San Quentin News

Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice

Sanctuary cities maybe safer for White people

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Jail Cell

Jail Cell

A recent study examining sanctuary city policy in the United States found that White people living in urban sanctuary cities and counties are safer than those living elsewhere.

“…immigration offenses now account for about half of all federal prosecutions.”  THE NEW YORK TIMES Dec 22, 2017

Published in December by Mike Males, a senior research fellow at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ), the study’s conclusion stands in stark contrast to claims made by President Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice that these areas “breed crime” and that crimes by undocumented immigrants have cost “countless innocent American lives.”

ICE reported “24,476 of the 185,507 inmates in the federal Bureau of Prisons system were not citizens…” THE NEW YORK TIMES Dec. 22, 2017

These claims paved the way for the “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act” to pass the House of Representatives in June. The bill would take away federal grant opportunities from cities and states that refuse to provide assistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Drug-overdose deaths drove a decline in U.S. life expectancy in 2016 for the second year in a row…”  THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Dec. 21, 2017

The CJCJ study used 2015 data on violent deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compare numbers for all violent deaths, homicides, gun deaths and illicit drug overdoses, and split them up by race, tallying one column for the deaths of White residents and one for residents of color. Statistics on cities and counties with sanctuary status were obtained from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and ICE through a Freedom of Information Act request in 2016.

The study indicates that White residents who live in sanctuary cities are 62 percent less likely to die from gun violence and 26 percent less likely to die from a drug overdose than their counterparts living in non-sanctuary cities. Residents of color also have lower violent death rates in sanctuary counties.

Despite all this, in a 2017 McClatchy-Marist poll, only 45 percent of White respondents said they believed “sanctuary cities should exist,” as compared to 68 percent of Latinos, and 59 percent of African Americans.

Study shows government uses distorted data to justify policies

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juvenile recidivism investment

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California’s high investment in incarcerating youth offenders is having no impact on recidivism rates, according to a report published by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ).

“California’s state youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), is among the most expensive per youth in the United States…the cost per youth for one year could reach a record high of more than $270,000,” CJCJ reported in April.

The cost of housing youth offenders has risen the past five years from $198,465 to a high of $271,318, according to CJCJ. This cost compares with an average of $75,560 per adult inmate in California..

Despite the increased per capita spending on youth offenders, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) found in a 2017 study that young people leaving DJJ maintained persistently high rates of re-arrest, reconviction and return to state custody within three years.

In a 2017 report published by DJJ, re-arrest rates were 74.2 percent, reconviction 53.8 percent, and return to DJJ or state custody 37.3 percent.

Recent recidivism data reveal that DJJ’s rehabilitative programming is not producing satisfactory results. Moreover, in this fiscal year, California will spend more than a quarter million dollars per youth on a system that cannot demonstrate consistent or satisfactory outcomes for the youth in its care,” CJCJ reported.

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Calif. bail system disproportionately affects the poor and minorities

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California’s bail system disproportionately affects low-income people and people of color, and needs to be reformed, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) reported.

A bail industry representative said that their services provide public safety and “enhance racial justice” in a hearing held by the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color to reform the California’s bail system.

“64% of California’s jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016.” Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail.  Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/

Contrary to the bail industry’s claim, panelists and community members of the hearing said that the bail system works to keep low-income people in jail and negatively impacts people of color, the CJCJ wrote.

According to the CJCJ, the bail system is used as leverage to force defendants to take plea deals resulting in jail overcrowding by holding people who are not a public safety risk but cannot afford bail.

There are courts that have pre-trial diversion programs that allow people the opportunity to return to their homes, jobs and families while awaiting trial. Some diversion programs even offer high-risk people the same opportunity if they agreed to be monitored, the CJCJ noted.

Beyond cost, the risk assessment process also fills the jails. For example, the common use of the Public Safety Assessment tool (PSA), created by the Arnold Foundation, considers only negative factors such as pending charges, previous incarceration, and failure to appear to calculate an individual’s risk, the CJCJ reported.

Calling for bail reform, the CJCJ said “California bail reform advocates and policymakers should support legislation that requires all counties to establish and implement evidence-based and data-driven pre-trial diversion programs.”

David Le: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y78HMlWo6k

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Study Shows Disproportionate Youth of Color in Calif. Prosecution

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The prosecution of youth as adults in California, otherwise called “direct file,” has a disproportionate impact on youth of color, according to a study by the Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice (CJCJ).
“While the rate of direct file is decreasing for White youth, it has increased for Black and Latino youth. In 2003, Black youth were 4.5 times as likely as White youth to be directly filed, but by 2014 this figure rose to 11.3 times more likely,” the June report found.
The increased use of direct file does not correlate to an increase in crime. CJCJ found that, despite a 55 percent drop in youth felony arrests, district attorneys reported 23 percent more direct filings per capita in 2014 than in 2003.
The study made comparisons between California’s 58 counties to highlight the disparities that exist in the use of direct file. For example, Yuba and San Diego counties had similar rates of youth arrests for serious crimes, but Yuba County was found to have 34 times more direct file than in San Diego County.
The report further showed that direct file increases along partisan lines. Black youth in counties with a Republican district attorney were five times more likely to be direct filed, and Asian youth were 9.4 times more likely.
“Youth who are subjected to the adult system experience psycho-emotional trauma stemming from the high-stakes, criminal prosecution, and are more likely to recidivate,” CJCJ stated.
“By eliminating direct file, Californians would reduce the high cost of unnecessary and harmful, long-term youth incarceration, particularly for youth of color, while improving public safety and expanding opportunities for engagement in school, work, family and community,” the report concluded.
The current pathways to youth prosecution in the California adult criminal system are:

  • Judicial transfer hearing: A judge must review and consider the circumstances of the case, including the youth’s background and his or her ability to benefit from services available in the juvenile justice system, before making a decision to transfer the case to the adult system.
  • Discretionary direct file cases: Typically gives prosecutors 48 hours to decide whether or not to directly file charges against a youth in adult court. They must make the decision without information about the youth’s social history, culpability, capacity for growth, maturity and capacity to be rehabilitated.
  • Mandatory direct file cases: If a prosecutor alleges a youth committed an offense that, if committed by an adult, would require a death penalty or life without parole upon conviction, then those charges must be filed in adult court.

Assembly Bill Provides Alternatives for Young Offenders to Be Housed at Low-Level Prisons

Germany progressive juvenile justice approach


 

New Senate Bills to Help Juvenile Youth Offenders

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By Emile DeWeaver
Staff Writer
This year juvenile and criminal justice advocates renewed their focus on California legislation that will introduce more evidenced-based policies into criminal justice. According to the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ), these evidence-based policies are designed to decrease incarceration and increase rehabilitation.
This month Kid CAT Speaks highlights two senate bills: (SB) 1157 and (SB) 1031. These bills not only aim to decrease incarceration, they better equip our youth to resist the pressures of intergenerational incarceration.
Senator Holly Mitchell introduced SB 1157, which would reverse the trend of substituting video visitation for in-person visits at county jails.
In a report by the CJCJ Deputy Director Dinky Manek Enty explained the importance of in-person visits to America’s youth. “[F]or the more than 2.7 million children in the U.S. with an incarcerated parent, the value of hugging and kissing their parent is immeasurable. The impact of a positive family relationship on a child’s healthy development can’t be quantified. We have a great responsibility to ensure children have the opportunity to feel their parent, to support a child’s rapidly developing sense of self.”
Research supports Enty’s claim as well as the role in-person visits can play in strengthening family connections, which in turn can help incarcerated people reintegrate back in society more smoothly and recidivate less. (According to a report by the Criminal Justice Policy Review, visitation significantly decreases the risk of recidivism.) Findings suggest that “revising prison visitation policies to make them more ‘visitor friendly’ could yield public safety benefits by helping offenders establish a continuum of social support from prison to the community.”
Senator Loni Hancock introduced SB 1031. According to CJCJ, SB 1031 would establish the Juvenile Justice Information System, a database for information about processes and outcomes in juvenile justice. This system could facilitate information–sharing between counties (which currently does not happen), clearer research about juvenile justice, and evidenced-based solutions to the problems facing youth.
http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/
 

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