Justice Policy Institute latest news

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Justice

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Goodies Frozen Custard & Treats, the nation's first and only vintage mobile eatery offering the finest proprietary frozen custard and Mom approved gourmet Goodies, is partnering with the Justice Policy Institute
to bring ice cream for justice to downtown Washington, D.C.!

A portion of the proceeds will benefit JPI's work to help reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promote policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities.

Share our flier and spread the word via your social networks for all to enjoy Goodies treats like root beer floats, custards, hot fudge sundaes and baked treats made from scratch.

Goodies will park its vintage truck, affectionately known as Gigi, at Franklin Park (McPherson Metro stop) located at the intersection of 14th and K Streets, NW, from 11 am to 3pm Tuesday, May 28, 2013.

Join us for this pre-summer ice cream social and meet JPI staffers and board members. Can't make it? Consider making a donation to JPI in your absence.

We hope to see you there!

Follow Goodies on Twitter at @goodiesdc and Like them on Facebook. #IScream4Justice

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JPI Daily News Digest 5/13/2013

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Armenian Prison Officials Hope To Learn From Wisconsin's Prison System

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JPI Daily News Digest 5/8/2013

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Findings from the First Ever National Survey of Juveniles in Custody

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JPI Daily News Digest 5/7/2013

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:00:00 -0600

American as Apple Pie Tradition: Criminalizing Black Girls

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Baltimore City Child Support Forum

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Baltimore City Child Support Forum

The Greater Baltimore Criminal Justice Grassroots Network in partnership with Coppin State University invites you to a community forum to discuss the current state of child support policies in Maryland and provide tools to navigate the child support system. In an effort to improve services, the forum will bring together agency officials, custodial and non-custodial parents, advocates, and service providers to collectively examine the Maryland child support system and how to improve outcomes.

Help promote this event.

WHEN:
Weds., May 22, 2013 11:00 A.M to 3:00 P.M

WHERE:
Coppin State University (2500 West North Avenue)
Health and Human Services Building, Room 103

Free event with RSVP.Lunch provided.For more information and RSVP to:
Adwoa Masozi
amasozi@justicepolicy.org
202.558.7974 ext.306

More About the Child Support Forum
Child support plays an invaluable role in the quality of a child’s life and their trajectory toward a healthy and positive future. However, non-custodial parents with criminal records often find themselves unable to meet child support obligations due to an inability to secure stable employment.

Last year, the Maryland legislature passed a law that automatically suspends child support payments of non-custodial parents who are incarcerated for more than 18 months and have no financial means to pay child support while incarcerated. This policy, which only applies to individuals sentenced after October 2012, will alleviate incarcerated parents from the stress of owing upwards of $30,000 when released from prison, and prevent severe salary deductions and suspended driver’s license (Job Opportunities Task Force).

The inability to meet child support obligations is discouraging for anyone, especially residents returning to the community from incarceration. These individuals often become so discouraged knowing they will not be able to meet those obligations that they are forced into an underground work world that puts them back on course with the justice system and nobody wins–especially the child.

Child support enforcement practices have traditionally focused on aggressively collecting payments from the non-custodial parent without much consideration to the economic or social plight of the individual. Such policies and practices create additional strains on the family, without regard to the impact on a child’s relationship with each parent and reduce the possibility of collaborative parenting.

JPI Spring 2013 Newsletter: First Quarter Successes, Transitions

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

In this issue:

Peter Leone, Ph.D., Acting Director

New Year, New Research

JPI at Forefront of School Police Debate

Stanford University Students Spend Spring Break with JPI

Maryland Gains, Child Support Forum

Mistakes Kids Make: Join the Campaign

Peter Leone, Ph.D., Acting Director

As JPI nears welcoming a new executive director to its staff, our Board of Directors' Chair, Dr. Peter Leone joined the staff as acting executive director in February while on sabbatical from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has been a member of JPI's Board for eight years and served as Chair for two years. As Acting Director, he oversees JPI's operations and provides oversight, as well as leadership and stability. Along with his duties with JPI, Dr. Leone is a professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education in the College of Education. He has been involved with juvenile and adults corrections through research, evaluation, and monitoring activities in more than 25 states.

When in his office, JPI staff often get an earful of Simon and Garfunkel or a humorous tale about Peter's Iowa roots and travels around the globe.

New Year, New Research

2013 is another exciting year for JPI.

JPI's "A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice
in Washington, D.C."

We have released our fourth and final brief in our D.C. youth public safety series examining how investments in D.C.'s child welfare system can help improve public safety and positive life outcomes for the District's youth. Read Fostering Change: How Investing in D.C.'s Youth Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline. The report caught the eye of the Washington, DC City Council where co-author of the report, Paul D. Ashton offered testimony last week and was featured on Washington's WPFW 89.3 FM.

JPI at Forefront of School Police Debate

In the wake of the Newtown, CT, shootings, JPI has remained a source of information regarding school safety, particularly around the issue of efforts to deploy more police in schools. With such an emotionally charged topic, we recognize the need for rational and data-driven research. On December 22, 2012 we released Measured Responses: Why increasing law enforcement in schools is not an effective public safety response to the Newtown tragedy, a fact sheet that referenced our previous research, reemphasizing why increased police presence in schools has more pitfalls than benefits. We have also released collateral pieces to this story, including blogs on popular progressive site, www.christweigant.com, and a letter to the editor in the Washington Post, penned by Acting Executive Director, Dr. Peter Leone. Additionally, we continue to keep abreast of this issue and developments within the juvenile justice field, in part through participation in the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition's Newtown Response Group meetings and listserv.

Stanford University Students Spend Spring Break with JPI

For 10 weeks, about 15 Stanford have studied injustice in the criminal justice system in preparation for their alternative spring break trip to the nation's capital to meet with numerous criminal justice reform organizations, including the Justice Policy Institute. The students met with Grants and Research Coordinator Paul D. Ashton and Director of Communications Zerline Hughes at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church for a robust discussion on U.S. criminal justice policies and procedures that have led to over incarceration over the last 20 years including the confluence of education and poverty.

Maryland Gains, Child Support Forum

Victory in Maryland

One of our defining issues through the Greater Baltimore Grassroots Criminal Justice Network in Maryland has been to work on policy reforms that remove barriers to reentry for returning citizens; particularly as they pertain to employment and housing. Last year, JPI lead a huge victory in Baltimore by working with the mayor's office to have an extremely damaging provision removed that would have prohibited individuals with criminal records from working under city awarded contracts. Not only did the city work with us to have the language removed, but they included new language to encourage contractors who bid on those contracts to actively consider individuals with criminal records.

This year, JPI and the Job Opportunity Task Force scored another big victory for returning citizens as the governor just signed into law legislation to "Ban the Box" on state job applications in Maryland.

The law gives individuals with records a chance to get their foot in the door and be judged on their merit rather than automatically having their application dismissed because of a check box signifying that they had a felony conviction. Prospective employers, however, may still ask for felony disclosure during the interview phase.

Legislative Efforts in Annapolis

During this quarter, JPI has supported legislative efforts in Annapolis to remove barriers to employment and housing for individuals with criminal records. JPI supported HB1006/SB 701 to shield criminal records of Marylanders with nonviolent convictions. As research has shown that recidivism declines steadily over time, the proposed legislation would make certain nonviolent convictions eligible for shielding after a certain amount of time while still allowing law enforcement access to the records.

JPI also supported SB 282/HB 1053, a casino hiring bill aimed at ensuring Maryland residents have job opportunities at planned casino centers. The issue is that current law prohibits the hiring of any prospective employee who has in the past been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude. The proposed legislation would prohibit the Maryland gaming commission from not hiring someone charged with moral turpitude conviction after five years of their conviction.

Child Support Forum May 22, 2013

JPI is leading the Greater Baltimore Grassroots Criminal Justice Network in hosting a child support forum aimed at assisting returning individuals who owe arrearages. The forum will be held at Coppin State University on May 22, and is designed to help educate returning citizens on Maryland child support laws and provide resources from agencies and organizations with child support enforcement jurisdiction.

Child support is one of the most debilitating collateral consequences of involvement in the Maryland justice system creating a situation that forces many returning noncustodial parents into an underground workforce that puts them back on course with the justice system.

Mistakes Kids Make: Join the Campaign

JPI is part of the Mistakes Kids Make national campaign to help increase public awareness about the need for more comprehensive policy that supports better outcomes for justice-involved youth. The campaign uses video, storytelling and public surveying to make the point that mistakes we make as kids should not ruin our lives or that of our families.

All Kids Make Mistakes

One goal of the campaign is to further the understanding that children are developmentally different from adults. Children who commit crimes still need and deserve the support and services to help them make better decisions in the future and addresses the root cause(s) of their transgression.Take the pledge to take a stand for better local and state level support for kids involved in our justice systems.

Incarceration Generation: Author Spotlight

In the designer's hands as you read this, "Incarceration Generation," our look at two decades of criminal justice reform work is set to come out soon with a forward by author Michelle Alexander.

With your tax-deductible donation of $50 or more, you will receive a copy of this book of essays written by and highlighting the work of organizations including the Open Society Foundations, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and the Detention Watch Network.

Emily Tucker, director of Policy and Advocacy for Detention Watch Network contributed an essay on immigration. She felt called to work on issues of social justice after her first career as a professional dancer. She has seen many friends and loved ones hurt by harsh immigration and criminal justice policies. For two and a half years, Emily has helped bring the voices of the coalition's 200 members to the national policy conversation. She is particularly concerned about the way the criminal justice system is being used to pull immigrants into detention and deportation. She most appreciates being part of a community of inspiring people who strive for a better world.

In this issue:

Peter Leone, Ph.D., Acting Director

New Year, New Research

JPI at Forefront of School Police Debate

Stanford University Students Spend Spring Break with JPI

Maryland Gains, Child Support Forum

Mistakes Kids Make: Join the Campaign

Incarceration Generation: Author Spotlight

Peter Leone, Ph.D., Acting Director

New Year, New Research

JPI at Forefront of School Police Debate

Stanford University Students Spend Spring Break with JPI

Maryland Gains, Child Support Forum

Mistakes Kids Make: Join the Campaign

JPI Daily News Digest 4/25/2013

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

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DC Council Testimony on CFSA Budget Oversight Hearing

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

This testimony was presented to the D.C. City Council during the Children and Family Services Agency Budget Oversight Hearing. Paul Ashton, Research and Grants Coordinator at the Justice Policy Institute, based his testimony on the findings in the JPI brief Fostering Change: How investing in D.C.’s child welfare system can keep kids out of the prison pipeline.

"In Fostering Change, we examine some of the patterns of youth involvement in the child welfare system. We know that family and neighborhood poverty are two of the strongest predictors of child maltreatment and that is reflected in D.C. We have one of the highest rates of child poverty in the country, largely concentrated in Wards 7 and 8 and correspondingly rates of youth in foster care are highest in those wards as well. There is also a similar pattern when examining child welfare involvement by race. Ninety-nine percent of youth involved in the child welfare system in D.C. are youth of color. Wards that have the most people of color also have the highest rates of youth in foster care, for instance Wards 5, 7 and 8 make up about 75 percent of all substantiated cases of abuse and neglect...

Smart investments in CFSA can help to reduce the number of youth who enter its care, crossover into the juvenile justice system and help to reduce future justice system involvement. Within Fostering Change, we look at the link between child maltreatment and delinquency, highlighting four major risk factors: mental health, victimization, educational instability and the type and number of placements within the child welfare system. In addition, we emphasize the role that neighborhood and parental stability play in child involvement in both the welfare system and the juvenile justice system.."

Read Testimony
Go to Human Services Budget Hearing page
View Human Services Budget Hearing
Read Fostering Change

JJIE Launches New Juvenile Justice Hub, Explores Mental Health

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

JJIE Launches New Juvenile Justice Hub, Explores Mental Health
The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange has launched a series of articles exploring critical questions in juvenile justice, beginning with an in-depth look at the treatment of mentally ill youth in Cook County, the cradle of juvenile justice, and throughout Illinois. The stories are part of a new comprehensive Juvenile Justice Resource Hub developed in partnership with the National Juvenile Justice Network and the MacArthur Foundation. http://jjie.org /hub

JPI Daily News Digest 4/23/2013

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

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JPI Daily News Digest 4/22/2013

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Click to view today's News Digest

Please e-mail the Communications Associate to receive emails of JPI's daily news digest.

JPI Daily News Digest (4/19/2013)

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

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Tuesday April 16: PBS to Air "The Central Park Five" Giving Light to Racial Disparity in U.S. Criminal Justice System

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Excerpted from PBS.org

"The Central Park Five," a new film from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. The film chronicles the Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.

"This case is a lens through which we can understand the on-going fault-line of race in America," said Sarah Burns, who also wrote The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding, (Knopf, 2011). "These young men were convicted long before the trial, by a city blinded by fear and, equally, freighted by race. They were convicted because it was all too easy for people to see them as violent criminals simply because of the color of their skin."

The film airs on PBS Tuesday April 16, 2013 at 9:00 pm EST. For more information, go to: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/

Video: A Blueprint for Juvenile Justice in Washington, D.C.

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

This film is based on a series of briefs focusing on youth-serving systems in the District that include: education, mental health, employment and child welfare. When considered together, the research offers a blue print for improved systems and suggests collaboration in supporting youth to ensure better public safety outcomes for the District as a whole.

Our report, Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline looks at the need for robust community investments to increase public safety and youth outcomes in areas such as Wards 5, 7 and 8, which are majority African American having also the highest rate of children living below the poverty line and in foster care. The District has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, which has direct and long-term implications on the city’s youth.

Parental incarceration is now the third highest reason for child welfare system involvement in the District, following neglect and abuse. The community and family impacts of mass incarceration are disproportionately prevalent among African-American children and children of parents with low levels of educational attainment. Nationally, African-American children are three times more likely than Latino children and seven times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison and incarcerated parents tend to face significant barriers to retaining their parental rights.

Fostering Change is the fourth and last in a series of research briefs that shows reducing harm to children in the home, strengthening families, and investing in systems that support children who are abused and neglected should be part of a comprehensive public safety strategy in the District.

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View this video on YouTube
Fostering Change report

Keeping Families Together Leads to Fewer Kids in the Prison Pipeline

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Contacts:
Adwoa Masozi 202.558.7974 x306 / Mobile: 202.445.9989
Zerline Hughes 202.558.7974 x308 / Mobile: 202.320.1029

Keeping Families Together Leads to Fewer Kids in the Prison Pipeline

Keeping Families Together Leads to Fewer Kids in the Prison Pipeline
Youth in D.C.’s child welfare system can be better served if D.C. policy makers prioritize the needs of its vulnerable children and their families by investing in the mental health and employment programs, and education systems that support them.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Children in Washington, D.C.’s child welfare system are at greater risk for involvement in the justice system due to abuse, neglect and home removal that stem from conditions of poverty, community instability, parental incarceration and parental substance abuse and mental health issues, according to a report released today by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). In protecting children from abuse and neglect, child protective agencies are responsible for working closely with parents and families to ensure that child removal is the last resort. Even amidst aggressive reforms, the District is still removing children from their homes at higher rates than other comparable cities, which adversely impacts the goal of increasing positive life outcomes for youth who are involved in the child welfare system.

Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’S Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipelinelooks at the need for robust community investments to increase public safety and youth outcomes in areas such as Wards 5, 7 and 8, which are majority African American having also the highest rate of children living below the poverty line and in foster care. The District has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, which has direct and long-term implications on the city’s youth. Parental incarceration is now the third highest reason for child welfare system involvement in the District, following neglect and abuse. The community and family impacts of mass incarceration are disproportionately prevalent among African-American children and children of parents with low levels of educational attainment. Nationally, African-American children are three times more likely than Latino children and seven times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison and incarcerated parents tend to face significant barriers to retaining their parental rights.

“We agree on the need for smart reinvestment to improve outcomes for children, families, and the community,” said Judith Sandalow, Executive Director of Children’s Law Center, an organization that provides legal services to children, families, and caregivers in the District. “Preventing abuse, neglect, and the trauma of involvement with the child welfare system offers a better return on investment than having to pay for more intensive and expensive services later.”

“Improving public safety and life outcomes for youth in D.C. requires city leaders to make smart investments in all youth serving systems,” added Paul D. Ashton, JPI Research and Grants Coordinator and report co-author. “It is only through robust investments and cross-systems collaboration in education, youth employment, mental health and child welfare that we can work to effectively reduce juvenile justice system involvement, increase District wide public safety and ensure that the District’s youth have the opportunities to achieve positive life outcomes.”

This report is the last in a series of briefs authored by JPI that provide a blue print for improved systems and suggest collaboration in supporting youth to ensure better public safety outcomes for the District as a whole.

“The Justice Policy Institute's brief series explores many of the risk factors that contribute to delinquency in D.C. - poverty and lack of employment, an education system that is still failing too many of our youth, and family instability,” said R. Daniel Okonkwo, Executive Director of D.C. Lawyers for Youth, a DC-focused juvenile justice organization that works with youth courts. “When devising a comprehensive strategy for reducing delinquency and improving public safety, we cannot focus just on enforcement. We also must focus on and address these root causes.”

Fostering Change makes the following recommendations for improving the child welfare system:

1. Expand the District’s child maltreatment prevention efforts. The D.C. Government and Prevent Child Abuse America introduced the District’s first city-wide child maltreatment prevention plan in 2010. Although the city has produced a prevention plan, in 2013, budget cuts to the Children and Family Services Agency (CFSA) resulted in a reduction of prevention services funding by $1.2 million for the fiscal year. Interventions must be culturally relevant and available in the areas of the District facing concentrated disadvantage, including Wards 5, 7 and 8. Prevention services are necessary to reducing the number of children who enter care, which is an investment that will pay off in reduced foster care, criminal justice and human costs.

2. Prioritize educational support and stability. Children involved in the child welfare system, and particularly those in out-of-home placements, are at an increased risk of experiencing poor educational outcomes. Promoting school engagement among these youth has been proven to mediate the relationship between maltreatment and delinquency. The District needs to ensure that supports are put in place that maintains consistency related to educational level, peer relationships and overall stability of the child. In addition, there should also be cross-system communication and collaboration between the child welfare system and educational system. Investments in the District’s education system focused on combating low levels of educational attainment and truancy, while promoting early education, after school care and mentoring programs would further interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and decrease justice system spending.

3. Enable access to timely, appropriate, culturally responsive and trauma- informed mental health prevention and treatment for District youth and their families. The prevalence of mental health issues in both parents and children involved in the child welfare system warrants routine and effective screening and assessments; the availability of timely, accessible and consistent evidence- based treatment services; continuity of care across all youth- serving systems; and youth-serving professionals that are informed in basic mental health science, terminology and resources. Mental health services should be located in proximity to biological and foster parent homes with hours that are accessible to working caregivers. Due to the disproportionate impact of trauma that youth in the child welfare system face, it is also imperative that all child welfare staff and service providers are able to identify traumatic experiences and trauma-related symptoms in both youth and caregivers, so they are empowered to recommend trauma resources and provide trauma-informed services.

4. Provide meaningful and sustainable employment opportunities to youth. Because of the strong interrelationship between poverty and child welfare system involvement, creating pathways to economic stability and prosperity must be created. Implementing innovative incentives to engage and sustain youth participation in employment programs, and employers willing to hire youth with previous justice system involvement, will promote positive workplace experiences, earning potential, and positive outcomes for District youth. Employment opportunities for youth transitioning into independence and adulthood are particularly meaningful for youth aging out of the foster care system.

“Reducing child welfare system involvement will require that the conditions and challenges caused by neighborhood and community poverty and disadvantage, which impede a family’s ability to ensure the safety and well-being of its children, be addressed. It is important for policymakers in D.C. to examine how the District can better serve its youth, enhance services and support for families and work to increase District wide public safety,” said report co-author Katie Ishizuka.

To read Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline, CLICK HERE. For additional information, please contact Adwoa Masozi at (202) 558-7974 x306 or amasozi@justicepolicy.org.

The Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, DC, is working to reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promote policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities. For more JPI reports on the criminal justice system, please visit our website at www.justicepolicy.org.

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Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline looks at the need for robust community investments to increase public safety and youth outcomes in areas such as Wards 5, 7 and 8, which are majority African American having also the highest rate of children living below the poverty line and in foster care. The District has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, which has direct and long-term implications on the city’s youth.

Download
Brief
Press Release

Related Documents
The series provides a blue print for improved systems and suggest collaboration in supporting youth to ensure better public safety outcomes for the District as a whole.

Mindful of the Consequences: How Improving the Mental Health of D.C. Youth Benefits the District

Working for a Better Future: How expanding employment opportunities for D.C’s youth creates public safety benefits for all residents

The Education of D.C.: How Washington D.C.’s investments in education can help increase public safety

JPI Daily News Digest for 3/4/13

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0600

National: Better Care for Young Offenders (New York Times)
It took four years. But the Obama administration has finally filled an important post at the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which oversees juvenile justice policy and distributes federal grants to encourage reform at the state and local levels.

CT: Smartening Up On Approach To Young Offenders (Hartford Courant)
Two reports released this week establish Connecticut as a national leader in the trend to end the costly and counterproductive reliance on incarceration for youthful offenders. A Kids Count Data Snapshot released on Wednesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation documented a 41 percent drop in the juvenile confinement rate nationwide from 1997 to 2010, with the most rapid declines occurring since 2006.

LA: Report cites La. as example in reducing juvenile incarceration (The Advertiser)
A new report shows Louisiana and four other states as the example for how to reduce juvenile confinement. All five states in the Justice Policy Institute study, released Wednesday, had a 50 percent or more reduction in the number of juveniles incarcerated from 2001 to 2010. Other states in the report were Connecticut, Tennessee, Minnesota and Arizona.

CT: Report: CT Has Cut The Rate At Which It Puts Young People Behind Bars (Youth Public Media)
A new report shows that Connecticut has sharply cut the the rate at which it puts young people behind bars. WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, it's the sharpest decline in the nation.

MS: Town Relies On Troubled Youth Prison For Profits (NPR)
Prisons are filled with stress and violence; without proper supervision they can revert to primitive places. That's what happened at Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi, an NPR news investigation has determined. As the nation's largest juvenile prison, Walnut Grove houses 1,200 boys and young men in a sprawling one-story complex ringed by security fences about an hour's drive east of Jackson. The State of Mississippi pays a private corrections company to run the prison.

National: Racial Disparities Decline in Female Arrests (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange)
Last week, The Sentencing Project Executive Director Marc Mauer released findings from a new policy report evaluating female incarceration trends. “We’ve been looking at race and incarceration for well over two decades,” he said. “The story in general has been a discouraging one. We’ve seen high–almost shockingly high–rates of incarceration for African-American men in particular, but increasingly for women of color.”

National: Locked Out of Jobs, Formerly Incarcerated Struggle to Reintegrate (TruthOut)
Thanks to our harsh criminal justice policies and anti-drug laws, an extraordinary number of Americans will spend some part of their lives in the prison system. As a society, we're finally starting to rethink the policies driving the explosion in imprisonment: the "tough on crime" measures that have shattered communities and families for over a generation. Some states have sought to cut prison populations to curb the massive cost of incarceration.

National: How Private Prisons Game the Immigration System (The Nation)
Thirty years ago in January, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), now the biggest operator of private prisons in the world, opened its first prison, a federal immigrant detention center in Houston, Texas. Three Decades of Service to America, a page on the company’s website, features a video interview with the company’s founders looking back on that first contract.

National: Race, Women and Prison (The Crime Report)
The racial disparity between black incarcerated women and white incarcerated women dropped by nearly half between 2000 and 2009, according to a study released Wednesday. Rates of incarceration for black women declined about 31 percent during that period, from 205 women per 100,000 to 142 per 100,000.

PA: State Releases Recidivism Report, Finds $44.7 Million in Potential Savings (WESA)
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections released a comprehensive state recidivism report this week. This is the first such recidivism report in six years – the department used to do a much more pared down report.

Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut highlights the past two decades of Connecticut’s successful efforts to improve responses to youth who engage in delinquent behavior and to reduce the number of youth placed into detention centers, correctional training schools, and/or other residential facilities.Specifically, the state reduced residential commitments from 680 in 2000 to 216 in 2011 (nearly 70 percent), even though most 16 year-olds, who were previously treated as adults, are now handled in the juvenile system. The state has also closed one of its three state-operated detention centers, and reduced the under 18 population in Connecticut's adult prisons from 403 in January 2007 to 151 in July 2012. Meanwhile, Connecticut expanded its investment in evidence-based, family-focused adolescent treatment programs from $300,000 in 2000 to $39 million in 2009.

For decades, Connecticut was one of only three states that prosecuted and punished all 16 and 17 year-olds as adults. In 2007, the state enacted historic legislation to ‘raise the age’ of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 18, effective January 1, 2010 for 16 year olds and July 1, 2012 for 17 year olds. Even before 17 yearolds became eligible for juvenile court on July 1, 2012, the new law had enabled 8,325 16 year olds to avoid prosecution and punishment in the adult criminal justice system. In addition, Connecticut has outlawed detention for youth accused of status offenses (like truancy and running away from home) that would not be illegal if committed by adults, and created a new treatment system to keep nearly all status offenders out of the court system entirely.

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Executive summary of Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

Read short version of Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut

Full report of Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

Five States Dramatically Reduce the Number of Youth in Juvenile Detention Centers

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2013

CONTACT:
Zerline Hughes 202.558.7974 x. 308
Adwoa Masozi 202.558.7974 ext. 306

Five States Dramatically Reduce the Number of Youth in Juvenile Detention Centers
Two new reports look at how AZ, CT, LA, MN, and TN slashed the number of young people in confinement by half, while preserving public safety and improving youth outcomes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Removing young people who engage in delinquent behavior from their homes and communities and incarcerating them in locked facilities is no longer the status quo in five states, according to two new reports released today by the Justice Policy Institute.

Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth and Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half, shed light on the pronounced trend toward reduced confinement of youth nationwide. Through a variety of methods, the reports find, Connecticut, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Tennessee all reduced youth confinement by more than 50 percent between 2001 and 2010, with no resulting uptick in juvenile crime.

A deeper look at Connecticut’s juvenile justice system reforms shows that, through a system-wide culture change and major investments in evidence-based services, a previously wasteful, punitive, ineffective, and often abusive juvenile justice system was transformed into a national model, at no additional cost to taxpayers (after adjusting for inflation).

Combined with a data snapshot showing state-by-state youth incarceration rates that is also being released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the twoJPI reports put the trend toward reduced confinement of youth in context and offer lessons that reformers in other jurisdictions can adapt and use in their own communities.

“The success across these diverse states in reducing the number of youth in confinement shows that there is no reason other states can't halve their populations as well,” said Peter Leone, PhD., acting executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. "And the fact that some ofthe highlighted states made progress without a major realignment in funding means that economic factors should not be an excuse to avoid reform efforts."

Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut highlights the past two decades of Connecticut’s successful efforts to improve responses to youth who engage in delinquent behavior and to reduce the number of youth placed into detention centers, correctional training schools, and/or other residential facilities.Specifically, the state reduced residential commitments from 680 in 2000 to 216 in 2011 (nearly 70 percent), even though most 16 year-olds, who were previously treated as adults, are now handled in the juvenile system. The state has also closed one of its three state-operated detention centers, and reduced the under 18 population in Connecticut's adult prisons from 403 in January 2007 to 151 in July 2012. Meanwhile, Connecticut expanded its investment in evidence-based, family-focused adolescent treatment programs from $300,000 in 2000 to $39 million in 2009.

For decades, Connecticut was one of only three states that prosecuted and punished all 16 and 17 year-olds as adults. In 2007, the state enacted historic legislation to ‘raise the age’ of juvenile jurisdiction from 16 to 18, effective January 1, 2010 for 16 year olds and July 1, 2012 for 17 year olds. Even before 17 yearolds became eligible for juvenile court on July 1, 2012, the new law had enabled 8,325 16 year olds to avoid prosecution and punishment in the adult criminal justice system. In addition, Connecticut has outlawed detention for youth accused of status offenses (like truancy and running away from home) that would not be illegal if committed by adults, and created a new treatment system to keep nearly all status offenders out of the court system entirely.

“I’ve always believed that while standing up for kids in the juvenile justice system isn’t always politically popular, it’s incredibly important. Connecticut should be proud of its unyielding commitment to improving the system to keep our most vulnerable youth safe and give them a second chance,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a champion of juvenile justice reform. “By taking bold steps that put kids and evidenced-based policies first, Connecticut has become a nationwide model for reform.”

The second report, Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half, explores the drivers of youth prison population reductions in Connecticut, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona and Minnesota- and provides insights for other states inspired to improve their juvenile justice systems.

“These states have taken advantage of circumstances, both good and bad, to reshape their juvenile systems away from the over-use of confinement and towards recognition that young people are different from adults; the reasons that put them in contact with the justice system are different and the way we respond to their behavior should be different,” said Spike Bradford, JPI senior research associate and author of Common Ground.

Common Ground makes the following recommendations to policymakers and service providers in other states looking to reform their juvenile justice systems:

Recognize opportunities to push change. The top performing states capitalized on falling arrest rates, budget shortfalls and litigation-driven reforms to shift their systems from confinement.

Consider the legal route. Many of the most effective reform movements have begun through the process of settling litigation. If conditions are poor and a case can be made, advocacy organizations have it in their power to kick-start reform by bringing a suit against the state.

Create/re-energize existing juvenile justice commissions/task forces to promote collaboration among stakeholders. These cross-system groups can ensure that litigation is truly a "call to action" and that there is buy-in from those decision makers who could push forward reforms.

Collect useful and reliable data and make it accessible. Progress can only be confirmed through measurement, so states should ensure that all agencies keep relevant data that enable them to track changes and make adjustments accordingly.

Utilize experts for technical assistance. Initiatives such as the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change project and the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI) are designed to help states coordinate reform and tailor it to their unique situation.

Promote a return to the American juvenile justice ideal of treating young people in trouble differently than adults and with therapeutic interventions rather than harsh punishment.

To read Common Ground or Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut CLICK HERE. For more information, contact Zerline Hughes at (202) 558-7974 x308 or zhughes@justicepolicy.org. For more on JPI’s research, please visit our website at www.justicepolicy.org

The Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, DC, is working to reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promoting policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities. For more information, please visit www.justicepolicy.org.

Two New Reports Show Juvenile Confinement Reform in Five States

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

Removing young people who engage in delinquent behavior from their homes and communities, and incarcerating them in locked facilities is no longer the status quo in five states, according to two new reports released today by the Justice Policy Institute.

Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth, in addition to Common Ground: Lessons learned from five states that reduced juvenile confinement by more than half, shed light on the pronounced trend toward reduced confinement of youth nationwide. Through a variety of methods, the reports find, Connecticut, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Tennessee all reduced youth confinement by more than 50% between 2001 and 2010, with no resulting uptick in juvenile crime.

A deeper look at Connecticut’s juvenile justice system reforms shows that, through a system-wide culture change and major investments in evidence-based services, a previously wasteful, punitive, ineffective, and often abusive juvenile justice system was transformed into a national model, at no additional cost to taxpayers (after adjusting for inflation).

Download

Executive summary of Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

Full report of Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth

Full report Common Ground: Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half

Press release

JPI Daily News Digest 2/21/2013

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

National: Locking Mental-Health Patients Away in Prisons: Is There a Way Forward? (Huffington Post)
Gov. Jerry Brown's demands that a federal court relax the judicially mandated prison-population cap not only highlight California's outlier status in prison policy, but also underscore the need for President Barack Obama's initiative to increase mental-health services.

National: MOVING FORWARD: Prison mental health (Source Newspaper)
Isabella County Jail Administrator Tom Recker remembers a time that the cost of medications for inmates with mental health issues was mind-numbing. Prior to 2007, the year the county opted to contract with a medical care provider, prescription drug costs were skyrocketing.

CO: As School-To-Prison Pipeline Continues To Swallow Students, Denver Works To Stem Flow (Huffington Post)
Ask Ricardo Martinez, co-executive director of the Denver-based parent and student activist group Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, and he will tell you that it’s not unheard of for kids at the city’s high schools and some junior highs to end up in handcuffs if they are caught chewing gum in class or talking back to a teacher.

National: Private Prison CEO Assures Investors of ‘Strong Demand’ For Beds After Immigration Reform (ThinkProgress)
As the U.S. private prison industry has grown over the last several years, studies have shown that private prisons are incentivized to lobby for more incarceration. During an investor call this week, the CEO of private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America signaled that incarceration rates would remain high, assuring investors that immigration detention would be a strong source of business for the foreseeable future, ColorLines reports.

NY: A Company That Runs Prisons Will Have Its Name on a Stadium (NY Times)
On Tuesday, that trend took another strange turn when Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, firmed a deal to rename its football building GEO Group Stadium. Perhaps that pushed stadium naming to its zenith, if only because the GEO Group is a private prison corporation.

NV: Lawmakers skeptical of plan to merge Nevada parole division, prison system (Las Vegas Sun)
Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to merge Nevada’s parole division with the prison system got a rugged reception Tuesday from legislators who said they didn’t see any savings or improved services for inmates.

CA: Juvenile crime on the decline in county (Lompoc Record)
No one declared victory in the war on crime, but members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors said they were encouraged Tuesday to hear that the number of juvenile offenders being referred to the county Probation Department is decreasing.

MT: Bullock signs violent juvenile parole bill (BillingsGazette)
A bill that limits parole eligibility for violent juvenile offenders became law this week after emotional testimony from the families of three Helena boys shot in 2009 by Sebastian Olivares-Coster.

MS: Juvenile facility still in holding mode (The Daily Leader)
Supervisors are still in holding mode with regard to locating a new juvenile detention facility, waiting for talks with Adams County to proceed.Bob Allen, attorney for Lincoln County supervisors, told the board during their Tuesday morning meeting that he has sent a provisional agreement to Adams County regarding a contract allowing Lincoln County to house its juvenile offenders in Adams County.

JPI Daily News Digest 2/20/2013

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

National: Inside Story Americas - The cost of America's prison industry (AlJazeera)
There are more prisoners in the United States than any other nation in the world. The country makes up five percent of the world population, but accounts for 25 percent of its prison population. And over the last three decades the number held in US federal prisons has jumped by nearly 80 percent. So, what is the impact of the high incarceration rate on the penal system and on poor communities?

National: Incarceration rate for African-Americans now six times the national average (RT)
The incarceration rate for American-Americans is so high that young black men without a high school diploma are more likely to go to jail than to find a job, thereby causing the breakup of families and instilling further poverty upon them.“Prison has become the new poverty trap,” Bruce Western, a Harvard sociologist, told the New York Times. “It has become a routine event for poor African-American men and their families, creating an enduring disadvantage at the very bottom of American society.”

MS: The State of Our Schools - Lacking literacy: Poor readers populate state’s prisons (Northeast Mississippi News)
Mississippi has the second highest incarceration rate in the nation. Each inmate admitted to a Mississippi detention facility is different, but state Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps says most of them have two things in common – a dependency on drugs or alcohol and an inability to read past a middle-school level.

LA: Even Louisiana is seeing that drug offenders need a break: James Gill (The Times Picayune)
It might take Louisiana 100 years to follow the lead of Colorado and Washington, which legalized marijuana possession a few months ago, but even here a liberal whiff is in the air. It is a very faint one, because, when we elected Bobby Jindal governor, the idea was not to turn Baton Rouge over to a bunch of hippies. Even though he claimed to have witnessed an exorcism, mind-altering substances did not appear to be his bag. He has always been the model of a law-and-order Republican.

IL: Prison data, court files show link between school truancy and crime (Chicago Tribune)
Of 182 boys and young men recently locked up in Illinois' three medium-security youth prisons, at least 135 used to miss so much school that they were labeled chronic truants. Nearly 60 percent couldn't even read at the third-grade level when they were booked in.

National: Long Prison Terms Linked To Increased Poverty (The Inquisitr)
Long term prison sentences are being blamed for increased poverty, according to social sciences experts. When convicted criminals are sentenced to longer prison terms, they’re ability to provide for themselves and their families greatly diminishes. While the rate of criminals on the street may be decreasing, longer prison terms mean that many men who are released are not able to adapt to the changing world around them.

GA: Juvenile Justice Reform Legislation Could Save Taxpayers Millions (WJBF)
From a murder, to fights to an escape, the Augusta YDC has seen problem after problem after problem. It might not give you comfort to know that a huge chunk of your tax dollars goes to run more than 20 similar facilities like it throughout the state. That's why Juvenile Judge Doug Flanagan is happy that Georgia House Bill 242 is gaining ground at the Capitol, "I think overall the changes are going to benefit the children and the tax payers in this state."

JPI Daily News Digest 2/19/2013

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

National: How Prisons Amplify Poverty (Reason Blog)
The shift to tougher penal policies three decades ago was originally credited with helping people in poor neighborhoods by reducing crime. But now that America's incarceration rate has risen to be the world's highest, many social scientists find the social benefits to be far outweighed by the costs to those communities....

National: Prison and the Poverty Trap (NY Times)
Why are so many American families trapped in poverty? Of all the explanations offered by Washington’s politicians and economists, one seems particularly obvious in the low-income neighborhoods near the Capitol: because there are so many parents like Carl Harris and Charlene Hamilton.

National: Largest Private Prison Group in U.S. Wishes You a Happy Black History Month (Colorlines)
On Monday, the president of the largest for-profit prison corporation in the nation published a blog post wishing everyone a happy Black History Month. Damon Hininger, president and CEO of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), also urged readers to celebrate the month by honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “dream of equality for all people.” Critics say Hininger’s well wishes are ironic considering the prison population CCA profits from is disproportionately made up of black men and women.

National: When immigration ‘reform’ propels private prison profiteering (AllVoices)
Recent immigration reform proposals trade increased border enforcement for the promise of a "pathway to citizenship." But that’s a deal that makes border communities recoil. Enforcement policies propel detention and incarceration, creating human havoc that threatens family unity and endangers community cohesion. Across the nation this week activists will execute days of action to highlight the problem. Enforcement policies, activists say, are excellent at one thing: They’re lining the pockets of the prison industry. In fact, due to recent federal felony prosecutions of unauthorized border crossers, prisons and detention facilities have burgeoned. Superfluous border enforcement promotes private prison profiteering.

NJ: Fledgling NJ Program Paves a Path from Corrections to College (Youth Today)
A little more than a decade ago, then-22-year-old Danny Feliciano stood at the front end of a six-year sentence in a youth correctional facility for robbery. Today, the former inmate counsels young court-referred individuals as a Youth & Family Counselor at La Casa de Don Pedro Inc., a nonprofit agency that provides social services to the Hispanic community in Newark, N.J.

NJ: Incarceration: to Punish or to Help? (NJ online)
In most prison systems, both apply to one extent or another. However, the media spends more time on people who commit crimes in our communities than on these same people when they are released. This is understandable. However, I have met many hard core criminal addicts who, with treatment and long term recovery support thereafter, turned their lives around. These success stories are less frequent and are reported less frequently and so naturally there is a negative impression. This is no indictment of the media but rather just a fact.

W.Va.: Rockefeller backs drug treatment bill (News and Sentinel)
Legislation intended to curb the substance abuse epidemic in West Virginia was co-sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller. The Excellence in Mental Health Act supports the modernization and construction of behavioral health facilities to provide mental health and substance abuse services to provide greater access to services for West Virginians in need of treatment, Rockefeller said on Monday. Specifically, states like West Virginia that need a variety of mental health services can apply for federal grants to build or upgrade existing facilities that offer a wide range of settings from traditional counseling to inpatient detoxification.

JPI Daily News Digest 2/15/2013

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

National: New National Standards For Legal Defense Could Help Juveniles (JJIE)
It happens too often in court systems around the country. A teenager is charged with a crime. His family can’t afford a lawyer, but the court won’t assign him one until he can prove a lack of funds. He meets his lawyer for the first time a few minutes before he’s due to appear in court. The lawyer’s waving a file and using words the teenager doesn’t understand. There’s not much time to discuss the circumstances around the charges, the teen’s options in court and their various consequences.

National: The Prison Problem (Harvard Magazine)
When Jerry enters the pizza place next to Boston’s Government Center, he shakes Bruce Western’s hand heartily. Jerry, who has served 25 years for armed robbery and aggravated rape, was released two months ago. Western is studying what happens to prisoners after their release and has come to interview Jerry about his experience.

IL: Guided by Governor's Vision, Illinois Reforms Criminal Justice System (Market Watch)
Today the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) and Microsoft Corp. announced the successful implementation of the Offender-360 project, a cloud-based criminal justice information system built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The solution directly supports legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn that aims to improve Illinois public safety and criminal justice for the future.

NH: House Hearing on Banning Private Prisons in NH (NH Prison Watch)
the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee heard testimony on HB 443, which calls for an out and out ban of prison privatization in NH. Scores of supporters crowded the small room, as Bill Sponsor Rep. Timothy Robertson, a Keene Democrat presented his case “There is no evidence they (private prisons) can save you money,” Robertson said. “The incentive for these for-profit companies is to get more out of it by keeping inmates in longer and treating them worse.”

NC: NC bill could mean prison time for topless women (Charlotte Observer)
A bill that could send women to prison for going topless in public appears set for approval by the North Carolina legislature. Triggered by two topless rallies held in Asheville, the Republican-backed bill headed to a floor vote in the House and would amend the state's indecent exposure law to expand the legal definition of "private parts" to explicitly include "the nipple, or any portion of the areola, or the female breast."

PA: Alternative juvenile offenders program is worth considering (Daily Local)
Later this month, the Easttown Board of Supervisors will have the opportunity to approve an alternative system for dealing with first-time, nonviolent juvenile offenders in the township, one of the Upper Main Line communities that struggles with mostly minor crimes from teenagers. The program was brought to the supervisors’ attention through the work of Easttown Police Sgt. David Felker, who endorses it wholeheartedly.

FL: Thousands of student arrests alarm Florida justice leaders (Orlando Sentinel)
Thousands of Florida students are arrested in school each year and taken to jail for behavior that once warranted a trip to the principal's office — a trend that troubles juvenile-justice and civil-rights leaders who say children are being traumatized for noncriminal acts. Though the number of school arrests has dropped significantly since the state eased its "zero tolerance" policies a few years ago, there are still far too many kids handcuffed and hauled away in front of their classmates, said Wansley Walters, secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

JPI Daily News Digest 2/13/2013

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0600

OH: FCC considers limiting costs of long-distance calls for families of prisoners in Ohio (Cleveland Online)
The price of long-distance calls for the families of inmates inside Ohio prisons could be coming down this year. The Federal Communications Commission has been looking into the calls' cost in part to make it easier for prisoners and their families to keep in contact and continue to forge family bonds -- bonds experts say are needed to help inmates re-enter society when they are released.

PA: Veterans treatment court entering second year (York Daily Record)
Their military backgrounds were obvious as they strode one by one from the gallery to stand at parade rest in front of the judge.The conversations, though, were casual, the judge asking them how they had done since he last saw them.Remaining in the gallery were their "battle buddies," mostly older veterans, many who served in Vietnam and southeast Asia in the 1960s and early '70s.

TX: Huffman gets governor’s support for bill on specialty courts (Your Houston News)
State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, has filed Senate Bill 462 to address the need for accountability in the operation and performance of the state’s growing number of specialty courts. In the last 10 years, specialty courts in Texas have increased from nine to around 140. Huffman’s legislation requires them to register with the Criminal Justice Division (CJD) of the governor's office and follow best practices to ensure that the programs are effectively accomplishing their intended purpose.

National: For-profit prisons detrimental to criminal justice system (The Lamron)
The growth of for-profit prisons and a broken criminal justice system have worked together to give the United States the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The U.S. contains 5 percent of the world’s population, yet a full 25 percent of its prisoners. Incarceration is extremely costly, not just monetarily, but on society at large.

National: Drug Policy Alliance: Say It, Mr. President (Drug Policy Alliance)
I firmly believe that at some point during his second administration President Obama is going to address the issue of mass incarceration in America. What I fear is that he is going to wait so long, and ultimately do so with such caution, as to minimize his potential impact. I'll be listening to his State of the Union tonight, hoping against hope that he says something, and says something bold. He's made clear he has other priorities -- the economy, immigration, climate change and now gun violence -- but what a difference it would make for him to speak to this issue when he addresses the nation.

FL: Florida’s School-to-Prison Pipeline Is Largest in the Nation (ColorLines)
It used to be that getting in a schoolyard fight meant a trip to the principal’s office—detention, maybe. But in Florida, more than any other state, that schoolyard fight can lead to the student’s arrest and even felony charges. Last year 12,000 students were arrested 13,870 times in Florida public schools, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The arrests are meted out unevenly. Black students are just 21 percent of Florida youth, but make up 46 percent of all school-related referrals to law enforcement, according to the Sun Sentinel.