Additional Information

Webinar To Address Impact of Underage Drinking

On March 7, 2013, at 2 p.m. ET, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) will host the 1-hour Webinar "Brain Research and Underage Screening-Getting Informed, Preparing to Act." Presenters will discuss the effects of alcohol on the developing brain and the importance of screening youth for alcohol use, risk for use, and alcohol-related problems. This Webinar is the second in a series on preventing underage drinking that ICCPUD, a partnership of federal agencies that includes the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is sponsoring.

Resources:

Register to participate in the Webinar.

Watch the first Webinar, "Preventing Underage Drinking: Introduction and Series Overview."

Year 1 Evaluation of Adult Reentry Courts - NIJ Publications Update

Through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, NIJ has made available the following final technical report (this report is the result of an NIJ-funded project but was not published by the U.S. Department of Justice):

Title: The National Institute of Justice's Evaluation of Second Chance Act Adult Reentry Courts: Program Characteristics and Preliminary Themes from Year 1 (pdf, 24 pages)

Authors: Christine Lindquist, RTI International; Jennifer Hardison Walters, RTI International; Michael Rempel, Center for Court Innovation; Shannon M. Carey, NPC Research
 

OJJDP Announces Funding Opportunities

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has announced the following fiscal year 2013 funding opportunities:

Community-Based Violence Prevention Demonstration Program. This program provides funding for localities to support federal, state, and local partnerships to replicate proven multidisciplinary, community-based strategies to reduce violence. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on April 22, 2013.

Family Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program. This program supports training and technical assistance that helps states, state and local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments develop, maintain, and enhance drug courts for substance-abusing adults who are involved with the family court because of child abuse and/or neglect issues. Applications are due by May 6, 2013.

Understanding What Happens in an Erroneous Conviction

Why are innocent people wrongfully convicted in certain cases yet acquitted in others? Research is starting to uncover what happens. A new study, "Predicting Erroneous Convictions: A Social Science Approach to Miscarriages of Justice" compared cases where innocent defendants were wrongfully convicted to "near misses" - cases in which an innocent defendant was acquitted or had charges dismissed before trial. They found 10 significant facts that could lead to a wrongful conviction:

• A younger defendant
• A defendant with a criminal history
• A weak prosecution case
• Prosecution withheld evidence
• Lying by a non-eyewitness
• Unintentional witness misidentification
• Misinterpreting forensic evidence at trial
• A weak defense
• Defendant offered a family witness
• A "punitive" state culture

Visit the wrongful convictions webpage and study summary

Read the full study (434 pages)