Advocates say plan will increase incarceration rates and negatively impact the poor and minorities

For Immediate Release
Monday, April 14, 2008

Contact: LaWanda Johnson (202)-558-7974 x308, cell 202-320-1029

Washington, D.C.--The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) announced today that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's anti-crime package ignores critical research that finds that investments in employment, education, housing and treatment for those who need it is the most effective and fiscally-responsible way to improve public safety. Research shows that Clinton's proposal to revive former President Clinton's COPS initiative, which called for investments in policing, would increase prison populations, and may have a negative impact on the nation's poor and minorities, without significantly reducing crime. The Clinton Administration's "tough on crime" policies resulted in the largest increases in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history. Advocates say re-implementing this agenda would be a return to bad policies.

"The first COPS was found to be costly and ineffective in reducing crime rates and COPS 2.0 is not an improved version of the first one," says JPI executive director Sheila Bedi. "COPS was only successful in filling our prisons and jails with people who research shows can be better served with treatment, evidence-based practices, and community-based alternatives that also promote public safety."

According to research, adding police to the streets is not the most effective method for reducing crime. Delaware received $19.6 million in COPS grants and during that same time, the number of violent crimes increased 35.9 percent. In contrast, Oklahoma City, which did not receive any COPS grants, decreased its police force by 16 percent and during that same period saw a dramatic 32.5 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes reported.
Furthermore, advocates say law enforcement professionals don't support policing as being the most effective method of reducing crime. In a 2002 poll, 71.1 percent of surveyed chief of police, sheriffs and prosecutors agreed that providing more educational and after-school programs would make the greatest impact in reducing youth crime and violence. Only 14.9 percent said that hiring more police would have the greatest impact.

"We've tried to win the war on gangs with law enforcement alone, but we have little to show for it," says National Black Police Association Executive Director Ronald Hampton. "Rather than engaging in endless battles, we need to target the problem behavior that hurts communities. We should support the kinds of prevention and proven programs that we already know reduce violence and crime."

Research supports investments in communities as a more cost effective and beneficial way of reducing crime. Research shows that when there is a reduction in crimes rates, it coincides with increased employment. When more people have jobs, fewer crimes are committed. A study by the Heritage Foundation found that "For every 1 percent increase in civilian labor force participation, violent crime is expected to decrease by 8.8 incidents per 100,000" people.

"Not only does the Clinton crime plan lack innovation and forward thinking, it ignores all we know about crime prevention. When people are employed, violent crime decreases," says Lisa Kung, Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights. "One in every one hundred Americans is incarcerated. It is clear that Clinton intends to continue a legacy of policies that will keep Americans paying for more police, more prisons and more punitive measures."

Advocates also believe that Clinton's opposition to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's decision to make retroactive the changes to sentencing for the thousands of people who had received disproportionately long sentences for crack-cocaine, most of whom are African American, is concerning. Nationwide, from 1995 to 2004, drug abuse violations were the only crime that saw an increase in arrests following the COPS grant.

However, a report by JPI release last year, found that while African Americans and whites use and sell drugs at similar rates, African Americans are ten times more likely than whites to be imprisoned for drug offenses mainly due to disparate policing practices, disparate treatment before the courts, mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws, and differences in the availability of drug treatment for African Americans.

According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, "it would be a cruel injustice to base the crack cocaine reduction on an assessment that these people have suffered under an unjust structure and then deny the benefit of the amendment to the very people whose experiences led the Commission to lower the sentences in the first place."

"If any of the candidates really wants to do something about crime, then they should invest in policies that increase employment, educational attainment and treatment for people who need it," says Bedi. "These are proven approaches that reduce crime and recidivism--evidence-based practices, which have undergone rigorous experimental inquiry, and have been shown to have proven public safety benefits."

For more information contact LaWanda Johnson at 202-558-7974, ext. 308.

Dear Colleague,

The National Juvenile Defender Center is pleased to announce the creation of the Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network (JIDAN), an initiative to promote change that enhances and strengthens juvenile indigent defense systems.

The Network, funded through the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change, will respond to the critical need to build the capacity of the juvenile defense bar and to improve access to counsel and quality of representation for youth involved in the justice system. State entities, organizations and collaborations with a designated fiscal agent, law school clinical programs, nonprofit law centers and other organizations are eligible to apply. Qualified applicants will demonstrate statewide support and the ability to build momentum for reform.

Entities from four new partner states will be selected to join the existing Models for Change states and will together form a structured Network. Participation in JIDAN will yield many significant benefits to the four new partner states including funding of up to $100,000 for one year to support juvenile indigent defense reform efforts (with additional funding likely), structured collaboration with seven other states working on similar issues and access to the latest developments, information and new training materials.

I hope you will take the opportunity to apply to be a part of this exciting endeavor and to forward this information to interested parties in the 38 eligible states and the District of Columbia.

Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin are already a part of Models for Change, or are in the Disproportional Minority Contact (DMC) or Mental Health Action Network, and as such are not eligible to apply.

The application packet, which includes detailed information about the Network, can be downloaded from the NJDC website by clicking here. The completed application must be received, by hard copy and in duplicate, no later than Friday, June 6 at 5:00 pm EST. On-line applications will not be accepted.The application may not be emailed or faxed. Only those entities selected will be notified. NJDC will post the selected grant recipients on our website.

If you have any questions, please contact me or Senior Policy and Communications Associate, Rey Banks at mailto:rbanks@njdc.info or at 202-452-0010.

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Patricia Puritz, Executive Director

 For Immediate Release: April 1, 2008
Contact: LaWanda Johnson (202) 558-7974 ext. 308

Jails bulging with people with mental illnesses, the homeless and people detained for immigration offenses; costing counties billions


Washington, D.C.—Communities are bearing the cost of a massive explosion in the jail population which has nearly doubled in less than two decades, according to a new report released today by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). The research found that jails are now warehousing more people--who have not been found guilty of any crime--for longer periods of time than ever before. The research shows that in part due to the rising costs of bail, people arrested today are much more likely to serve jail time before trial than they would have been twenty years ago, even though crime rates are nearly at the lowest levels in thirty years.

“Crime rates are down, but you’re more likely to serve time in jail today than you would have been twenty years ago,” said report co-author Amanda Petteruti. “Jail bonds have skyrocketed, so that means if you’re poor, you do time. People are being punished before they’re found guilty—justice is undermined.”

The report, Jailing Communities: The Impact of Jail Expansion and Effective Public Safety Strategies, found jail population growth (22 percent), is having serious consequences for communities that are now paying tens of billions yearly to sustain jails. Jails are filled with people with drug addictions, the homeless and people charged with immigration offenses. The report concludes that jails have become the “new asylums,” with six out of 10 people in jail living with a mental illness.

The impact of increased jail imprisonment is not borne equally by all members of a community. New data reveal that Latinos are most likely to have to pay bail, have the highest bail amounts, are least likely to be able to pay and, by far, the least likely to be released prior to trial. African Americans are nearly five times as likely to be incarcerated in jails as whites and almost three times as likely as Latinos. Further exacerbating jail crowding problems is the increase in the number of people being held in jails for immigration violations—up 500 percent in the last decade.

In 2004, local governments spent a staggering $97 billion on criminal justice, including police, the courts and jails. Over $19 billion of county money went to financing jails alone. By way of comparison, during the same time period, local governments spent just $8.7 billion on libraries and only $28 billion on higher education.

“These counties just cannot afford to invest the bulk of their local public safety budget in jails, and we are beginning to see why--the more a community relies on jails, the less it has to invest in education, employment and proven public safety strategies,” says Nastassia Walsh, co-author of the report.

Research shows that places that increased their jail populations did not necessarily see a drop in violent crimes. Falling jail incarceration rates are associated with declining violent crime rates in some of the country’s largest counties and cities, like New York City.

“The investment in building more jail beds is not making communities safer,” says Derrick Johnson, NAACP National Board member. “Instead these investments serve only to unfairly target communities of color and waste taxpayer dollars.”

The report recommends that communities take action to reduce their jail populations and increase public safety by:

• Improving release procedures for pretrial and sentenced populations.
• Implementing pretrial release programs that release people from jail before trial can help alleviate jail populations.
• Reforming bail guidelines would allow a greater number of people to post bail, leaving space open in jails for people who may pose a greater threat to public safety.
• Developing and implementing alternatives to incarceration. Alternatives such as community-based corrections would permit people to be removed from the jail, allowing them to continue to work, stay with their families, and be part of the community, while under supervision.
• Re-examining policies that lock up individuals for nonviolent crimes. Reducing the number of people in jail for nonviolent offenses leaves resources and space available for people who may need to be detained for a public safety reason.
• Diverting people with mental health and drug treatment needs to the public health system and community-based treatment. People who suffer from mental health or substance abuse problems are better served by receiving treatment in their community. Treatment is more cost-effective than incarceration and promotes a positive public safety agenda.
• Diverting spending on jail construction to agencies that work on community supervision and make community supervision effective. Reallocating funding to probation services will allow people to be placed in appropriate treatment or other social services and is a less costly investment in public safety.
• Providing more funding for front-end services such as education, employment, and housing. Research has shown that education, employment, drug treatment, health care, and the availability of affordable housing coincide with lower crime rates.

For more information on Jailing Communities, contact LaWanda Johnson at 202-558-7974, ext. 308.

• increasing the capacity of Baltimore courts to assess defendants’ drug treatment needs;
• improving information-sharing systems among assessors, treatment providers, and the criminal justice system;
• enhanced training on substance abuse and Baltimore’s treatment system for interested judges;
• expanding the use of methadone maintenance to jail detainees and people on methadone treatment waitlists;
• improving supervision of participants in court-ordered treatment by fully implementing Proactive Community Supervision in Baltimore;
• expanding Baltimore’s Drug Treatment Court Programs and the Felony Diversion Initiative;
• studying the population of “frequent users”;
• expanding supportive housing and residential treatment capacity in the City; and
• improving representation of substance-addicted defendants by hiring more Office of the Public Defender (OPD) attorneys and staff to increase the number of defendants served by OPD’s Division of Client Services.