#criminaljustice

See tagged statuses in the local BookWyrm community

Another slice of what it is to live in Oklahoma:

>>The men’s minimum-security prison, built in 1925 as the Oklahoma State School for Incorrigible Negro Boys and repurposed in the early 1980s to accommodate adult offenders, sits among soft rolling hills and cattle farms. One-third of its 825 prisoners is elderly or medically frail, with many requiring wheelchairs or walkers to get from their dormitory-style bunk beds to the chow hall.<<

https://www.kosu.org/local-news/2025-08-26/oklahoma-prisons-embrace-ai-critics-warn-of-risks

Trump’s War on Big Law Means It’s Harder to Challenge the Administration
—

Some of America’s largest law firms are refusing to take pro bono and paid legal work from groups that seek to hold the government to account on issues like environmental protection, LGBTQ+ rights and police accountability.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-law-firms-accountability-environment-police-lgbtq?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

This is Oklahoma: There are 1,355 sentenced prisoners awaiting transfer from county jails to state Department of Corrections custody. The DOC is at 95% capacity and has 834 vacant beds.

Multiple county sheriffs say the DOC will only accept smaller numbers of prisoners at a time. The DOC says there's "not been an agency mandate" to accept fewer prisoners. The DOC has to pay only $27 (soon to be $32) per day for the counties holding sentenced prisoners even though the DOC's numbers says it costs from $57 to $108.

And, our (very ambitious) governor is pushing for a tax cut. This is Oklahoma.

https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/08/04/as-oklahoma-prison-transfers-slow-jail-backlogs-grow/

>>The source recounted personal conversations with drug task force members who reported writing as many as 10 such citations per day. Numerous Guymon police officers had expressed concern that drug task force members making a salary of $50,000 per year could nevertheless afford to buy cars for their children and live in homes well beyond their means, the source said.<<

https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/07/21/anonymous-source-sheds-light-on-panhandle-police-impunity/

Warning: r-word mentioned, nastiness regarding disabled people

>>Goodwin leads Oklahoma Predator Prevention, one of many predator-catching groups that proliferated across the internet since the rise of social video-sharing sites such as YouTube. In 2022, the Washington Post identified at least 160 such groups across the United States. <<

https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/08/01/predator-hunters-tactics-draw-fans-but-concern-police-and-advocates/

Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia of Trends and Controversies in the Justice System [2 Volumes]. Ed. by Laura L. Finley, 2017

Covering some of the most hotly contested topics in crime and criminal justice, including proposed sentencing and prison reforms, controversial developments like Stand Your Ground laws, and Supreme Court decisions, this work supplies essential background, current data, and a range of viewpoints.

@bookstodon



Should people be able to use lethal force before retreating? What are the arguments for and against executing mentally ill inmates? Should police always need warrants to search individuals or their property? How can we best hold accountable white collar offenders? Why do men perpetrate crime at higher rates than women? This two-volume set grapples with the answers to these complex questions and many more, enabling readers to better understand current crime/punishment issues within the context of America's ever-evolving culture, economy, and politics. This multidisciplinary reference work offers a current and thorough compilation of the most important and hotly contested topics related to crime and criminal justice. Organized alphabetically, each entry presents scholarly research and authoritative sources to inform readers about the subject.

>>Law enforcement in Craig County seized at least $1.5 million of cash during the two-year span, most of it along the same stretch of highway where the Hardin brothers were pulled over. Most of the traffic stops were initiated because the driver did not signal from the highway to the toll booth<<


https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/06/25/oklahoma-police-seized-more-than-200-million-in-2024-civil-asset-forfeitures/

Oops! AI did it again... you're not that innocent.

Nectar, a 'crime-predicting' system developed with , could be rolled out nationally after a pilot with Bedfordshire police (UK).

Data such as race, sex life, trade union membership, philosophical beliefs and health are used to 'predict' criminality so people can be targeted for .

https://inews.co.uk/news/police-use-controversial-ai-tool-sex-lives-beliefs-3747154

Out of over 100K searches, they only had 413 positive hits.

This means the expanded powers are:
1. not proportional
2. not effective

- they are also actively harmful, but cops don't gaf about causing harm, especially to marginalised peoples.
_____

Expanded ‘Jack’s law’ police powers could lead to further ‘surveillance and harassment’ of some Queenslanders, expert warns

LNP moves to allow police to detain and search people with metal detecting wand in any public place and remove sunset clause

"According to police statistics, 83% of the 100,611 people wanded since Jack’s law came into effect were male. Of people with known ethnic origin, 11.8% were Indigenous – despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up only 4.6% of Queensland’s population, according to census figures. A survey of 6,705 people scanned at shopping centres showed that 76% were male, and 55% were younger than 18.

During another year-long trial …

Through scandals, failed state inspections and even the illegal use of seclusion to punish children, Richard L. Bean remained in his perch as the superintendent of the juvenile detention center that bears his name.

Only three board members had the power to remove him. Yet for decades, those positions have been held down by his closest friends and allies.
https://www.propublica.org/article/richard-l-bean-tennessee-detention-center-board?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

>>An official for the agency testified that anywhere from 125 to 150 people on average are waiting for treatment on any given day, down from more than 200 several months ago. The opening of some of the 80 new treatment beds under construction at the state hospital had just been pushed back a week to sometime in July, the official said.<<


https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/total-freefall-oklahoma-faces-deadline-to-fix-broken-mental-health-system-as-long-wait-times-persist/