Cook County President Preckwinkle Declares “War on Drugs” a Failure

At a noontime rally in the Chicago loop last Friday, Cook County President Preckwinkle condemned the increasingly unpopular “war on drugs.”  She was the lone elected official openly criticizing the enforcement strategy, which dates back to Nixon’s presidency. Preckwinkle emphasized the excessive an...
June 20, 2011

Links of Interest

What We Read, June 13-17, 2011 Criminal Justice Court Reform: SCotUS Blog analyzes the 5-4 decision in J.D.B. v. North Carolina (.pdf), in which the Court has ruled for the first time that police must take into account the age of a youth they intend to question when deciding whether or not they m...
June 17, 2011

Doctors’ Orders: Treat, Don’t Incarcerate, Mentally Ill and Addicts

One of the world’s most respected academic journals, The New England Journal of Medicine, recently published a piece offering a fresh perspective on the US policy of incarcerating drug users and the mentally ill.  “Medicine and the Epidemic of Incarceration” (pdf) takes a public health approach to a...
June 10, 2011

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 Superinten...
June 3, 2011

Featured Resource: ABA Criminal Justice Section

The ABA's Criminal Justice Section "State Policy Implementation Project" includes a collection of research and recommendations proposing five reforms: 1. Pre-Trial Release Reform 2. Decriminalization of Minor Offenses 3. Effective Reentry Programs 4. Increased Use of Parole and Probation 5. Comm...
June 3, 2011