By Harry Annison, Kate Paradine

In this article we sketch a vision that might guide academic and third sector collaboration. We do so by drawing on a project that involved collaboration with a range of stakeholders, in order to stimulate ongoing discussion about how academics and the third sector might work together to seek positive change. Our findings show that there are keenly felt challenges, but also a sense of resilient optimism. A key finding among our stakeholders was a sense that there is an absence of an overarching shared vision, which was experienced by many of our respondents as consequential. Therefore, in the spirit of constructive provocation we set out such a vision, which was collaboratively developed with our respondents: opening a dialogue, rather than providing a conclusive position.

Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, May 2024 (early view)

By Kuc, Oktawian

Recent decades have brought international and municipal courts much closer together and induced meaningful cooperation. This holds true also for the International Court of Justice and domestic judicial institutions as they engage actively in an inter-judicial dialogue, particularly on the normative level. Due to the impact of globalisation and internationalisation, the World Court has expanded its jurisprudence to also accommodate references and analysis of external judicial organs and their pronouncements. Likewise, ICJ decisions are referred to and consulted by municipal courts as authoritative statements of international norms or assistance in fact determination. This monograph examines this inter-judicial dialogue in a comprehensive manner by identifying and analysing all its aspects as evidenced in respective jurisprudence. Surprisingly, the mutual conversation in judicial decisions between the World Court and national judicial institutions has drawn little attention from international legal scholarship, and the book is designed to fill this lacuna.

New York; London: Routledge, 2022.

By Rebecca Tiger

The number of people incarcerated in the U.S. now exceeds 2.3 million, due in part to the increasing criminalization of drug use: over 25% of people incarcerated in jails and prisons are there for drug offenses. Judging Addicts examines this increased criminalization of drugs and the medicalization of addiction in the U.S. by focusing on drug courts, where defendants are sent to drug treatment instead of prison. Rebecca Tiger explores how advocates of these courts make their case for what they call “enlightened coercion,” detailing how they use medical theories of addiction to justify increased criminal justice oversight of defendants who, through this process, are defined as both “sick” and “bad.” Tiger shows how these courts fuse punitive and therapeutic approaches to drug use in the name of a “progressive” and “enlightened” approach to addiction. She critiques the medicalization of drug users, showing how the disease designation can complement, rather than contradict, punitive approaches, demonstrating that these courts are neither unprecedented nor unique, and that they contain great potential to expand punitive control over drug users. Tiger argues that the medicalization of addiction has done little to stem the punishment of drug users because of a key conceptual overlap in the medical and punitive approaches—that habitual drug use is a problem that needs to be fixed through sobriety. Judging Addicts presses policymakers to implement humane responses to persistent substance use that remove its control entirely from the criminal justice system and ultimately explores the nature of crime and punishment in the U.S. today.

New York; London: NYU Press,  2012

By Ebony L. Ruhland, Amber A. Petkus, Nathan W. Link, Jordan M. Hyatt, Bryan Holmes, and Symone Pate

Abstract:

The assessment and collection of monetary sanctions (fines, fees, and restitution) have become a common element of the U.S. criminal justice system, especially in community corrections. Although the application of monetary sanctions is often dictated by state-level legislation, court rules, and agency policy, little research has sought to organize and systematically examine a set of these policies to compare them across several community corrections contexts more broadly. As such, this study fills a gap in the literature by using thematic content analysis to examine legislative policies governing the use of monetary sanctions in six states from across the United States. Laws and policies regarding the assessment, waiver, and collection of monetary sanctions utilized by agencies of varying size and jurisdictional scope were considered to identify common themes. We conclude with a discussion of whether the policies and laws examined align with rehabilitative and punitive goals of community supervision and highlight emerging opportunities for research and policy reform.

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 37(1), 108-127.

By lya Slavinski and Kimberly Spencer-Suarez

Over the last several decades, with the rise of mass incarceration in the United States and its steep costs, governments at the federal, state, and local levels have dramatically ramped up monetary punishment. Monetary sanctions are now the most common type of criminal penalty in the United States. The growth of fines, fees, and other legal financial obligations (LFOs), and the ensuing legal debt, reflect a shifting of the system’s costs onto its primarily low-income and indigent subjects. This study provides an exploration of previously underexamined ways in which monetary sanctions impose distinct burdens on the poor. Interviews with 121 defendants in Texas and New York, along with courtroom observations, demonstrate that criminal legal debt is particularly challenging for people with low incomes in three meaningful ways. First, systems set up to handle indigency claims do not adequately address the needs or complex individual circumstances of those who simply do not have the ability to pay. Oftentimes, alternatives are unavailable or statutorily prohibited. Second, the lack of alternatives to payment lead to compromising situations, which then compel indigent defendants to make difficult choices about how to allocate scant resources. Finally, being encumbered with fines and fees and participating in alternatives like community service comes with taxing time requirements that can prove uniquely challenging for those who are poor. These three findings lead us to propose a series of policy recommendations revolving around three key themes: (a) enhancement of indigency procedures, (b) equity in monetary sanctions, and (c) alleviating burdens by improving accessibility.
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 37(1), 45-65. 2021.

By Michele Cadigan and Tyler Smith

Monetary sanctions are a common tool for enforcing accountability within the criminal justice system. However, it is unclear how individuals with disabilities who have a limited capacity to work interact with the system of monetary sanctions. Drawing on courtroom observations and interviews in Washington State, we find that although the court does take disability into account when imposing economic sanctions and monitoring payment compliance, individuals with disabilities end up in a perpetual cycle of administrative hearings that can result in serious financial and health consequences for those involved. Implications for findings are discussed.

Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeVolume 37, Issue 1, February 2021, Pages 25-44

By The Ontario Human Rights Commission

From Impact to Action makes the finding that Black people are subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism by the TPS and the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB). The finding is supported by evidence gathered throughout the inquiry, including data analysis and consultations with Black communities. This finding confirms the need for change to challenge longstanding practices, which perpetuate anti-Black racism in Toronto policing.

The final report describes the results of consultation with Black communities and policing stakeholders and identifies gaps in TPS and TPSB policies and procedures including stops and searches, charges and arrests, use of force, anti-racism initiatives and monitoring, and accountability mechanisms.

“I am grateful to the many Black communities, individuals, police officers and experts who provided input to make this report and its recommendations comprehensive,”
said Patricia DeGuire, OHRC’s Chief Commissioner. “Their openness and diligence were essential in delivering the final report and evidence-based practices which, if followed, will enable a cultural transformation within TPS.”

The OHRC’s recommendations include:

• purging the TPS database of photographs, fingerprints or other biometric information from charges that do not result in convictions

• requiring supervisory approval and/or equity audits of charges

• revising policies and procedures to clearly set out circumstances where unnecessary force should not be used 

• expanding the collection, analysis and reporting of race-based data on stop, searches, charges, arrests and use of force

• providing greater transparency on officer discipline

• taking proactive investigative steps following tribunal or court decisions that contain findings of racial profiling, racial discrimination or violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

• integrating scenario-based training on anti-Black racism into other training programs with effective evaluation

• developing a distinct policy or procedure on racial profiling

• supporting calls to expand civilian-led mental health crisis response services

The OHRC acknowledges the positive steps the TPS and TPSB have taken to address anti-Black racism and discrimination in policing since the start of the inquiry. The Commission is committed to continued engagement with the TPS and TPSB to work towards implementing the recommendations through legally binding and specific actions.

Toronto: The Commission, 2023. 

By  Ben Bradford, Krisztian Posch, Arabella Kyprianides,  Jyoti Belur, et al.

Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) were introduced into UK policing in 2003 and were initially made available for use only by authorised firearms officers. The CED adopted by the UK is manufactured by AXON and referred to as Taser. The College of Police describes CEDs as follows. “A CED is a less lethal weapon system designed to temporarily incapacitate a subject through use of an electrical current that temporarily interferes with the body’s neuromuscular system and produces a sensation of intense pain. It is one of a number of tactical options available when dealing with an incident with the potential for conflict. CEDs will not be routinely used to police public order or public safety events, but may be used as an option to respond to circumstances within the operation. The use of CED ranges from the physical presence of a drawn device through to the application of electrical discharge to a subject. Even before a CED is drawn, the mere visibility of an overtly carried holstered device may serve a deterrent value”. 1 In 2008, Taser was made available to non-firearms trained police, who could be equipped and deploy with the device after becoming a Specially Trained Officer (STO). This transition was particularly important because it meant that, in most cases, the strict command and control protocols supervising Taser use within firearms operations no longer applied. Rather, individual STOs made decisions to deploy the weapon in the context of routine operations. Moreover, training for Taser moved from the specialist arena of extended firearms training into a shorter, usually three-day, training programme. In 2019, access to Taser was extended to Student Officers and, in 2022, it was expanded again to Special Constables. To retain their qualification, STOs in England and Wales are required to undertake a minimum of six hours refresher training every twelve months, typically delivered over one day. Whilst, under certain circumstances, Taser is effective tactically, its use carries a range of risks, both individually and organisationally. Home Office figures show that in 2017/18, when new use of force recording rules came into force, there were just under 17,000 uses of Taser; by 2021/22 this had grown to over 34,000. As the use of CED increases so too does the possibility of incidents occurring that pose a threat of harm to citizens, as well as individual and cumulative threats to police legitimacy. This is particularly true with regard to its deployment involving people from ethnic minority communities. For example, Home Office statistics for 2021/22 showed that Black .... people were approximately five times more likely than White people to have Taser used against them. The extent and nature of ethnic disproportionality in police use of Taser is measured and understood primarily via these Home Office statistics. According to the Voice newspaper a review of Taser cases between 2015-20 by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that 60% of Black people were subjected to Taser use for up to five seconds longer in comparison to just 29% of White people, people with mental health issues were also more likely to be subjected to multiple and prolonged discharges and a total of 16 people have died where the use of Tasering has been a factor following the inquests into their deaths. 2 Moreover, within England and Wales there have been several high-profile incidents where individuals of Black heritage have died following police use of Taser. These patterns of policing are a significant challenge for the police. As the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Taser and Less Lethal Weapons, Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi has said: “Police officers across the UK do an exceptional job under immense pressure, but these statistics cannot be ignored. The impact of this disproportionality on communities is far-reaching and it is important that we do as much as we can to understand the underlying reasons”. 3 1.2. This report describes a programme of research, funded by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), which aimed to explore the potential causes of these ethnic and racial disparities in the police use of Taser.    

2023. 212p.

London: University College London, 2022. 212p.

By Thomas Frampton

Supreme Court opinions involving race and the jury invariably open with the Fourteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, or landmark cases like Strauder v. West Virginia (1880). Legal scholars and historians unanimously report that free people of color did not serve as jurors, in either the North or South, until 1860. In fact, this Article shows, Black men served as jurors in antebellum America decades earlier than anyone has previously realized. While instances of early Black jury service were rare, campaigns insisting upon Black citizens’ admission to the jury-box were not. From the late 1830s onward, Black activists across the country organized to abolish the all-white jury. They faced, and occasionally overcame, staunch resistance. This Article uses jury lists, court records, convention minutes, diaries, bills of sale, tax rolls, and other overlooked primary sources to recover these forgotten efforts, led by activists who understood the jury-box to be both a marker and maker of citizenship. A broader historical perspective—one that centers Black activists in the decades before the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868—offers a new way of thinking about the relationship between race, rights, citizenship, and the jury.

New York University Law Review, 2024.

By Valerie Jenness and Alexis Rowland

A growing body of research reveals that transgender people are disproportionately in contact with the criminal legal system, wherein they experience considerable discrimination, violence, and other harms. To better understand transgender people's involvement in this system, this article synthesizes research from criminology, transgender studies, and related fields as well as empirical findings produced outside of academe, to conceptualize a “transgender criminal legal system nexus.” This article examines historical and contemporary criminalization of transgender people; differential system contact and attendant experiences associated with police contact, judicial decision-making, and incarceration; and pathways to system involvement for transgender people. The analytic focus is on cultural logics related to institutionalized conceptualizations of gender, discriminatory people-processing in various domains of the criminal legal system, and institutionally produced disparities for transgender people involved in the criminal legal system, especially transgender women of color. The article concludes with a discussion of directions for future research, including a focus on administrative violence, organizational sorting, intersectionality, and measurement challenges.

Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 7, Page 283 - 309

By Alana Henninger and Hung-En Sung

Efforts at combating the negative health and social consequences of substance abuse and dependence have always existed in the United States. Often swinging between the rival contexts of moralistic and positivistic discourses, these efforts have led to the articulation of the major therapeutic paradigms in the field of substance abuse treatment. The earliest interventions were grassroot interventions focusing on individuals with drinking problems whose goals shifted from moderation to abstinence over time. As the patterns of substance use and abuse quickly diversified along the processes of immigration and urbanization, a wider variety of substances and a more diverse assortment of users became targeted for an even richer array of therapeutic experiments. The gradual involvement of the state in the planning and administration of substance abuse treatment has resulted in the growing use of institutionalization and coercion to trigger and maintain the recovery process. The emerging consensus that substance addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease represents a redefinition of an old problem and will determine the direction of the science and art of substance abuse treatment in the years to come.

Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Edition: 1st. January 2014. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_278. 14p.

By Catherine L. Crooke

Research on the temporal dimensions of international migration focuses on how migrants experience time. This study instead turns attention to public interest lawyers, whose work plays a crucial role in ensuring favorable legal outcomes for immigrants, in order to consider time’s salience within the US asylum context. Based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork with Los Angeles-based public interest asylum attorneys, this article argues that lawyers confront both weaponized efficiency and weaponized inefficiency in the course of representing asylum seekers. Advocates must rush to keep pace, on the one hand, as various state actors accelerate asylum processes and, on the other, find ways to advance clients’ interests even as state agencies selectively slow procedures to a standstill. These findings affirm that temporal contradictions define the US asylum system. Further, they demonstrate that lawyers experience these contradictions not as natural phenomena but, rather, as temporal violence: in a range of contexts, government action mobilizes time— whether actively or passively—in the service of migration control.

Law & Social Inquiry , First View , pp. 1 - 28

Edited by Olaf Halvorsen Rønning and Ole Hammerslev

his edited collection provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences and similarities between civil legal aid schemes in the Nordic countries whilst outlining recent legal aid transformations in their respective welfare states. Based on in-depth studies of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, the authors compare these cases with legal aid in Europe and the US to examine whether a single, unique Nordic model exists. Contextualizing Nordic legal aid in relation to welfare ideology and human rights, Hammerslev and Halvorsen Rønning consider whether flaws in the welfare state exist, and how legal aid affects disadvantaged citizens. Concluding that the five countries all have very different legal aid schemes, the authors explore an important general trend: welfare states increasingly outsourcing legal aid to the market and the third sector through both membership organizations and smaller voluntary organizations. A methodical and compas sionate text, this book will be of special interest to scholars and students of the criminal justice, the welfare state, and the legal aid system.

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 345p.

By The National Institute of Corrections, Justice-Involved Veterans Network.

This white paper is a collaboration between the National Institute of Corrections, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Institute of Corrections-sponsored Justice-Involved Veterans Network. This effort reflects the original Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) that was developed in the early 2000s by Mark Munetz, MD, and Patricia A. Griffin, PhD, along with Henry J. Steadman, PhD, of Policy Research Associates, Inc. The original intent of the Sequential Intercept Model was to “envision a series of ‘points of interception’ or opportunities for an intervention to prevent individuals with mental illness from entering or penetrating deeper into the criminal justice system” (Munetz & Griffin, 2006). The current project builds on prior efforts to adapt (as V-SIM) the original SIM to the justice-involved veterans population challenged by various forms and degrees of mental illness, as well as by substance abuse, and by the trauma from physical injuries (with psychological trauma-overlapping Traumatic Brain Injury of particular note). Each decision point in the criminal justice system represents an opportunity to intercede at the lowest level possible and to minimize the collateral consequences of a veteran getting more deeply involved in the justice system.

Washington, DC: NIC, 2023. 120p.

By Steering Committee on Justice Efficiencies and Access to the Justice System

A sub-committee of the Steering Committee on Justice Efficiencies and Access to the Criminal Justice System was formed to examine therapeutic courts in Canada, ascertain how well they were functioning, and identify best practices. A plan was formed to conduct a jurisdictional scan focused on mental health and drug treatment courts. (Other therapeutic courts, such as domestic violence courts and “Gladue” courts for Indigenous offenders, were outside the scope of the scan due to the constraints of time and the need to focus the inquiries.) Group interviews were arranged with judges, lawyers, and treatment providers from across Canada who work in these courts. The general topics that were covered in the interviews were: 1) Barriers to access and success; 2) Best practices; and 3) Evaluation methods. The authors of this report hope that this report can, in some way, serve to support, enhance, and contribute to the extensive body of knowledge held by the dedicated professionals who serve in these courts and who are passionately committed to improving the well-being of their communities.

Vancouver, BC: ICCLR, 2021. 142p.

By Lisa Keen and Suzanne B. Goldberg

n 1992, the voters of Colorado passed a ballot initiative amending the state constitution to prevent the state or any local government from adopting any law or policy that protected a person with a homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation from discrimination. This amendment was immediately challenged in the courts as a denial of equal protection of the laws under the United States Constitution. This litigation ultimately led to a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court invalidating the Colorado ballot initiative. Suzanne Goldberg, an attorney involved in the case from the beginning on behalf of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Lisa Keen, a journalist who covered the initiative campaign and litigation, tell the story of this case, providing an inside view of this complex and important litigation.

Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1998.

By Christopher Lowenkamp, Matthew DeMichele, and Lauren Klein Warren

This report presents findings related to impacts associated with criminal justice improvements underway in Lucas County, Ohio. The current report, however, focuses on impacts related to one of Lucas County’s initiatives - the use of the Public Safety Assessment (PSA). The report shows that Lucas County made serious reductions to the number of people booked into jail during the post-PSA period. For the entire seven-year study period, of those released pretrial, 27% experienced a failure to appear (FTA), 17% were arrested for any offense, and 5% were arrested for a violent offense during the pretrial period. There were reductions in the pretrial outcomes between the pre- and post-PSA periods: a six-percentage point decrease in FTA rates (30% vs. 24%), a five-percentage point decrease in new criminal arrest (NCA) rates (20% vs. 15%) and a two-percentage point decrease in new violent criminal arrest (NVCA) rates (6% vs. 4%). The results demonstrate that the PSA meets standards of predictive validity. For the three scales, we found that the Area Under the Curve (AUC) values are in the good (NCA) and fair (NVCA and FTA) ranges, there is incremental increase in failures as scores increase, and significant increases in the predicted likelihood of failure as scores increase across a series of regression models. The report shows that the PSA meets validity standards used for criminal justice assessments, and the report includes tests for predictive bias.

Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, 2020. 84p.

By Don Stemen and David Olson

Bail reform efforts across the United States have accelerated in recent years, driven by concerns about the overuse of monetary bail, the potentially disparate impact of pretrial detention on poor and minority defendants, and the effects of bail decisions on local jail populations. Proponents of bail reform advocate for reducing or eliminating the use of monetary bail, arguing that many defendants are held in jail pretrial solely because they cannot afford to post bail. Opponents counter that reducing the use of monetary bail or increasing the number of people released pretrial could result in more defendants failing to appear for court hearings (FTAs) or committing crimes while on pretrial release. Evaluations of recent bail reform efforts indicate that these efforts have not been associated with increases in new criminal activity….. A debate has played out in the media regarding the link between GO18.8A, the types of individuals released pretrial, and the number and percent of individuals charged with a new crime while on pretrial release. The debate centers around an evaluation of GO18.8A conducted by the Office of the Chief Judge (OCJ).5 The OCJ’s evaluation found that the number and percent of felony defendants released pretrial increased after GO18.8A but that the percent of felony defendants charged with a new crime while on pretrial release was similar before and after GO18.8A. Subsequent analyses by the media6 and academics7 suggested that the OCJ’s evaluation underestimated the percent of defendants charged with a new crime after GO18.8A. …. These critiques suggested that GO18.8A may have led to an increase in new criminal activity of those released pretrial and contributed directly to increases in crime in Chicago and Cook County. These subsequent analyses, however, also suffer from methodological problems similar to those in the OCJ’s evaluation. By relying on the same public data collected and distributed by the OCJ, these analyses were unable to correct for the critiques made of the OCJ’s analyses – namely a truncated follow-up period and a failure to account for seasonality – without making assumptions about, and estimations of, underlying recidivism rates of those released.8 More importantly, the analyses were unable to verify or refute the OCJ’s analyses of bond court decisions, release rates, or new criminal activity through the independent analysis of defendant- and charge-level court or jail data. As a result of these methodological shortcomings and contradictory findings, the actual impact of GO18.8A remains unclear. ….

Chicago: Loyola University Chicago, 2020. 34p

By James Hess and Susan Turner

Jurisdictions across the country have joined a movement to rethink how individuals are handled at the pretrial stage of case processing. Although alternatives to cash bail systems have been around since the 1960s, 1 renewed interest has focused on the use of risk assessment algorithms to help determine which pretrial individuals might be released safely into the community. These types of tools hold promise as a means to move away from “debtor prisons” for individuals who do not have the financial resources to pay for their release. However, the field is still in the relatively early stage of testing these tools for predictive ability, potential racial bias in administration, as well as whether their use actually reduces incarceration.2 California has recently entered the pretrial risk assessment arena. Senate Bill 10 was passed in 2018 to change from a cash-based pretrial system to a risk-based release and detention system; although it is on hold until November 2020 when California voters determine its fate. 3 However, legislation passed as part of the 2019 Budget Act created a pilot program to test the use of various risk assessment tools in a number of counties across California. This report presents findings from the Los Angeles pilot effort under the Act to validate the Public Safety Assessment (PSA). The PSA is a risk assessment instrument developed by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to inform pretrial judicial decisions on whether to release or detain a defendant. The tool predicts three outcomes after pretrial release: Failure to Appear (FTA); New Criminal Activity (NCA, arrest on any misdemeanor or felony charge); and New Violent Criminal Activity (NVCA, arrest on a violent misdemeanor or felony charge). The tool’s nine risk factors include prior convictions, incarceration, and failures to appear, violent offenses, pending cases at the time of arrest and age. Risk factor counts are weighted by an integer multiplier and summed to create a risk score. Several sets of adjacent scores are collapsed together into one score to produce a final 6-point risk scale for each of the outcomes.

Irvine, CA: University of California Irvine, Center for Evidence-Based Corrections, 2021. 103p

By Brian J. Ostrom and Jordan Bowman

Since Gideon v. Wainwright, the provision of an attorney to a criminal defendant is an accepted constitutional right. The past 50 years has witnessed the ongoing development by defense practitioners of what it means to “provide the effective assistance of counsel” through strong legal advocacy. More recently, many practitioners contend that in addition to the defense attorney, professional support services, such as social workers, paralegals, and criminal investigators, are critical to effective assistance of counsel in indigent defense cases. Investment by defender offices in resources and skills beyond traditional legal expertise promises to bring positive returns not just for clients, but for the criminal justice system and taxpayers as well. The umbrella of what we will call the holistic defense model covers the most developed concepts and practices of an integrated defense team. Proponents of holistic defense claim a wide range of enhanced client outcomes including more favorable court dispositions and successful treatment for recurring needs (e.g., addiction, joblessness, mental illness) as well as associated public benefits such as reduced recidivism and less reliance on costly incarceration. As positive as these meritorious claims may be, the current dearth of rigorous evaluative research means they remain unverified

Williamsburg, Virginia, National Center for State Courts, 2019. 53p.