Administration’s Public Health Approach to Addiction Begins to Take Hold

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R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director, National Drug Control Policy / Photo by Lisa Pilnik
Early in his tenure as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, R. Gil Kerlikowske told a reporter he no longer wanted to use the term “war on drugs” to describe drug control policy. When asked what “bumper sticker” phrase he would use as a replacement, Kerlikowske responded that he thought the American public was “ready for a greater dialogue and discussion about our drug problem than a bumper sticker answer.”

Kerlikowske shared this anecdote at a forum on 21st Century Drug Policy Reform hosted by the Urban Institute, where he and other speakers emphasized prevention and treatment of substance abuse. “We have to approach drug policy from a public health standpoint, not just the criminal justice standpoint,” said Kerlikowske, emphasizing that programs and policies should be based on a foundation of science. He added that although his office has advocated this approach for four years, he’s only seen it begin to take hold in the past six months.

Pennsylvania Finds 20 Percent of Juveniles Re-offend Within Two Years

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A new report issued by the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission finds that among juveniles whose cases were closed in 2007, one-in-five recidivated within two years. The Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Recidivism Report found juvenile recidivism rates to be as high as 45 percent in some counties, with the average length between case closure and recidivism to be 11.5 months. The younger a juvenile at the time of one’s first written allegation, the study found, the likelier the juvenile was to recidivate. Conversely, the report found that juveniles who were older at the time of case closures were more likely to recidivate than those whose cases were closed at an earlier age. Additionally, juveniles with more formal dispositions on their cases -- such as placement or probation -- were found to recidivate at higher rates than offenders who were given less formal dispositions, such as counseling.

OP-ED: Here’s One Four-Letter Word That Isn’t Dirty

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For some, data is a dirty four-letter word when juvenile justice reform is attempted. Reform means change and data is the evidence supporting change. This makes data an easy target among those who resist change. The resistance may create a paradoxical situation by treating data --probably the single most important tool driving successful reform -- as a profane and abusive contrivance used by reformers to mislead people to get their way. What is essential to explain the need for reform becomes instead something that can't be trusted.

Firearm Homicides Down by Half Since 1993

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Pew Research Center released a report tracking the trajectory of firearm-related homicides over the last 20 years, finding that the overall rate of murders committed with guns has declined, finding that the overall rate of murders committed with guns has declined from a national rate of 7 deaths per 100,000 in 1993 to just 3.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2010. The drop-off constitutes a 49 percent decrease in gun-related crime deaths, with current gun homicide rates in the United States at their lowest levels since the early 1960s.

A Day in Family Court

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NEW YORK -- Daphne Culler whispered the words from the courtroom visitor’s bench, so quietly practically no one could hear.

“Just relax,” she said.

Culler, her face impassive, never broke eye contact with her daughter, who sat across the room at the witness table.

The 15-year-old, who was accused of assaulting a shop owner, mumbled each answer. Twice the judge told her to speak up. Her demeanor alternated between anxiety and annoyance at the repeated questions, a quick smile sometimes flashing across her face until the next question called her to attention.