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2004 News Items

Changes Made to Drug Laws Don't Satisfy Advocates
by LESLIE EATON and AL BAKER, NY Times
December 9, 2004
"The important message to get out is that the laws are virtually as harsh as ever," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group. For example, he noted, judges must still sentence drug offenders to prison, rather than to alternatives like drug treatment

Nation's School Crime Rate Continues Decline
by Bureau of Justice Statistics
November 29, 2004
In 2003, about 7 percent of public and private school students ages 12-18 reported that they had been bullied at school within the past 6 months. Students attending schools in rural areas (10 percent) and those attending public schools (7 percent) reported higher rates of bullying at school than their peers in urban and suburban areas (7 percent) and in private schools (5 percent).

Op-Ed Schwarzenegger: A captive of prison industrial complex?
by  Vincent Schiraldi and Javier Stauring
November 26, 2004
Schwarzenegger started with tough talk about the guards, shunning their donations and preaching prison reform. But during his first legislative session, no laws were passed to curb the growth of prisons or to reform abhorrent conditions. The governor vetoed a raft of relatively benign legislation, including a bill allowing the media greater access to cover prisons and another protecting chaplains from reprisals should they speak out against prison abuses.

U.S. Prison Population nears 1.5 million
by Bureau of Justice Statistics
November 7, 2004
During 2003, the number of female prisoners grew 3.6 percent, which was higher than the 2.0 percent increase in male prisoners. As of last December 31, there were 101,179 females under state or federal jurisdiction, accounting for 6.9 percent of all prisoners. Men were almost 15 times more likely than women to be incarcerated.

Jim Crow Constitution upheld in Alabama
by Sherell Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
November 5, 2004
In California, in another crucial vote affecting thousands of blacks, voters in that state rejected Proposition 66, a measure that would have softened the "three strikes" sentencing laws that imprison blacks at a higher rate than whites.

Commentary: Striking Out in California
October 19, 2004
On Nov. 2, a decade after California's "Three Strikes" went into effect, residents of the Golden State will get another turn at bat. If approved by voters, Proposition 66 will reform California's Three Strikes sentencing law to require that a third strike, the one carrying a mandatory 25-years-to life prison sentence, be applied to only violent or serious felonies.

Op-Ed
by Javier Starling and Geraldine Washington, Pacific News Service
October 18, 2004
Nearly two-thirds of those imprisoned under Three Strikes are locked up for non-violent offenses-crimes like stealing a package of AA batteries, buying a macadamia nut thinking it was a rock of crack cocaine, or writing a bad check for $94. This is a far cry from the "tough on violent crime" approach most voters thought they were enacting in 1994.

3 Strikes locks up Blacks at 13 times the rate of whites
by San Francisco Bay View
October 13, 2004
According to this first-of-its-kind analysis of the racial and ethnic makeup of Three Strikes defendants, African Americans are given life sentences under Three Strikes at nearly 13 times the rate of whites and the Latinos are incarcerated under Three Strikes a staggering 82 percent more than whites.

California 'out-strikes' all other states combined
by San Francisco Bay View
September 24, 2004
Even though Strikes laws were aimed at violent offenders, violent crime dropped more in states that did not enact Three Strikes laws than in states with Three Strikes.

Report: Calif. three-strikes law imprisons more than other states
September 24, 2004
California imprisons more felons under its three-strikes law than almost every other three-strikes state combined, a report by an advocacy group found Thursday

New parole hearings ordered for Ohio inmates
by Ted Wendling, Cleveland Plain Dealer
September 3, 2004
Columbus- Prisoners sentenced before the passage of Ohio's 1996 truth-in-sentencing law won a major legal victory this week when a Franklin County judge ordered new parole hearings for what could be thousands of inmates.

EDITORIAL
by The Birmingham News
September 2, 2004
The shame is the exorbitant phone rates the prisons charge the families to talk to locked-up loved ones. The phones are a money-making venture for prisons, but they hurt the pocketbooks of inmates' families, many of which are poor.

OP-ED: Allow ex-convicts to vote
by Robin Templeton
September 2, 2004
In a democracy, every vote should count and every vote should carry the same weight. America is the land of the swing state. As Nov. 2 approaches, candidates are deploying the most troops and campaign contributions to the 17 so-called "battleground" states.

California Gov. Vetoes Bill on Juvenile Crimes
by Jenifer Warren, Los Angeles Times
September 1, 2004
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Tuesday that sought to help judges decide which juvenile crimes were serious enough to merit prosecution in adult court.

Study criticizes laws on felon voting, says they hurt Democrats, blacks
Nearly 2 million adults in Florida and 16 other key election states are ineligible to vote because of laws that prevent felons from voting, according to a study released today.

More Blacks Going to Prison in 17 Key Election States
with the growing prison and jail population, nearly twice as many black men in their early 30s have been to prison as have obtained a bachelor's degree, according to the report by the non-profit Justice Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C.

EDITORIAL: Californians should vote on 3 Strikes Law with an Open-Mind
August 6, 2004
CALIFORNIA'S "THREE strikes" law was born out of the passion surrounding the murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993. Its intent was clearly to put away grotesque killers such Richard Allen Davis, Polly's murderer, and other violent offenders like him. Yet thousands of Californians are serving, at great expense to the state, 25-year-to-life sentences even though their third "strike" was not remotely a violent or serious offense.

Special Report: Juvenile Injustice
August 3, 2004
Overcrowding, violence, and abuse--state juvenile justice systems are in a shockingly chaotic state. Now, finally, the feds are stepping in.

Almost 6.9 Million on Probation, Parole or Incarcerated in U.S. Prisons or Jails
July 26, 2004
The nation's combined federal, state and local adult correctional population reached a new record of almost 6.9 million men and women in 2003, an increase of 130,700 people since December 31, 2002, announced the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS).

Maryland Governor Advocates Treatment Over Jail
July 21, 2004
Maryland follows several other states -- including Arizona, California and Texas -- that have sought to reduce prison populations through diversion of drug offenders

Missouri's youth prisons focus on small groups, therapy, caring. Officials in California's punishment-oriented system are taking a look
by Jenifer Warren, Los Angeles Times
July 6, 2004

Criminal Justice Reform: Public Turnabout on '3 Strikes'
by Vincent Schiraldi and Esta Soler, Op-Ed San Francisco Chronicle
July 6, 2004
Op-Ed, San Francisco Chronicle

California Urged to Reform Youth Prisons
by Don Thompson, Associated Press
June 17, 2004
Youth and advocates are urging reform for the dangerous and inefficient California Youth Authority system.

Punitive Crime Laws
by Vincent Shiraldi, New York Times
March 19, 2004

Life in prison for shoplifting doesn't make sense
by LaDoris H. Cordell and Torie Osborn, San Jose Mercury News
March 18, 2004

California's Three Strikes Law
Philanthropy News Digest
March 9, 2004

Buried alive under California's law of 'three strikes and you're out'
by Dan Glaister in Los Angeles, The Guardian
March 8, 2004

10 Years Of Striking Out
by Ed Wiley III, BET.com
March 8, 2004

Verdict on '3 strikes' law mixed after first 10 years
by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer , San Francisco Chronicle
March 8, 2004

Ten Losing Seasons
by Dennis Romero, LA City Beat
March 7, 2004

Three-Strikes legacy little to crow about
by Editorial Staff, Honolulu Advertiser
March 7, 2004

Three Strikes: Law That Fails on All Counts
by Vincent Schiraldi and Geri Silva, The Los Angles Times
March 7, 2004

Opponents pushing initiative to lessen severity of 1994 law
by Greg Moran, San Diego Union-Tribune
March 7, 2004

Decade-Old Three Strikes Law Still Striking Out
by Vincent Schiraldi and Geri Silva, Pacific News Service
March 5, 2004

'Three Strikes' Law A Failure...
The Orange County Register
March 5, 2004

Study Calls Three Strikes A Failure
by Mareva Brown, Sacramento Bee
March 5, 2004

'Three strikes' law's effect debated after 10 years
by Don Thompson, Associated Press
March 5, 2004

Striking a blow, or striking out
by Dan Walters , The Fresno Bee
March 5, 2004

Schwarzenegger names Deukmejian to head prison reform panel
by Don Thompson, Associated Press
March 5, 2004

3 strikes' impact divides
by Mike Kataoka, The Press-Enterprise
March 5, 2004

Three-Strikes Law Has Little Effect, Study Says
by Greg Krikorian, LA Times
March 5, 2004
A decade after it was enacted, California's three-strikes sentencing law has had little impact on violent crime while costing taxpayers $8 billion to imprison tens of thousands of felons, most of them for nonviolent offenses, according to a study released today.

Report levels criticism at California's three-strikes law
by Mareva Brown, Sacramento Bee
March 4, 2004

3 strikes turns 10
by Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, The Stockton Record
March 4, 2004

Legislators Push for Treatment Over Jail
by Jessica Parran, Prince George's Post
February 23, 2004

Drug treatment, education to be focus in state prisons
by Tom Stuckey, Capital Paper
February 12, 2004

Bill Urges Drug Treatment Over Jail
by Tim Craig, Washington Post
February 11, 2004

Ehrlich's progressive new philosophy on prisons
by C. Fraser Smith, The Baltimore Sun
February 8, 2004

Drugs and Money
by Editorial, The Baltimore Sun
February 4, 2004

Governor, Critics Stake Out Territory With Speech
by Stephanie Tracy and Adrienne Saunders, Capital News Service
January 30, 2004

Ehrlich Seeks Diversion Program for Drug Abusers
by Tim Craig, Washington Post
January 28, 2004

Study: Prisons Need Fewer Guards, More Counselors
by Laura Ernde, Herald-Mail
January 21, 2004

Jersey tops U.S. in Prison Disparity
by Robert Schwaneberg , New Jersey Star Ledger
January 18, 2004

Protest Decries Housing Aid Halt Mayor, Demonstrators Criticize State Suspension of Assistance for Disabled
by Tom Pelton, Baltimore Sun
January 14, 2004

Program Cuts Affect Those With 'nothing' Freeze: A Six-Month Suspension in Housing Aid Benefits to the Disabled is Expected to Affect 10,000.
by Tom Pelton, Baltimore Sun
January 9, 2004