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November 17, 2023
"Best Practices: Report on Improving Veterans’ Incarceration and Reentry in Florida"
Though I have missed Veterans Day by almost a week, I am still glad that I did not entirely miss this new report from the Florida Policy Project that has the title of this post. Here are some passages from the start of the report:
Efforts have been made to limit veterans' exposure to incarceration. While these efforts may be diverting some veterans from prison, many veterans are still incarcerated in Florida and will eventually return to their communities. Understanding how to improve their incarceration experience and lower barriers to reentry will ensure that Florida's veterans have access to the services they earned and return to their communities better than when they left them. This report describes the problems Florida's incarcerated veterans face and offers examples of programs that could be implemented to help reduce recidivism and improve reentry....
Justice involved veterans have garnered increased attention in recent years. Several practices have been deployed to help divert veterans from incarceration. The Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) program and the increased use of Veterans' Treatment Courts have helped respond to the needs of justice-involved veterans while maintaining accountability for criminal activity. Despite these efforts, many veterans find themselves incarcerated in prisons around the country. Although national estimates suggest that over 96,000 veterans are incarcerated in state prisons in the United States (accounting for about 8% of all people incarcerated in state prisons) many states underestimate their incarcerated veteran population. For example, based on data from inmate self-identification, California estimated their incarcerated veteran population to be approximately 2.7% of inmates. After accessing VA data, they found that 7.7% of their incarcerated population qualified as veterans — making them eligible for numerous federal benefits.
According to data from the Florida Department of Corrections, as of October 2023, 3,989 people in Florida prisons self-identified as veterans. Over 99% of the 3,989 people are men (only 30 women in Florida prisons self-identified as veterans). Accounting for approximately 5% of all people incarcerated in Florida prisons, as noted above, this proportion likely underestimates the true number of people incarcerated in Florida facilities who would qualify under federal statute as a veteran. Difficulty in identifying veterans is exacerbated by the fact that Florida Statute and the United States Code differ in their definition of who qualifies as a veteran.
Though focused on Florida's prisons, the report closes with a helpful national review of "additional veteran-specific programs that Florida policymakers and correctional practitioners should consider implementing." Anyone concerned about veterans involved with the criminal justice system should fine this report of interest, and a short form of the report here provides a useful overview.
Some of many prior related posts:
- Thinking about sentenced troops on Veterans Day
- How many vets, after serving to secure liberty, are now serving LWOP sentences?
- Should prior military service reduce a sentence?
- Are special jail facilities for veterans (and other special populations) key to reducing recidivism?
- "Justice for Veterans: Does Theory Matter?"
- How many states now require judges to consider military service and/or PTSD at sentencing?
- "Military Veterans, Culpability, and Blame"
- New Minnesota law provides for prison alternatives for veterans involved in lower-level offenses
- Eager to honor our veterans caught up in our nation's massive criminal justice systems
- Making the case for criminal justice reform as a way to honor those who served on Veterans Day
- New CCJ commission to examine factors driving veterans' involvement in criminal justice system
- Noting the notable challenge of defining "veteran" for various purposes connected to criminal justice systems
- CCJ's Veterans Justice Commission releases "Honoring Service, Advancing Safety: Supporting Veterans From Arrest Through Sentencing"
November 17, 2023 at 11:03 AM | Permalink
Comments
OT, but wowo:
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/11/17/fbi-let-pedophile-go-because-of-january-6th-he-went-on-to-rape-n593131
Priorities.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 17, 2023 12:55:11 PM
https://redstate.com/mdempsey/2023/11/17/la-homeowner-who-opened-fire-on-armed-robbers-at-his-house-has-carry-permit-revoked-n2166472
An interesting "sentence" for contempt of cop.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 17, 2023 2:01:56 PM
I will say it again, federalist, if you have all this free time to link/comment regarding off-topic matters, you could and should readily start your own blog. I sense Glenn Reynolds has made a fortune via Instapundit with just a link and a quip on a variety of topics.
Posted by: Doug B | Nov 17, 2023 2:47:25 PM
The pedo story is interesting.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 17, 2023 3:47:10 PM
“Justice involved…”
😂
Posted by: TarlsQtr | Nov 18, 2023 1:19:13 AM
Doug, I would think that your readers would enjoy knowing about how DOJ let a pedo go or yet another sentence for contempt of cop. Curious your thoughts, actually, on the parole case I noted in another thread.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 20, 2023 9:27:47 AM
federalist, the articles you link do not provide sufficient information for me to have a complete view on these matters. On the FBI front, I would want to know if any of the information was referred to state or federal prosecutors in VA where the target resided. I would also wonder if other factors my have played a role (eg, the FBI not long ago ran a dark web CP cite and got dinged with evidence being suppressed). Similarly, in the state parole case, I would need to know a lot more about applicable state laws to have an informed take on a decision to parole someone after 30 years in prison.
In other words, federalist, I generally try to be be informed on matters before blogging or commenting on them. And, with all my other responsibilities, I almost never have time to read up on (lower-profile) individual cases. (I tell this to a number of folks who sometimes email me local stories and/or ask for my help on individual cases.) I try to read the links your provide regarding matters you find interesting. But, with my time limited, I cannot readily provide hot take on your interests. And, as I have before, I will keep encouraging you to write your own blog/substack, where I will could then comment (perhaps with a pen name) when time permits.
Posted by: Doug B | Nov 20, 2023 9:58:01 AM
Doug, you seem very ill-informed about 14th Amendment law when it comes to disparate treatment and disparate impact, yet you yammered about that.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 21, 2023 9:48:08 AM
I always try to respond to your (often seemingly legally suspect) feelings, federalist, but I do not post about civil disparate treatment and disparate impact under the 14th A. Indeed, I make no effort to keep up with civil disparate treatment and disparate impact law. I have sought to respond to your various notable assertions in various threads that decisions to DECLINE criminal enforcement produces 14th A claims for other criminal defendants who are being otherwise lawfully prosecuted, but I am unaware of any case or legal authority so holding. Indeed, my responses often involve asking you for any legal support from criminal cases for your claims. Have you discovered any criminal law cases that support your feelings since your past failures to provide any examples when I asked for them? I am even eager to be better informed by actual law, federalist, but your feeling are what still seem ill-informed when you are persistently unable to provide any legal support for them. Can you?
Let me ask again directly so we might settle who may be ill-informed here: have you found any legal support for your claims that declining CRIMINAL enforcement presents 14A disparate treatment and disparate impact issues? As I have suggested before, I sense there are many criminal defendants who would love to press such claims if there was any actual law to support such claims. Can you cite any such ruling or law in the criminal enforcement arena?
Posted by: Doug B | Nov 21, 2023 11:01:38 AM
Your comments on the disparate impact in Cali sentencing when I criticized that judge were ignorant.
Posted by: federalist | Nov 22, 2023 1:15:16 PM
"ignorant" in what respect, federalist? You keep yammering about some kind of EPC claims based on non-enforcement in the CRIMINAL arena, and I keep asking what laws or rulings you are talking about. You have yet to provide any support for your claims after multiple requests. Am I ignorant for not knowing (imaginary?) laws or rulings that you think provide the basis for your (seemingly faulty) assertions about 14th A claims in the criminal justice arena?
Let me ask, yet again, what CRIMIAL laws or doctrines are you talking about when asserting my ignorance? Since you never cite any, despite repeated requests, I must surmise that you are talking about CIVIL laws and doctrines, but competent lawyers know that civil law is so very different than criminal law in so many ways. Is that what you are talking about, federalist? Are you saying, in the context of a criminal law discussion, that my comments about some civil law doctrines you thought were relevant "were ignorant"?
Just trying to understand your claims here. You make up so much nonsense about the criminal law, and I am now wondering if it stems from the fact, as I have seen with many civil lawyers, you just do not really understand that criminal law doctrines operate in a much different realm. I would not call you ignorant for being legally confused, but it helps explain your misguided bluster on many fronts. It would especially explain why you shrink away, again and again and again and again, from my repeated direct question as to whether you have any legal support for your seemingly curious claims that declining CRIMINAL enforcement presents 14A disparate treatment/disparate impact issues.
But, let me yet ask again very directly so we might settle who may be ill-informed here: have you any legal support for your claims that declining CRIMINAL enforcement presents 14A disparate treatment and disparate impact issues? If you want to cite some civil law and say you think that law should apply in the criminal realm, I will give you credit for candor. Or you can just shrink away for the request yet another time.
Posted by: Doug B | Nov 22, 2023 3:02:00 PM
