Monday, October 15, 2007

Around the Blogs, Monday, October 15, 2007

  • Doug Berman linked to some nice stories at Sentencing Law and Policy over the weekend if you somehow haven’t been there yet (and I’m not even referring to the “Constanza shrinkage” one). The death penalty poll fits in well with a great discussion he’s geared up on the topic, AL (Alabama, not Alaska) finds some rare judges aware of the danger that their process is posing to their state (and DAs who remain self-absorbed and clueless about the long-term harm they’re inflicting on themselves and what they claim to want), and finally a good piece on faith-based programs that gets the lay of the land right. There is no evidence they do better at reentry for offenders at this point, but the impact of having available programs and alternatives to misconduct can be significant on prison safety and on budgets as good time isn’t lost and guys don’t stay longer. OK has a program going right now for which an evaluation design is in place and which should start producing useable results in about 30 months.
  • While you’re touring great sites, keep Grits for Breakfast in mind as well as he’s included among his always good work a series of posts on how local gov’ts and conservative investors seem to be ginning up questions about the continual increases of taxes and spending and their incarceration spree. If TX starts drawing some lines beyond which it will not go, the whole country can follow their “Nixon goes to China” lead and start looking meaningfully at more cost- and victim-effective alternatives.
  • Psychology and Crime News has a link to a report that highlights a point frequently ignored in corr sent—the differences between the victim and the offender are not always as clear cut as our television and politicians like to proclaim. In this case, looking at the interrelationship between being a victim and victimizer among youths. Important stuff.
  • Finally, Prevention Works does a good post on how badly (and scarily) we leave ourselves open (literally, windows, doors, garages) for criminal activity and, as always, tells us that the crime we prevent ourselves lowers costs for everyone and may actually stop more crime (stolen goods going for drugs) from happening. I’d say more, but I have to go lock my car doors now.

No comments: