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HEALTH & JUSTICE IN THE NEWS
Date: September 29, 2016
Around the Nation
Medications Can Help with Alcohol Addiction, But Many Don't Know That
NPR, 9/26/16
Public health officials, building on a push to treat people who use opioids with medications, want physicians to consider using medications to treat alcohol addiction. It is still rare for a person struggling with alcohol to hear that medication therapy exists. Naltrexone and acamprosate are the two drugs on the market for patients with alcohol cravings. One of the drugs, naltrexone, is also used to treat opioid addiction.
These Women Are Demanding a Voice in the Criminal Justice Conversation
The Nation, 9/26/16
Last December, Andrea James joined forces with other activists to form the country's only national organization founded and run by women who have been-or still are-in the prison system. The organization is called the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and its mission is twofold: to inject the "voices and expertise" of women who have been affected by incarceration into the conversation around policy, reform, organizing, and services; and to support the work that currently and formerly incarcerated women are already doing, often in isolation and with little encouragement.
Drug, crime experts say posting shocking photos of unconscious people is wrong
The Washington Post, 9/27/16
Police in small towns in Ohio and Massachusetts may have started a trend: releasing photos of people who have become unconscious after using drugs, to dramatically show the public what officers encounter on a daily basis as opioid use explodes across America. But is that a good idea? Experts in drug addiction and policing said it is not, that it merely shames people and adds stigma to those suffering from a disease, though they understood the frustration of first responders. "What helps is helping people get help," said Patty McCarthy Metcalf of Faces & Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C., a national advocacy group for addiction treatment and recovery. "Helping people see they can recover. What doesn't work is public shaming. It just reinforces the negative public perception we're trying to eliminate. Stigma is one of the major reasons people don't get help when they need it."
Around Illinois
Juvenile Justice in Illinois, 2014
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 9/14/16
Juvenile Justice in Illinois, 2014 outlines juvenile justice statistics across the four process points in which data were available: arrest, detention, court, and corrections. Decreases in the statewide figures were noted across all of the data points examined, indicating that fewer youth were entering and moving through the system. This article highlights select key findings from the full report.
Interview with John Baldwin: "Save your prison beds for those you are afraid of." (video)
WMBD, 9/26/16
More than 80% of the prison population across the US has an identifiable substance use issue. Illinois is working to find solutions to decrease that number and prevent people living with addiction from getting locked up in the first place. WMBD sat down with the Director of the Department of Corrections for the state of Illinois to find out what's being done to keep people in the community instead of behind bars. "There are some people who need to serve time. There are also some people who could benefit from an intervention while they are in their community." Director of the Department of Corrections, John Baldwin, explained. Baldwin says prison should not be the only solution for people with substance use issues. Baldwin believes many people could get the help they need without being locked up.
CVS Health Expands Access to Opioid Overdose-Reversal Drug for CVS Pharmacy Patients in Illinois and Four Other States
Yahoo Finance, 9/29/16
CVS Health today announced it has expanded access to the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone in Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Missouri and West Virginia, allowing CVS Pharmacy patients to access the medication without an individual prescription.
Federal Judge Approves Of Illinois DCFS Changes
Progress Illinois, 9/28/16
A federal judge has approved a plan to revamp the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The troubled department has seen much turnover in leadership, being on its ninth director in five years. The plan to overhaul DCFS calls for a complete retraining of staff and leadership, placing more youths into permanent homes, and increasing access to community-based mental health services. Implementation of the plan to revamp DCFS began six months ago, according to the department's chief, and will continue with Wednesday's federal approval.
Entrepreneurship a road to re-entry for some leaving incarceration (video)
The Chicago Reporter, 9/26/16
In Illinois 48 percent of people released from prison return within three years while 19 percent return within one year, according to the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. In August, the U.S. Small Business Administration launched a $2 million program to teach 200 formerly incarcerated people how to run their own businesses and provides them with microloans to start them. The pilot, which is in four cities- Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Louisville, Kentucky - will launch in spring 2017 with 50 people from each city.
Research, Reports, and Studies
U.S. Funds Studies on Solitary, Other Prison Issues
The Crime Report, 9/27/16
The Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) announced 10 awards totaling more than $6.3 million to fund research on parental incarceration, restrictive prisoner housing such as solitary confinement, reentry, and correctional officer suicide.
Legalizing Marijuana: It Changes Policing, But May Leave Racial Disparities
NPR, 9/24/16
That question of disparity is very much on the minds of researchers who are tracking the effects of marijuana legalization. Mike Males is with the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. He released a study earlier this year that's been widely cited. It shows that while marijuana arrests dropped dramatically in Washington state, African-Americans are still two times more likely to be arrested for marijuana-related offenses. "So there's still a large racial discrepancy. It doesn't solve that. It does reduce the overall impact of marijuana arrests, but it doesn't change the racial discrepancy as much," Males says. The bottom line, says Males: "If one of the goals is to reduce marijuana-related arrests then legalization appears to accomplish that." But it may not resolve disparities in how the law is enforced or applied.
Related:
"CJCJ in the news: Black People Twice As Likely To Be Arrested For Pot In Colorado And Washington - Where It's Legal" (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 3/22/16):
http://www.cjcj.org/news/10232
Youth
Teen birth rate in the U.S. hits record low for 7th consecutive year
Los Angeles Times, 9/28/16
The birth rate for U.S. teenagers hit an all-time low in 2015, the seventh straight year a new record has been set. Overall, there were 22.3 births for every 1,000 young women between 15 and 19, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But despite the steady progress of American teens, they still lag far behind other industrialized nations. In Switzerland, for example, there are only 3 births for every 1,000 young women between the ages of 15 and 19. The authors of the report attributed the across-the-board improvement to "declines in the proportion of teenagers who have ever had sex and, for sexually active teenagers, increases in the use of effective contraception practices," they wrote. They also credited "increases in teen pregnancy prevention programs."
Opinions, Editorials, and Commentary
Pretrial Justice Institute: Money Bond Fails Victims of Domestic Violence
Pretrial Justice Institute Blog, 9/28/16
Money should never be the only thing standing between an abused person and someone who intends to continue doing him or her harm. Each arrested person should be assessed on the risks they pose to public or individual safety and of flight from justice, measured by an actuarial risk assessment tool. In concert with the facts of the case and judicial discretion, courts can then decide to detain the individual before trial or to release with conditions meant to increase safety. There are also extra tools that can be used for gauging lethality risks to victims of intimate partner violence. What excuse do we have for not using them? ...Recent polling shows that voters want justice systems that make decisions based on risk, not money... October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We encourage you to remember the victims of violence and to support pretrial reforms that prioritize safety.
Lindsay Holmes: Let's Call Mental Health Stigma What It Really Is - Discrimination
The Huffington Post, 9/27/16
Nearly one in five American adults will experience a mental health disorder in a given year. Yet only 25 percent of people with a psychological condition feel that others are understanding or compassionate about their illness, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Typically, we refer to this dissonance as stigma, but we have been wrong to do so. The negative stereotypes that shame those with mental illness and prevent them from seeking help don't just constitute stigma - they're discrimination. It's a blatant, prejudicial outlook on a certain population. The societal outlook on mental illness doesn't just result in negative stereotyping, as the term "stigma" implies, says Kana Enomoto, principal deputy administrator of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It results in behavior and policy that actually make life more difficult for those with mental health challenges.
Health & Justice in the News
is a summary of recent news stories relating to criminal justice, mental health, addiction, recovery, and related issues. It is compiled and published by TASC each Monday and Thursday.
Some headlines and text have been altered by TASC for clarity or emphasis, or to minimize discriminatory or stigmatizing language. Opinions in the articles and op-eds do not necessarily express the views of TASC or our staff or partners.
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