Book Review: Smart on Crime by Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris’ new book, Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer, written with Joan O’C Hamilton, is a refreshing book on prosecutorial practices, and on the need to disengage law enforcement from practices of severe sentencing and mass incarceration.

In the book, Harris, who is the San Francisco District Attorney, and running for Attorney General, speaks up about her prosecutorial philosophy, but also discusses more broadly America’s criminal justice priorities.

The book opens with an examination of several “myths about crime”. Harris seeks to situate the crime debate outside the partisan lines, pointing out that there is an alternative transceding the “tough/soft on crime” dichotomy. She also debunks the idea that there are no alternatives to current correctional techniques by examining a series of innovative reentry programs. The novelty of this account lies in the fact that these programs are sponsored by law enforcement – prosecution offices and sheriff’s offices.

While Harris treats crime and victimization very seriously, she emphasizes the fact that violent and sensational crime constitutes a small percentage of the entire crime picture. The universe of nonviolent offenders, who are not as much of a danger to society, will not be properly handled using lengthy prison sentences, which contribute to recidivism.

Harris suggests an expansion of the traditional prosecutor’s role, arguing for including reentry projects and community involvment in the scope of prosecutorial responsibility. One issue in particular that she highlights is the need to address school truancy. As Harris explains in the book, she sees truancy as a major predictor of a criminal career, and therefore believes that addressing education, and making sure children are not truants, will go a long way toward preventing crime in the long run. The District Attorney’s office’s efforts in this regard have already yielded a decline in truancy rates in San Francisco. Nevertheless, the question is whether criminalizing the truants’ parents is a truly effective measure in reducing crime. In adopting this measure, Harris may have fallen into the same trap she warns us about in the book – focusing on criminalization rather than on problem solving.

The book is meant for popular readership, and much of the rhetoric (including examples of violent, dangerous offenders whom Harris has helped remove from the streets) will soothe readers who are concerned about violent crime and victimization. These sections do not read as a fake attempt to placate the masses so that a “soft on crime” agenda will remain unnoticed. As a prosecutor, Harris comes off as committed to law enforcement and genuine in her belief that some offenders need to be removed from society for a long time. It is precisely this genuine perspective that lends credibility to her “smart on crime” argument, which comes from a concern for public safety in the broader sense rather than from pity. This decidedly not-soft-on-crime stance is enhanced by Harris’ humonetarian arguments for her “smart on crime” solution, which is advocated as a means to save money as well as achieve more public safety.

Prison scholars and inmate rights’ activists who read the book may be concerned that Harris does not go far enough. I do not see this as a shortcoming in the book. Harris is a prosecutor and she writes from a prosecutor’s perspective. Even under a more benign, less punitive correctional regime, law enforcement officials and prison activists will not see eye to eye. The important thing is that this book opens the door for open minded prosecutors to transcend the government/offender divide, and more importantly, the right/left divide, and to agree on general solutions, the most promising of which is a focus on reentry programs such as San Francisco’s Back on Track program. This program, which uses deferred entry of judgment as a “test period”, under the D.A.’s office supervision, combined with vocational skills, jobs, and other support, is advocated as a method to reduce recidivism rates.

You can find more information about the book on Kamala Harris’ website.

Why is California Eliminating Rehabilitation?

Yesterday Prof. Aviram posted analysis of the newest Plata/Coleman panel court order. She points out, “The panel wants to hear more about the use of rehabilitation and reentry in the community as a population reduction measure that might actually improve public safety.”

So I thought I’d post this cover story from 10/17 last Friday’s LA Times. The piece highlights poignant personal stories of incarcerated, and formerly incarcerated, female addicts. It also provides a damning quote from a recent Schwarzenegger insider: “Kathy Jett, formerly Schwarzenegger’s top aide for prisoner rehabilitation, said gangs may attempt to fill the void created by the absence of programs.”

For purposes of this blog, though, the article also provides some worrisome statistics.

  • Rehab services lose $250 million a year, more than 40% of what they now get and a quarter of the $1 billion total sliced from the prison system.
  • “At the same time, the state is eliminating 45% of the seats in its substance-abuse programs for parolees.”
  • The featured rehab provider previously helped 756 women, and will now reach only 175.

These changes seemed almost calculated to increase addiction and recidivism. One might speculate that even the Governor is knowingly passing on the problem of prison overcrowding to the next administration rather than addressing any of its root causes.

Obama and Holder: Feds to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries!

Federal news that have direct bearing on Californians: The Department of Justice has sent a memo to prosecutors in the fourteen states that allow for medical marijuana dispensation, instructing them to refrain from prosecuting. Here is the original memo, which instructs prosecutors to assess marijuana cases on a case-by-case basis, and to prosecute only when there are sales to minors, firearms, violence, ties to organized crime, excessive amounts of marijuana or sales of other drugs.

The NYT reports:

The politics swirling around marijuana cross ideological lines. For instance, in effectively deferring to the states on some issues involving marijuana, the Obama administration is taking what could be seen as a states’ rights stance, more commonly associated with conservatives. That was a theme that echoed on many conservative and libertarian Internet sites in the wake of Monday’s announcement.

Decrowding Debate: 1:0? 0:1?

Two important events have just occurred more or less simultaneously with regard to the decrowding debate.

First, the gutted prison reform plan, that will lead to the release of 17,000 inmates and the transfer of minor parole violators to local jails, has passed and is moving forward, for the Governor’s signature.

And second, the Supreme Court has declined to grant a stay to the State with regard to the Plata/Coleman order. The State’s arguments have been rejected, albeit not on the merits (that will be decided on appeal). CDCR will therefore have to come up with a decrowding plan for 40,000 inmates by Sep. 18.

We will elaborate later on the possible connection between these two events.

The Partisan Paradox: Why No “Texas Correctional Crisis”

It’s always refreshing to take a look at our correctional mess from the outside. Yesterday, Scott Hanson, over at Grits for Breakfast, commented on our crisis, explaining “why Texas didn’t go there“.

Ironically, California may be suffering because it’s trying to confront this problem with a Democratic majority. The turning point for Texas’ prison system came in 2003, when Republicans found themselves in charge of both chambers of the Texas Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. That year, Speaker Tom Craddick named Ray Allen from Grand Prairie House Corrections chair, and Allen was immediately confronted with projections that Texas’ already full prisons would require billions in new construction to keep up their astronomical growth rate.

[R]educing incarceration by diverting offenders to probation and keeping more of them there until they’re off supervision – became the central strategy Texas employed to reduce incarceration growth. In 2005, Jerry Madden became House Corrections chair and – along with the Democratic Criminal Justice Chairman in the Senate, John Whitmire – sponsored legislation to revamp probation in order to provide more meaningful supervision (especially through reduced caseloads) and alternatives to incarceration, but leaving sentence lengths, at least on the books, alone.

I wonder whether a Republican majority in the CA legislature would be the ticket to resolve this; that is, whether such a majority would have a sense of responsibility for responding to the crisis and therefore come up with good solutions. We have seen quite a few examples of nonpartisan initiatives to save system costs by avoiding death row expansion, legalizing marijuana, and the like. The thing to remember is that the big architects of large-scale historical decarceration efforts have been, traditionally, conservative politicians. I strongly recommend reading Kathlyn Taylor Gaubatz’s interesting book Crime in the Public Mind, which mentions, among many other interesting things:


Few may remember, however, that Ronald Reagan was not always the standard bearer of the get-tough movement. In an account of changes in California’s criminal justice system, Caleb Foote writes that “during Ronald Reagan’s tenure as governor, his administration first ordered the [Adult] Authority, as an economy measure, to reduce prison population by increasing parole release rates, a policy which enabled the state to close one prison and underpopulate San Quentin and some other prisons. Then the Reagan administration, attacked from the southland for being soft on crime . . ., reversed course and ordered the Authority to tighten ship.” We know that the tides of public opinion began their harsh upswing during the years of Reagan’s first governorship, and here is a revelation that his actions as a political leader were not always oriented to a crackdown on crime.

Good morning, and good luck.

Nixonland Mentality Wins the Day: Assembly Decision a Bitter Disappointment

Yesterday’s Assembly decision, emptying much of the initiative to reform our broken system from its content and neutralizing any healthy effect it would have on prison population, is not only a disappointment; it is also a bitter reminder that, while cost-related arguments have the potential to bring issues to the forefront of public discourse, they can’t always carry the day against the older genre of arguments, consisting of unsubstantiated moral panics and political hysteria.
It was a sobering experience to read this morning’s paper, which, in addition to these disappointing news, included a report on the unveiling of a hideous crime: kidnapping, rape, and a nightmarish “compound” where the alleged perpetrator kept his victims. Beyond the immediate horror at these events, my concern is that such abnormal, outlier experiences are perceived, and raised, as the norm, feeding our fear and insecurity.
“Crime” is a generic name for a large universe of phenomena that are very easily distinguishable from each other. The Garridos of this world are very different from the vast majority of imprisoned Californians; for every Phillip Garrido there are tens of thousands of arrestees, inmates and parolees whose property and drug crimes are closely linked with the environmental and spatial dimensions of their lives. Yes, there is some free choice and rational calculation in all of this, and the best path out of prison life must include a certain component of assuming responsibility (a little about this in a following post this weekend); but these choices exist in a universe in which not everyone is offered the same set of alternatives. When the limited opportunities contribute to crime, we should be thinking about providing opportunity, in tandem with requiring responsibility. The key is to understand that the answer to crime needs to be more tailored to suit a particular situation or social reality. There is no “one-size-fits-all” answer to crime. And certainly, shaping our response to crime based on the demons we hear about, perceive, and sometimes create, will not generate anything we will be pleased with in the long run.
Who, and what, poses a risk to public safety? What are we afraid of? Those are two different questions. The former requires hard evidence and the willingness to accept the answers we might not have assumed. The latter, unfortunately, is what has been informing criminal justice policy since the Nixon Era. Our budget woes had the potential to shake us out of indifference and generate a real change. The crisis brought together lawmakers of both parties, police officers, reformers, academics, prison personnel, and Federal judges, all of whom realized that these difficult and trying times were an opportunity to generate real change and turn around the collision course that we have been navigating since the 1970s. I fear this opportunity has been, to a large extent, missed by yesterday’s decision.
For the Governor’s disappointment with the Assembly’s decision, read here; for other discontents, see here.

Police Chiefs Support Decrowding Plan

(image courtesy City of Pasadena Police Department website)

This remarkable statement, by Bernard Melekian, President of the Police Chiefs Association, has been circulated quite widely. I reproduce it verbatim for you.

A few comments: I think this is a fine example of the fact that, as Rahm Emanuel (in)famously said recently, we don’t want to let a serious crisis go to waste. If something good has come out of all this, it is the willingness of different parties to thoughtfully and systematically examine what we have been doing so far and where to go from here.
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Because of all of the information out in the press and at the capitol, I wanted to reiterate Cal Chiefs’ position on the Corrections Budget legislation. It is important to note that in spite of the various rumors and allegations, our position has not changed in the last few weeks. The floor letter we sent on the 19th is attached again as a reference, and our comments to Jillena Eifer, the Police Advisor to Assembly Member Pedro Nava, appear below to clarify our points on the issue:

“As you can see, the underlying concepts of Alternative Custody and Banked Parole are fundamentally sound, and the Police Chiefs Association believes that those details can be ironed out. What IS critical is that the legislative language implementing the Corrections Reduction package be transparently and openly shared. I strongly believe that the various groups who have issues concerning the Corrections package can iron out all of those details in a constructive fashion that enables the legislative goals to be achieved in a fashion that also protects public safety.

The Sentencing Commission issue is the most troubling part of the package. First, we do not believe it ought to be linked with the Corrections Population Reduction package, at all. One piece does not relate to the other. We are willing to sit down and discuss the Sentencing Commission issue as a free-standing matter, unrelated to the Corrections Reduction package. With respect to the Commission, we believe it is possible to negotiate a construct that is consistent with the long-standing position of the California Police Chiefs Association (and virtually every other law enforcement organization) and also assures that there is a serious examination of California’s sentencing structure.

Bottom line is that I believe that all of the dissenting law enforcement organizations are of the same mind – constructive solutions are possible if only policymakers will take a deep breath and engage in collaborative discussion of the Corrections package. If Assembly Nava can successfully communicate that to legislative leadership, we could then spend the next few days in serious discussion to craft a package that would meet everyone’s needs, rather than engaging in the counter-productive efforts of trying to squeeze 41 votes for a package that could be a consensus item if there were only open discussion.”

President Bernard Melekian

California Police Chiefs Association | P.O. Box 255745 | Sacramento, California 95865-5745 | United States


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props to Kara Dansky for alerting me to this fascinating letter.

State Senate Approves Governor’s Plan and Sentencing Commission Bill

Yesterday, the State Senate approved the Sentencing Commission Bill, by a narrow margin of 21 to 19 voters. The discussion was quite polarized, with concerns about public safety raised by Republican lawmakers. The next step for the bill is the Senate Assembly’s approval.

The bill was approved as part of the narrow approval of the broad plan proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger to release 27,300 inmates.

The approved measures – and the savings they entail – are as follows:

— $42 million saved by allowing the early release of inmates who complete certain rehabilitation programs, such as by earning GEDs and taking vocational training classes.

— $134 million saved by reducing the influx of new prisoners by changing some property crimes that now qualify as felonies to misdemeanors. Petty thefts, writing bad checks and receiving stolen property would no longer be charged as felonies. Stealing cars valued at $2,500 or less could be charged as misdemeanors instead of an automatic felony.

— $120.5 million saved by allowing certain inmates to finish their sentences at homes or hospitals under GPS monitoring. Qualifying inmates would need to be at least 60 years old or severely ill and have less than one year to serve.

— $30 million saved by allowing certain felons who violate probation to serve time in county jails instead of having them sent back to prisons.

— $198.5 million saved by changing the state’s parole system so that some low- and moderate-risk offenders would not be subject to parole revocation. Also, certain serious offenders would be eligible for early parole discharge if they successfully complete drug treatment.

Inmate Release: How Would Good Credits Work?

(image courtesy ACT Corrective Services, http://www.cs.act.gov.au/)

In May 1840, Alexander Maconochie, a Scottish administrator with a Navy background, was appointed to run and manage Norfolk Island, . Norfolk was, at the time, one of the toughest correctional institutions in the British empire, housing hardened violent criminals who were sent to Penal Australia.
Maconochie’s correctional ideology was quite revolutionary for the time. Firm in his belief that punishment without reform was a socially empty act, he sought to generate a system under which convicts would earn their own freedom through “marks”, which they would earn for good behavior and hard work. The “marks” could be used to purchase luxuries beyond a diet of bread and water, or to purchase one’s freedom. The imprisonment experience, beginning with a period of solitude, would gradually loosen as convicts rose from level to level (or tighten back for those who “slipped”), to the point of being a closer simulation of life on the outside.
In his three years on the island, Maconochie had created a culture of learning and improvement within Norfolk. The library was stocked with books and prisoners would congregate, read and debate. Theatrical productions were considered. Musical instruments were ordered. Contrary to the previous practice of anonymous graves, headstones were placed on deceased prisoners’ graves. Queen Victoria’s birthday was celebrated as an island holiday, during which the prisoners were free to roam about the island.
Maconochie’s methods produced prodigious results with regard to recidivism rates. During his tenure at Norfolk, he discharged 920 of the twice-convicted offenders; by 1845, only twenty of them had been convicted again. However, these methods, which were initially endorsed by the Empire, became increasingly controversial. Critics complained that inmates were not receiving enough punishment in the initial statements and were horrified to hear about the island holiday. Under much political pressure, Maconochie was sent back to England in late 1843.
Revolutionary rehabilitative systems sometimes work, but they seem to be contingent upon strong personalities with strong convictions, and don’t tend to survive political pressure. Another example is Thomas Murton, a thoughtful administrator and criminologist who revolutionized the Arkansas prison with similar ideals in mind, and whose work at the prison is depicted in the fiction film Brubaker.
So, could such a system work in California prisons? One of the mechanisms considered for inmate release relies on good work credits. A National Conference on State Legislatures report examines the various mechanisms for credit earned. At least 31 states offer such credits in one form or other; usually, state legislation authorizes the correctional authorities to define which programs merit earned time. 21 states reward education and 18 states reward work (California provides credits for disaster relief work). Some states, like Nevada, Pennsylvania and Colorado, have actually expanded their reliance on such systems, due to budgetary difficulties (humonetarianism in action!). The amount of time earned (how many days of participation are required for one day of early release) also varies from state to state, and also, within a state, between different programs. California offers day-for-day in some programs, and others sometimes provide more than a 1:1 credit ratio.
Do these programs affect recidivism? Several evaluation studies done on good credit programs found no significant difference in recidivism rates between early released inmates and inmates who served the full term. In fact, one study even found a significantly lower recidivism rate for those who were released on good credits.
To read more about Maconochie, read Norval Morris’ terrific book Maconochie’s Gentlemen.

The Michigan Deal Goes South: Too Expensive for California


California’s inmates will not be shipped to Michigan, the Detroit News reports. The reason? Michigan is too expensive.

Michigan bid too high on the daily rate it would charge to care for prisoners at either the Standish or Muskegon facilities — and won’t get a contract at either facility, said Seth Unger, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Michigan would have charged $89 per day, per prisoner, and that didn’t include medical care, Unger said.

“Our average is $63 at other facilities ,and includes medical care”, Unger said of other arrangements with privately run prisons in Arizona, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee that hold California inmates. “It’s also the remoteness of the facilities.”
Here’s the letter sent by Secretary Cate, rejecting the offer.
While these days, our first, second, and third concerns pertain to our wallets, there are various other problematic issues with “exporting” inmates. One such concern is that the distance from family and friends would hinder visitation and contact with the outside world, which is already compromised by the locations of California facilities. The other concern, which the Plata/Coleman panel underscored in their decision, is the concern about the level of care, particularly health care, available to prisoners in other states.


Also, while not an immediate, practical issue, inmate transfers to other states are a stark illustration of the distance – physical and mental – of the public from the invisible realm of prisons. The economic crisis, as well as the Plata/Coleman decision, has significantly increased the visibility of prison-related issues, which is an important step on the way to remedy the crisis. Even if inmates are sent away, they do not cease to be the state’s problem; forgetting them is a trap that policymakers would be well advised to avoid.
Addendum: I wonder what it’s like for a Californian to do time at a Tennessee private facility. If you, or someone you know, is or has been in such a predicament, please comment and enlighten us.
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props to Jerry Jarvis for keeping us updated.