Convictions: Who feels the pain and for how long?

Once again, a shout out  to one of my favorite bloggers, Matt Kelley, who writes for the Criminal Justice blog at Change.org.  Matt recently highlighted some new research that provides data on the lasting costs of incarceration, highlighting who’s most affected and why this increases the gap between the haves and have-nots.

The study,  Incarceration and Social Inequality ,  conducted by sociologists Bruce Western of Harvard and Becky Pettit of the University of Washington, appears in the MIT journal Daedalus.  In their research the authors found that the social inequality produced by mass incarceration was so enduring for 3 reasons: 

1.  It’s invisible in that prisoners aren’t typically included in employment and other statistics, 
2.  It’s cumulative in its impact,  and
3. It affects not only adults but their children, spanning generations. 

Among their findings:

•  Of men aged 20 to 34 — the largest chunk of the prison population incarceration rates have grown the most for the least educated populations.  In 1980, 10 percent of African Americans in this age range who hadn’t completed high school were incarcerated, today that rate is 37%.  Similarly, in 1980 less than 1 in 50 White dropouts were incarcerated, by 2008, that rate was had climbed to 1 in 8.
•  The incarceration rate for black men born between 1975 to 1979  nearly quadrupled from the rate for those born twenty years earlier.  
•  People who have been incarcerated and fall into the lowest income group, have the least mobility of anyone.
•  The impact of conviction goes beyond the person sentenced to a prison term  to adversely affect their children.  How many kids  have a parent who is incarcerated?  Nearly 2 percent of white children, 3.5 % of Latino children and 11 % of African  children.  

This  dovetails with what legal scholar  Michelle Alexander talks about in her recent book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness.  Alexander’s argument, well- supported by research, is that the unprecedented rise in people being sent to prison since the 1970s is creating a permanent underclass.  Individuals end up being punished in perpetuity, she says,  as their records are often to deny them employment, housing and other opportunities that might help them rebuild their lives.

 

You can read the full report here.    

 

 

 

 

Criminal justice blogs I love…

Oops, I almost forgot.  Today those of us  taking part in WordCount Blogathon 2010 are talking about our favorite blogs.  So I had to postpone an earlier entry, which is why this is coming to you a little later.  

Fortunately, in the area of  criminal justice, there are a number of  good sites.  Here’s a quick list of my top five:

1.  Best and newsiest overall  — Change.org’s Criminal Justice Blog.  

 I usually call this one Matt Kelley’s blog, since initially he was doing all the posts, though in recent months Change.org has  added other writers.   Kelley, an editor at the Innocence Project  is always on the news, covering everything from prison reform  to  re-entry challenges  and definitely calling it as he sees it.  Some of my recent favorites were his posts on  Taiwan pointing to the success of the death penalty in the U.S. as its reason for reinstituting the practice , the dangers of using software to predict what kids might commit crimes in Florida and the racial undertones of baggy pants laws. 

2.   Best Continuous Coverage of an Issue  —  Grits for Breakfast 

Scott Henson describes himself as a former journalist  turned opposition researcher/political consultant, public policy researcher and blogger.  His insightful posts on criminal justice in Texas — a nation in and of itself — are a model for what a good blog should be.  His long-running coverage of prison overcrowding in the state has been as dogged and as effective as that of any beat reporter.  He’s well-sourced, well-read and even his rants, like this recent one on Knitta Please graffiti, are usually fairly amusing. 

3.  Most helpful  —  Jail to Job

Eric Mayo is an author, lecturer and motivational speaker, who specializes in helping people develop life skills and job readiness training .   He uses his blog to answer questions ex-offenders have about finding jobs and re-entry.  He also provides taped lectures and podcasts of his answers.  What I like best is that  no matter how obscure or difficult the question, Mayo’s answers are always smart and right on target.  I’m hoping to have him answer some questions for Out and Employed later this month.

4.  Tastiest junk food —  Mind Hacks

I still haven’t found a blog I really love on criminology (readers, any suggestions?) , but I’m fascinated with psychology, which is another area where blogs are hardly in short supply.   What I like about Mind Hacks is that it gives me a no-nonsense digest of psychology-related articles, television programs and other media.  Authors Tom Stafford and Matt Webb have written a book by the same title, and their stated goal is to help people look inside their minds  using the latest psychology and neuroscience.  This is true whether they’re dissecting an article  about a 58-year-old’s ability to memorize Paradise Lost, or how Agatha Christie’s last books reflected her dementia. 

5.   Best blog for building a perspective that will keep your children from crime (and you from doing something you’ll regret) —     Your Kid’s Not Going Pro

What the heck is a blog about youth sports doing on my list?  In truth, I discovered this one  back when my middle son first got heavy into his travel soccer career (he was 8).  Bob Cook is a  journalist, veteran Little League coach  and a guy after my own heart in terms of having the right attitude about games kids play.  He also spends a surprising amount of time writing about criminal activity, though given the amount of cheating and violence that often seeps into our favorite American pasttimes, maybe this is par for the course.  One of his recent posts on George Huguely, the prep-school lacrosse player at UVA who accidentally killed his girlfriend, is a perfect example of why I keep coming back to Cook’s site again and again.   Quite simply, he gets it.  

How about you?  Anyone have a criminal justice  blog they love that I should add to my list?

On the legislative front…

From thecrimereport.org comes news  that Sen. Jim Webb’s bill to set  up a  national commission on criminal justice reform has been redrafted.  It could be taken up again by the Senate Judiciary Committee as early as tomorrow.  Apparently, there had been complaints the measure didn’t have enough state and local representation on the panel.  That’s been corrected as noted here.

Meanwhile, the folks at the Legal Action Center tell me that work is afoot to ensure that the The Second Chance Act of 2008  is definitely renewed after it’s three-year authorization runs out.  Attorneys, advocates, legislators and other interested parties are evaluating what, if any, changes need to be made to make the bill more effective.  The Second Chance Act provides $165 million to fund education, treatment and  re-entry services for ex-offenders.  Awards have been announced throughout the country, but local agencies and non-profits must wait until Congress has authorized the budget before the monies will be released.

As to other legislation:  Sen. Charles Rangel’s two bills on expungement and returning voting rights to former offenders are again unlikely to see any activity in this year’s session.