WANNA SAVE MONEY ON PRISONS? REFORM THE TECHNICAL PAROLE VIOLATION SYSTEM
Last fall when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued its annual report for the year 08-09, it stated that of those admitted to prison, 66,317 were people who were either brand new felons or parolees who had been convicted of a new offense. However, 74, 531 admissions during the same year (see above) were conveyor-belted back into lock-up for technical violations of their parole. Most often the violations are something like testing dirty or failure to report to the parole officer (often because the parolee is afraid of testing dirty).
Law enforcement will rush in here to say that some of those technical violators were up to no good in other ways, but prosecutors decided to go with a parole violation because it was easier. Okay, fair enough.
But the majority are just plain old garden variety technical parole violators. I’ve watched it happen only a about zillion times.
If the method worked it would be one thing. But it doesn’t. It has been shown to be the opposite of rehabilitative and not particularly useful as a deterrent either. Plus it costs us a freaking fortune in direct costs, far more in indirect costs.
This means that, fiscally speaking, it’s a policy that is breaking our state.
That’s why it’s important to read the article by Jeffrey Rosen in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. (Yes, that Jeffrey Rosen. But never mind all those issues right now.)
Rosen writes about a parole violation system being pioneered by a judge in Hawaii that involves swift and certain consequences for parole violators, but not 10 months or a year in state prison, as it does in California. AND it’s working—for a host of psychologically sound reasons.
Read the story here. Then write the governor and/or your state legislator and tell all those people to DO SOMETHING USEFUL for a change.
CHARTER SCHOOLS’ ENROLLMENT IS UP AND SO ARE THEIR TEST SCORES
Three LA Times reporters, including veteran education reporter Howard Blume, have a story about the huge effect that charter schools in Los Angeles County are having on LAUSD, the nation’s second largest school district. Meanwhile, charter enrollment is up and the charters’ standardized test scores “outshine those at traditional campuses.”
Here’s how the story begins:
Over the last decade, a quiet revolution took root in the nation’s second-largest school district.
Fueled by money and emboldened by clout from some of the city’s most powerful figures, charter schools began a period of explosive growth that has challenged the status quo in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Today, Los Angeles is home to more than 160 charter schools, far more than any other U.S. city. Charter enrollment is up nearly 19% this year from last, while enrollment in traditional L.A. public schools is down. And a once-hostile school board has become increasingly charter-friendly, despite resistance from the teachers union.
CRIME MAY NOT PAY, BUT NEWARK NEW JERSEY’S CORY BOOKER NOW DOES.
Newark mayor Cory Booker announced" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> Friday that the city will pay good money for anonymous tips. This is different, by the way, than the big money rewards for “information leading to the arrest and conviction of….”
This is a cash for anonymous crime tips deal that, according to Booker, seems to be actually working. (There is a whole coded system for those who have earned the bucks but really need or want to remain anonymous.)
However, Cory Booker is doing more than simply locking people up. He has also announced the city’s new prisoner reentry initiative.
So what’re you doing in 2016, Mr. Mayor? You going to be busy or anything?
I’m a big fan of Cory Booker. He really believes in constituent services.
C: But the majority are just plain old garden variety technical parole violators…(like testing dirty or failure to report to the parole officer)
Oh, just plain old lawbreakers who have been given another chance and blew it.
Hey, Celeste. Don’t flunk any of your students. It would cost the state too much to make them repeat the classes.
Celeste: Plus it costs us a freaking fortune in direct costs, far more in indirect costs.
What’s the cost in additional crimes these habitual criminals tke part in, as soon as they’re free, to pay for their bad choices that don’t get discovered or are plead away.
I’ve seen these idiots plea out a “zillion” times so as to avoid a new case and do just a few months on a violation.
It works both ways Celeste.
If they’re given a parole violation in lieu of a new term, then chances are the DA didn’t have enough to make the case, whereas the parole board has a far lower bar to prove a violation, namely preponderance of evidence.
The thing that’s interesting about the Hawaiian HOPE method, is that the parole violations went way, way down after the judge instituted the system. In other words, it seems to work. And the state was saved the hotel bill.
About the other question, in the last ten years there has been some really excellent research on the collateral effects of incarceration on families and communities, the work of people like Todd Clear and a few others in particular.
http://bit.ly/6XViHk
Technical Violations were set up to stop incidents like Lily Burk’s murder.
Looking at California population and growth, your numbers are really telling us that we need more prisons – point blank.
Lets get some construction going and job growth – maybe some of the homies can work on the construction site and be proud of their excellent workmanship.
To stop prison overcrowding, set up a prison on the Mexican border with the entrance on the California side and an unlocked exit on the Mexican side for illegals.
I thought I had responded to you Celeste, guess not. The DA dumps cases to take the easy way out with a parole violation, if the crime isn’t something worth their time. I’ve seen that many times and it’s ridiculous. It’s rarely about not having enough to make the case. It’s also done because the parolee would do about as much time, in many cases, for the violation as the new case, like any misdemeanor or possession.
So families are better of with criminal dads, moms, uncles and brothers around than solid working role models? I don’t think so. A “criminal community” isn’t a community, it’s a hideout.