Repairing the Broken Conveyor Belt

All day today I’ll be at the Criminal Justice Conference sponsored and organized by the USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism, where I’m a senior fellow. (They’re the folks who sponsor this blog.)

The prime mover behind the conference, which is open to anyone, is my pal Joe Domanick, and the three-day schedule will feature LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, Sheriff Lee Baca, Connie Rice, and loads of others. (You can find the full schedule here
Here’s a snippet from Joe’s introduction to the reasons he think the conference is important:

The purpose of the Justice and Journalism conference….is for L.A.’s criminal justice professionals and experts to discuss what they see taking place on the other side of the Los Angeles criminal justice conveyor belt – a belt that never stops. Over 30% of those moving into the state’s overstuffed prison system come from L.A. County. After doing their time, tens of thousands return each year to Los Angeles – the majority having received little or no educational help, mental health care, treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, or other services while in prison. When they arrive here and hit the streets, there is no serious, sustained and coordinated reentry strategy to assist them. It’s no wonder that 70% are placed back on the conveyor belt and returned to prison within three years following their release….

Come on down if you can manage it. The event is free and it will be very, very interesting, I guarantee it.

(Naturally, I’ll be blogging it.)