October 2020 PBT Newsletter Released- All About Risk Assessments

 



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NYC Mayor Elect Promises To Appoint Tougher Judges Amid NYC Bail-Reform Debate

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Mayor-elect Eric Adams promised Wednesday that his judicial appointments overseeing criminal arraignments in the Big Apple will be far more willing to test the limits of the state’s controversial bail reform laws. Adams made the promise during an appearance on “The View,” where he was repeatedly pressed on recent high profile cases where repeat offenders were returned to communities only to be quickly rearrested after allegedly committing yet another crime. “I appoint criminal court judges and I’m going to be extremely clear: If you don’t understand that my city must be safe, and you can’t get caught up in the politics in this city,” Adams said on the ABC show. “And you must make sure that those who pose an imminent threat to our city — they are not going to be placed back on my streets and back into my community,” he said. When asked if he had the authority to do that as mayor, Adams doubled down: “That’s the power of appointing the right judges.” As mayor, Adams has the power to appo...
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Episode No. 75- All Hat and No Cattle- Digging Into Pseudo Studies Issued by Activist Groups with Guest Eric Granof

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How do you navigate the space in the bail reform debate when law enforcement and activists seem to be arguing contrary positions.  One example is the debate over defunding the police.  A study that was highlighted on Episode No. 71 of our podcast demonstrated that defunding the police increases crime immediately not only in the area that the police are removed from but the surrounding area as well.   Also, taking the police out of the community resulted in litigation that resulted in judgments against the city totaling over $32 million dollars. Nevertheless, activists continue to argue that defunding the police will actually make communities safer. How do we navigate between these two positions.  When activists have flooded google with pseudo studies that defy common sense how do we debunk them and find the real science? This is the subject of this episode of The Bail Post. Audio Podcast- Also available on- Apple Podcasts-          ...
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US Senators Call For Investigation of Charitable Bail Organizations

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  Republican senators demand a government investigation into taxpayer money used to fund charitable bail organizations that free accused criminals from jail before they go to court.  Sen. Mike Braun, Indiana, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky, wrote a Tuesday letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office asking the nonpartisan fact-finding body to investigate bail service providers. “We are deeply concerned by the prospect that taxpayer dollars are being allocated to nonprofit entities which post bail for individuals, but are not held responsible to the same standards of traditional bail agents within their territory,” the senators wrote in a letter addressed to the GAO. This letter was first obtained by Fox News Digital. Senators want to know which federally funded non-profits provide bail services and how much taxpayer money they receive. They also want to know if there are any restrictions on federal dollars being used to get criminal defendants out of j...
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Trying to Understand Bail Reform and Cashless Bail in the Age of Online Misinformation

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In today's digital landscape, identifying the truth about topics like bail reform and cashless bail can be challenging due to widespread disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda. In a recent article in AIA Surety's Insight newsletter their Vice President of Communications, Eric Granof, discusses how much of the information consumers digest comes from internet searches, particularly Google.  Someone asks a question and Google searches the web for the answer and aggregates the best results based on its algorithm.  The problem with this is that Google is not an expert on everything like people expect.  It is simply feeding up what its algorithm believes is the best answer rather than objective truth. As a result, users searching for the truth on any topic related to bail reform, cashless bail or bail bonds will encounter a curated collection of the viewpoints selected by algorithmic preferences, as opposed to what is the truth. How Activist Groups Influence Search Resu...
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Episode No. 71- When Police Stop Policing with Guests Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Nathan T. Connealy

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 In 2020, there were protests in Seattle, Washington following the death of George Floyd.  For a period of 24 days, an area that became known as the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) was treated as an autonomous zone where the police did not respond to calls.  As a result, the CHOP zone became an example of what happens when police stop policing.  Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Nathan T. Connealy largely used data from the City of Seattle Open Data portal, analyzing data from more than one year prior to CHOP with two microsynth models to understand average and seasonal crime trends.  Dr. Piza and Dr. Connealy looked at the impact of crime in three areas:  (1) the CHOP zone; (2) the two block radius around the CHOP zone; and (3) the precinct at large. The results showed a significant increase in crime within the CHOP zone, the encompassing two-block area, and the overall East precinct service area during the occupation period.   The study suggests that call...
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