JPI Daily News Digest 2/13/12
Published: February 13, 2012
DC: Suspended from school in early grades (Washington Post)
Thousands of elementary students were suspended from public schools last year in Washington and its suburbs, some of them so young that they were learning about out-of-school discipline before they could spell or multiply...
FL: Florida spending too much for too little on prisons (Tampa Bay Times)
For several years, the Florida Legislature has taken bold steps to reduce the size of government in order to balance the budget without raising our taxes. These actions were necessary, but they have been extremely painful because they required cuts to existing services. Now legislators are considering a prison privatization idea that will save Florida taxpayers money — at least $9 million the first year, growing to as much as $20 million in future years —- with no reduction in services.
IL: Jail isn't the only option: Redeploy Illinois helps delinquent teens - and saves you money (Belleville News-Democrat)
Things could have ended up much differently for 18-year-old Curtis Warner. A year ago he was staring down at time behind bars. "I was doing the wrong stuff and getting into a lot of trouble I shouldn't have been getting in to," said Warner, of East St. Louis. "Since then, my whole attitude has changed. I don't even want to be around the people I was around before. I am making better decisions and I am a better person."...
MA: Teen killers get inconsistent sentences (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
Shrewsbury teen Valerie N. Hall pushed her mother down a flight of stairs in 2000, smashed her head in with a hammer and left Kathleen Thompsen Hall to die while she went for a ride with her boyfriend. For her mother's murder, Hall, a depressed and suicidal 16-year-old at the time, served nine years in prison...
PA: Pa. Budget Calls For Fewer Inmates (WTAE-ABC 4)
Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2012 budget predicts Pennsylvania's prison population dropping by more than 2,500 inmates, a decline corrections officials say will happen because of increased efficiency in the parole process....
Posted in Criminal Justice News