JPI Daily News Digest 3/7/12
Published: March 7, 2012
CA: Department of Education Data Show Urgent Need to Address Racial Disparities in School Discipline (Los Angeles Times via NAACP Legal Defense Fund)
Today Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, announced the results of the latest Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) – a national survey of 72,000 schools – which shows that racial disparities in school discipline, including suspensions, expulsions and arrests, remain alarmingly high in districts and states across the country.
DC: Pat Robertson Is Right About Prison Reform (The Atlantic)
Pat Robertson's position on the wisdom of decriminalizing marijuana possession -- evidently he is in favor of it -- is no longer news. My former colleague Chris Good was writing about the television evangelist's surprising views on pot back in December 2010. But what does now seem new to Robertson's on-air repertoire is his pitch for legalizing marijuana as part of a bigger pitch for serious and substantial reforms to the nation's criminal justice systems...
MO: Missouri House backs measure to overhaul prison system (Associated Press)
Some Missouri criminals placed on probation and parole could see shorter sentences and less jail time for minor violations under legislation endorsed Tuesday that could save money for the state's tight budget.
NY: Drug Policy as Race Policy: Best Seller Galvanizes the Debate (New York Times)
Garry McCarthy, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, did not expect to hear anything too startling when he appeared at a conference on drug policy organized last year by an African-American minister in Newark, where he was the police director. But then a law professor named Michelle Alexander took the stage and delivered an impassioned speech attacking the war on drugs as a system of racial control comparable to slavery and Jim Crow — and received a two-minute standing ovation from the 500 people in the audience...
TX: Mental Health Issues Common Among Youth Prisoners (Associated Press)
More than half of the young people in Texas' youth prisons have a moderate or high need for mental health care, and officials should improve their early intervention efforts to help those kids before they end up behind bars, the head of a new state agency told lawmakers Tuesday...
Posted in Criminal Justice News