Santa Barbara County Looks to Yolo County for Criminal Justice Reform

Katherine Swartz

May 16, 2021 |

Santa Barbara Independent |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Woodland, California

By turning over its criminal justice data to Measures for Justice, a nonprofit developer that turns raw data into publicly available reports, the Yolo County district attorney has a much better grasp on the work that it has been doing. Better data mean better-informed decisions about criminal justice reforms. The investment in the new system is prompting policy changes because of racial disparities showing up in the numbers. And that is prompting many other DAs to clamor for the same kind of system.

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Police banned from participating in NYC Pride events and march through 2025

Meredith Deliso

May 15, 2021 |

ABC News (American Broadcasting Company) |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

NYC Pride, which commemorates a LGBTQ+ uprising against police harassment and brutality, banned police participation in its events. About 200 NYPD members from the Gay Officers Action League typically participate in the pride march. However, since police presence for some LGBTQ+ people, including people of color and trans people, causes fears of violence rather than security, private companies will provide first response and security and volunteers will be trained in de-escalation tactics. The NYPD will be at least a block away and only intervene if necessary. The policy will be reviewed again in 2025.

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Is new California police deadly force law making a difference?

Laurel Rosenhall Byrhonda Lyons

May 11, 2021 |

CalMatters |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

More than a year after taking effect, California's law restricting when police can use deadly force has had some effects on police accountability and training, but a number of flaws illustrate how long and difficult the process of change will be. The Act to Save Lives, which limits the use of deadly force to cases when it is needed to defend a life, has been cited by prosecutors in two homicide prosecutions. A number of police departments have followed the law's training dictates. But many others have been slow to roll out the training, and the state is not requiring officers to take it to stay certified.

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'We're dealing with victims': Ride-along offers glimpse at anguished work of crisis teams

Will Cleveland

May 11, 2021 |

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

Rochester's Person In Crisis team, launched in response to the death of Daniel Prude in police custody during a mental health crisis, began a six-month pilot project in January. PIC uses a "co-response model" of crisis intervention, sending social workers alone or with police, as first responders or called in by police at a scene, to connect non-violent people with needed services. PIC teams work 24/7, replacing or supplementing police on calls where help, not arrest, will resolve the problem, and empathetic conversation can work better in places where distrust of the police runs high.

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The Ferguson movement is on the cusp of revolutionizing political power in St. Louis

Rebecca Rivas

May 06, 2021 |

Missouri Independent |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Frustrated at the slow pace of criminal justice reform after the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, the grassroots group Action St. Louis formed to seize political power and make change happen from the inside of the system rather than pressuring for change from the outside. After years of organizing and politicking, it flipped key offices – St. Louis city and county prosecutors, the Board of Aldermen, and the mayor – outflanking the police union's candidates with officeholders committed to re-imagining public safety policy.

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Huge success for Mother's Day bailout, as annual Philly effort blows past fundraising goal

Michaela Winberg

May 06, 2021 |

Billy Penn |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Community Bail Fund freed more than 400 people from jail in 2020, thanks to $3 million donated amid the COVID-19 crisis and racial justice protests. Organizers of the Black Mama's Day Bailout, an annual targeted campaign that gave rise to the community bail fund five years ago, expected donor fatigue this year might limit their work. But they exceeded the 2020 Mother's Day campaign, freeing 25 women, in part from sales of art made by formerly incarcerated women in a partnership with an arts co-op. Cash bail penalizes people too poor to afford to remain free before trial.

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‘The fight has to change': Why Ferguson activists ditched police reform

Rebecca Rivas

May 03, 2021 |

Missouri Independent |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Decades of advocacy for more effective civilian oversight of police-misconduct investigations in St. Louis finally resulted in a new oversight board created in the wake of the death of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. But that board has been rendered a "total failure" because the police found ways to keep steering investigations to their secret, internal investigative office and preventing prosecutors from working independently on investigations. A new mayor and a sympathetic prosecuting attorney promise to fix the structural flaws that have let the police continue to investigate themselves.

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They answer the call when people are in crisis

Gino Fanelli

April 29, 2021 |

City Newspaper (Rochester) |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

Following the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester police custody, the city consulted with the operators of Eugene's CAHOOTS program to craft its own version of a team of unarmed responders to help resolve mental health or substance abuse crises without the use of violence. Rochester's Person In Crisis (PIC) team has averaged about 21 calls per day since January. All calls are made with the police in tandem, unlike CAHOOTS' model. Some violent incidents in Rochester have raised questions about PIC's ability to defuse conflict. But the operators say they have begun to make a positive difference.

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When communities try to hold police accountable, law enforcement fights back

Nicole Dungca Jenn Abelson

April 27, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

A favorite remedy for systemic police misconduct is a civilian oversight agency. More than 160 cities and counties have such agencies, some at the insistence of the U.S. Justice Department. But, as Albuquerque and multiple other cities have shown, a common set of factors often undermine the effectiveness of such agencies. These factors start with structural defects, limiting the agencies' independent investigatory and disciplinary powers, and extend to strenuous opposition from police unions and their political allies.

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Connections over controversy: criminal justice department and BSU team up to add BLM flag to display

Katarina Rothhorn

April 21, 2021 |

The North Wind |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Marquette, Michigan

Northern Michigan University's Black Student Union turned its unhappiness with the display on campus of a "thin blue line" flag into a series of deep and open conversations that led to a compromise and a new set of collaborations. The university's criminal justice department had put the flag on display. One BSU member approached the department chair to ask that it be removed. But that led to a long, respectful conversation, followed by meetings of students on both sides. A Black Lives Matter flag was added to the display and the two groups are planning a joint educational program on the issue.

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