School to Prison Pipeline: Exhibit A

Taken at the Tompkins Houses projects in Brooklyn last weekend and sent to me by a blogger. This is a playground for kids ages 2 to 5.

Read all about it at http://blackandbrownnews.com and in tomorrow's Daily News.

April 8 Harvard Lecture: The New York Miracle: How One State Simultaneously Reduced Crime and Incarceration

The New York Miracle: How One State Simultaneously Reduced Crime and Incarceration

Thursday, April 8, 5:30 p.m. Welcome Reception, 6:00 p.m. Panel Discussion.
Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, Harvard Kennedy School

Tony Thompson, Professor of Clinical Law, NYU Law School

Greg Berman, Director of the Center for Court Innovation

Alex Calabrese, Presiding Judge, Red Hook Community Justice Center

Chris Watler, Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center

Focusing on local innovations in the justice system, this panel will discuss New York State trends and the lessons to be learned for other states seeking to reduce crime and incarceration. Looking at the community court system that New York State has developed and examining recent initiatives in reentry, the panel will approach justice system innovation from a variety of perspectives.

Sponsored by Harvard’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and Taubman Center for State and Local Government

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=316993369148&ref=mf

FOIL in Action

http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/1709367

 Bloomberg: The Movie (At Your Expense)

From L.A. to Bali, city workers film mayor touting himself at your expense

By Tom Robbins

Shortly after his re-election in November 2005, Mike Bloomberg decided to raise his national profile several notches. He began traveling widely, making speeches and accepting awards. We later learned this was mostly about setting the stage for a potential run for president. He ultimately passed on that race, without giving up hope that he might get lucky next time. But one of the interesting features of this publicity push was that—despite his own fabulous wealth—the mayor wasn't shy about using city resources to promote his image.

Using the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)

All government information is presumptively public. The law specifies exceptions and how agencies must respond to lawful requests.

Generally speaking:

* You must begin with an informal inquiry

* The agency must have dedicated personnel and procedures to handle such requests

* The actual request need not be formal, but should not be too broad

* They must respond within a reasonable period, sometimes specified by law

* A stonewalling agency may require legal action or the threat of legal action to secure compliance


FOIL letter generator: http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php

NY State Dept of State FOIL info: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/index.html

More on the Paterson Investigation

Reporter's Roundtable, Friday March 12

Cuomo Bows Out of Paterson Investigation

Margin of Error

Margin of Error deserves better than the throw-away line it gets in the bottom of stories about polling data. Writers who don't understand margin of error, and its importance in interpreting scientific research, can easily embarrass themselves and their news organizations.


Check out the following story that moved in the summer of 1996 on a major news wire

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - President Clinton, hit by bad publicity recently over FBI files and a derogatory book, has slipped against Bob Dole in a new poll released Monday but still maintains a 15 percentage point lead.


The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll taken June 27-30 of 818 registered voters showed Clinton would beat his Republican challenger if the election were held now, 54 to 39 percent, with seven percent undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.


A similar poll June 18-19 had Clinton 57 to 38 percent over Dole.

Unfortunately for the readers of this story, it is wrong. There is no reasonable statistical basis for claiming that Clinton's lead over Dole has slipped.

Why? The margin of error. In this case, the CNN et al. poll had a four percent margin of error. That means that if you asked a question from this poll 100 times, 95 of those times the percentage of people giving a particular answer would be within 4 points of the percentage who gave that same answer in this poll. [emphasis added]

Statistics: The Basics

From RobertNiles.com, an excellent source of information for reporters on the use and misuse of statistics:

When talking about averages -- for example, average income or average wages -- be sure you understand the difference between the Mean and the Median.

Percent changes are useful to help people understand changes in a value over time. Again, figuring this one requires nothing more than third-grade math.

Simply subtract the old value from the new value, then divide by the old value. Multiply the result by 100 and slap a % sign on it. That's your percent change.

Let's say Springfield had 50 murders last year, as did Capital City. So there's no difference in crime between these cities, right? Maybe, maybe not. Let's go back and look at the number of murders in those towns in previous years, so we can determine a percent change.

Five years ago, Capital City had 42 murders while Springfield had just 29.
Subtract the old value from the new one for each city and then divide by the old values. That will show you that, over a five year period, Capital City had a 19 percent increase in murders, while Springfield's increase was more than 72 percent.

That's your lead.

Or is it? There's something else to consider when computing percent change. Take a look at per capita to find out.

A Last Toast To 'Rocky,' A Brother Who Ain't Here

The New York Sun

July 24, 2003 Thursday

BY ERROL LOUIS

SECTION: FRONT PAGE; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1138 words

You could tell the people who knew the councilman for a long time: They still called him by his nickname, Rocky. His street name.

In Brooklyn, they will be drinking toasts to the memory of James Davis tonight, and tomorrow, and for a long time to come. The politicians will hoist glasses in restaurants and ballrooms. In Crown Heights, the folks who still called him Rocky will toast in the way you do it on the street corners: a small splash on the pavement, and a moment of silence for all the brothers who ain't here.

I was watching television on my so-called day off yesterday when the phones began exploding. First was my father, saying the radio reported that Councilman Davis had been shot at City Hall.

My first call after that was to Anthony Herbert, one of the people running against James Davis this year. I was calling to ask why he'd done it. When Tony answered the phone and seemed genuinely startled, I figured that the shooter was the other guy, the strange one I met last week.

Spend enough time around Brooklyn politics, and that's how you start to think.

A Famous Newspaper Column

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/digging-grave-an-honor.htm

Newsday's Jimmy Breslin wrote the following article for the New York Herald Tribune in November 1963.
 
Washington -- Clifton Pollard was pretty sure he was going to be working on Sunday, so when he woke up at 9 a.m., in his three-room apartment on Corcoran Street, he put on khaki overalls before going into the kitchen for breakfast. His wife, Hettie, made bacon and eggs for him. Pollard was in the middle of eating them when he received the phone call he had been expecting. It was from Mazo Kawalchik, who is the foreman of the gravediggers at Arlington National Cemetery, which is where Pollard works for a living. "Polly, could you please be here by eleven o'clock this morning?" Kawalchik asked. "I guess you know what it's for." Pollard did. He hung up the phone, finished breakfast, and left his apartment so he could spend Sunday digging a grave for John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

When Pollard got to the row of yellow wooden garages where the cemetery equipment is stored, Kawalchik and John Metzler, the cemetery superintendent, were waiting for him. "Sorry to pull you out like this on a Sunday," Metzler said. "Oh, don't say that," Pollard said. "Why, it's an honor for me to be here." Pollard got behind the wheel of a machine called a reverse hoe. Gravedigging is not done with men and shovels at Arlington. The reverse hoe is a green machine with a yellow bucket that scoops the earth toward the operator, not away from it as a crane does. At the bottom of the hill in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Pollard started the digging (Editor Note: At the bottom of the hill in front of the Custis-Lee Mansion).

Leaves covered the grass. When the yellow teeth of the reverse hoe first bit into the ground, the leaves made a threshing sound which could be heard above the motor of the machine. When the bucket came up with its first scoop of dirt, Metzler, the cemetery superintendent, walked over and looked at it. "That's nice soil," Metzler said. "I'd like to save a little of it," Pollard said. "The machine made some tracks in the grass over here and I'd like to sort of fill them in and get some good grass growing there, I'd like to have everything, you know, nice."

Stop & Frisk Panel Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Invite to Stop & Frisk Lecture    

FIRST STORY PROJECT: POST HERE IF YOU NEED HELP/PARTNERS

Before next Thursday, send me a written description of a project you can complete within a week that is related to mass incarceration and its effects in New York. Your project can be print, video, audio or internet-based.

Working together (in groups of 3 or less) is OK. If you are looking for help to execute your project, post a comment here asking for the people/skills you need.

Justice Mapping Presentation

Justice Mapping Center Selected 5

Rangel Steps Down as Chairman of Ways & Means