's ridiculous," James Carafano, a security expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said of some of the grants. He said the entire grant program has little value and would be better spent on active counterterrorism efforts. Henry Willis of the Rand Corp. added, "We haven't done a good job of understanding how our investments in these programs come together to increase our capability." New York Daily News

NYPD Gets Millions in Fed Security Funding But Won't Say How It's Spent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NYPD has received millions of federal Homeland Security dollars to heighten safety in the city, but the department refuses to say where the money goes, reports the New York Daily News. A recent quarterly report by the city purports to detail how federal grant money was being spent. But the names of all NYPD vendors are blacked out - even the name of the company that provides the department's cable TV service. The department says disclosing the information would enable someone to "effect" the department's "infrastructure" and could "endanger the life" of someone. Other city agencies, including the fire department, reveal the names of vendors in the same report. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne defended the secrecy, stating, "The process was developed to procure resources for any sensitive or covert operation in which disclosing product specifications to the public could lead to the detection or defeat of the equipment used. Examples include covert surveillance technology and leases on apartments for undercover operations. In these transactions, confidentiality regarding both the vendors and the specific products or services procured is crucial to the success of the investigation and the safety of the officers involved." New York Daily News

Police Officers Oppose Trend Toward Collection of Their DNA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rank-and-file police officers from Connecticut to Chicago to Los Angeles have opposed what some experts say is a slowly emerging trend in the U.S. to collect officers' DNA, reports the Associated Press. "From a civil liberties standpoint, there are a lot of red flags," said Connecticut Trooper Steven Rief, former president of the state police union. He said most officers are willing to give DNA samples if it aids an investigation, but they expect safeguards to protect the collected information. Officers say their concerns include management using the DNA information to see if employees are predisposed to diseases and to predict workers' future health problems. The rank-and-file also don't want their DNA placed onto a national database that holds criminals' genetic data. Connecticut state police officials tried to get the legislature to approve a law requiring officers to provide DNA samples in 2009, but the bill died after Rief and others spoke out against it. In Chicago, police officers rebelled with a work slowdown in 2008 because of resentment toward their new chief over several issues, including a new policy to collect DNA from officers working at crime scenes. In a still-unresolved dispute in Los Angeles, the police union and top brass have traded salvos over a requirement that officers give DNA samples in shootings involving police and other use-of-force incidents. Associated Press

Beard-Cutting Attacks Shine Spotlight on Amish Rift in Ohio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beard-cutting attacks this month among the Amish in central Ohio have brought unwanted national attention to the community and exposed a widening rift between mainstream Amish and followers of Sam Mullet, 66, a bishop who rules a breakaway group that some regard as a cult, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It also shed light on the strange punishment some say is doled out for crossing Mullet. The hair and beard cuttings are meant to be degrading. Once married, Amish men let their beards grow and women do the same with their hair, believing it is prescribed by the Bible. Police say the five men accused in the attacks were three sons and two followers of Mullet. In a rare interview with the Associated Press last week, Mullet said he didn't order the attacks but acknowledges that he didn't stop them. Mullet said the beard cuttings in Holmes County were to send a message to Amish people there that they should be ashamed of themselves for calling his community a cult. Cleveland Plain Dealer

Canadians See Politics in Defunding of Justice Policy Publication ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Canadian politicians in the midst of a roiling debate over criminal justice policy, the Ottawa Citizen reports that an influential best-practices publication produced the Centre for Criminology at the University of Toronto has been mysteriously defunded. "Criminological Highlights" was a distillation of information from more than 100 English-language academic journals on crime and criminal justice policy. The Canadian department of justice paid just $25,000 a year to fund it, but the contract was not renewed when it expired in May. The newspaper says the federal government isn't saying why the funding was ended, but it says a March 2010 Canadian Press story had something to do with it. That story said, "The federal Justice Department pays to help publicize leading criminal justice research that frequently discredits the Conservative government's 'tough-on-crime' agenda." It cited a number of examples. At the time that article appeared, "Criminological Highlights" was in the first year of a two-year contract. That contract ended in May, and so did its funding. Ottawa Citizen

Drucker, Stuntz Books Explore U.S. Incarceration Boom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ernest Drucker, a public health scholar, professor and physician, contends that mass incarceration ought to be understood as a contagious disease, an epidemic of gargantuan proportions, writes reviewer Michelle Alexander in the Washington Post. With voluminous data and meticulous analysis, he demonstrates in his provocative new book, "A Plague of Prisons," that the unprecedented surge in incarceration is a social catastrophe on the scale of the worst global epidemics, and that modes of analysis employed by epidemiologists to combat plagues and similar public health crises are remarkably useful when assessing the origins, harm, and potential cures. Alexander also reviews "The Collapse of American Criminal Justice," by the late Harvard law Prof. William Stuntz, who argues that the stunning surge in imprisonment of poor people of color can be explained by two factors: a dramatic spike in crime in the 1950s and '60s, coupled with profound changes in how our democracy is structured. Urban residents, he says, once had far more control over police and prosecutors and could exert more influence in the jury box. When those who bear the costs of crime and punishment exercise significant power over those who enforce the law, a more balanced and empathetic approach to crime is the predictable result, he writes. Washington Post

Post-Dispatch Decries Lax Regulation of Daycare in Missouri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In an editorial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the newspaper's troubling investigation of a willful lack of government regulation of daycare providers prompts a common-sense question: "Should it be the public policy of the state of Missouri to do as much to protect the lives of young children as it does for unborn children? Or, to put it another way, if we can't agree on when life begins, can we at least agree that infants shouldn't be allowed to die without lawmakers giving a damn?" Last week, the paper published a three-part series that examined the deaths of infants while under the supervision of child-care providers. Since 2007, at least 45 children in Missouri have died for reasons other than natural causes while under the supervision of day-care providers, most of them unlicensed, in a state that has some of the most lax child-care regulations in the nation. The editorial continued, "Compounding these tragedies is the abject failure of Missouri lawmakers who, over the over the past few years, have refused to pass very basic child-care regulations that would allow state or local officials to shut down illegal facilities or homes.().And there is very little the state can do to either stop the deaths or inform other parents about them." St. Louis Post-Dispatch

'Lesson Learned': 33 Machine Guns, Pistols Stolen from LAPD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A cache of LAPD submachine guns and handguns was stolen last week from a building used by the department's SWAT unit, raising fears that the weapons, which police had altered to fire only blanks, could be converted back to lethal use, the Los Angeles Times reports. The weapons, which include 21 MP-5 submachine guns and 12 handguns, were moved Wednesday night to a building downtown and stored in a locked box on the building's first floor, said Deputy Chief Michael Downing. Members of the SWAT unit, which specializes in hostage rescues and other high-risk situations. A police officer arriving Thursday morning at the building, where the unit was scheduled to train that day, discovered the weapons missing. The officer also found electrical equipment stacked near a back door, indicating the burglars may still have been working and fled when the officer arrived. The thieves cut through bolt locks on an outside door and two internal doors and forced their way through a metal roll gate. Downing said, "It's embarrassing.().It's a lesson learned." Los Angeles Times

Documentary Makes Case for Women Who Kill Abusive Spouses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A documentary film that debuts Monday on television's Investigation Discovery channel tells the stories of women imprisoned in California for killing the men they once loved. Those profiled in "Sin by Silence" include Brenda Clubine, who leads a prison support group for women like her, reports The Daily Beast. When Clubine killed her husband in 1983, there were 11 restraining orders against him and a warrant for his arrest. He'd put her in the ER more than once. But in that era "domestic violence" was treated as an issue best worked out in private. Clubine began organizing her support group when she realized she was surrounded in prison by a number of women who committed crimes similar to hers. By 1989, her 60-inmate "Convicted Women Against Abuse" was formally recognized by the state as the first inmate-run support group in the nation. She launched a letter-writing campaign to any politician whose address she could get her hands on. "Murder is what defines us: section 187 of the penal code," she says. "But these are normal, everyday people. Inmates, but also victims. We wanted our stories to be heard."