Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Around the Blogs 8-30-06

Crim Prof Blog loads us up with interesting items. This one takes us to a USA Today story on the GAO report last week questioning the effectiveness of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, which also got dissed in 2003 by the OMB. Seems kids remembered the ads but didn't get their subsequent behavior swayed. An Office of National Drug Control Policy spokesperson responded that the GAO report was "irrelevant to us." The Crim Prof folks also direct us to an SSRN article discussing changes in the cj system that could reduce conviction of the innocent. The author IDs as problems false ID, false confessions, bad forensics, and jailhouse confessions, and throws in requiring admission of guilt before being considered for parole. And they also have one of those "don't know what to think" pieces, linking to a British article showing how gender preferences in birthing in developing nations (as in, the male:female ratio is (un)surprisingly abnormal with males) might lead to a bunch of really frustrated bachelors once adults who might need crime as a outlet release. Uh-huh. . . . Finally, Doug Berman links us to the latest NIJ report on drug courts, emphasizing "what works." As Doug notes, as our practical knowledge base grows, "research can be translated into practice."

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