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Data Can Help Fix America's Overcrowded Jails, Says White House (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via CNET: The White House launched a program called the Data-Driven Justice (DDJ) initiative to help reduce the population of jails. It will allow states to better divert low-level offenders with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and keep low-risk defendants out of jail while they await trial. The DDJ program could help alleviate the cost and congestion facing many of America's local jails, which costs local governments nearly $22 billion a year for minor offenses and low-level non-violent misdemeanors. Every year, 11 million people move through America's local jails. In local jails, 64 percent of people suffer from mental illness, 68 percent have a substance abuse and 44 percent suffer from chronic health problems, according to the White House. Seven states and 60 communities committed to DDJ. The plan is to use data collected on individuals who are often in touch with the police, emergency departments and other services and link them to health, behavioral health and social services within the community. Law enforcement and first responders will also be trained in how to deal with people experiencing mental health issues to better direct them to the proper services. The administration is developing a toolkit that will guide jurisdictions toward the best practices, policies and programs that have been successful in DDJ communities. DDJ will also put in place pre-trial assessment tools to determine whether the individual can safely return to society while awaiting trial without having to post bond. Amazon Web Services is onboard with the project, planning to bring together data scientists, technologists, researchers and private sector collaborators in a Technology and Research Consortium to identify technology solutions and support DDJ communities. A mapping software company, Esri, has pledged half a million dollars worth of software and solutions to the DDJ communities as well. Meanwhile, AWS is providing the cloud-infrastructure, which should help share data between criminal justice and health care practitioners among DDJ communities.
How about the government stop creating eight thousand new but unnecessary criminal violations every year? We don't need to be throwing people in jail for shipping prepared lobster in the wrong color plastic or for failing to have a sign on an auto shop stating that used oil is accepted for recycling. Both of these are serious federal felonies punishable by up to 5 years in prison. But, these aren't even the silly ones. You can be incarcerated for 10 years for picking up a feather off the ground, if that feather came from an endangered bird.
So yeah, how about we get to the root causes of why so many people are in jail, like stupid laws and income-driven law enforcement?
Okay, you've found some examples of unusual laws. Now how many people have actually been convicted of those crimes, and sentenced to jail time which they've actually started serving? 0?
The real problem here is that we have large portions of American cities overrun with gang violence, mainly in areas with large African-American populations. This isn't putting lobster in the wrong colored container. We're talking about drug-dealing thugs driving around recklessly in SUVs shooting one another, and often hitting and killing innocent bystanders. We're talking about these thugs violently robbing stores, assaulting or killing the shop keepers in the process. We're talking about these thugs running prostitution rings that often involve minors.
The problem that builds upon that problem is the fact that, thanks to political correctness, Americans can't openly discuss this issue. There are many members of the black community who want to put an end to this culture of thug violence that infects their communities. But they are severely outnumbered by the many young, white, suburban American college students who, despite knowing nothing about the real problems facing America's black communities, insist that it's the "police" or "society" or "the government" who is to blame for this violent, murderous thug culture. Instead of supporting the blacks who want to enable real change within their communities for the better, we see these ignorant college students instead acting in ways that will only promote and even encourage this thug culture.
The only way to put an end to the large number of people in jail, most of whom are there for committing very serious crimes, is to put an end to the thug culture that enables and supports such behavior. Those within the black community who want to make a real community-wide behavioral change happen, and not just march around whining about how "black lives matter" without doing anything useful to help the situation, need to be given the support they deserve!
I used to work in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Corrections. I helped set up a special facility (Longwood Correctional Facility) where the only inmates were those whose crimes were related to substance abuse problems. We kept them away from "regular" criminals, provided treatment, and we had a less than one percent repeat offense rate. IF they do this correctly and provide treatment for those who need treatment, I believe that this can make a huge difference. I am not overly confident that it will be done correctly, though.
that wasn't the government. ex-cons used to be hired all the time until around 1990 when there were some lawsuits because a few ex-cons hurt or killed coworkers. the employers were found liable and that was the end of hiring ex-cons
Within reason perhaps, such as limiting access to books/TV, keeping their food basic, limiting their activities, etc. But turning it into a torture chamber (food not fit for a dog, living conditions you wouldn't wish on livestock, assaults, murder, etc) will only succeed in turning more prisoners into hardened criminals and giving those hardened criminals cause to prefer death (and taking anyone they can with them) over staying/returning there. I think virtually every study has shown that overly "tough on crime" tactics only make things worse, our skyrocketing prison population at a time when violent crime is at an all time low should be more than enough to prove that point. As in all things there has to be balance, keep hardened criminals in prison, rehabilitate those who can be, and don't criminalize things that don't have verifiable victims (about half of our prison population at present).
As someone who used to work in the prison industry, I would like to reiterate that the problem of prison overcrowding never has been and never will be a technical problem or matter of simply moving people around to the right place. It's a complex social problem that intersects with a lot of other areas (government corruption, NIMBYism, cultural attitudes, legal system issues, etc.). Let me point out just ONE of the many flaws with Obama's position:
It will allow states to better divert low-level offenders with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and keep low-risk defendants out of jail while they await trial.
The problem with diverting "low-level offenders with mental illness out of the criminal justice system" isn't a matter of *identifying* the offenders. Everyone KNOWS who these people are. The problem is that there are nowhere near enough mental health facility beds and treatment options to even begin to accommodate all the people who need them. So jails and prisons become the defacto mental health treatment centers while all the mental health departments play "hot potato" with any high maintenance (aka costly) patients.
So great, your software has identified prisoner A as being mentally ill. Is your software going to force the local mental health facility, that always stays full, to give him a bed? Is it going to provide funding to build and staff more mental health treatment centers for dangerous and high-risk/high-maintenance patients? Because if your algorithm isn't going to do that, then it's worthless. Yeah, I already know Prisoner A is mentally ill, thanks. He's here because there is no other place that will take him, not because we didn't realize he was mentally ill.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Rather than spend money a new boondoggle of a computer system that will likely not work, be over budget and way past schedule....
Just legalize weed, or at least on the Federal level, remove it from Schedule 1 drugs, and let the states do as they wish with it.
We could quit sending TONS of money to DEA war on drugs personnel and equipment, we could empty many folks out of jails (leaving room for the violent offenders), and again...NOT spend more money on a boondoggle computer program for auto-sentencing.
I think we could do just dandy sentencing if just ONLY for truly violent crimes that actually harm people.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........