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Monday, September 9, 2013

Three Companies Face Charges for Inappropriate Use of Criminal Records

In This Issue...
  • U.S. Moves to Support Efforts in Justice Reform
  • Capitol Hill Briefing on States' Innovations in Juvenile Justice
  • Transforming Probation Departments to Reduce Recidivism
  • U.S. Prison Population Declines for Third Consecutive Year
  • Three Companies Face Charges for Inappropriate Use of Criminal Records
  • Monthly Bulletins on Risk Assessment Literature
  • Upcoming Events and Webinars
  • New Publications and Resources
  • Reentry in the News
U.S. Moves to Support Efforts in Justice Reform
Attorney General Eric Holder addresses the American Bar Association on August 12.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced steps to reform the criminal justice system’s treatment of nonviolent drug offenders at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates in San Francisco on August 12, 2013. “Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason,” he said in his address. To read more, clickhere.
Capitol Hill Briefing on States' Innovations in
Juvenile Justice
On July 30, 2013, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) hosted a briefing called “States’ Innovations in Juvenile Justice: Investing in Better Outcomes for Our Communities.” Moderated by Michael Thompson, Director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, state leaders from Connecticut, Texas, and Ohio, and federal juvenile justice leaders discussed recent bipartisan reforms that have improved outcomes for youth involved with the juvenile justice system and for youth who are removed from their schools for disciplinary reasons and at risk of becoming involved with the justice system. To read more, click here.
Connecticut Under Secretary of Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Mike Lawlor shares his state's successes with juvenile justice reform.
Transforming Probation Departments to Reduce Recidivism
Reducing recidivism through the application of evidence-based practices was strongly emphasized at a recent conference for practitioners and leaders in community corrections. At the American Parole and Probation Association’s 38th annual training institute, which took place July 28-31 in Baltimore, MD, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Deputy Director Kristin Mahoney and Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) Policy Analyst Laura Zeliger facilitated a workshop on the successes of and principles behind BJA’s Smart Probation: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities program. During the presentation, practitioners from Wisconsin and California shared their strategies on how to apply conceptual principles to real-world situations. To learn more, click here.
U.S. Prison Population Declines for Third Consecutive Year

On July 25th, 2013, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported a 1.7 percent drop in U.S. prison population from 2011 to 2012, decreasing by 27,770 individuals to an estimated population of 1,571,013. Nine states alone had a decrease of over 1,000 prisoners in 2012: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Both federal and state imprisonment rates declined during this period. To increase accessibility to this data, BJS recently released a new online tool—the Corrections Statistical Analysis Tool—to provide real-time access to national- and state-level prisoner data from 1978 to 2011, allowing users to analyze prisoner data by yearend populations, admissions and releases, and many characteristics of prisoners. To read the latest BJS report, click here.
EEOC Challenges Three Companies for Inappropriate Use of Criminal Records in Employment Decisions

In June, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) brought formal charges against two employers for policies that resulted in individuals with certain criminal convictions being fired or automatically screened out as potential employees. On June 11, the EEOC filed suits against a BMW manufacturing facility in South Carolina and Dolgencorp, d.b.a. Dollar General, a national discount retailer based in Tennessee. In a third case, the agency announced on June 28 that it had reached a conciliation agreement with trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport to settle a discrimination charge. To read more, click here.
Monthly Bulletins on Risk Assessment Literature

The newly founded Alliance for International Risk Research (AIRR) offers a free monthly bulletin for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers interested in forensic risk assessment. The AIRR bulletin compiles references to recent articles related to violence, sex offender, and general offender risk assessment published in over 80 scholarly journals. The aim of the AIRR is to promote the implementation of the latest evidence-based practices in mental health and criminal justice systems, provide a manageable resource for interested legal professionals and policymakers, and keeping researchers up-to-date on trends in risk assessment literature. To receive the AIRR bulletins, click here.
Upcoming Events and Webinars

Webinar: Trapped: The Effect of Criminal Debt on Reentry
The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and the Illinois Asset Building Group

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013
Time: 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. CT


Webinar: Collaborative Approaches to Justice Information Sharing among Tribal, State and Local Justice Agencies
National Criminal Justice Association

Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Time: 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET

Conference: The 15th Bi-Annual Adult and Juvenile Female Offenders Conference

Date: October 6-10, 2013
Location: Portland, ME
New Publications and Resources
Transitions Between Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime—A series of six bulletins from The National Institute of Justice

Second Chance Act: What Have We Learned About Reentry So Far?—An interview with leading researcher Ron D'Amico of Social Policy Research Associates from The National Institute of Justice

Best Practices for Increasing Access to SSI/SSDI upon Exiting Criminal Justice Settings—A publication fromPolicy Research Associates andSAMHSA's SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery Technical Assistance Center
 
Implementing Evidence-based Practices in Community Corrections—A webinar from Justice Research and Statistics Association

Reentry in the News
U.S. Attorney General announces "Smart on Crime" initiatives
The U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of Tennessee—September 5, 2013| National

An intraparty squabble on prisons
Los Angeles Times—September 1, 2013 |California

Summit focuses on jobs for ex-inmates
The Columbus Dispatch—August 28, 2013
Ohio

Want to boost the economy? Educate America's prisoners
ABC News—August 26, 2013 National

Calif. counties seek to reduce re-offense rate
The Miami Herald—August 25, 2013 | California
Nebraska lawmakers look to ease prison overcrowding
The Wichita Eagle—August 24, 2013 |Nebraska

City's annual per cost inmate is $168,000, study finds
The New York Times— August 23, 2013 |New York

Program helped ex-con find a job
The Philadelphia Daily News—August 23, 2013 | Pennsylvania

How Minnesota can reduce its prison population
MinnPost—August 22, 2013 | Minnesota

L.A. County Probation Department beefs up staff to handle release of state inmates
Los Angeles Daily News—August 20, 2013 | California

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