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Which Way LA?

Publication Date: January 27, 2010
Source: KCRW News

Professor Joan Petersilia, an expert in parole reform and prisoner reintegration, talks to Warren Olney of KCRW about reforming the California prison system:

California's under a federal court order to give prisoners more humane treatment and the state's trying to save money. What will reducing the prison population mean for crime on the streets? We talk with the Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation and others. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, just one year ago, Democrats were talking about a new political era. Now, President Obama faces a nation of angry voters. We'll set the scene for his first address on the State of the Nation.

Banner image: Secretary Cate of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation responds to the three-judge panel's 40,000 inmate release order

...

Reforming the California Prison System

A three-judge federal panel has found that California’s prisons are overcrowded to the point where inmates die almost on a daily basis. It’s ordered that prison populations be reduced. At the same time, a new state law has reformed the parole system. So-called "low risk" parolees won’t be supervised so intensely, which means they won’t be sent back to prison so often. The program started yesterday, and state officials insist that is not what some are calling "early release."

Guests:

Matthew Cate: Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Justin Eisenberg: Captain, Los Angeles Police Department

Joan Petersilia: Chair, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Rehabilitation Strike Team

Full Story

More News from Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC)

Overview

The Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) serves as Stanford's vehicle for promoting and coordinating the study of criminal law and the criminal justice system, including legal and interdisciplinary research, policy analysis, curriculum development, and preparation of law students for careers in criminal law. The center is headed by faculty co-directors Robert Weisberg and Joan Petersilia and executive director Kara Dansky.

SCJC's areas of interest include criminal trial practice and procedure, institutional examination of the police and correctional systems, social science study of the origins of criminal behavior and methods of punishment, and criminal legislation and enforcement in areas ranging from drug crimes to federal white collar crimes.

One major goal of the center is to encourage collaborative criminal justice policy development at the national, state, regional, and local levels by: promoting public/private partnerships between different levels of government in the criminal justice arena; creating opportunities for the use of social science research to aid in the development and implementation of empirically-validated, data-driven criminal justice programs and policies; and serving as a public service consultant to public officials at all levels of government.

The center brings legal scholars together with social science experts, government officials, nonprofit leaders, and criminal justice practitioners in the form of conferences, academic symposia, policy forums and strategic roundtables addressing pragmatic issues of criminal justice reform.

Collaboration within the law school's faculty helps promote multi-student empirical research projects and co-authorship with professors. Reaching beyond SLS, law faculty and students in the program work with other units at Stanford whose work bears on criminal justice issues, including the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS).

SCJC works closely with the law students’ Criminal Law Society to present the Stanford Criminal Law and Justice Speaker Series – a series of quarterly presentations by eminent academics and practitioners in criminal law and criminal justice.

In alliance with the Clinical Education Program and Public Interest Program at Stanford Law School, SCJC supervises and places students in outstanding externships in prosecution and defense agencies, advises students on a range of criminal law career opportunities, and provides students with the resources they need to move successfully into careers in the fields of criminal law and criminal justice policy.

News & Announcements

Courses



Library

The Stanford Criminal Justice Center is frequently asked to provide legal analysis for various government and non-profit entities on a broad range of topics related to criminal law and criminal justice policy. Our goal in this endeavor is to offer the best possible legal analysis of the subjects we're asked to comment on, and to remain neutral regarding any related political issues. Please feel free to review some of the reports that we've developed here.

Police Use of Tasers

The Use of Tasers by the Mountain View Police department
Appendix

Federal Sentencing

Press release
Information Letter to the Public
Issue Table of Contents
Introduction to Issue by Professors Weisberg & Miller

Parolee Housing

Possible Legal Issues Concerning the Redlands Proposed Ordinance Regulating Parolee Housing and Sober Living Arrangements

The Stanford Executive Sessions on Sentencing and Corrections

The Stanford Executive Sessions on Sentencing and Corrections is an innovative form of policy working group designed to bring together the key public, academic, and organizational leaders in the field of criminal justice policy in a spirit of cooperative movement toward reform of the sentencing and corrections systems, as well as the criminal justice system as a whole, in California. During the 2007 phase of the Executive Sessions we held a series of theoretical and analytical discussions on four topics pertinent to state sentencing and corrections policy generally: the possibility of creating a sentencing commission for the state of California, the history of state-local partnerships in the field of sentencing and corrections, the role of the judiciary in developing sentencing policy, and data integration in the state-wide criminal justice system. For the 2008 phase of the Executive Sessions, we have narrowed our focus to center on ways in which information exchanges in criminal justice at the county level can inform public policy. Specifically, our mission in the 2008 Executive Sessions is to encourage collaborative criminal justice policy development by: promoting public/private partnerships with state, county, and municipal governments in the criminal justice arena; creating opportunities for the use of social science research to aid in the development and implementation of empirically-validated, data-driven criminal justice programs and policies; and serving as a public service consultant to the State of California and its fifty-eight counties.

 

The California Sentencing Commission: Laying the Groundwork. Report and Recommendations

California Corrections Reform: State/Local Partnerships. Findings and Analysis

The Role of the Judiciary in Shaping Sentencing Law and Policy. Report and Analysis

Criminal Justice Information Sharing: Enhancing Early Intervention, Measuring Results

Coordination at the Front-End of Sentencing: The Judiciary, Probation, and the Pre-Sentencing Report

County to County, Agency to Agency: Information Sharing and Operational Collaboration in the Bay Area and Southern California

The First 72 Hours of Re-Entry: Seizing the Moment of Release

Catch and Release: Using Risk-Needs Assessment to Manage Local Custodial Populations

Partnership with the Little Hoover Commission's study on Sentencing Reform

 

The Stanford Criminal Justice Center is partnering with the Little Hoover Commission on its Sentencing Reform study, which represents a complete review of the opportunities for sentencing reform in California within the broader context of the State's correctional policies.  As part of this study, the Commission will assess the role of sentencing reform as an element of overall correctional system reform including parole and prison reforms, and the importance of a "holistic" approach to reform policy.  The Criminal Justice Center's Executive Director testified before the Commission at its public hearing on August 24, 2006.  View a copy of the report submitted in preparation for that hearing. The Criminal Justice Center is currently preparing a report for the Commission on the history of amendments to California's sentencing system.

California Sentencing & Corrections Policy Series

Dr. Joan Petersilia, a Visiting Professor of Law, taught a Stanford Law School class entitled, "Crime and Punishment Policy: Reforming California Corrections" during the fall semester 2005. This course offered students a unique opportunity to learn about California's historic attempt to reform its juvenile and adult corrections system. The students heard from many speakers, including the Director of Corrections, the Director of Juvenile Justice, ex-convicts, victims, families of prisoners, advocacy groups, and other researchers. Each student was required to choose a research topic for their term papers. Some of these student term papers, along with Dr. Petersilia course syllabus, have been placed on Stanford's Criminal Justice Center website in the hopes that they may be useful in the reform efforts.

Working Papers

Criminal Sentencing
Adult Prisons
Probation and Parole

Criminal Sentencing

Hindsight and the Failure of California's Uniform Determinative Sentencing Act
by Emily de Ayora (2006)
Felon Disenfranchisement
by Timothy Bender (2006)
Creating and Passing a Successful Sentencing Commission in California: An Examination of Failed Attempts in California and Successful Sentencing Commissions Across the Country
by Lauren E. Geissler
The End Of Determinate Sentencing: How California's Prison Problem Can Be Solved With Quick Fixes and A Long Term Commission
by Sean Hayes (2006)
Felon Reenfranchisement: Political Implications and Potential for Individual Rehabilitative Benefits
by Nancy Leong (2006)

Adult Prisons

Mentally Ill Prisoners in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Strategies for Improving Treatment and Reducing Recidivism
by David Ball (2006)
Prisoners as Parents: The Importance of Strong Parent-Child Relationships During Parental Incarceration
by Katy Califa (2006)
Assessing the CCPOA's Political Influence and its Impact on Efforts to Reform the California Corrections System
by Ben Carrasco (2006)
Legislating from the Bench: Judicial Activism in California and its Increasing Impact on Adult Prison Reform
by Chantale Fiebig
Gangs in California's Prison System: What Can Be Done?
by Davis Forsythe (2006)
Elderly Prisoners Are Literally Dying For Reform
by Tia Gubler (2006)
The Prison Industry Authority
by Michael Hamilton (2005)
Prison Reform and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association
by Danielle A. Holwerda (2006)
A Return to the "World of Work": An Analysis of California's Prison Job Training Programs and Statutory Barriers to Ex-Offender Employment [Note: see Tables]
by Julia Lipez (2005)
Making the Most of California's Correctional Education Reform: A Survey and Suggestions for Further Steps
by Aidan McGlaze
Providing Services to Female Offenders: Policy Perspectives on Sentencing and Parole
by Elizabeth Pederson (2006)
The Privatization of California Correctional Facilities: An Inmate-Centered Approach
Kathryne TafollaYoung (2006)
Prison Privatization: Possibilities and Approaches to the Privatization of Prisoner Security and Services.
by Marc TafollaYoung (2005)
Cost Benefit Analysis of Vocational Training Programs
(On file at the Stanford Criminal Justice Center)
by Nicholas Tuosto (2006)

Probation and Parole

A Survey of Employment Sanctions Imposed Upon Ex-Offenders by California Law [Note: see Tables]
by Jonathan Cantú (2006)
Sex Offender Re-Entry: A Summary and Policy Recommendation on the Current State of the Law in California and How to "Safely" Re-Introduce Sex Offenders Into Oour Communities [Note: see Tables]
by Maaren Alia Choksi (2006)
Controlling Sex Offender Reentry: Jessica’s Law Measures in California [Note: see Tables]
by Jason Peckenpaugh (2006)
Building an Employment Bridge: Making Ex-Offenders Marketable, Getting Employers to the Table, and Increasing the Likelihood of an Employment Connection
by Robert Rodriguez (2005)
The Lynchpin To Parole Reform: A Case Study of Two Parolee Housing Proposals in Redlands, California
by Benjamin Singerman (2005)
Family-Based Re-Entry Programming: A Promising Tool for Reducing Recidivism and Mitigating the Economic and Societal Costs of Incarceration in California
by Rebecca S. Thalberg (2005)

California Sentencing & Corrections Policy Series Stanford Criminal Justice Center Working Paper.

Distributed for Review and Comment only. Do not cite without author's permission.

Please send questions or suggestions to Kara Dansky Executive Director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center.

Publications

Faculty

Joan Petersilia
Professor of Law
650 723-4740
Robert Weisberg
Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
650 723.0612

Lecturers

Kara P. Dansky
Lecturer in Law
650 724.5786

Affiliated Faculty

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar
Professor of Law and Deane F. Johnson Faculty Scholar
650 723.9216
George Fisher
Judge John Crown Professor of Law
650 723.2578
Jeffrey L. Fisher
Associate Professor of Law
650 724.7081
Pamela S. Karlan
Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law
650 725.4851
Lawrence C. Marshall
Professor of Law, David and Stephanie Mills Director of Clinical Education, and Associate Dean for Public Interest and Clinical Education
650 723.7572
David W. Mills
Senior Lecturer in Law
650 723.3842

Program Contacts

Kara P. Dansky
Executive Director
650 724.5786

Events

Budgeting for a Just California
February 25, 2010 from 10:00 am - 3:30 pm

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Press Releases

  • Renowned Criminologist Joan Petersilia Joins Stanford Law School Faculty
    March 04, 2009
    Related: Kara P. Dansky, Larry Kramer, Robert Weisberg, Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC)
  • Future of American Sentencing: A National Roundtable on Blakely
    October 12, 2004
    Related: Robert Weisberg, Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC)

    • Contact Information

    Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC)
    Stanford Criminal Justice Center
    Crown Quadrangle
    559 Nathan Abbott Way
    Stanford, CA 94305
    650 724.5786

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