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From the Los Angeles Times

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Portrait of U.S. poverty is changing; workers, Latinos hit hard

Small wonder that the economy remains the top presidential election issue.

Roughly a week before the Census Bureau releases the latest portrait of the nation based on economic data, new reports -- last month from the government and Thursday from the Brookings Institution -- give a dire glimpse of what can be expected. The number of people living in poverty is growing, encompassing all segments of society except for the very rich, the reports say. Further, poverty is spreading out of traditional areas.

“The slower economic growth of the 2000s, followed by the worst downturn in decades, led to increases in neighborhoods of extreme poverty once again throughout the nation, particularly in suburban and small metropolitan communities and in the Midwest,” according to the Brookings report, prepared by Elizabeth Kneebone, Carey Nadeau and Alan Berube.

The report is an analysis based on the most recent census data which found that the population of poor people grew by 12.3 million in the last decade, increasing the number of Americans in poverty to an all-time high of 46.2 million. By the end of the decade, a record 15.3% of Americans lived below the poverty line, $22,314 for a family of four in 2010.

Even though poverty is at record deep levels, the distribution was far from equal either in geography, income or ethnicity.

A struggling manufacturing economy helped contribute to a near-doubling of concentrated poverty in traditional Rust Belt areas around the Great Lakes, such as Detroit, and Toledo, Youngstown and Dayton, Ohio. Meanwhile, concentrated poverty areas increased by about a third in Southern metro areas including El Paso; Baton Rouge, La.; and Jackson, Miss.

The proportion of poor people in large metropolitan areas who lived in high-poverty neighborhoods jumped from 11.2% in 2000 to 15.1% last year, according to Brookings, a nonprofit public policy think tank. The biggest growth in high-poverty areas is occurring in newer Sun Belt metro areas such as Las Vegas and parts of Florida, hit hard by collapsing home prices and rising unemployment.

Almost half of those living below the poverty line, or about 20.5 million Americans (6.7% of the total U.S. population), were classified as the poorest of the poor, living at less than 50% of the poverty line. In 2010, that meant an individual income of $5,570 or less. That 6.7% figure was the highest level in the 35 years such records have been kept, according to the Census Bureau.

The faces of the poor are also expected to change when the new census data are released next week. The new data will include details on who receives non-cash help, such as food stamps, and it will take into account typical spending on such things as healthcare and commuting rather than just taxable income.

That means that larger numbers of the elderly, who pay more for medical costs even if they have insurance, will likely be among the poor. Further, more working-class people will find themselves categorized as poor because expenses such as baby-sitting and commuting will now be added to the computations.

Those changes will also likely push Latinos into the lead as the poorest ethnic group, because many new immigrants are reluctant or unable to apply for government benefits that help those who are U.S. citizens living in poverty.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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California lethal injections on hold for another year

Lawyers for the state and for death row prisoners agree to report to a judge on new lethal injection procedures by Sept. 15, 2012.

by Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

November 4, 2011

Attorneys for the state of California and death row prisoners have agreed to a timetable for reviewing new lethal injection procedures, effectively postponing any such executions for another year.

State attorneys representing prison authorities and lawyers for four of the 12 death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals and are eligible for death warrants filed papers Thursday with the San Francisco federal judge newly assigned to the complex and protracted case.

The papers set a Sept. 15, 2012, deadline for reporting to U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg any further issues that would require additional hearings before the judge can rule on whether the newly revised lethal injection procedures meet constitutional standards.

"It is fair to say it is unlikely that lethal injection executions would take place in 2012," said Lynda Gledhill, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office.

She attributed the latest delay in the case, which has kept executions on hold for six years, to personnel changes at San Quentin State Prison and the appointment of a new execution team.

Seeborg will eventually be asked to rule on a lawsuit, filed by attorneys for death row inmate Michael A. Morales, that challenged the three-drug lethal injection method used in executions at San Quentin State Prison.

Morales contended that the state had botched earlier executions by failing to fully anesthetize some of the 13 prisoners who have been put to death by the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Morales argued that if the first injection of a powerful barbiturate isn't given time to take effect, then the paralyzing agent that follows and the heart-stopping final drug can inflict excruciating pain on the inmate.

Morales won a reprieve from his scheduled February 2006 execution from U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who ordered revision of the lethal injection protocols to ensure that the executions don't inflict pain that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the 8th Amendment.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation drafted changes to the methodology, and other state agencies approved them more than a year ago. But the court's review has been delayed by further litigation, a change in wardens at San Quentin and Fogel's departure for Washington last month to head the Federal Judicial Center.

Attorneys for the four death row prisoners involved in the suit didn't immediately return phone calls.

The litigation involves only the lethal injection procedures. The gas chamber is also available as a method of execution, but inmates have to volunteer for that. So far, no inmates who have exhausted their appeals have agreed to execution by gas.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-executions-delayed-20111104,0,7021744,print.story

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No DNA tests for Texas death row inmate, judge decides

Skinner's attorneys have requested DNA testing of evidence that was not tested before his trial in 1995, including blood from the murder weapon, blood from a jacket left in Busby's home, rape kit results taken from Busby, scrapings from under Busby's fingernails, and hairs she was clutching when she died. Skinner says he requested the testing before trial, but that his lawyer at the time ignored his request.

Judge Steven R. Emmert denied Skinner's request in a Thursday order, without explaining why.

One of Skinner's attorneys, Robert C. Owen, said the team was "deeply disappointed" by the ruling, and planned to appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"It will now be up to the Court of Criminal Appeals to give Mr. Skinner's case the deliberate consideration that is necessary to ensure a correct result," Owen, co-director of the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas School of Law, said in a statement Thursday. "We are confident that upon such careful review, the court will conclude that DNA testing is necessary in this case to ensure the reliability of the verdict.”

Prosecutors have called the DNA testing request an attempt to stall the execution. The district attorney handling the case, Lynn Switzer, referred questions to the Texas attorney general's office; that office had no comment Thursday afternoon, a spokesman said.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed Skinner's execution an hour before he was due to die, then took the time to consider whether federal civil rights law allowed Skinner to challenge Texas judges' interpretation of required post-conviction DNA testing.

The court ruled in March that it did, but left it to Skinner and his attorneys to argue in federal court that Texas judges had misinterpreted the state's DNA testing law. The case is pending.

Meanwhile, the Texas Legislature revised the DNA-testing law to clarify that inmates should be able to request testing even if -- as in Skinner's case -- their lawyer did not request it at their original trial. The law took effect Sept. 1, and Skinner's attorneys immediately filed for testing under the new law. Switzer's office responded by requesting an execution date.

It is not clear whether either legal claim will delay the execution, Skinner's attorney said.

"For now, the Court of Criminal Appeals must stop the scheduled Nov. 9 execution rather than allow itself to be rushed to a hasty and ill-considered decision," Owen said. "The stakes in this case are too high to allow Mr. Skinner to be executed before he has a fair chance to make his case that the trial court made a grave mistake in denying his request for DNA testing."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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From Google News

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Community policing cost effective response to budget cuts, says DOJ

State and local law enforcement should not abandon community policing due to fewer resources as a result of the economic turndown, says a report from the Justice Department's office of community oriented policing services.

When police departments are forced to make widespread budget cuts, some react by reducing or eliminating community policing programs.

"Herein lies one of the major fallacies as it relates to community policing. Community policing should not be viewed as a particular program within a department, but rather as a department-wide philosophy," the report says.

In fact, community policing is more cost-effective than traditional policing, the report asserts, mainly because community participation in crime prevention amplifies available policing resources and community partnerships can provide a more efficient distribution of combined police and community resources than reactive policing.

The report predicts that the Bureau of Justice Statistics census of state and local law enforcement, based on data collected this year will show this first ever absolute decrease in sworn personnel since the BJS began collecting such data in 1986.

The last comprehensive census of U.S. law enforcement agencies, based on data collected in 2008, showed 724,413 full-time equivalent sworn officers in the United States--704,814 full time officers, and 58,797 part time sworn officers.

Data extrapolated from the COPS Hiring Program shows that 10,000 police officers may have been laid off in the last 18 months, the report says.

City budgets tend to lag beyond national economic conditions by anywhere between 18 months to several years, the report notes. Data from applications to COPS filed from 2009 through 2011 also shows that police departments filing grants requests have had budget increases falling below the level of consumer price index inflation, the report says. One third of applicants in 2011 have reported a budget drop of greater than 5 percent between 2009 and 2011.

Studies and anecdotal data noted by the report show that some police departments have dealt with cutbacks in personnel by no longer responding to some types of calls, such as after-the-fact home burglaries or car thefts.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently highlighted the important of local police, telling [1] an International Association Of Chiefs Of Police conference in Chicago, Ill. On Oct. 25 that "more and more, state and local law enforcement officers are likely to be in a position to notice early signs of terrorist activity."

For more: - download [2] the COPS report, "The Impact of the Economic Downturn on American Police Agencies" (.pdf)

http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.com/story/community-policing-cost-effective-response-budget-cuts-says-doj/2011-11-02

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