Philadelphia's Crowded, Costly Jails: The Search for Safe Solutions

Analyzes trends in Philadelphia's jail population, spending on jails, and steps to enable effective management of the population while ensuring public safety, including reducing pretrial detentions. Explores policy options from other jurisdictions

Philadelphia's Less Crowded, Less Costly Jails: Taking Stock of a Year of Change and the Challenges That Remain

Examines factors behind the 2009-10 decrease in Philadelphia's jail population; strategies for managing pretrial, sentenced, and probation or parole violator populations; and policies for further streamlining court processes and reducing jail populations

Violence Reduction

The 1990s have seen a significant decline in the occurrence of violent crimes nationwide, especially in major metropolitan areas. Yet, the number of person-on-person crimes in which youth appear as either offenders or victims remains persistently high in Philadelphia. The homicide rate among young Philadelphians is five times higher than that for the U.S. population. Public, private and nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia are working together to set in motion a unique and promising partnership aimed at significantly reducing youth violence: Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Project (YVRP). This report summarizes the acute need for public and private violence reduction partnerships, describes outstanding current efforts by city agencies and youth-serving organizations to help curb youth violence in Philadelphia and outlines the evolution of the YVRP project, its pilot program in the 24th Police District, and the larger potential it has for Philadelphia

Reshaping a Fractured System: Arlen Specter’s Footprint on the Criminal Justice System in the U.S.

The criminal justice system in the United States of America has been in peril since the beginning of the 1960’s, spiraling downward as the rates of crime shot upward across the country. Such drastic changes to a major system within the United States brought the issue of criminal justice to the forefront of nearly every political agenda of politicians in office. This paper examines the work one such politician, the late Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, performed in his fight against the crippling system. This paper evaluates the actions and policies Specter introduced, from his controversial Armed Career Criminal Act to the Bipartisan Justice Integrity Act, in order to fix the criminal justice system and protect those affected by it

Juvenile Justice

Summarizes the foundation's Models for Change approach to juvenile justice reform -- coordinating grantmaking to develop the knowledge base, models of systems reform, and advocacy and dissemination. Includes lists of representative grants

2004 Annual Update to "...and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People

In 2001, DVRPC published the . . and Justice for All report to identify impacts of disparate funding and services on defined low-income and minority groups. A methodology was created, refined in subsequent years, to identify populations that may be adversely affected by transportation planning decisions. This report is an annual update of that initial report and catalogues DVRPC's fiscal year 2008 programs and plans that contain Environmental Justice (EJ) elements. Descriptions for each project or program that utilize DVRPC's EJ methodology are discussed, including a TIP analysis and corridor studies. Additional Title VI and Public Outreach efforts are incorporated into this report, as are forthcoming procedures for EJ and Title VI

Reaching Through the Cracks: A Guide to Implementing the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership

In 1999, the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) was launched by a group of key stakeholders in Philadelphia -- including the district attorney's office, adult and juvenile parole, other city agencies and community organizations. Its goal is to steer young people, ages 14 to 24 and at greatest risk of killing or being killed, away from violence and toward productive lives. To accomplish this, YVRP provides participants with a combination of strict supervision and ongoing support. Each participant is assigned to a team that includes a probation officer and a community streetworker, who maintain intensive contact with the young person to make sure that he (and less often she) not only stays out of trouble but starts on a path toward responsible adulthood.Reaching Through the Cracks draws upon lessons learned from seven years of experience in Philadelphia to describe how cities and other jurisdictions can plan and carry out an initiative like YVRP. It includes an overview of the key elements of YVRP; steps in planning the initiative; roles and training of staff who work with the participants and details about the supervision and support these staff provide; essential practices for maintaining and strengthening YVRP; and an exploration of the costs and other issues involved in making decisions about expanding the initiative

Dirty Recycling: Auto Salvage and Its Potential Impacts on Marginalized Populations

The salvage yard represents the final waypoint in the cradle-to-grave cycle of the automobile. Residual amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and acids used in automobiles can be extremely harmful to human health and the environment if not managed correctly. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which minority populations were exposed to the hazards of the auto salvage industry. Census data for population, income, race/ethnicity, sex, and age were organized using ArcGIS software. Population demographics were analyzed in the areas surrounding 98 auto salvage yards found in Philadelphia and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia County, the results showed that low-income minorities, females, and 65+ individuals are over represented groups near auto salvage yards. Conversely, Adams County showed few spatial relationships in demographic distribution. Our findings suggest that in urban counties, such as Philadelphia, depressed property values have resulted in a large percentage of below average income minorities inhabiting areas in close proximity to auto salvage yards. On the other hand, auto salvage yards in rural areas, such as Adams County, do not appear to have the same effect because population density and racial diversity are much lower

Improving Fairness and Addressing Racial Disparities in the Delaware Criminal Justice System

This memorandum summarizes existing scholarly research on police stops; pretrial detention; charging, plea bargaining, and sentencing; and alternatives to incarceration. For each topic, the memo surveys the extent to which each of these contributes to racial disparities as well as inaccuracies in criminal justice; identifies reforms that have worked elsewhere to ameliorate these problems; and considers the extent to which these reforms are compatible with preserving and improving public safety. The memorandum concludes with a brief discussion of recent scholarship that both highlights larger social factors that contribute to disparity and identifies programs and initiatives outside of the criminal justice system that might reduce racial disparities within the system

An Investigation of Philadelphia's Youth Aid Panel: A Community-Based Diversion Program for First-Time Youthful Offenders

The formal justice system currently does not have the resources to effectively deal with nonviolent first-time offending youth, oftentimes leaving them with little punishment aside from a criminal record. This report offers a close examination of Philadelphia's Youth Aid Panels (YAP), which seeks to provide alternative sentencing for this high-risk population through the collaboration of volunteer community members, victims, parent(s)/guardian and a law enforcement official. YAP offers victims a better sense of restitution while also providing the youth with the real opportunity to reintegrate into society without a record. Our initial exploratory evaluation shows promising results, and we offer a several recommendations to strengthen YAP programs