In The News
On January 25, 2012, the premiere of the documentary “Black Males, Black Dreams: Climbing to the Mountain Top" was shown on the campus of Syracuse University and sponsored by the Office of Residence Life and the Division of Student Affairs. This film, produced by Susan Hynds, Syracuse University School of Education and Larry Elin, Newhouse School of Public Communications, features CCA’s “Strategies for Success” program and includes compelling interviews with some of the youth who participated in the program. Dr. Marsha Weissman, CCA Executive Director, was one of the panelists in the discussion directly following the film.
Click here to read the evaluation of CCA’s Strategies Success program.
CCA’s NYC Youth Services "My Mic Sounds Nice” Studio Production and Recording Workshop announces their new CD. All songs were produced by CCA youth and co-produced by Lawrence "Grey" Berkowitz of Proximal Records. The project was sponsored by the Pinkerton Foundation.
The Use of Criminal History Records in College Admissions Reconsidered
The Syracuse Post-Standard recently published an editorial supporting CCA's call for reform of how colleges and universities use criminal records in the college application process. CCA's research shows that a majority of colleges and universities now collect criminal history information as part of the college admissions procedures. A survey done in collaboration with the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers found that a broad array of convictions, including convictions for relatively minor offenses, are viewed as negative factors in the context of admissions decision-making. CCA offers a series of recommendations designed to make admissions processes fairer and more evidence-based.
Link to a full copy of CCA's publication
Link to Syracuse Post-Standard Editorial
CCA Study Reveals High Error Rate on Sheriff’s Reports.
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department has long been encouraging employers, landlords and volunteer organizations to use arrest reports generated by their “CHAIRS” system to screen applicants. After hearing many stories of arrests listed on the CHAIRS reports that should never have been there in the first place, The Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS) asked CCA to conduct a study to evaluate the types and rates of mistakes on these reports. CCA’s study reveals that 64.3% of the CHAIRS reports reviewed contained at least one arrest that should have been sealed (and not publicly disclosed), while 90% contained at least one non-criminal arrest that should not be disclosed to employers. In response to CCA’s study, The Syracuse Post-Standard’s Editorial Board has called upon the Sheriff to stop selling these reports and the employers, landlords, and volunteer organizations to stop using them.
Link to CCA’s report
Link to Syracuse Post-Standard Editorial
Alan Rosenthal and Patricia Warth, Co-Directors of CCA's Justice Strategies, have two articles published in Atticus, New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Winter 2011 | Volume 23 | Number 1: "In Search of a Workable Sentencing Model" and "NYSACDL Supports Call for Prison Reform".
Marsha Weissman, Executive Director, is published in the New York University Journal of Law and Social Change, Volume 33.2, 2009. In her paper, Aspiring to the Impracticable: Alternatives to Incarceration in the Era of Mass Incarceration, Ms. Weissman argues that in order for Alternative-to-Incarceration programs to reach their potential, they must be grounded in an understanding of the social, political and economic contexts of crime and punishment. She calls on ATI organizations to be proactive in identifying people who would otherwise be incarcerated, provide vigorous advocacy in support of alternatives to incarceration, forcefully confront the racial disparities that impact the use of incarceration, and forge alliances with communities most directly affected by the over reliance on prisons.
Marsha Weissman, Executive Director, was named to three Statewide advisory committees: the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Task Force; the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Commissioner’s Advisory Board; and the Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Statewide Reentry Service Provider Advisory Council.
Alan Rosenthal, Co-Director of Justice Strategies, was quoted in an article by Emily Jane Goodman in the September 22nd edition of The Nation about the excessive fees and surcharges imposed in conjunction with criminal convictions. Mr. Rosenthal commented, “There are almost no proponents of these financial consequences for any reason other than the revenue streams.”
Josefina Bastidas, Deputy Director, NYC, was profiled in a full-page article in the September 11, 2008 edition of the New York Daily News in an article titled “Trying to Do More With Less and Keep a Smile on My Face.” The article by Erasmo Guerra traced Bastidas’s history from her early years as a district judge in Venezuela to her current work at CCA.
CCA youth enrolled in the Brooklyn Youth Advocacy Project appeared in an evening news segment on WABC-TV on July 11, 2008.
Marsha Weissman, Executive Director, selected for Human Rights award. The Onondaga County/Syracuse Commission on Human Rights selected Ms. Weissman to be honored for her contribution to the cause of human rights with the 2006 Human Rights Award in the field of criminal justice. The award was presented at the Twenty-seventh Annual Human Rights Awards Luncheon on October 17, 2006.
Alan Rosenthal, Director of Justice Strategies, presented with the 2006 Outstanding Service to the Criminal Bar Award by the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
CCA Submits Amicus Brief in Muntaqim v. Coombe. Click here to open the amicus brief.
CCA was one of 30 organizations invited to submit an amicus brief in the case of Muntaqim v. Coombe to be argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The case focuses on whether the Voting Rights Act of 1965 can be used to challenge New York's felon disfranchisement law. Muntaqim is one of four felon disfranchisement cases pending in the federal courts. CCA's brief was filed jointly with the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and The Sentencing Project with O’Melveny & Myers as counsel.
The issue addressed in CCA's brief is whether racial disparities exists in both the federal and state criminal justice system to a similar extent so that both should be considered as the context for finding the disenfranchisement provisions of Election Law 35-106 a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Alan Rosenthal, Director of Justice Strategies, named to New York State Bar Association Committee to examine collateral consequences of criminal proceedings. The committee will study the numerous barriers to reintegration faced by those charged with committing a crime. Click here to read Rosenthal’s recent paper, Unlocking the Potential of Reentry and Reintegration.
12-08-04 Judge Buckley quotes Justice Strategies’ Tools for Defense Attorneys: Obtain a Copy of the Pre-sentence Report in his decision, People v. Anthony Boice. Judge Buckley found that errors or inaccuracies in the Pre-Sentence Investigation must be removed because they could follow the defendant throughout his involvement in the criminal justice system and were improper for consideration for correctional and/or parole purposes. Click here to read a copy of the article by Alan Rosenthal, entitled Obtain a Copy of the Pre-Sentence Report.
Alan Rosenthal to speak at Syracuse Inaugural Symposium.
Alan Rosenthal, Director of CCA’s Justice Strategies, will join a prestigious panel at the Syracuse University Inaugural Symposium. He will discuss issues related to racial disparities and the criminal justice system. “Given the critical role of universities in our society, I am glad to join this conversation about racism and respecting humanity,” said Mr. Rosenthal. This event will be held in Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium at 1pm and broadcast a multiple sites across the campus and on Time Warner Cable.
Click here to read Mr. Rosenthal’s report on racial disparities in the local criminal justice system.
For more information on the Syracuse University Inaugural Symposium.
CCA's Onondaga CASA wins the 2004 MONY Life Insurance Company's VIP Award. This award recognized CCA's outstanding volunteer programs. The judges noted that CCA's programs offer high levels of training, attract volunteers with diverse backgrounds and skills as well as successfully win long term involvement and commitment from volunteers. This award includes a contribution of $5,000.
"Predicting Retention of Drug Court Participants Using Event History Analysis." A new article in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation by CCA staff members Elaine M.Wolf and Kathryn A. Sowards, with Douglas A. Wolf Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 37(3):139-162.
This paper presents the results of a discrete-time event-history analysis of the relationships between client and program characteristics and the length and outcome of participation in a drug court program. The authors identify factors associated with both successful completion and premature termination. Having an African-American case manager, being older, having little criminal history, and not being a user of crack cocaine are strongly predictive of successfully completing the program. Predicted probabilities of successful completion ranged from 0.16, in the most pessimistic scenario, to 0.88 for the most optimistic scenario.
[Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
THE EXONERATED
CCA held a successful fundraiser on November 6th. More than 100 colleagues, judges, government officials and friends attended the event. At the pre-theatre reception NYS Senator Thomas K. Duane praised CCA's work and spoke about the importance of alternatives to incarceration.
After the play Marsha Weissman, Executive Director of CCA and Betsy Wilson of the NYS Capital Defenders Officer held a "talk-back" with the audience and discussed death penalty mitigation issues.
Inner Lives: Profiles of African American Women In Prison a new book, by CCA Board Member, Paula C. Johnson, published by NYU Press 2003.
"It [Inner Lives] should be required reading for every person who works in the criminal justice system and prison systems..." Angela Davis
Based on interdisciplinary research that incorporates legal history, ethnography, sociology, and criminology, Inner Lives combines substantive analysis, photographic portraits, and narrative accounts from the women themselves. Inner Lives includes analysis of American criminal laws, sentencing reforms and social policies, and concludes with recommendations for reform to eradicate existing inequalities. The book also includes an appendix of sources, organizations, and information for women in prison.
To order Inner Lives: Profiles of African American Women In Prison visit www.nyupress.org. To arrange a book related event contact Paula C. Johnson at pcjohnson@law.syr.edu