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

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

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

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

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

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.”Continue reading Bangor Daily News: Maine Kids are Actually Bringing Fewer Weapons to School

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

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

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

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

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

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