Links of Interest — June 3, 2011
What We Read, May 30 – June 3, 2011
Criminal Justice Court Reform:
- The ABA advocates several common sense ways for States to save money while furthering goals of criminal justice.
- MacArthur Justice Center Director Locke Bowman remains skeptical about Mayor Emmanuel’s pick for Police Superintendent, Garry McCarthy.
- Slate’s William Saletan contemplates why some defendants are electronically monitored rather than jailed prior to their trials.
- The Global Commission on Drug Policy has roundly condemned the “war on drugs,” and issued a lengthy report recommending ways to address the global drug problem.
- The Nation interviews ACLU lawyer Michelle Alexander about the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling on California prisons: deeming Californian prison crowding to be constitutionally “cruel and unusual,” the US Supreme Court ordered the state to reallocate 30,000 inmates.
- Violent crime has dropped dramatically across the US, but without apparent explanation.
- Mayor Emmanuel allocated 500 police offers to Chicago neighborhoods with notoriously high numbers of crimes.
Community Justice:
- The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered Governor Chris Christie to address dramatic urban education inequities after New Jersey government cut half a billion dollars in education funding.