Information is Power. Inform Yourself.
This page focuses on topics that are related in many different ways and have an effect to Individuals involved in the Criminal Justice system. Expect to find articles on recidivism, statistics, law enforcement, prisons and legislation. Please feel free to add links to articles, websites, or journals that you think may be relevant. Let’s educate ourselves and invite others to learn.
Time Served
The high cost, low return of longer prison terms
The Pew Center on the States
Over the past 40 years, criminal justice policy in the U.S. was shaped by the belief that the best way to protect the public was to put more people in prison. Offenders, the reasoning went, should spend longer and longer time behind bars.
Consequently, offenders have been spending more time in prison. According to a new study by Pew’s Public Safety Performance Project, the length of time served in prison has increased markedly over the last two decades. Prisoners released in 2009 served an average of nine additional months in custody, or 36 percent longer, than offenders released in 1990.
Missoula advocacy network pairs mentors with convicted felons returning from prison
MISSOULA — John Hall hit rock bottom on an October day in 2008 when he consumed more than 100 opiate pills, an 18-pack of beer, and a fifth of Jack Daniels whiskey in less than an hour.
Hall had a .44 Magnum handgun and a black powder rifle, and he decided he was going to end it all. He had suffered through numerous surgeries due to health problems, and he decided he couldn’t take it anymore.