Homicides plummet in Richmond, once considered among the most dangerous cities in U.S.

Barry Krisberg and Franklin Zimring quoted in Contra Costa Times, December 24, 2012

“Richmond is doing a lot of things right, and that’s helping them buck a trend,” said Barry Krisberg, research and policy director at the Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley School of Law. “Years ago, Richmond committed itself to an evidence-based, comprehensive strategy to reduce violence, and we’re seeing the payoff.”

“You want to be cautious when pinning the tail on the causes for declines in Richmond homicides,” said UC Berkeley criminologist Franklin Zimring. “They are doing community-based policing, but they are also doing intensive policing, with a lot of cops on the streets.”

California smokers may get hit with new tax

Barry Krisberg quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, December 21, 2012

“To go outside and pick someone like this is pretty remarkable,” said Barry Krisberg, director of research and policy at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at UC Berkeley.
“What this signals to me is that (Brown) is interested in really trying to move California into the forefront of corrections nationwide and also to solve a lot of the big problems they’ve been struggling with for a long, long time,” he said.

Oakland’s agreement on police dept: receivership by any other name?

Barry Krisberg interviewed by KQED December 6, 2012

“Movements like this don’t change the culture of an organization,” said Krisberg. “Success is going to depend on the skill of the person who is appointed by the parties.” …. “Essentially it’s going to depend on how long it takes the Oakland Police Department to accept and internalize the best practices in the field,” said Krisberg. “One person by themselves even with federal court power is not going to get that done.”

For California prison realignment hype, scary tales deserve skepticism

Barry Krisberg writes for California Progress Report, November 27, 2012

Policy makers and news reporters should approach fearsome claims about crimes and crime trends skeptically. A few cherry-picked local statistics and anecdotes of a handful of sensational offenses are inherently misleading and often contradicted when data for the full year is available for the whole state.

Open child dependency courts to media

Barry Krisberg quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, November 16, 2012

Barry Krisberg, a UC Berkeley law professor, suggested there was irony the way a system that was closed to protect children and families has “too often been used to protect workers in this system.” He characterized the child-welfare system as being “in chaos and disarray”—and the way to change it would be to open the windows and “show how bad it is.”

Election 2012: Crime policy at the crossroads

Barry Krisberg writes for The Crime Report, November 5, 2012

Crime policy is among the least discussed topics of the current presidential campaign. That’s odd, because debates over crime and drug problems dominated national elections from 1964 to 2000. Since then, international terrorism has supplanted domestic crime as a public focus.

Effects of change in California criminal justice system difficult to discern

Barry Krisberg quoted in The Sacramento Bee, October 22, 2012

Shrinking police forces in cities struggling with tight budgets might also have an effect, noted Barry Krisberg…. “Realignment isn’t one thing,” Krisberg said. “It’s 58 things.”
A similar article appeared in California Health Report.

Prison reforms’ results mixed after year

Barry Krisberg quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2012

UC Berkeley criminal justice expert Barry Krisberg said county probation departments are “probably doing as good or better” of a job supervising offenders than did the state. “The first myth is that we had an effective parole system before—we didn’t,” said Krisberg. “Remember Jaycee Duggard, the woman held hostage for 20 years” by a state parolee?

Drug rehab called key to avoid 3rd strike

Barry Krisberg quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, September 29, 2012

“Drug rehabilitation is not a magic bullet,” said Barry Krisberg….”It has shown positive results, but the defining characteristic of good treatment has been whether people actually complete the specified course of treatment, and that’s been a big problem.”

Prop. 35 gets tough on human traffickers

Barry Krisberg quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2012

Barry Krisberg, a criminal justice expert at UC Berkeley’s law school, said the increased penalties for traffickers could drive the problem further underground, when what is needed is more aid for victims. “This just escalates penalties,” he said. “We’ve tried that for years, and it doesn’t do any good.” Still, he said, “It may well pass because it sounds good. Everybody’s against sex trafficking.”