Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Last Thing I'll Say (Maybe)

I've mentioned the ridiculously poor press coverage of Jim Austin's recent report on prisons and incarceration until I'm sure you're sick of it, so here's my conclusion to it all. Below is the Google News screen for the report as of 3:30 CST on November 21. Not only are the major news outlets missing but notice, too, that half the stories are from foreign outlets. Think about that. The average reader of European or Australian news has a better idea of the details of this important if familiar report than the average American who either saw it in Reuters or in a paper that picked up Reuters' coverage, which didn't seem to make it below. Again, what does that say about the ability to reach the general public through traditional outlets with traditional research reports? We need other means, folks.

US prison system a costly and harmful failure: report
Reuters - Nov 20, 2007
By Randall Mikkelsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of people in US prisons has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great ...

Report savages US prison system
ABC Online, Australia - Nov 19, 2007
By North America correspondent Kim Landers The number of Americans in prison has risen eight-fold since 1970, but a study shows there has been little impact ...

US prison system 'costly failure'
BBC News, UK - Nov 19, 2007
The US prison population has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great cost to the taxpayer, researchers say. ...

US jails full to brim but crime continues
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - Nov 19, 2007
THE number of Americans in prison has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great cost to taxpayers and society. ...

US prison population up eight-fold since 1970: report
JURIST - 20 hours ago[JURIST]
The US prison population is currently eight times as high as it was in 1970, but zealous prosecution and tough sentencing guidelines have done ...

US Prison System is a 'costly failure' Says Report
ShortNews.com, Germany - Nov 20, 2007
The JFA Institute, a Washington-based criminal justice research group claims in it’s latest report that the US prison system is nothing more than a 'costly ...

US Prison Industry Turns into "Gulag" Nightmare For Poor and ...
OpEdNews, PA - Nov 19, 2007by TM Elkins Page 1 of 2 page(s)
A recent Reuters news article reports that in a new report by the JFA Institute, a Washington criminal-justice research ...

Report Recommends Major Criminal Justice System Overhaul
KWTX, TX - Nov 19, 2007
(November 19, 2007)--With an overloaded prison population in America's jails, a report released Monday recommends a major overhaul of the criminal system. ...

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