Washington State Senate Passes Same Sex Marriage Bill

Congrats to Washington State.  Now the bill has to pass the state House, which it is expected to do, and the governor has said she will sign the bill if it gets to her desk.  Way to recognize the inevitable.

See the more complete story at Crooks & Liars.

The State of Sentencing 2011: Developments in Policy and Practice

The Sentencing Project, which is a Washington DC based, national advocacy organization on reducing unequal incarceration and criminal justice practices just released The State of Sentencing 2011: Developments in Policy and Practice.  This report highlights some of the policy changes different states have implemented in 2011 that help either reduce their reliance on incarceration and/or address the racism that is institutionalized within the system.  Some highlights for Louisiana include the following (below the break):

Assessment of Research on Preventing Violent Crime

Here's a link to CrimeSolutions.gov, part of the Office of Justice Programs.  Here, you'll see an assessment of a number of different programs and strategies that have been implemented and tested in cities across the U.S.  There's also an easy quick guide to tell which programs were effective, which ones were promising and which ones were not effective.  I copied and pasted the summaries of each program (see below the break), but you'll have to go to the website to learn more.

Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't and What's Promising

Here's a link to a report organized and funded by the Department of Justice in which a number of criminologists discuss the latest research on crime prevention.  There might be some useful information in here for how New Orleans might deal with the problem of violent crime.  Keeping in mind the root causes of violent crime which are located in entrenched, sustained poverty and racism and social isolation (and the long term, fundamental solutions that this requires--i.e., jobs, schools, mental health), this report might offer some ideas on more immediate solutions.

Chapter 8 of the report focuses on police.  Changes in policing is often one of the more immediate moves that municipalities can make.  While it doesn't address the root causes of violent behavior, the report suggests that measured, strategically located community policing can have some effect on violent behavior. I offer an excerpt below:

2012 State of the Union Address

Here's a 5 minute summary video of President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address (thanks to TalkingPointsMemo).

Interview with Michelle Alexander: Author of The New Jim Crow

Here's an interview with Michelle Alexander on Fresh Air.  She recently wrote a book called "The New Jim Crow" in which she discusses the way the U.S. uses it's criminal justice system to continue controlling people of color, particularly African American men.   She offers a detailed and insightful critique of the War on Drugs and how it's impacted poor, urban communities of color, and the consequences of this for future trajectories.  She links this to past systems of control and as a conservative outgrowth of the Civil Rights movement and the GOP's "Southern Strategy."

Does Corporate Cash Explain the Networks' Silence on SOPA?

There are a number of FCC policy issues that every independent blogger should be aware of.  Net Neutrality and the Stop Online Piracy Act are two of them. Rulings on both of these will affect access to online information, downloading speeds, and the ability of others to get to our blogs and read what we have to say.  Below, I post a story from SaveTheInternet.com which is related to the policy site FreePress.net.  I suggest check out FreePress.net.  They're on the ball when it comes to the latest policy issues and how they'll impact and open, fair, and equal web.

From Save the Internet.com  Click Here to go to the original.

Earlier this week we pointed to a Media Matters for America study showing that most of the major networks — ABC, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC and NBC — have failed to cover opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).