Jail Time Research Articles

A Comparison of the Batterer Intervention and Prevention Program With Alternative Court Dispositions on 12-Month Recidivism.

Studies of batterer intervention and prevention programs (BIPPs) offer mixed results regarding their effect on recidivism. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of BIPP for cases assigned to a misdemeanor family court. This study focused on determining whether BIPP cases, compared with alternative sanctions, had significantly lower recidivism rates 12 months after program involvement. Findings indicated that BIPP was more effective than jail or regular dismissal in reducing the likelihood of future arrests, but not plea deferred adjudication and conditional dismissal. Results argue toward the efficacy of some form of treatment versus simply receiving jail time.

Comparing Sex Buyers With Men Who Do Not Buy Sex: New Data on Prostitution and Trafficking.

We investigated attitudes and behaviors associated with prostitution and sexual aggression among 101 men who buy sex and 101 age-, education-, and ethnicity-matched men who did not buy sex. Both groups tended to accept rape myths, be aware of harms of prostitution and trafficking, express ambivalence about the nature of prostitution, and believe that jail time and public exposure are the most effective deterrents to buying sex. Sex buyers were more likely than men who did not buy sex to report sexual aggression and likelihood to rape. Men who bought sex scored higher on measures of impersonal sex and hostile masculinity and had less empathy for prostituted women, viewing them as intrinsically different from other women. When compared with non-sex-buyers, these findings indicate that men who buy sex share certain key characteristics with men at risk of committing sexual aggression as documented by research based on the leading scientific model of the characteristics of non-criminal sexually aggressive men, the Confluence Model of sexual aggression.

Intervention following family violence: Best practices and helpseeking obstacles in a nationally representative sample of families with children.

Objective: To provide the first nationally representative data on service contact, police or advocate best practices, and helpseeking obstacles for family violence that involved exposure to children. Method: A nationally representative sample of 517 family violence incidents drawn from the 4,503 respondents to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence II. Results: A range of 10 best practices were offered in 13‐58% of police contacts and 34‐97% of advocate contacts. Most police best practices were associated with increased likelihood of arrest. Referrals and information about restraining orders and shelter were associated with victim-perpetrator separation. There was marked case attrition for all criminal justice services, including reporting to police, in-person police responding, arrest, convictions, and incarceration. Only 10 cases resulted in jail time. Counter to hypothesis, higher rates of some police best practices were associated with lower likelihood of advocate contact. Also unexpectedly, higher rates of some obstacles, such as lack of transportation, were associated with higher use of police services. Conclusions: Referral to specific resources is recommended as a focus of crisis intervention efforts. Some family’s needs may be served by a single provider if best practices are used. Some obstacles may influence which services are sought rather than depress helpseeking altogether. These nationally representative data can be used as benchmarks for program evaluations and needs assessments.

Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America's War on Drugs

In the late 1990s at least fourteen white high school and college students died of heroin overdoses in the wealthy Dallas suburb of Plano, recently named the safest midsized city in America. The local newspaper proclaimed a “heroin epidemic sweeping Plano and the nation,” and media reports invariably described the illegal drug consumers as tragic victims, “clean-cut teenagers” from affluent families with a “bright future ahead of them.” The intense national coverage highlighted the innocent white children of a seemingly idyllic suburb corrupted by sinister outside forces that might strike anywhere, anytime. “Heroin in Suburbia,” an abc World News expose, explained that Plano’s gated communities faced “a new enemy that has invaded their city and is threatening their children. . . . People thought it couldn’t happen here, but it did.” Dateline nbc warned that heroin, an inner-city drug, “has jumped the tracks and has been killing kids in some of our most prosperous suburbs.” cnn opened a special Plano broadcast with the searching question, “Is your town ripe for picking by drug dealers?” The Plano police blamed illegal immigrants who “peddle Chiva [heroin] to rich suburban kids,” and the U.S. district attorney pledged zero tolerance for the Mexican cartels “preying on this community.” The federal Drug Enforcement Administration announced a major operation to protect Plano’s youth, culminating in the indictment of twenty-nine “drug pushers” charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Sixteen of these defendants were local white teenagers who sold heroin (and marijuana) to other high school students; each agreed to a plea bargain and most received probation or limited jail time. The Mexican “kingpins”—in reality, low-level couriers in the cross-border trade— received mandatory-minimum sentences of twenty years to life for what prosecutors labeled their “calculated and cold-blooded” decision to “target young people in Plano as a new market.”1

Drug Use, Hepatitis C, and Service Availability: Perspectives of Incarcerated Rural Women

This study examined drug use, hepatitis C, and service availability and use among a high-risk sample of rural women serving time in jails. Data was collected from female offenders (N = 22) who participated in four focus groups in three rural jail facilities located in Appalachia. Findings indicated that drug misuse is prevalent in this impoverished area of the country, and that the primary route of administration of drug use is injection. Findings also indicate that injection drug use is also commonly associated with contracting hepatitis C (HCV), which is also perceived to be prevalent in the area. Despite knowledge associated with HCV risks, women in this sample were seemingly apathetic about the increasing spread of HCV in the area and unconcerned about the long-term consequences of the course of the infection. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Responding to probation and parole violations: Are jail sanctions more effective than community-based graduated sanctions?

PurposeIn response to escalating revocation rates in community supervision, many jurisdictions have adopted graduated sanction policies. Research on graduated sanctions has shown promising results. However, most studies focus exclusively on jail sanctions and have largely ignored the possibility that community-based graduated sanctions such as written assignments, increased treatment participation, or community service hours may be as effective, or more effective, than jail sanctions. Extending this research, the current study examines whether community-based sanctions are as effective in increasing offender compliance as spending time in jail. MethodsUsing data from over 800 violations committed by a random sample of probationers and parolees on intensive supervision probation, multilevel models are estimated that examine whether jail sanctions are more effective than community sanctions in 1) extending time to the offender’s next violation event, 2) reducing the number of future violations, and 3) successfully completing the probation program. ResultsResults consistently indicate that jail sanctions do not outperform community-based sanctions. ConclusionDue to the financial, social, and potentially criminogenic effects of jail, the lack of significant differences between jail sanctions and community-based sanctions calls into question the use of jail as a means of punishing persons on community supervision.

Prior Conviction Impeachment: 'People v. Patrick' -- Ameliorating the Risk of Unfair Prejudice

The prospect of prior conviction impeachment of the criminal defendant if he testifies is universally recognized as an extremely significant event in the day to day workings of our criminal justice system. The prospect of the jury being advised that the accused has violated a serious law of society impacts many litigation decisions, none the least of which are plea bargaining and the decision itself as to whether the accused will in fact testify. All involved in the criminal justice system are fully aware that no matter the jury instruction to the contrary, ordinary citizens will draw the “bad man inference” — did it once, did it again; did it once, most likely did other crimes for which not punished; already has served time in jail and been labeled a criminal. On the other hand, in support of the use of prior convictions, it is asserted “that it would be misleading to permit the accused to appear as a witness of blameless life.” McCormick, Evidence §42 at 169 (5th ed.1999).Our criminal justice system in fact relies upon the reality of a bad man inference being drawn at every level — including the realization that without the prospect of prior conviction impeachment, more accused would go to trial adding to the criminal justice systems administrative burden, e.g., more courts, more judges, even more prisons, etc.Accepting admissibility of prior conviction to impeach except in highly unusual circumstances as a given, are there procedural variations available to ameliorate the risk of prejudice arising from the jury drawing the bad man inference? In federal courts and elsewhere the suggestion that the “mere fact” method for prior conviction as employed in Florida and a small handful of other states has fallen on deaf ears. Moreover, procedural rules dealing with motion in limine practice requiring the accused to testify to preserve error with respect to prior conviction impeachment, and waiver of error imposition associated with anticipatory disclosure by the accused prior to actual prior conviction impeachment by the prosecution, exacerbates rather than ameliorates the risk of the impermissible “bad man” inference being drawn by the jury.The Illinois Supreme Court has, like many other courts, over the years struggled with the question of prior conviction impeachment. For several years, Illinois, contrary to federal practice, while requiring the criminal defendant to testify to preserve error, has permitted alleged error to be preserved for appeal with respect to prior conviction impeachment when anticipatory disclosure of a prior conviction occurs by the defendant on direct examination if not before. In 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in People v. Patrick, 233 Ill.2d 62, 908 N.E.2d 1, 330 Ill.Dec. 149 (2009), that a trial court’s refusal to rule on a motion in limine on the admissibility of a defendant’s prior conviction when, as is almost always the case, the trial court was possessed of sufficient information to conduct a discretionary balancing test was an abuse of discretion and reversible error under the facts of the case.

The Corporate Criminal as Scapegoat

A corporation is no scapegoat, assures the Department of Justice, because the first priority is to prosecute culpable individuals and not artificial entities. Yet, as I document in this empirical study, far more often than not, when the largest corporations settle federal criminal cases, no individuals are charged. High profile failures to prosecute executives in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis have only made the problem more urgent. The corporation appears to be a kind of a scapegoat: impossible to physically jail, but capable of receiving blame and punishment while individual culprits go free. In this Article, I develop original empirical data detailing the path of individual prosecutions accompanying federal corporate prosecution agreements. Only 34 percent of federal corporate deferred and non-prosecution agreements from 2001-2014 were accompanied by charges against individuals. Those prosecutions produced uneven results. Only 42 percent of those charged received any jail time. There were large numbers of outright losses: 15 percent terminated in acquittals or dismissals. Only a handful of the cases involved high-level executives. These findings illustrate the challenges posed by organizational complexity and the manner in which it can obscure fault. Contrary to the calls of prominent critics, I argue that bringing more individual criminal cases cannot adequately substitute for prosecuting companies. Instead, corporate prosecutions should be leveraged to enhance individual accountability. In conclusion, I propose statutory, sentencing, and policy changes to tighten the connection between individual and corporate accountability for crimes.

"I'll Just Do My Time": The Role of Motivation in the Rejection of the DWI Court Model

In the last decade, driving while intoxicated (DWI) courts based on the therapeutic court model have proliferated. Although the typical DWI court program allows offenders with multiple DWI offenses to avoid jail time and get their drivers’ licenses back sooner, not all offenders who are offered the opportunity to participate in DWI court choose to take advantage of it. Others try but drop out of the program early on. We conducted qualitative interviews with twelve people who were offered the opportunity to participate in an urban DWI court in a Midwestern county between 2007 and 2010, but who either chose not to participate or who tried but did not succeed in the program. The authors point to the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in order to explain the findings and ultimately inform practitioner methods for engaging potential DWI court clients and enhancing success rates.

The Modern Day “Victory Garden”

During World War I food production was at a low in both the United States and Europe. In the United States, food prices soared and meatless and wheatless days were introduced to cut consumption. When it became apparent that food production needed to be increased, the National War Garden Commission was formed and encouraged Americans to do their part to contribute to the war effort by cultivating home “victory” gardens. During World War II victory gardens returned and grew in popularity under the National Victory Garden Program. Gardening was part of popular culture, no longer reserved for those who could not afford to purchase food. Gardens could be found in vacant lots, back yards, and city parks. When the war ended and the baby boomer era began, the interest in gardening waned.Gardening is once again part of popular culture with many Americans cultivating home gardens for both health and environmental benefits. Many property owners across the nation have been caught off guard to discover their gardens are in violation of local ordinances and/or restrictive covenants. Some have been fined and others threatened with jail time while local governments struggle to determine what, if any, limits can be placed on the rights of individual property owners. This paper will discuss challenges to zoning ordinances that restrict gardening, as well as changes to local ordinances that allow gardens, and in some cases chickens and bees, in suburban and urban areas.

Demons are everywhere: The effects of belief in pure evil, demonization, and retribution on punishing criminal perpetrators

Do preconceived beliefs about evil influence perceptions and punishments of those who harm others? We examined the effects of belief in pure evil (BPE), demonization, and belief in retribution on punishment of a stereotypically (vs. non-stereotypically) evil criminal. Participants punished the stereotypically evil perpetrator more (i.e., greater recommended jail time, opposition to parole, and support for his execution) because of increases in demonization (i.e., greater perceptions of the criminal as wicked, evil, and threatening), but not increases in retributive feelings. However, regardless of the criminal’s exhibited stereotypically evil traits, greater BPE predicted harsher punishment of the perpetrator; both greater demonization and stronger retributive feelings mediated the relationship between BPE and severe punishments. Further, effect sizes indicated BPE (vs. the evilness manipulation) more strongly predicted demonization and punishment. Thus, some individuals naturally see perpetrators as demons, and retributively punish them, whether or not there is more explicit stereotypic evidence of their evil dispositions.

Mental health and reoffending outcomes of jail diversion participants with a brief incarceration after arraignment.

Jail diversion programs strive to divert offenders with mental illness from prosecution and into mental health treatment. Participants sometimes spend a short time in jail after arraignment, either because treatment resources are not immediately available or because judges want to increase their motivation for treatment. This study explored the effects of short jail stays before jail diversion ("jail first") on participants' postdiversion service use and reoffending. The data were merged administrative records from public behavioral health and criminal justice systems in Connecticut for 712 adults with serious mental illness who participated in the jail diversion program during fiscal years 2005-2007. The effects on treatment receipt, crisis-driven service use, and reoffending during the six months postdiversion among jail first participants (N=102) versus a propensity-matched sample of participants who were diverted immediately (N=102) were estimated. Jail first participants had greater improvements in receipt of psychotropic medication during the follow-up compared with their counterparts who were diverted immediately. However, compared with participants who were immediately diverted, they did not have greater reductions in crisis-driven service use or reoffending and the time to reincarceration was shorter. Short stays in jail before diversion did not appear to be associated with improved mental health and reoffending outcomes, even though they appeared to improve receipt of psychotropic medication. Further research is needed to better understand the relationships between jail first, receipt of psychotropic medication, and broader health and offending outcomes, with a focus on identifying missing links that address criminogenic risks and participants' more intensive social service needs.

P-53 * CRIMINAL HISTORY AND OUTCOME OF OPIATE SUBSTITUTIONS TREATMENT IN CANADIAN METHADONE AND SUBOXONE PATIENTS

Introduction. This study examines outcomes of urine tests in methadone and in suboxone patients and differences in their criminal history. Method. Criminal history data and 10 urine tests for benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, and oxycodone were recorded for each of 103 Canadian patients (67 men, 36 women) undergoing opiate substitution treatment: 75.7% were on methadone and 24.3% on suboxone. Those on methadone did not differ from those on suboxone with respect to age (t-test, p = ns) and gender (χ2 test, p = ns). Result. In this sample, (43.3%) had known criminal history, 35.3% were convicted of their crime in a court of law, 31.4% spent time in jail, 10.0% were involved in violent crimes, and 16.0% were charged with driving under influence of alcohol or illicit drugs. Methadone patients did not differ from those on suboxone in their criminal history (χ2 tests, p = ns). Compared to suboxone patients, those on methadone more frequently tested positive for cocaine (t = 2.5, df = 96.2, p < .05) but no significant differences were noted for other illicit substances. Conclusion. Methadone and suboxone patients did not differ in their criminal history. The treatment outcomes of methadone patients were less satisfactory with respect to unclean urine tests for cocaine.

Formation of a Latino Grassroots Movement

When the city of Los Angeles banned gas-powered leaf blowers in 1996, the law sparked one of the most dynamic grassroots campaigns by Latino immigrants in recent history. Latino immigrant gardeners, working with a small group of Chicana/o activists, organized the Association of Latin American Gardeners of Los Angeles (ALAGLA), which pressured city leaders to reverse the ban. ALAGLA pursued its objectives by engaging in the political process, taking direct action, advocating technological adaptations, and reframing the gardeners and their tools in a positive light. Turning public opinion in their favor, they persuaded city leaders to void the draconian elements of the ordinance, which included a misdemeanor charge, a $1,000 fine, and jail time for gardeners using the blowers. ALAGLA’s movement can be compared in some ways to earlier immigrant-organizing efforts by organized labor, notably the United Farm Workers and the Service Employees International Union’s Justice for Janitors campaign, but it is also distinguished from them by ALAGLA’s nonbureaucratic grassroots structure. The association’s campaign for social and economic justice shows the potential for collective action among marginalized immigrant workers and petty entrepreneurs in the informal economy.

Not So Safe

On the night of February 28, 2005, federal judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow returned to her home in Chicago to find her husband and elderly mother lying dead in pools of blood, victims of .22-caliber gunshot wounds to the head. A tragedy, certainly, but a tragedy that couldn't possibly affect me. Except that there was a distinct possibility that my family and I were the next targets.In 2002, my father, a Jewish intellectual property attorney, accepted a pro bono case on behalf of the Oregon-based Church of the Creator. It claimed that the Illinois-based white supremacist organization World Church of the Creator had infringed on the Oregonians' trademark rights by causing confusion between the two separate and ideologically different organizations. The World Church was headed by Matthew Hale, who had made news in the past; he was denied admission to the Illinois Bar Association on character and fitness grounds even though he'd passed the bar exam and held a law degree.Hale and his followers believe that the Caucasian race is superior to the mud races, which include Blacks, Arabs, Hispanics, Asians, and especially Jews, the masterminds of an anti-Aryan plot. In Hale's plan to achieve racial purity, each ethnicity would be returned to its continent of origin; Jews would be packed off to Madagascar. Nor was this harmless rhetoric. A disciple of Hale's went on a shooting spree in 1999, killing two African Americans and wounding nine other people.Although Judge Lefkow initially ruled in the supremacists' favor, thenjubilation was short lived; her ruling was overturned on appeal, leaving her to enforce the appellate court's decision. She ordered Hale and his group to change its name, which they viewed as unwarranted government intervention. Furious, Hale refused to do so.Then he contracted with someone to kill her. The hired gun was an FBI informant, and Hale was convicted of soliciting the murder of the judge. In an attempt to reduce his sentence, Hale claimed that Judge Lefkow was not the target; rather, he had been aiming for the kike attorney, my father. Soliciting the murder of a federal official comes with additional jail time; Hale's forty-year sentence would have been substantially reduced if he had taken a hit out on a private citizen.When Judge Lefkow found her family murdered a year later, the supremacists were the natural suspects. I found out about the attack on the nightly news and immediately called my parents, who were away on vacation.My father sounded almost nonchalant as he told me he'd have his firm's security team contact me. He'd been receiving threats since he took the case and had been in close touch with local FBI officials. I, however, never thought that I would be in danger because of my religion or ethnicity. I have never experienced religious bias. I have always considered myself white-immune, though sympathetic, to the racism that plagues other ethnicities. I even feel appropriately guilty for being a member of the oppressive majority.Security officials are trained to scare you into compliance, and this one did his job admirably. I was told to get out of town if I could, for as long as I could, to vary my schedule until I did, avoid places I usually visited (the gym, the grocery store) and tell security personnel at the college where I taught and the doormen in my building about my situation. …

Dispatches

Dispatches

Changing narrative accounts: How young men tell different stories when arrested, enduring jail time and navigating community reentry

Using fieldwork, interviews, and survey data collected from male adolescent prisoners who completed a cognitive treatment program, this study addresses two questions: how do adolescent prisoners account for past and possible future acts to illegally acquire money? What frames are identifiable across these accounts? We identify three frames in adolescent prisoner narratives: a ‘victim’; ‘rebirth/redemptive’; and ‘critical’ frame. While the first frame is used to rationalize crime, the second promises that, as changed individuals, future crime will be avoided. The third frame questions the moral and structural hierarchies that render certain groups susceptible to being labeled deviant. Drawing on narrative-identity and intersectional theory, we argue that adolescents' narratives of economic prospects change over time as a function of navigating the different strains associated with initial incarceration, enduring jail programming, and reentering communities. We argue that these changing social conditions provide the context for adolescent males to shift their accounts from ‘hegemonic’ to ‘subversive’ narratives. To conclude, we discuss the implications of study findings for research on desistance.

Prosecuting the prosecutor: The makings of the Michael Morton Act

Prosecutorial misconduct is not a rare event, but it often goes undetected, unreported, or no action is taken by the criminal justice system. However, when one Texas prosecutor, Ken Anderson, served jail time for wrongfully prosecuting an innocent man, Michael Morton, for murdering his wife, he made history. Anderson withheld exculpatory evidence leading to Morton wrongfully serving 25 years before being released with new DNA evidence. However, Anderson only served a five-day sentence and $500 fine. We discuss the case in the context of inequality and legal realism in the criminal justice system. Also, we look at the implications and new legal action taken by the state of Texas to try and combat this problem, along with looking at these secretive occupational subcultures.

Costs and Savings Associated with Implementation of a Police Crisis Intervention Team

Police crisis intervention teams (CIT) have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing injury to law enforcement personnel and citizens and the criminalization of mental illness; however, their financial effect has not been fully investigated. The objective of the study was to determine the total costs or total savings associated with implementing a CIT program in a medium-size city. The costs and savings associated with the implementation of a CIT program were analyzed in a medium-size city, Louisville, Kentucky, 9 years after the program's initiation. Costs associated with officer training, increased emergency psychiatry visits, and hospital admissions resulting from CIT activity were compared with the savings associated with diverted hospitalizations and reduced legal bookings. Based on an average of 2400 CIT calls annually, the overall costs associated with CIT per year were $2,430,128 ($146,079 for officer training, $1,768,536 for hospitalizations of patients brought in by CIT officers, $508,690 for emergency psychiatry evaluations, and $6823 for arrests). The annual savings of the CIT were $3,455,025 ($1,148,400 in deferred hospitalizations, $2,296,800 in reduced inpatient referrals from jail, and $9825 in avoided bookings and jail time). The balance is $1,024,897 in annual cost savings. The net financial effect of a CIT program is of modest benefit; however, much of this analysis was based on estimates and average length of stay. Furthermore, the costs and savings associated with officer or citizen injuries were not included because there was inadequate information about their prevalence and costs. Finally, this analysis does not take into account the nonmonetary gains of a CIT program.

Judging Addicts: Drug Courts and Coercion in the Justice System By Rebecca Tiger NYU Press. 2012. 208 pages. $23 paper

Specialized drug courts have been part of the criminal justice landscape in the United States for nearly a quarter of a century. While operational specifics vary from one jurisdiction to the next, drug courts offer qualifying defendants a regime of supervised treatment in lieu of traditional forms of adjudication. Drug court participants engage in traditional forms of substance abuse treatment (ranging from inpatient hospitalization to residential treatment, outpatient services, 12-step support groups, and so forth) under the watchful gaze of court officials. Participants periodically return to court to appear before a judge who has the authority to reward and to sanction. Failure to engage in one's treatment program can lead to sanctions (including jail time) which, theoretically, helps drug court participants remain in treatment through its most difficult phases. The result, advocates claim, is an “innovation” in criminal justice that radically intercedes in the cycle of addiction and crime by effectively harnessing the power of both punishment and therapy.