New York

News Article The Marshal Project October 28, 2016

Better by Half: How New York City Cut Crime and Incarceration at the Same Time

In this Op-Ed penned by Better by Half co-authors Vincent Schiraldi and Judith Greene, we describe the changes in New York State drug sentencing reforms and New York City policing and prosecutorial practices, from 1996 to 2014, that led to unprecidented reductions in the City's combined jail and prison incarceration rates of fifty-five percent, while, at the same time, serious index crimes were reduced by fifty-eight percent.  Follow the links provided to read the editiorial and our related publication Better by Half.

News Article New York Daily News October 28, 2016

NYC jail, prison incarceration rates drop by over 50 percent as crime falls

With quotes from Judith Greene and Vincent Schiraldi, Daily News reporter Dareh Gregorian covers our latest publication, Better by Half, that describes how the City cut jail and prison incarceration by fifty-five percent from 1996 to 2014, while also decreasing serious crime by fifty-eight percent during the same time period.  This feat was accomplished even as incarceration rates in New York State have grown, as a whole, and incarceration is up nationally by twelve percent.  Follow the link to read the original news article and the findings of Better by Half.

JS Publication October 28, 2016

Better by Half: The New York City Story of Winning Large-Scale Decarceration while Increasing Public Safety

Released in the midst of a growing national discussion about ending mass incarceration, a new publication highlights New York’s reversal on incarceration and offers lessons on how other cities and states can substantially reduce incarceration while promoting safety. 

In Better by Half, co-authors Judith Greene, Director of Justice Strategies, and Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Program in Criminal Justice, describe how New York City, which once struggled with overflowing jail populations and high rates of violent crime, cut its combined jail and prison incarceration rate by 55 percent and reduced serious crime by 58 percent between 1996 and 2014. 

By contrast, the national incarceration rate grew by 12 percent during the same time period, and was accompanied by a more modest decrease in serious crime of 42 percent. By 2014, New York City earned the distinction of having the lowest crime rate of the nation’s 20 largest cities, and the second lowest jail incarceration rate. And New York State had become one of three states (along with New Jersey and California) leading the nation in terms of prison population reductions. Read more »

JS Publication July 26, 2016

Zero Tolerance: A Case Study of Police Policies and Practices in New York City

This article by director Judith Greene first appeared in the Sage Publication journal Crime and Delinquency in April of 1999.  In it Judith argues that Zero Tolerance produced an increase in Civilian Complaint Review Board filings and lawsuits alleging police misconduct but not the decreases in crime its proponents claimed.  To assert this point the author presents a case study comparing New York City's Zero Tolerance policy with San Diego's problem oriented community policing that produced effective crime control with fewer negative impacts on urban neighborhoods.

News Article The New York Times October 9, 2015

Instead of Jail, Court Fines Cut to Fit the Wallet

Judy Greene, who directed America's first day fines program from 1987 to 1989 while at the Vera Institute of Justice, is quoted in this New York Times opinion page article by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tina Rosenberg.  The author advocates the use of income adjusted day fines as a fairer intermediate penalty for minor legal infractions, that could also provide a means for courts to avoid the use of costly jails.

News Article Slate.com September 3, 2015

This is a Fundamentally Different Way of Policing

Judy Greene and Patricia Allard, co-authors of The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same, our report on policing practices in Los Angeles, are quoted as saying of that department's efforts at reforming policing practices under the tenure of Bill Bratton as being, "Business as usual, wrapped in a bow" in this Slate.com article about the challenges facing Susan Herman, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Collaborative Policing, and the prospects for reversing the Department's troubled policing history with the City's minority communities.  

JS Blog Post August 14, 2015

Effects of Parental Incarceration

Patricia Allard

The Brian Lehrer Show explores how families cope with parental incarceration. The show follows up on the Lawrence Bartley story that was covered on Anna Sale’s “Death, Sex and Money” (see blog post of February 19, 2015 for the full story).  Lawrence Bartley has been incarcerated for more than 20 years for a crime he committed as a 17-year-old. Now in this Brian Lehrer Show, “How One Family Copes with Incarceration," Mr. Lehrer interviews Anna Sale and Ronnie Bartley to find out more about how Mr. Bartley’s incarceration has affected his children and wife, Ronnie. Several other children who have been affected by their parent’s incarceration call in and share their experiences.Click on the link above and listen to the interview.

 

 

JS Blog Post April 23, 2015

Parental Incarceration's Destablizing Impact on Family and Community

Patricia Allard

When we speak of Family Integrity for All, we also mean family integrity for the caregivers who are compelled to step into the shoes of the parents who are incarcerated and let go of their role as grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, etc.  I know from my experience of being raised by my grandmother, it was challenging for her in some ways. While my grandmother assumed a caregiver role, she was not alone. My mother, her daughter, was still around being a mother to me when she wasn’t away at work. So the joys of being a grandmother and a granddaughter were still experienced by my grandmother and me. I saw this vibrancy of our relationship until my grandma’s late age of 101. However, when the state incarcerates a parent, they are physically removing the parent, and other family members are forced to assume a role they were not intended to assume. What is lost of the natural, vibrancy of those relationships?  Take a look at what the experts have to say. This video from Echoes of Incarceration, Caring Through Struggle: Caregivers of Children with Incarcerated Parents, provides an incredible lens into how the criminal justice system destabilizes families and communities, but it also shows us the resilience that we hold in our spirit of resistance.

JS Publication March 27, 2015

Prioritizing the Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents in New York State

In this policy memorandum, Senior Justice Strategies Research Analyst, Patricia Allard offers suggested changes to New York State law that can help mitigate the negative impacts of parental involvement with the criminal justice system on their children.  These changes would help preserve family integrity by promoting alternatives to parental incarceration, provide for enhancing sentencing reports to courts, and other supports that could help these NYS families thrive.

JS Blog Post March 17, 2015

Sesame Street Made a Video, But It's Not Cute and It's Not Funny

Patricia Allard

Upworthy created a powerful video that presents the documentary initiative produced by youth of incarcerated parents, Echoes of Incarceration http://www.echoesofincarceration.org/Home.html. Read more »

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