Office of Justice Programs Weekly News Brief

WASHINGTON, July 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Podcast Discusses Crisis Intervention Teams—A new podcast prepared by the Bureau of Justice Assistance includes an interview with Major Sam Cochran, formerly of the Memphis Police Department, about the crucial role of crisis intervention teams and how they can be implemented in both large and small law enforcement departments. Crisis intervention teams are partnerships between law enforcement officials and local mental health advocates and service providers.  Many people with mental illnesses cycle through the justice system, often for low-level crimes, without getting connected to needed mental health care services.  Often times, mental illnesses are driving criminal behavior in individuals.  These teams work together to develop strategies to make it easier for law enforcement to connect people to needed health care services and to minimize the likelihood that they will cycle in and out of the system. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/podcast.html (under innovations in justice button)

Recently Released Statistics:

Mortality Rates in Local Jails Decline— A Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) study shows that from 2000 through 2007, the mortality rates in local jails declined from 152 deaths per 100,000 jail inmates to 141 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2007.  A total of 8,100 jail inmates died in custody of local jails over the eight-year study period. The report provides data on the number and characteristics of deaths reported each year by approximately 3,000 local jails nationwide. It also includes trend data on the number and rate of jail deaths by cause, as well as by facility size. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2197

Reports of Identity Theft Increased from 2005 to 2007—A Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data about identity theft showed that from 2005 to 2007, reports of identity theft increased from 5.5 percent of households to 6.6 percent of households.  In 2007, 7.9 million households, or about 6.6 percent of all households in the United States, reported that at least one member of the household had been a victim of one or more types of identity theft.   http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2294

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SOURCE Office of Justice Programs - U.S. Department of Justice