Stanford Criminal Justice Center
Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and co-director of its Criminal Justice Center; former Professor of Criminology at the University of California, Irvine's School of Social Ecology; author of 11 books on crime and public policy, including When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry; Chair of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Rehabilitation Strike Team and former co-chair of California’s expert panel on offender programs
Brown’s Sentencing Reform Gov. Jerry Brown announced he’s putting a new measure on the November ballot. The measure will undo aspects of a tough sentencing law that Brown himself signed back in 1977. That law marked the beginning of the tough-on-crime era, which also saw an explosion in the state’s prison population.
What's Happened to America's 'Crackdown on Crime?' After 30 years of being "tough on crime," the US -- with 5% of the world's population -- has 25% of its prisoners, and that's very expensive. Now the crime rate is way down. Conservatives are joining liberals, demanding reduced sentences and alternatives to incarceration. Texas is one of the states where prisons are being shut down. But hard-liners warn that so-called "smart sentencing" will push the crime rate back up again. Eric Holder told the American Bar Association today that America's 30-year crackdown has produced unintended consequences, and called for reform. The Attorney General has support from some unexpected sources, including Grover Norquist , one of the most influential conservatives in Washington. We update the controversy.
Gov Brown Wants Feds to Give Back Control of Prisons Governor Brown picks a fight with the federal courts over the health and safety of inmates, claiming that California prisons aren’t overcrowded any more. Due to overcrowding and a sometimes fatal lack of health care, federal courts seized partial control of prisons in California. Governor Schwarzenegger ordered that inmates be sent to other states. Today, Governor Brown said the prison population has been reduced enough…
Prisoner 'Realignment:' Reducing Recidivism or Public Safety Nightmare? In the process called "realignment," some 33,000 inmates are being released from overcrowded state prisons by order of the US Supreme Court, with LA County Probation and the Sheriff's Department getting the lion's share. County Supervisors say they're not ready, and District Attorney Steve Cooley has predicted a rise in crime. The shift from state to county authority began this week and, yesterday, LA Mayor Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck also predicted problems.
Supreme Court Hears Prison Overcrowding Case For 20 years the State of California has been charged with unhealthy and inhumane treatment of prisoners, but failed to meet many promises to ease overcrowding. Today, the US Supreme Court took up the state’s appeal of an appellate court ruling that 40,000 prisoners be released.
Reforming the California Prison System A three-judge federal panel has found that California’s prisons are overcrowded to the point where inmates die almost on a daily basis. It’s ordered that prison populations be reduced. At the same time, a new state law has reformed the parole system. So-called "low risk" parolees won’t be supervised so intensely, which means they won’t be sent back to prison so often. The program started yesterday, and state officials insist that is not what some are calling "early release."
Will Broken State Budgets Mean Prison Reform? In the past 20 years, state prison budgets have increased by 303 percent, outgrowing everything else except Medicaid. America's prison population is now much larger than China's, and five states spend more on corrections than higher education. But every state is now faced with the worst financial crisis in decades, and that's leading to cuts that only recently were considered off limits. The Public Safety Performance Project at the Pew Center on the States funded a recent report on the fiscal crisis in corrections.
Will Broken State Budgets Mean Prison Reform? The United States has more people in prison than anyplace in the world. China's a distant second. After 20 years of tough-on-crime legislation, state prison budgets have increased by 303 percent, outgrowing everything else except Medicaid. Five states spend more on corrections than higher education. But the crackdown is costing more than states can afford. The total shortfall is $100 billion, and even some hard-core conservatives support reforms in sentencing, parole and probation. Recent evidence shows that less expensive alternative punishments can work. But it's also true that imprisonment keeps criminals off the street. Will the financial crisis produce real reform or temporary savings that risk public safety?
Paris Hilton and Imperfect Justice at County Jails Why are so many other inmates released before their sentences have been served? What’s the state of medical treatment for the seriously ill? Is Baca the only one who’s at fault? What about the state of California and the supervisors themselves? We'll get some surprising answers tonight on WWLA.
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.