“It’s all about reducing probabilities,” said Jeffrey Butts, director of the research and evaluation center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “That doesn’t mean that things won’t happen.” Continue reading Reuters—‘Drug Courts’ Scrutinized After Shooting of New York City Officer

Nevertheless, the bill has significant limitations, and Jeffrey Butts, Director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, believes that the law is predicated on a number of assumptions about what kinds of systems are already in place to track firearms. “One problem with the new law is that it presumes a good firearms database that’s up-to-date,” Butts told ThinkProgress, “It also presumes that there’s some meaningful connection between the registration of a purchase and the presence of those weapons in that home, at that time.” Continue reading Think Progress—New California Law Seeks To Reduce Violent Encounters Between Cops And Mentally Ill People

As criminologist Jeffrey Butts explained to ThinkProgress, “Police are trained not to react too aggressively to the mentally ill and to avoid arrests if at all possible. In the past, people with mental illness were too often arrested for simply behaving strangely and not responding to instructions when confronted by police. Continue reading Think Progress—Could An Improved Mental Health System Stop The Next Elliot Rodger?

But Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, cautioned that it might be a stretch to link the knockout game with a rise in anti-Semitic assaults. First, he said, there is no proof that the incidents were linked, or even that any kind of formal game existed, and second, the main motivation of the game was not hatred for a particular group, but “social distance.” Continue reading L.A. Times—Attacks on Jews Show a Troubling Increase