March 18, 2010 · www.gothamgazette.com |
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- David King on Lock Down?
- Farah Akbar on Tourist Spot?
- Glenn Pasanen on Framing the Figures
- Courtney Gross on Closing Day
- Christian Wolan on Monserrate's New Face
Crime and Safety Reports:
Mayor's Management Report
Mayor Michael Bloomberg Friday issued his preliminary Management Report for the current fiscal year, a mass of numbers that purport to measure city government's performance in a number of keys areas. This year's found an increase in homelessness, a rise in the number of people seeking welfare and food stamps, an increase in the amount of time it takes to fill a pothole and a rise in average class size, as well as cleaner streets and a decrease in school crime.
2010-02-16
Syringe Arrests
Police activity and outdated state law keep many people from participating in syringe exchange programs, a report by three advocacy groups concludes. The report, "Stuck in the System," cited widespread arrests of people for having syringes, even though they were enrolled in syringe access programs. The report recommends that the state remove its law against syringe possession. The exchange programs were established about 20 years ago to help prevent the spread of AIDS and hepatitis among intravenous drug users. 2010-02-03
Hazardous Buildings
A review of buildings in Manhattan by the office of Borough President Scott Stringer found a quarter of a million open Department of Buildings and Environmental Control Board violations in the borough. The report, Falling Apart at the Seams, found 33 percent of those violations were classified as “hazardous,” meaning they warranted “immediate corrective action.” Unresolved hazardous environmental control board violations persist at almost 40 percent of Manhattan’s public schools and 60 percent of public hospital buildings. A spokesperson for the mayor has said the problem is being addressed. 2010-01-25
Recidivism and Drug Law Reform
People released from prison due to Rockefeller drug law reform have remarkably low rates of return to incarceration, according to the Legal Aid Society. They say the finding supports the idea that drug law sentences were longer than necessary to protect communities. 2010-01-21
Fatalities from Fire
New York had 73 civilian fire deaths in 2009, the lowest number ever recorded, according to a report released by the city. This represented a 15 percent drop from 2008, when 86 civilians died in fires. The report also found the Fire Department took less time to respond to fires in 2009 and that the city had the fewest number of fires ever, including a record low number of serious fires. 2010-01-13
Safest Big City in America
The FBI's Crime in the United States uniform crime report shows that New York City remains the safest big city in America. New York ranked safest out of the 60 biggest cities reporting crime to the FBI. Of the 260 cities with a population greater than 100,000, New York ranked safer than 245 other cities. 2009-09-22
Prisoners Serving Life Sentences
In New York state, 84 percent of life sentenced prisoners are black or Hispanic, the highest in the nation, according to a national report by the Sentencing Project. The state also has 1-in-6 prisoners serving life sentences, which is the second highest in the country. 2009-07-24
What New York Can Learn from Other Cities
This new report by the Drum Major Institute offers examples from other cities of solutions to problems in the policy areas of economic opportunity, housing affordability, criminal justice, workplace standards, environmental sustainability, and health care. 2009-07-16
Creating Safe High Schools
An analysis of six high schools serving "at-risk" students shows that metal detectors, aggressive policing and harsh disciplinary policies are not needed to create a safe learning environment, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and Make the Road New York. 2009-07-09
Policy to Prevent Wrongful Conviction
A report by the Innocence Project says that New York leads in wrongful convictions but lags in passing reforms to prevent them. The report suggests passing legislation to better utilize DNA evidence, improving eyewitness identification procedures and giving judges more power over evidence. 2009-06-09
Safest Cities
According to an analysis of FBI statistics by RealClearPolitics, New York City is the safest city in the country. The analysis shows that crime per capita in the Big Apple is 4.8 percent. 2009-06-08
Improving Alternative Detention
The Youth Justice Board, a group of city teens, has issued 10 proposals for how the city could approve its alternative detention programs for young people charged with crimes. The group, which was organized by the Center for Court Innovation and spent a year studying the issue, recommends creating temporary shelters for teens who cannot go back home after their arrests, screening programs participants for possible mental health problems, and better links between the schools and the alternative programs. 2009-06-05
Discharge Funding Up
Since 2005, funding for discharge programs for those in city jails has nearly tripled to more than $14.5 million, according to a new report from the Independent Budget Office. Though the results of these programs have been inconclusive, according to the report, funding has been more than steady. Many of these programs, almost two-thirds of discharge funding, are run through the Mayor's Center for Economic Opportunity. 2009-06-04
Stop and Frisks Increase
The Police Department stopped and interrogated more innocent people during the first three months of 2009 than during any three-month period since the department began collecting data on so-called "stop and frisks," according to a new report by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The report reveals a 22 percent increase from the 140,151 stops conducted during the last three months of 2008. 2009-05-14
Healthcare in New York Prisons
A report by the Correctional Association of New York finds that prisoners in New York receive varying standards of care. The report details improvements the authorities have made in inmate care but also chronicles inconsistent treatment. Inmates complain of being denied timely care, problems receiving prescriptions, inadequate examinations and failures to treat chronic problems. A lack of resources, improperly trained medical staff and a lack of oversight leads to inconsistent care, the report states. 2009-05-13
Punishment of Drug Users in New York State Prisons
In a report on New York prisons, Human Rights Watch found that prison officials sentenced inmates to a collective total of over 2,516 years in "the box" (no contact from visitors, 23-hour-a-day lockdowns, no access to drug rehabilitation treatment) from 2005 to 2007 for drug-related charges. At the same time, inmates seeking drug treatment face major delays because treatment programs are filled to capacity. 2009-05-06
Claims Against City Up
A new report from New York City Comptroller William Thompson found the city paid $567.9 million in settlements and judgments for personal injury, property damage and law claims in fiscal year 2008. During fiscal year 2007, according to the report, the city paid $558.3 million. In fiscal year 2008, the city had 26,798 new claims -- the second highest number since 1999. The Department of Transportation and the Police Department had the highest number of claims against them. 2009-03-17
Foreclosures and Crime
Neighborhoods with the highest rates of foreclosure commonly saw increases in crime, according to a new report by ACORN. Between 2006 and 2008, most high foreclosure neighborhoods in Queens saw increases in crime, the study found, while those with low rates of foreclosure saw no increase. 2009-03-06
Wrongful Convictions
Incorrect identification, errors by a prosecutor, law enforcement personnel or judge, and mistakes in handling evidence were the leading causes of wrongful convictions in New York State, according to a recent report by a New York State Bar Association task force. The panel, which examined 53 cases, said the convictions generally resulted from several factors and called for a number of changes to prevent such errors in the future. 2009-02-24
Speeding Drivers
Despite the congestion on New York streets, 39 percent of city drivers exceed the 30 miles per hour speed limit, according to new survey by Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group. The study, based on monitoring at 13 locations, found some drivers going over 60. According to "Terminal Velocity: New York's Speeding Epidemic," the fast driving adds dramatically to the severity of traffic accidents. 2009-02-17
Reforming the State's Drug Laws
The state must reform its drug laws, according to a new report by the Sentencing Commission, which was appointed by former governor Eliot Spitzer nearly two years ago. For successful reform, the commission calls for community-based drug treatment, providing statewide access to substance abuse treatment programs, alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders, and a uniform statewide drug diversion model. 2009-02-05
Higher Education in Prison
In-prison college programs reduce recidivism rates, create a more positive environment in prison and are more cost effective than incarceration, argues the Correctional Association of New York in a new report. The study examines several effective post-secondary correctional education programs and calls for an expansion in the state of similar programs. 2009-02-02
Expanding the State's Temporary Release Program
The Center for Community Alternatives argues in this report that the state could save millions of dollars by expanding the temporary release program, which allows prisoners near the end of their sentences to be released early into rehabilitative programming. 2009-01-29
New York's Juvenile Justice System
This report comes from the Vera Institute and assesses the juvenile justice system statewide from '04 through '06: The number of juvenile delinquency cases referred to court remained unchanged at 66 percent; Juvenile delinquents placed in state or county custody decreased by 8 percent; Black youth account for 60 percent of those placed in custody but only account for 19 percent of youth in state; Court petitions for juveniles in the justice system for non-criminal behavior - such as truancy, incorrigibility, or running away - dropped 41 percent; The state's Division of Criminal Justice Services raised concerns about the reliability of juvenile arrest data for the period covered, so the report does not include it. 2009-01-22
Who the Police Stop
Eighty percent of all New Yorkers stopped by New York City police between 2005 and 2008 were black or Latino, according to a preliminary analysis released by the Center for Constitutional Rights, a social justice group. Once they were stopped, blacks and Latinos also were far more likely than whites to be frisked, with 40 percent of whites stopped being searched compared to almost 60 percent of blacks and Latinos. 2009-01-20
Raids Don't Work
A new report from the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center says raids on human trafficking operations can be counter-productive, further intimidating victims and making it less likely they will seek help. The report summarizes interviews with 46 people associated with human trafficking, including women who have been victims. 2009-01-11
Keeping Kids Out of Gangs
The Police Department has reported an 11 percent increase in gang related crime since 2005. To help stem this rise, Public Advocate Besty Gotbaum held roundtable discussions in all five boroughs and came away with such recommendations as increasing alternatives to detention for youth and the creation of a public/private fund to preserve and expand youth programs. 2008-12-31
Female Homicide Victims
Fifty-five percent of female homicide victims in New York state last year were murdered as a result of a domestic incident, according to a new report by researchers at the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. 2008-12-24
Weak Laws Mean More Gun Crimes
A new report from the bipartisan coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns, headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, finds states with weak gun laws have more gun crimes. The report analyzes data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It found West Virginia had supplied the country with the most guns used in crimes out of state per 100,000 people in 2007. 2008-12-07
Violence Against Women
A new report by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found intimate partners commit a third of all violent incidents that cause female hospitalizations annually. About 44 percent of women who were killed between 2003 and 2005 were murdered by intimate partners, according to the report. The report also found the number of women reporting violent incidents to researchers and medical providers is increasing. 2008-09-09
False Child Abuse Allegations
Sixty-seven percent of domestic violence professionals say they have had at least one case where an abuser repeatedly filed false reports of child abuse against a survivor, according to a report by the Public Advocate. The professionals report that 10 percent of their cases on average involve false allegations, and 95 said an abuser has never been prosecuted for it in any of the cases they handled. 2008-07-17
Guns Lost In Custody
New York Police Department's Manhattan Property Clerk Division has inadequately overseen the custody, return and disposition of firearms, according to a new audit by Comptroller William Thompson's office. The audit examined activity at the property clerk division, which is charged with accepting and safeguarding property brought into custody, from 1999 to 2007. It found that the division could not immediately account for 29 percent of a sample of firearms under its jurisdiction. In addition, the report found its records were incomplete or inaccurate, and rifles were stored in a disheveled manner. The audit makes several recommendations, including taking an immediate inventory of all firearms within the division's possession. 2008-07-02
Helping the Mentally Ill
The city and state's systems for treating New Yorkers with severe mental illness are not coordinated, and the quality of care can be uneven, according to a report by a city-state panel on mental health and criminal justice. The group was created after several well-publicized incidents in which mentally ill people committed acts of violence. The panel reviewed some of these cases with an eye on improving care for mentally ill people who are at risk of violence. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson have said they will implement the panel's recommendations. 2008-06-16
Marijuana Arrests
The number of people arrested and jailed for possessing small amounts of marijuana in New York City increased sharply during the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, according to a study released yesterday by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The group found more than 350,000 people were arrested on misdemeanor marijuana charges between 1997 and 2007, compared to 30,000 during the previous decade. Of those arrested over the last 10 years, more than half were black, even though only about 25 percent of the city's population is black. Whites, who make up 35 percent of the city's population, accounted for only 15 percent of the arrests. 2008-04-30
Greater Oversight of Police Misconduct
A new report by Citizens Union, the good government group and sister organization to Gotham Gazette’s publisher, calls for greater oversight of police misconduct, including allowing the Civilian Complaint Review Board to prosecute cases it substantiates. The report also urges the city to give more active subpoena power to the civilian board and expand its resources to investigate complaints, among other policy recommendations. 2008-04-16
Prostitution Arrests in the Bronx
More than half of the individuals arrested for prostitution in the Bronx have a substance abuse problem, according to a new analysis by the Center for Court Innovation. Of the 255 prostitution arrests between March and September last year, 43 were repeat offenders, the analysis found. It also showed that nearly half of the arrests are made by the 41st precinct where Hunts Point is located, which is more than all of the other precincts combined. 2008-02-05
City Still Nation's Safest
New York retains the title as the safest of the nation's 25 largest cities for the first six months of 2007, according to the FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report. Of the 241 cities with a population over 100,000, New York is safer than 227. Dallas ranks as the most dangerous of the top ten largest cities. 2008-01-09
Phantom Constituents in the Empire State: Prison Population, Census Data, and Political Power
The report by the Prison Policy Initiative finds that 15 counties in New York, as well as the five that make up New York City, include inmate populations when they redistrict or apportion votes in local legislative bodies. In five of those counties, the inmate population was large enough in one or more districts to dilute the political power of residents in the others. Thirteen counties that have prisons exclude inmates when drawing district lines. 2007-08-07
The Cost of Domestic Violence
While it is impossible to calculate the cost of domestic violence to a single victim, a report released this week by the Independent Budget Office dissects the cost of domestic violence to the city, estimated at $227 million in 2005. Nearly 80 percent of that funding went toward emergency services and protective services for children. The smallest portion of funding was directed at long-term services, including housing. The Independent Budget Office concluded that more than $227 million was likely spent, because it could not isolate all of the funds that contribute to fighting domestic violence. 2007-06-21
Marketplace of Ideas
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy's Marketplace of Ideas brings policymakers from around the country to New York City to speak about their policy success, its impact, and their on-the-ground experience getting the policy enacted. They engage with an expert panel of New Yorkers, including city and state legislators, advocates, business representatives, religious leaders, and academics, to further discuss the policy and its implications for New York City and State. 2007-06-04
Sex Offenders Live Close To Schools
Sex offenders across the five boroughs are living too close to city’s schoolchildren, according to a new comprehensive study released today by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn & Queens), a member of the subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). More than 85 percent of registered sex offenders in New York City live less than five blocks from schools, and 670 sex offenders live within just two blocks. Some offenders are even closer, permanently residing less than 500 feet away from unwitting parents, educators and children. 2007-02-05
Improving Nightlife Safety
“Safer Nights, Safer City,” a recent report by the City Council, includes a number of proposals that City Council members say would make the city’s nightlife safer. These include raising the age for admittance to clubs from 16 to 18, cracking down on people who make or sell fake IDs and monitoring of problem nightspots. The report follows a summit on nightlife held in September, which, in turn, came after several major crimes linked to the city’s nightlife. 2007-01-03
New Yorkers With Out of State Plates
Many New Yorkers are registering their cars in other states to take advantage of lower insurance rates, according to this report from the state's Commission of Investigation. The commission describes this practice as an increasingly serious burden on city and state officials, law enforcement agencies, the state's auto insurance industry, and New Yorkers, who pay higher rates as a result. It recommends working with other states to address the problem 2006-12-14
Police Complaints
Complaints against the police have risen for the fifth year in a row, and the percentage of police officers disciplined in substantiated cases of misconduct has also reached an all-time high, according to this mid-year report of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, but in those cases not involving the use of force, the police department has increasingly imposed the mildest disciplinary action available. The board received 3,877 complaints from January to June of 2006, the highest ever, with the most complaints coming from an area of Brooklyn that includes East New York, Oceanhill-Brownsville, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. “Males, blacks and individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 were over-represented in comparison to their share of the city’s population.” While complaints have gone up, the percentage of those complaints that the board has substantiated is at the lowest in three and a half years: The board determined there was misconduct in 134 of the 1,509 cases it investigated in the first half of this year. But it also was unable to identify the officers involved in an increasing number of cases. 2006-12-12
Breaking Parole
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer today released a new study showing the New York State Division of Parole in severe violation of its own standards. The study, "Breaking Parole," finds that Parole Officers are handling caseloads that are too high and that they lack sufficient training and resources. As a result, Parole Officers are unable to adequately supervise and provide services for people on parole as they re-enter society. 2006-12-11
Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club
The New York City Department of Investigation details in this report the story of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx, which, led by then-executive director Charles Rosen, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the public, and improperly lent $875,000 to what became Air America, among other improprieties, frauds and crimes. See also article on Rosen in the New York Times, Bronx Odyssey: From Rebel to Executive to Felon 2006-10-10
Poll: New Yorkers Talk Traffic
New Yorkers say the mayor is doing only a “fair” to “poor” job of reducing traffic jams and delays on city streets, highways and bridges, according to a survey of 800 New York City residents in the five boroughs conducted May 19 through June 4, 2006, by Michaels Opinion Research. On only one other issue, increasing the stock of affordable housing, does the Mayor receive a higher net negative rating . Mayor Bloomberg receives the highest net positive marks for keeping parks clean and safe and reducing crime. 2006-08-09
Alternative to Jail Programs for Juveniles Reduce City Costs
Each year city sends roughly 1,200 juvenile lawbreakers to jail-like facilities in upstate New York. At an average annual cost to the city totaling well over $100 million, some of the youth are placed in institutions run by the state’s Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and others go to privately operated facilities under contract with OCFS. But according to the new report by Independent Budget Office, two new programs with an alternative approach are now saving the city considerable expense and may prove to be more effective at rehabilitation than the institutional approach. 2006-07-12
Police In School
Putting police officers in violence-prone schools may cut crime, but it also increases tensions, turns harmless disputes into criminal matters and is perceived by many students as racially biased, according to a recent report by graduate students at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. 2006-06-12
Incarcerated Mothers and Child Welfare
The mothers of about 11,000 children in New York State are currently incarcerated. These women often lose legal custody of their children. "profoundly distrupt[ing] family relations", says this report by the Correctional Association of New York. It makes recommendations for improving the ways that the child welfare and corrections agencies confront this challenge. 2006-04-14
FBI Crime Report
New York City's homicide rate has dropped dramatically this year, even as murders increase nationwide, according to the latest Uniform Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.The nation's murder rate jumped 2 percent in the first six months of the year, with the highest increases in small towns and the Midwest.
But homicide was down more than 14 percent in New York over the same period. 2005-12-20
New York's Prison Population
New York's prison population is decreasing, with 1,500 fewer inmates than last year. However, the state still ranks in the top five in terms of the number of people behind bars, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, which showed 63,751 people incarcerated in 2004. 2005-10-24
Jail Costs
The New York City crime rate and the number of felony arrests has fallen dramatically in recent years, but the amount of time those arrested spend in city jails before going to trial and, if convicted, to state prison has risen, according to the Independent Budget Office. This increase costs the city an estimated $50 million annually. 2005-10-05
Domestic Violence and Housing Discrimination
A report by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York estimates that nearly half of the city's housing providers may discriminate against survivors of domestic violence. A survey of 40 housing providers found that 27 percent
refused to rent to victims of domestic violence. Another 20 percent voiced questions about the potential renter's mental stability and concern for safety of the renter, tenants, and the housing providers themselves. While it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a survivor of domestic violence, legislation that would impose the same obligations on housing providers has been blocked in the City Council
and opposed by the mayor.
The full report is available online in .pdf format. 2005-08-11
Race, Prison and Jobs
Black men with criminal records have a far more difficult time finding work in New York City than white men convicted of similar crimes, according to a new study. In fact, white former offenders are at least as likely to receive the offer of an entry level job as a black man who has never been convicted of a crime. 2005-06-29
Identification Theft
New York City has the ninth-highest per capita incidence of identity theft among US cities, according to this report from the City Council. The council believes that the best way to combat this problem -- currently the leading customer complaint nationwide -- is to focus on unregulated, privately owned Automated Teller Machines at non-bank locations. The report recommends that the City Council pass legislation putting safeguards in place, the City's Department of Consumer Affairs regulate the machines, and consumers take better precautions to protect themselves from identity theft. 2005-05-06
Identification Theft
New York City has the ninth-highest per capita incidence of identity theft among US cities, according to this report from the City Council. The council believes that the best way to combat this problem -- currently the leading customer complaint nationwide -- is to focus on unregulated, privately owned Automated Teller Machines at non-bank locations. The report recommends that the City Council pass legislation putting safeguards in place, the City's Department of Consumer Affairs regulate the machines, and consumers take better precautions to protect themselves from identity theft. 2005-05-06
Predatory Lending in the Big Apple
A report by Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch of the mortgages offered by five banks in New York City found that the banks (Citigroup, Chase, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and HSBC) gave higher cost loans to African-American and Latino borrowers than to those who were white. Citigroup also denied the applications of African Americans 2.67 times more frequently than those of whites. 2005-04-26
The Matter of Councilman Allan W. Jennings
The City Council's Committee on Standards and Ethics recently published its findings on charges of sexual harassment made by female staff members against Councilman Allan Jennings. The report details these offenses and recommends that action be taken against Jennings. Newsday has posted the report on its Web site. 2005-04-14
Preliminary Mayor's Management Report for Fiscal Year 2005
The Preliminary Mayor's Management Report for Fiscal Year 2005, according to City Hall, "provides an early update of how the City is performing four months into the fiscal year," offering "performance highlights and statistics for agencies, as well as data on inquiries received by the 311 Citizen Service Center."
Also, Search by agency 2005-02-15
