Convicts imprisoned under California’s three strikes law are no more
inclined to high-risk "criminal thinking” than other inmates, but are
far more likely to be addicted to drugs and alcohol, according to data
from the state prisons department.
The psychological, substance abuse and education profiles of thousands of inmates – obtained and analyzed by California Watch and the San Francisco Chronicle – reveal that the state imposes especially lengthy sentences on felons with substance abuse problems who have not necessarily committed violent offenses.
But according to their profiles, these inmates would pose no more a threat to public safety than a non-three-strikes inmate.
The never-before-released data could play an important role for critics and supporters of California’s three strike’s law, amid a dramatic year for criminal justice reform. Thousands of inmates are being transferred to county jails under a realignment plan championed by Gov. Jerry Brown, and voters are being asked to alter the state’s three strikes initiative with a ballot measure in November.
The act of judging a person's criminal proclivity is steeped in a long and controversial history of guesswork and junk science. But modern social scientists and criminologists say California's prisoner surveys ranking "criminal thinking" – which have been verified through rigorous studies of recidivism rates – are reliable tools to gauge risk factors and psychological makeups.
Read more: http://cironline.org/node/3899
The psychological, substance abuse and education profiles of thousands of inmates – obtained and analyzed by California Watch and the San Francisco Chronicle – reveal that the state imposes especially lengthy sentences on felons with substance abuse problems who have not necessarily committed violent offenses.
But according to their profiles, these inmates would pose no more a threat to public safety than a non-three-strikes inmate.
The never-before-released data could play an important role for critics and supporters of California’s three strike’s law, amid a dramatic year for criminal justice reform. Thousands of inmates are being transferred to county jails under a realignment plan championed by Gov. Jerry Brown, and voters are being asked to alter the state’s three strikes initiative with a ballot measure in November.
The act of judging a person's criminal proclivity is steeped in a long and controversial history of guesswork and junk science. But modern social scientists and criminologists say California's prisoner surveys ranking "criminal thinking" – which have been verified through rigorous studies of recidivism rates – are reliable tools to gauge risk factors and psychological makeups.
Read more: http://cironline.org/node/3899
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