Can Prosecutors Be Taught to Avoid Jail Sentences?

Tina Rosenberg

August 25, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Columbus, Ohio

A nonprofit consulting firm, Prosecutor Impact, advances the cause of reducing incarceration and related reforms by helping reform-minded elected district attorneys confront one of the greatest obstacles to change: their own staff's opposition. In Columbus, a two-week curriculum educated front-line prosecutors about local services that can serve as problem-solving alternatives to punishment. It also taught them about poverty's challenges and engaged them in dialogue with prisoners, to make them more open to alternative approaches, which a local defense lawyer says was successful.

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Don't Call The Cops — Call CAHOOTS

Kate Archer Kent

August 13, 2020 |

Wisconsin Public Radio |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

In Eugene and Springfield, highly trained, unarmed mobile crisis response teams get dispatched by their cities' public-safety 911 systems to behavioral-health crises that do not require a police response. The 24/7 service, now in its 32nd year in Eugene, saves tens of millions of dollars per year by diverting cases from the criminal justice system and emergency-room care while defusing potentially violent interactions and getting people the care they need rather than the care imposed on them.

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The Junk Science Cops Use to Decide You're Lying

Jordan Smith

August 12, 2020 |

The Intercept |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

When "junk science" forms the basis of the training curricula used by for-profit companies in the business of teaching police interrogation techniques, it can produce mistakes leading to false confessions and wrongful convictions. A number of vendors rely on practices long proven ineffective and debunked as myths, such as relying on interpretations of body language, eye movement, tone of voice, and other physical cues to claim evidence of deception. Genuine evidence-based interview techniques exist that should be used in making police training more professional.

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Mental health training for cops is working in Tucson. Can we bring it to Philly?

Jessica Blatt Press

August 10, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Tuscon police use a combination of training and expanded resources to resolve mental health crises by putting people in the hands of mental health professionals, an approach that in 2019 diverted nearly 4,400 cases away from arrests and jail. All police officers take a required 12-hour mental health first aid class, and most go through another 40-hour crisis intervention training. A specialized team gets more extensive training to handle court-ordered interventions, emphasizing patience and humane treatment. A 24/7 Crisis Response Center serves as an intake desk to decide what help people in crisis need.

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Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

Jazzlyn Johnson

August 07, 2020 |

The Community Voice |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

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ASU study: 'Team Kids' may improve perception of police through cop-kid activities

Anthony Wallace

August 06, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Compton, California

About 170,000 schoolchildren in four states have participated in the Team Kids Challenge, which promotes healthier relations between youth and police by pairing them in charity work to solicit and distribute donations. Based on research showing Black and Latinx youth distrust police much more than white children do, the program was found in a new study to significantly improve kids' perceptions of police. The study did not measure how long this effect lasts or why it fails, when it does. A researcher also cautions that real trust in police must be earned through good policing.

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In San Diego, ‘Smart' Streetlights Spark Surveillance Reform

Sarah Holder

August 06, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

A smart-streetlight program has helped businesses and residents by collecting a wealth of data to make parking easier, monitor air quality, and inform drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists of traffic patterns. But its use by the police to collect evidence of suspected crimes has prompted a privacy backlash. Police officials say the videos have been used only in serious crimes and have both incriminated and exonerated suspects. Critics say mission creep has led to improper surveillance of protests and racially disparate enforcement in minor crimes. City legislators are considering ways to regulate the practice.

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Surveillance Planes Watch Over Baltimore, But Catch Few Criminals

J. Cavanaugh Simpson

August 05, 2020 |

Baltimore Magazine |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

In the first half of a six-month experiment, Baltimore's "wide-area surveillance" using video cameras flying above city streets to aid in crime investigations has led to only one arrest. The city's police commissioner doubts the city will agree to pay for the surveillance once private funding for the pilot project runs out, but he says he'll know more after the six-month experiment. The experiment is aimed at Baltimore's high rates of gun violence. Besides its effectiveness, critics worry about its privacy implications and that it targets mostly Black neighborhoods.

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Here's a radical idea that will change policing, transform prisons and reduce crime: treat criminals like human beings

Rutger Bregman

July 31, 2020 |

The Correspondent |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Norway

Comparing Norway's and the United States' approaches to prisons and policing puts the lie to the American notion that being tough and unrelentingly punitive effectively addresses crime. In Norway, even people imprisoned for violent crimes, in maximum-security prisons, are treated with respect and kindness, with privileges that would be unthinkable in most American prisons. The results are telling: Norway's recidivism rate, the lowest in the world, is less than one-third of the U.S. rate. While prison costs are far higher per capita, the ultimate costs in lower crime make the Norwegian approach affordable.

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The surprising way to stop shootings that doesn't involve more cops and arrests

Samantha Michaels

July 31, 2020 |

Mother Jones |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

After two failed attempts, Oakland Ceasefire retooled its approach and since 2013 has been a significant factor in lowering homicides and nonfatal shootings. The program, used in various ways in many cities, identifies young men at high risk of getting shot or shooting others and then offers them life coaching and social services to keep them out of trouble. By de-emphasizing the role of police, pinpointing those most in need of help, boosting community involvement, and forming deeper personal relationships, the program is credited with a 32% reduction in gun homicides over a six-year study.

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