CORRECTIONS NEWS AND RESEARCH
A Data and Information Source for Oklahoma Corrections
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Clean Smells, Dark Rooms, and Bonuses
Researchers have been turning up some
surprises as they figure out experiments to get into that part
of our brains where we generally don’t want to go, with implications
for how we do corrections and correctional policy. For
example, this
piece will alert you to the power that clean smells have
over behavior (and in a good way) and to how darkness (or sunglasses)
can literally change what you do (and in a bad way). Here
are a couple of excerpts to get you interested in clicking the
link:
“You could argue that nice smells make people feel better, and
these positive moods underlie their sudden burst of charitable
behaviour. But questionnaires handed out after the tasks showed
that neither room affected the volunteers' mood. Nor did the
volunteers realise what was going on. In both experiments, they
didn't believe that smells were influencing their behaviour and
they didn't think that their room was any cleaner or dirtier
than usual.
The idea that a simple scent can influence behaviour to this
degree may be surprising to many people, but I've blogged about
many such studies before. Social
exclusion can make you feel cold, a
warm cup of tea can make people behave more warmly or charitably
to others, and holding
heavy objects can make us see things as more important. All
of these are examples of a fascinating concept called "embodied
cognition", where many of the abstract concepts we use
daily, like virtue, are related to concrete parts of our environment,
like smells.
Zhong's new study also provides some indirect support for the broken
windows theory, which suggests that signs of petty crime,
like the eponymous broken windows, can trigger yet more criminal
behaviour. Disorder breeds disorder. So far, Zhong has only shown
that clean smells promote charity and generosity, not that dirty
smells promote self-interested behaviour. However, he has found
that darkness will do the job.
Darkness can obviously shroud one's identity, giving people a
licence to misbehave. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Gaslight
is the best nocturnal police, so the universe protects itself
by pitiless publicity." But Zhong thinks that darkness
doesn't need to provide anonymity to affect our behaviour - just
creating the illusion of anonymity is enough.”
So, for those of us in the correctional business,
are there any lessons here for wall colors, lighting, and Glade Mist? And
the research discussed here extends
the mining of our minds into whether and how bonuses really get
the best performance (from staff or offenders). Here’s
the main point but read the whole thing for the context and other
links:
“To see the effect of bonuses on performance, [we]conducted three
experiments. In one we gave subjects tasks that demanded attention,
memory, concentration and creativity. We asked them, for example,
to assemble puzzles and to play memory games while throwing tennis
balls at a target. We promised about a third of them one day's
pay if they performed well. Another third were promised two weeks'
pay. The last third could earn a full five months' pay. (Before
you ask where you can participate in our experiments, I should
tell you that we ran this study in India, where the cost of living
is relatively low.)
What happened? The low-and medium-bonus groups performed the
same. The big-bonus group performed worst of all.”
Monday, February 08, 2010
More On Data (or Is it “Moron Data”?)
We’ve noted recent stories on the problems with crime rate data and the problems those problems cause criminal processing decision and policy making. To the scoffers who think we’re going “conspiracy” crazy, we’ve noted the recent criticisms of Census data, especially the manipulations associated with data on the elderly. We’ve also taken some shots at our economic data, as have others (see here for a good example that explains many of the employment data problems). But here and here are a couple of direct examples showing why crime rate changes may be suspect. The first one details how inflation moves previous misdemeanors into felony categories with no underlying behavior change in the society; thus, we see crime “increases” when victimization is steady. The example deals with felony theft, but it could apply to hot checks and other fraud as well. The second one goes in the other direction, the more familiar case in which police departments want to look more effective than they are so they monkey with the data to make serious crimes look less serious. The point is simply a variation of the old fallacy of “misplaced concreteness.” We let data too often seriously flawed by inconsistency, error, and politics in collection, reporting, and interpretation become “real” in our responses, and, disregarding the necessary contingency and the need to take the data with a large helping of salt, shape our research, evaluations, and social action without the qualifiers and Plan Bs we will need when the gap between the data and reality becomes waayyy too apparent, which it does repeatedly in corrections and elsewhere. We see it in other areas right now, too, like the problems we’re having with the economy, health care, etc., that our data and analysis were supposed to keep us from. It’s not to say that data and analysis are worthless because they clearly aren’t. But they are means, not ends. Anyone who has ever run a criminal processing data shop and seen how data rarely ever lose all their problems would argue that sense and judgment should always be applied and given precedence in their use.
In Case Regular Criminology Wasn’t Enough for You
We now apparently have “neurocriminology,” which incorporates
the new work on brain imaging and on genetics into theories and
evidence of criminal behavior. Perhaps even bringing back
some ideas, once discredited and even laughed at Happy Hour,
from Cesare Lombroso and his prediction of criminality based
on skull shapes. Here’s
just a bit from a very good overview on the subject, if you’re
interested, highlighting some of the implications, but go read
the whole thing to see where the field (and we in corrections)
may be heading (not to mention fish oil sales, if you’re looking
for a company to invest your remaining savings in):
“Lombroso may have been a poor scientist, Raine says, but he
was right in one important sense: the brains of criminals are
often different from those of the rest of us. By studying brain
scans of prisoners, Raine has discovered, for example, that murderers,
especially those who kill in the heat of the moment, are more
likely to have a poorly functioning prefrontal cortex. This is
the reasoning, decision-making section of the brain that helps
to regulate impulses, including feelings of aggression, rising
up from the more “primitive” parts of the brain making up the
limbic system. We are all subject to violent instincts, but our
prefrontal cortex helps most of us to think better of them before
we harm anyone. For a few, however, the neurological brakes are
broken.
Other violent criminals may suffer from a deficit of emotional
capacity. Raine and his collaborators carried out brain scans
on people whom they determined to have psychopathic personalities.
The subjects were given a decision-making task while in the scanner.
The dilemma they were presented with is a diabolical scenario
beloved of moral philosophers (it was also used in the final
episode of M*A*S*H). It’s wartime. You are hiding in the basement
of a house with fellow villagers. You can hear enemy soldiers
outside, who you know have orders to kill anyone they find. You
are holding your own baby. Your baby has a cold. You know that
if she coughs or cries then the soldiers will find your hiding
place, kill you, the baby, and all of your friends. Should you
smother your own baby or let it cough?
Don’t worry, there isn’t a right or wrong answer. In fact, the
researchers weren’t interested in the subjects’ choices so much
as what was happening in their brains while they considered the
problem. Non-psychopathic individuals given this test display
plenty of activity in parts of the brain governing emotions.
If you spent just a moment thinking about that horrible dilemma
you probably felt uneasy. The brain scans showed that the more
psychopathic the individual, the less activation the task produced
in the amygdala and other emotion-regulating regions. In other
words, these subjects seemed to lack an emotional component to
their moral decision-making process. It’s often said that psychopaths
are people who don’t know right from wrong. But that’s not true
— they could probably pass a test of moral reasoning as well
as you or I. Their problem is that they can’t feel right from
wrong.
Raine doesn’t just want to understand the biological causes of
violent crime: his aim is to find more humane and effective ways
to prevent it. Some of his work focuses on the facilitation of
better brain functioning in offenders. This might be simpler
than it sounds. In an experiment conducted in 2002 by Bernard
Gesch, of the University of Oxford, prisoners convicted of violent
offences were fed fish-oil pills, a source of omega-3 fatty acids
critical for brain functioning. Among those who took it, the
rate of offending in prison showed a significant decline.”
Talkin’ ‘bout My Generation
In honor of some scarily old dudes who performed live at a football
game last night, let’s note this
new research warning on the possible coming impact of Baby
Boomer drug use and consider its implications for corrections
populations and health care costs:
“Delaney said that illicit drugs may cause greater impairment
as users get older.
“We do know,’’ he said, “that physiology slows down as you age,
so the stuff processed out of your body faster when you were
younger won’t be processed out so quickly when you are older.’’
That means that marijuana and abused prescription drugs may be
lingering longer in people who are now also likely to be regularly
ingesting prescribed medications, such as cholesterol-lowering
medicine or pills to tackle high blood pressure. That could result
in harmful interactions and side effects. It also means that
unsuspecting physicians may, for instance, misdiagnose symptoms
of memory loss caused by chronic marijuana use as memory impairments
caused by the onset of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The substance abuse administration, which regularly queries Americans
on their drug and alcohol use, surveyed nearly 20,000 adults,
ages 50 and over, between 2006 and 2008. It found that 5.2 percent
of those in the 50 to 59 age range had used marijuana during
that time, and that 2.9 percent had taken prescription drugs
that were not prescribed for them, most often painkillers. Overall,
7.9 percent said they had taken some illicit drug.
“We are hoping that, out of this study, people start paying more
attention, and that primary care physicians say, ‘I need to ask
my patients about their drug use, and not just their alcohol
use,’ ’’ Delaney said.”
It doesn’t get much better as you read through the article, but
you clearly need to be aware of what’s going on so read it all
anyway. Whattdya think? Baby Boomers ever going to
be called “The Greatest Generation”?
Friday, February 5, 2010
Ask Offenders What Would Stop Them????!!!!!
Surely you jest. That could lead to punishments that
would deter them instead of punishments that deter people who
make policies, who, by definition, are not the targets. We’d
risk overturning decades of precedent just to actually stop crime
better???? Better not let word of this
study in Montana of repeat DUI offenders and their perceptions
of what punishments would be most effective and why their “repeat”
status shows how the ones we have now haven’t, by definition,
you know, worked. Here’s a bit to show you why it’s interesting:
“Among its findings, the study conservatively estimates that
felony DUI offenders have driven under the influence 369 times
per conviction and become alcohol dependent at an early age.
In Montana, DUI becomes a felony after the fourth offense.
The majority of the inmates surveyed said treatment is more effective
than incarceration in preventing future offenses, and that the
Assessment Course Treatment program - a current requirement for
offenders convicted of their first, second and third DUI offenses
- is ineffective and fails to prevent repeat offenders from driving
drunk.
The inmates were split evenly about whether DUI should become
a felony earlier than the fourth offense; treatment populations
endorsed a felony charge after a third DUI or less because a
felony gives them better access to residential treatment.”
Goodness. It’s a good thing all our criminal processing
commissions and councils and workgroups have former offenders
as representatives on them so members can get this kind of feedback
regularly . . . oh, wait.
Addiction Research—Lessons from Juveniles and Rats
A couple of reports here and here on
some new research on addiction. The first one relates how
early consumption of drugs like coke and ecstasy can set juvenile
brains up for later difficulty avoiding addicting on those and
similar substance. The second one pulls on the fact that
place has an impact on drug use and relapse, that is, being in
familiar settings for past drug use increases the likelihood
of resumption, and claims that novelty can be used to entice
addicts away from those places. At least if the addicts
are rats. Clearly, you need to read the whole thing to
get the context, but here’s the takeaway:
"We identified a window of opportunity for conditioned rewards to compete
for control over choice behavior," at least among rats, the authors wrote.
By understanding how long and how well novelty can compete with
the allure of addicting drugs, researchers may start to consider
using it in the real world. The human equivalent of new "toys" --
such as scuba diving, mountain climbing, whitewater rafting and
snow skiing -- could work as a behavioral reward. As the researchers
pointed out, novelty does not involve medical treatment or side
effects, and could be cheaper as well.
"Treatment programs implementing novel rewards targeted to those individuals
that have high novelty/sensation seeking tendencies may offer addicts the opportunity
(e.g., with vouchers) to participate in one of the activities mentioned previously
in hopes of maintaining abstinence," wrote Reichel and Bevins.
At least for rats.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Crime Drop, Part Deux
The second part of the three-part series at The Crime Report on reasons for the crime drop in the last decade plus is up. Focus primarily on impact of law enforcement (you knew Bill Bratton gets quoted, right?) and (finally!) incarceration. It’s done as well as the first part and gets us psyched for the finale. Here’s just a bit to get you over there.
““The dramatic increases in incarceration did contribute to the crime decline in the 1990s,” says Richard Rosenfeld, of the University of St. Louis-Missouri. “The bulk of the evidence shows that. But from 2000-2009, the rate of incarceration slowed. In New York, for example, it’s flat or in decline. So the current decline can’t be ascribed to incarceration.”
John Jay Professor David Kennedy agrees. Recent incarceration rates have been marginal,” he says, while decreases in crime have been dramatic; so any new increases “are likely to be grabbing low level [criminals]. Anything going on is taking place at the margins in terms of incarceration, and is not very powerful.”
Carnegie Mellon University Prof. Al Blumstein also dismiss incarceration as a factor. “We’re close to equilibrium in terms of changes in incarceration,” he says. On the average, the inflow is roughly equal to the outflow. We’re way down to less than one percent increase [in imprisonment], whereas for most of the ’80 and ‘90s the rate was going up by 6 to 8 percent a year.””
Still nothing on the possibility that our data may be wrong in significant ways that might overestimate the drop itself. Along that line, here’s a legitimate story getting some attention about how the Census data on the elderly really should be taken with a can of salt, in case you’re among those non-practitioners who have never seen actual criminal justice data being made (much like laws and sausages). Finally, while you’re over at The Crime Report, click on the story about the toll of homicide on black communities. Here’s The Report’s blurb, so maybe it will entice you over to the link:
“According to a new report by the Violence Policy Institute, blacks make up 13 percent of the population and 49 percent of all homicide victims. VPI analyzed data from the FBI’s 2007 Supplemental Homicide Report and found that the homicide rate for blacks in the U.S. is five times the national average and nearly seven times greater than for whites. 86 percent of black homicide victims were male and 82 percent were killed by guns.”
Sexual Abuse, Alcoholism, and Genes
Some things we pretty much know. Those exposed to extreme stress when young have higher rates of alcoholism than those not, and child sexual abuse is what a lot of us think of when we hear of “extreme stress” situations. And we know that propensity to alcoholism is about half determined by genes, the other half by environment. (We enjoy annoying the “nature” v. “nurture” folks by denying that the case is “either-or” here.) So, something we pretty much didn’t know turns out. If you, child sexual abuse victim, have a particular set of genes, you get protection from the alcoholism that is much more likely to hit your peers. The importance of this, obviously, is that we’re seeing greater identification of genetic dispositions that may in the future allow tailoring of gene therapy treatments to help those who lack the necessary genes to protect against alcoholism. Think that might have an impact on our prison populations?
How to Make Up Those Budget Deficits
Faced with the declining revenue bases that most every government in the country is? Want a surefire idea to build them back up, maybe even get into surplus? Just go here for the details on this:
“A growing number of states and cities are cracking down on handicap parking scofflaws with stiffer fines and placards that are less susceptible to fraudulent use.”
From the people we’ve seen in Oklahoma parking lots, this could raise billions!!! OR, you could try what’s being recommended in Britain, really taxing the bejeesus out of alcohol:
“Last year, Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer in England, touched off a storm of controversy with his call for a government-mandated minimum pricing schedule for the sale of alcohol.
Donaldson’s pricing plan would set a minimum of 50p per unit of alcohol, or roughly 80 cents. This floor on alcohol pricing would mean that a bottle of wine could not be sold for less than $7.20, a bottle of whisky for less than $22, or a six-pack for less than about $9.50. Such a measure would effectively double the price of the cheapest alcohol sold in some discount supermarkets. Sir Liam Donaldson and other health officials have pointed out that, while alcohol consumption in many European countries has fallen since 1970, consumption in England has increased by 40%.”
And don’t let the evidence discussed in the piece that this really won’t work dissuade you. It’s not like we let evidence guide anything else we do. Besides, if you want to raise revenue, you DON’T WANT it to work. No need to thank us.
This Week at NCJRS
The research world just keeps spinning, and the good folks at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service just keep giving us the abstracts of some of that research. Below are a few titles of what’s there this week, just to prove the point, but you need to click the link to make sure we didn’t miss any you might have wanted to see.
- Caring for Individuals With Schizophrenia In Correctional Settings and Beyond
- Understanding Homicide Trends: The Social Context of a Homicide Epidemic
- Justice in Transition: Community Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland
- Detecting Specialization in Offending: Comparing Analytic Approaches
- Different from Adults: An Updated Analysis of Juvenile Transfer and Blended Sentencing Laws, With Recommendations for Reform
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Are You Ready for a Throwdown???
Might be one coming between drug enforcers and pharmacists and their stores over the latest proposals to require prescriptions for basically all cold remedies with pseudoephedrine behind the counter in the effort to stop Mom-and-Pop meth makers from getting ingredients easily. The people selling the cold remedies aren’t that thrilled with the prospect of the extra time and work that will force on their businesses, and they’re predicting that the doctor’s visits to get the prescriptions will drive up health care costs, too. This could be a good one. The drug guys have already won one in Mississippi. Keep an eye out for Bobby Flay (apologies to those of you without spouses who watch the Food Network). (h/t The Crime Report)
Why Did Crime Go Down?
We’ve paid a lot of attention here to
all the studies that purport to explain how much of the crime
drop of the ‘90’s was the result of this or that policy or
social attitude or practice change or no more lead paint or
gasoline or just people growing up. So
far it’s probably fair to say that we’ve explained about 178%
of the drop. And that’s without the recent stories which
we’ve noted calling into question the data used to claim the
drop happened, given the decline in crime reporting that has
happened in recent decades, too. But The Crime Report is
making a noble effort to bring some clarity to the questions,
if not the answers, in a three-part series that starts here. Most
of its immediate attention is on law enforcement activity and,
to its immense credit, culture changes, but it promises to get
to the impact of incarceration in the next offering, which we
will link to when it comes up. In the meantime, here’s
a little bit to get you going and to show you that this is really
a thoughtful and thorough examination, not the usual stuff you
get from politicians or academics (although where’s the possibility
that our crime data are as screwed up as our economic data, huh???).
“Clear notes that cultural criminologists, such as his colleague
John Jay Distinguished Professor Jock Young, also link cultural
change to lower crime rates. Those arguments, which claim that
the attraction to violence is waning among low-income African
American youth living in inner cities, are “intriguing,” says
Clear, though he quickly adds, “I haven’t seen any great evidence
to back (them) up.”
Similarly, David Kennedy, who spends a lot of time on the street
in hard-hit communities, is convinced that a cultural change
is occurring, even though he can’t prove it. “You talk to anyone
in these neighborhoods – grandmother or gangbanger, and eventually
they say, ‘I’m tired, I’ve had it.’ People just don’t want to
live like that any longer.”
Alfred Blumstein wonders whether cultural change could be connected
to larger factors in American society. He suggested that we might
be seeing an “Obama Effect” that could be causing some young
African American males to see a future of possibilities, as opposed
to dead ends. If that that’s the case, Blumstein suggests, it
could be serving as a “countervailing force to the job-frustration
effects of the recession.”
Another [culture-related] factor emerging in the research, says
Richard Rosenfeld, “is that cities with significant increases
in immigration have had lower crime rates. It’s part of the story
in New York and L.A. Twenty years ago South Central Los Angeles
was poor and black. Today it’s predominantly immigrant Hispanic.
Immigration trends [areas] towards revitalization, and decentralizes
the concentration of entrenched poverty. Immigrant communities—even
in disadvantaged areas—have seen increases in small business
[that help] stabilize areas and change the character of communities.””
Stopping Drugs with Drugs
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and it’s something we’re going to have to deal with more intensely if our current budget crises in the states continue to cast doubt on our ability to house all the inmates we have and we cast about for alternatives. This post links you to some interesting pieces on the problem and notes the recent research indicating that perhaps the best treatment therapy for heroin addicts isn’t methadone (which they may sell to get better stuff) but heroin, only under a doctor’s supervision. See why it might be an interesting post for you to check into? So go do it.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Latest from the Urban Institute
A friend sends along the latest newsletter from the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, which includes notice of a couple of new reports of significant relevance, which we will conveniently provide the sidebars on below, which means we have no reason to continue adding clauses beginning with “which” now, which will probably make you happy, which is what we, of course, live for.
An
Evolving Field: Findings from the 2008 Parole Practices
Survey
Jesse
Jannetta, Brian
Elderbroom, Amy
L. Solomon, Meagan
Cahill,Barbara
Parthasarathy, William D. Burrell
JPC just released “An
Evolving Field: Findings from the 2008 Parole Practices Survey.” With
funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Urban Institute
conducted a survey of parole supervision field offices to examine
the current state of parole practice. Parole supervision has
been a somewhat overlooked field in recent years, even as the
challenges of prisoner reentry have attracted increasing attention.
Parole supervision can and should play an important role in
facilitating successful reentry, yet parole agencies must systematically
adopt the practices and policies that have been demonstrated
to work. The findings of the survey are summarized in this
report, and indicate that the principles of effective supervision
are beginning to take root.
Release
Planning for Successful Reentry: A Self-Assessment Tool for
Corrections
Nancy
La Vigne and Robin
Halberstadt
The Urban Institute recently published a self-assessment tool
designed to aid correctional administrators in evaluating and
improving their release planning practices. Departments of corrections
have increasingly embraced the important role that release planning
plays in successful reentry. But their efforts to improve release
planning are often hindered by the absence of accurate data and
the lack of a systematic method to develop goals and measure
performance over time. With funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation
and in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Correction,
Urban Institute staff developed and piloted a monthly assessment
tool for individual correctional institutions and a yearly assessment
tool for correctional agencies to monitor overall departmental
performance. The policies and procedures identified as best practices
in the tool are drawn from Release
Planning for Successful Reentry: A Guide for Corrections, Service
Providers, and Community Groups, a 2008 UI report that incorporated
the results of a national survey of state correctional departments,
a national scan of practice, and a literature review on the topic
of release planning.
Reforming Mississippi’s Prison System
Another kind reader sends news of this
new report from the Pew Center on the States regarding
efforts at correctional reform in Mississippi. Here are
a couple of highlights, but you need to check out the whole
thing. It’s not long and you can call it work.
“Mississippi provides
an example of a state that, prior to the fiscal crisis, began a series
of sentencing reforms with broad support that were designed to enhance
public safety and control corrections costs by concentrating its prison
space on more serious offenders. The most significant reform changed the state’s
“truth-in-sentencing” law. Non-violent offenders in Mississippi
are now eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of their
prison sentence, down from the requirement of 85 percent that
was established in 1995. This change was passed by the
legislature and signed into law in 2008 by Governor Haley Barbour.
The
JFA Institute analysis found:
- By instituting changes to its parole eligibility requirements and parole risk assessment instrument, Mississippi between July 2008 and August 2009 released 3,076 inmates earlier than they would have been under prior law. The median sentence reduction of those released was 13 months.
- Through August 2009, 121 of those released offenders have been returned to custody—116 for technical violations of parole; five for non-violent offenses. One reason for the low recidivism rate is the use of a newly-developed risk assessment instrument to help authorities decide which inmates are suitable for release.
- The JFA Institute estimates that the reforms will permit Mississippi to avoid having to build and operate an additional 5,000 prison beds over the next 10 years.
While these results are encouraging, it is important to recognize that they are preliminary. The most recent of the legislative changes took effect in July 2008 so their long-term impact remains to be seen. Moreover, the report does not address any efforts that the state is taking to ensure strong supervision of the additional parolees.”
Top That Off for Me, Wouldja, Dad?
Okay, don’t want your kid to drink but know s/he probably will. Better
to keep it at home and under your watchful eye than to let them
run around doing who knows what or how much, right?
Uh . . . no. Not
according to the research reported here. In
fact,
“In a study of 428 Dutch families, researchers found that the
more teenagers were allowed to drink at home, the more they drank
outside of home as well. What's more, teens who drank under their
parents' watch or on their own had an elevated risk of developing
alcohol-related problems.
Drinking problems included trouble with school work, missed school
days and getting into fights with other people, among other issues.”
And let’s not even start with that “playing with matches” notion,
okay?
Monday, February 01, 2010
How Offenders Change Their Lives
A new book, with summaries of chapters available here right
now, that shows promise. You can get it from Willan Publishing. Here’s
the abstract of the whole book.
“It is known that many offenders,
particularly the incarcerated population, have serious health,
addiction, and mental health conditions. They also have poor
education and employment skills, marginal housing, and often
come from violent neighborhoods and dysfunctional families. They
are distinguishably different from the common notions of an average
citizen. Understanding that millions of these offenders will
be returning to their communities from shorter stays in jails,
reentry has become the current buzzword used to organize and
control the panic that States and communities are now voicing.
The focus of this introductory chapter is to outline a series
of studies within this volume that investigate individual identity
transformation beyond offenders' criminal selves and how former
or current prisoners change their lives from offender to prosocial,
nonoffending roles. The work highlights the perspective of the
men and women who are currently or formerly incarcerated. Each
piece provides an empirical analysis of the interaction between
current or former prisoners and innovative prosocial programs
and networks grounded in the most theoretical work about individual
transformation and change. The chapters in the book are organized
into three broad areas of concentration: 1) the nature of identity
transformation, 2) the role of programs, families and social
support on the transforming self, and 3) how reformed peers use
their ex-identity in service to others. The book concludes with
a chapter on the policy implications of these studies and ideas.”
What Other States Are Doing
If you’ve been hankering for a comprehensive listing of what important legislation on sentencing and corrections is happening in your state and others, well, you’re strange. But you’re also lucky because you can find one here, courtesy of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Interesting stuff, probably to get more interesting if more federal stimulus money doesn’t come available fairly quickly. Hopefully they’ll update regularly. Enjoy, you wild and crazy one. (h/t Sentencing Law and Policy)
More Lead
We’ve noted from time to time here the impact of lead ingestion on human behavior, particularly young people’s and particularly criminal behavior. Here’s yet another study, finding links with ADHD. Good thing inability to focus attention and plan for the future well don’t have anything to do with criminal behavior.
There ARE Places That Welcome Inmates
When it comes time to count population for federal benefits and legislative district representation. Oh, and maybe when their labor reduces costs for taxpayers. (Of course, that’s one of the first programs to get cut when we have to cut.)
Policy Revision Timing
If you know anyone who likes to do the operational policy revision process, hook them up with the “hankering for state legislation” people mentioned at the top. However, for those who do it and those who might, there is a nice overview to go through the relevant who, what, where, and whys that can remind and teach if you link on it. No need to thank us.
The Other Costs of Schizophrenia
Average over $1400 just within the criminal
processing system annually. That’s what this
report of a study on the topic says. From what?
“Haya Ascher-Svanum led a team of researchers from Eli Lilly
and Company, USA, who used data from a study of around 600 people
with schizophrenia to estimate the prevalence and cost of involvement
with the criminal justice system. They found that 46% had had
at least one encounter, and these patients were more likely to
be younger, with poorer mental health, and less likely to adhere
to their medication regime. Being a crime victim was the most
prevalent type of encounter, comprising 67% of these patients.”
One more way mental health and corrections intertwine that the
public usually doesn’t have a clue. Well, actually, most
of us in corrections don’t either. So this
timely monograph on how to treat schizophrenics in our custody
may prove very useful to a lot of people.
Ecstasy, Alcohol, and Three-Headed Dragons
Report here on a study of death data related to drug use claims that ecstasy hits a healthier and younger population in the “club use” category than other drugs like meth. Since the report doesn’t indicate the actual numbers of users, only deaths, or any controls, it’s hard to know whether to take this very seriously beyond “an age category of young people tote up more deaths using ecstasy than meth and they tend to be younger and healthier.” IOW, may be helpful, maybe not. Anyone wants to read the actual study and get back to us, we’ll be glad to put it up. In the meantime, this study uses controls and finds that that legal drug, alcohol, may do very real and permanent damage to teen brains, at least teens who don’t die from doing ecstasy in clubs. 12-14-years olds, looked at their white matter compared to non-binge-ing counterparts. Not good news if you’re into white matter, which you should be since it seems to be important up there. Finally, what you actually read this post for, the three-headed dragons. It’s a metaphor for the areas needing treatment to get addicts un-addicted—physical, psychological, and spiritual, detailed in this post, which argues against confidence that drug therapies to end addiction will be effective without attention to the latter two. The problem here, of course, is that, if we come up with vaccines and counter-drugging that can be shown to make a major impact on addiction and its related correctional problems and thus reduce the spending and effort that go into those corrections, there’s not likely to be much concern with whether the drug abuser feels good about it. With genetic therapies and intrusive delivery mechanisms getting closer and closer to reality, this is a debate that will likely continue, but, if we don’t have the money for “voluntary” or even caring, it’s not hard to see how it will end. Maybe just when.