JeffreyButts

Easily Overstated

January 1, 2020January 2, 2020by JeffreyButts

Policymakers, advocates, and even some researchers claim that youth confinement rates across the United States dropped in recent years due to changes in policy and practice. Such claims remain unproven, but voters and elected officials are inclined to accept them as factual because they are offered by reputable agencies and repeated in news media sources. Without reliable evidence, however, the notion that state-level youth confinement rates fall primarily in response to progressive policy reforms is merely appealing rhetoric.

Regional Print

Albany Times Union: Reason for Drop in Youth Arrests Hard to Pin Down

November 23, 2019November 24, 2019by JeffreyButts

Over the last five years the number of police stops and arrests involving Capital Region youths has fallen more than 45 percent, according to state data. It's a stunning drop -- but one without a clear single reason, say law enforcement and juvenile justice system professionals. Several factors are likely in play, including an overall drop in crime in the country, changes in the drug trade, increased use of alternatives to incarceration and changes in youth culture, said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, tracking trends, and something definitely feels different than it did 20 years ago,” Butts said.

Briefs

Older Adults Responsible for Total Growth in Drug Arrests

November 11, 2019November 24, 2019by JeffreyButts

Between 2000 and 2018, the steepest declines in drug arrests were observed among youth ages 10 to 14 (–52%) and young people ages 15 to 17 (–56%). Arrest rates among young adults also fell. Specifically, the drug arrest rate dropped –35 percent for 18-20 year-olds and –15 percent for adults ages 21-to 24.

Regional Print

Twin Cities Pioneer Press: Treating Violence like a Contagious Disease? Some Think this Might be the Way

November 9, 2019November 11, 2019by JeffreyButts

As Jeffrey Butts, director of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice research and evaluation center in New York City, noted four years ago, “the public health approach of [Cure Violence] CV currently merits the label ‘promising’ rather than ‘effective.’” “CV, however, offers something to communities that other well-known violence reduction models cannot,” he added. “It is potentially very cost-efficient, and it places less demand on the political and administrative resources of law enforcement and the larger criminal justice system. "

Briefs

Youth Still Leading Violent Crime Drop: 1988-2018

November 6, 2019November 24, 2019by JeffreyButts

Based on the latest statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the national violent crime arrest rate declined 38 percent overall between 1988 and 2018, but the steepest declines were observed among youth ages 10 to 14 (–53%) and 15 to 17 (–54%). The arrest rate for 18-20 year-olds dropped 47 percent while the arrest rates for adults ages 21-24 and 25-49 declined 42 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

Regional Print

Bangor Daily News: Maine Kids are Actually Bringing Fewer Weapons to School

November 5, 2019December 19, 2019by JeffreyButts

The decline in possession of weapons at school and in the prevalence of weapon-related threats in schools also holds true for overall juvenile crime, according to Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “One popular theory is that the drug trade was much more dangerous 30 years ago. Kids that lived in neighborhoods with active drug sales going on often felt that they needed to have a gun on them to protect themselves,” he said. “The daily threat from street-corner drug sales has gone way down.”

Regional Print

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Milwaukee’s Cure Violence Program–Mixed Reviews and Lots of Hope

October 7, 2019November 11, 2019by JeffreyButts

“I’m a big fan. I think [Cure Violence is] a very valuable asset for a community to have,” said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research Evaluation Center at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who has observed Cure Violence programs in New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia. “But it’s definitely possible to do it poorly."

Presentations, Video

About the John Jay Research and Evaluation Center

September 23, 2019November 21, 2019by JeffreyButts

Presentation by Center directors at a reception at John Jay College in conjunction with the 2019 Smart on Crime conference.

National Print

This Man Says His Anti-violence Plan Would Save 12,000 Lives

September 11, 2019September 25, 2019by JeffreyButts

Such notions, says Jeffrey Butts, the director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, may skew the violence-intervention focus too far into short-term preventive tactics driven by law enforcement.

Regional Print

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Can you put a price on a life taken by gun violence? That’s the $36M question.

September 10, 2019November 11, 2019by JeffreyButts

“People have tried to put a number on the cost of a death. If someone is shot — even injured — much less killed, there are policing costs,” Butts told the Brooklyn Eagle. “Someone has to show up to process the scene. There are prison costs for the shooter, and then all the other costs for family who have a person shot and or killed. There’s lifelong trauma, loss of income. You can actually estimate the total cost.”

Regional Print

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: More New Yorkers Serving Life in Prison are from Brooklyn than Anywhere Else in the City. Reformers are Calling for Relief.

August 29, 2019November 11, 2019by JeffreyButts

It’s not possible to pinpoint exactly why Brooklyn has more people incarcerated with these long sentences using borough-by-borough numbers alone, said Jeffrey Butts, director of John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Research and Evaluation Center. In order to determine why Brooklynites are serving so many life and virtual life sentences, Butts said, it would be necessary to control for specific crimes to then see if there is a pattern in sentencing.

Regional Print

After Mass Shootings, Trump says Prosecutions for Firearms Offenses hit Record in 2018

August 12, 2019August 13, 2019by JeffreyButts

...the vast majority of gun crimes are handled by state courts, not federal courts, said Jeffrey A. Butts, director of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. So Trump is talking about a small piece of the issue.