JPI Daily News Digest 2/2/12
Published: February 2, 2012
Delaware: Public defender warns of budget shortfall (News Journal)
The state's public defender warned lawmakers Wednesday of an impending shortfall of funds to pay for private lawyers who represent defendants in cases where the public defender's office has a legal conflict of interest...
Florida: Fasano is removed as chairman of budget committee for opposing prison plan (Miami Herald)
Minutes after the Senate leaders were forced to postpone a vote on a controversial bill to privatize 19 South Florida prisons because they couldn't muster the votes, the head of the opposition, Sen. Mike Fasano, was removed as chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee...
Florida: Florida Prisons Bill Would Expand Private Management, Netting A Big Win For Political Contributors (Huffington Post-Business)
Florida this week faces a choice that is increasingly confronting much of the nation -- whether to hand over a major slice of its prison system to private, for-profit businesses that answer to Wall Street...
Georgia: Georgia looks to keep teens out of lockup, save millions (WALB-10)
State lawmakers hope to pass a bill that will keep nonviolent juvenile offenders out of youth detention centers like the one located here in Albany...
New York: Marijuana Arrests Rose in 2011, Despite Police Directive (New York Times)
Low-level arrests for marijuana possession in New York City increased for the seventh straight year in 2011, according to a study released Wednesday — despite a September memorandum from the police commissioner that reminded officers to follow the letter of the law and not arrest people with the drug unless they have it in plain view...
Posted in Criminal Justice News