Hot Report: Juvenile Sentencing Laws and Court Decisions after Miller v. Alabama

OLR Report 2014-R-0108 answers the question: Regarding the United States Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, (1) how have other states responded to this ruling, (2) how have other courts responded, and (3) are there any Connecticut cases on this issue?

In Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits courts from automatically imposing life without parole (LWOP) sentences on offenders who committed homicides while they were juveniles (under age 18). The Court did not categorically bar these sentences but stated that a court must “take into account how children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison” (132 S.Ct. 2455 (2012)). Miller followed the Court’s 2010 ruling in Graham v. Florida, where it held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits states from imposing LWOP on juvenile defendants for non-homicide crimes. The Court required “some meaningful opportunity” for release based on a defendant’s demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation since these crimes (130 S.Ct. 2011 (2010)).

At the time of the Miller ruling in 2012, at least 26 states had mandatory LWOP sentencing laws for juveniles. At least 11 states have since amended their juvenile sentencing laws in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling that such mandatory sentences are unconstitutional. The new laws generally give judges greater discretion in sentencing juveniles. Some states kept life without parole (LWOP) as a possible sentence for certain offenses, while others eliminated LWOP as a sentencing option. Only some of the laws specify whether or not they apply retroactively to juvenile offenders already sentenced to LWOP. Arkansas, Texas, and Wyoming specify that that their laws apply prospectively only. While California, Delaware, and North Carolina specify that their laws apply retroactively. Pennsylvania’s law applies to convictions after a specified date. The laws of the remaining five states are silent on their retroactivity. However, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the state’s new law applies prospectively only.

Iowa is the only state that has responded with an executive action. Since the Miller decision, Iowa’s governor commuted the sentences of 38 individuals who were serving mandatory LWOP for crimes they committed as juveniles. But, the state supreme court has since ruled that a commuted sentence that is the functional equivalent of a life sentence without parole is unconstitutional under Miller.

Three state supreme courts (Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Wyoming) have ruled that aspects of their state juvenile sentencing statutes are unconstitutional under Miller. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that by its clear and plain terms a state statute that imposes a mandatory LWOP sentence for juveniles violates the Eight Amendment. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that a statutory sentencing scheme that allows a life sentence with opportunity for conditional release at age 65 years is equivalent to mandatory LWOP and prohibited by Miller. Similarly, the Wyoming Supreme Court held that a sentencing statute that provides opportunity for parole only after commutation to a term-of-years sentence is unconstitutional under Miller.

There is disagreement among the courts as to whether the Miller decision should apply retroactively to juvenile offenders already serving LWOP sentences. Five of the 11 U. S. Courts of Appeals (First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Eighth Circuits) have not ruled on whether Miller is retroactive but have granted motions to file petitions in federal district courts on the grounds that there was sufficient argument made (i.e., a prima facie showing) by the petitioners that Miller is retroactive. The Fifth and Eleventh Circuits ruled that Miller is not retroactive, while the Ninth Circuit ruled that Miller applies retroactively. Federal district courts in Michigan and New York also ruled that Miller should be given retroactive effect. Seven state Supreme Courts have considered the applicability of the Miller decision. The Iowa, Massachusetts, and Mississippi Supreme Courts have ruled that the Miller decision is retroactive, while Supreme Courts in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsyvania ruled that it is not. Two Florida district courts of appeals have ruled that the Miller decision is not retroactive, while two Illinois appellate courts have concluded that Miller is retroactive. (This issue is on appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.)

In Connecticut, State of Connecticut v. Ackeem Riley (SC 19109) is the only case currently before the Connecticut Supreme Court that pertains to the constitutional requirements of Miller.
For more information, read the full report.

Being a Donor Improves Chances of Access to Lawmakers According to New Study

A new study from researchers at Yale University and the University of California-Berkeley confirmed what many already assumed: being a campaign donor improves chances of meeting with lawmakers.

Researchers conducted an experiment where they emailed a letter to 191 Congressional offices asking for a meeting regarding banning a chemical. They identified the writer either as a “campaign donor” or a “local constituent.” The researchers randomly assigned whether a Congressperson received a letter from a campaign donor or a constituent. (The researchers say they found volunteers who were actual campaign donors.)

Those identified as campaign donors were more likely to meet with senior staff or the Congressperson while the local constituents were more likely to meet with junior staff.
The reason for the different treatment remains unknown at this point to the researchers.

Source: Congressional Officials Grant Access Due To Campaign

Contributions: A Randomized Field Experiment

Why Higher Ed Sexual Assault Policies Are Not “One-Size-Fits-All”

Many colleges and universities have been taking a second look at their sexual assault response policies, and with good reason.  The United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has been inundated with complaints under Title IX and the Clery Act, two federal laws designed to protect the rights of students who are victims of sexual assault on campus. Newsweek reports that, as of January 29, 2014, OCR had a caseload containing:

• 39 pending Title IX investigations involving allegations of sexual violence at higher education institutions,
• 23 complaints related to the Clery Act in 2013 alone, and
• eight imposed fines totaling $1.45 million.

Newsweek has also revealed that many higher education institutions may be resorting to a questionable practice from which their own students are prohibited: plagiarism.  In an effort to replicate the “best practices” of other institutions, many schools are copying others’ sexual assault policies verbatim.  Attorneys who advise colleges and universities point out that these policies must be more than just “legally sufficient;” they must be tailored to each school’s culture and needs.

An alumnus assault victim of the University of Akron, Ohio recently reported the school to OCR after suspecting policy plagiarism, among other federal violations.  She found that substantial portions of the university’s policies were copied verbatim from Miami University of Ohio.  As a result, Akron’s policy offered some options that were not available on its campus.  For instance, Akron’s policy referred to an “Office of Equity and Opportunity” that did not exist on its campus or website.  It also referenced “Appendix B” for information on victim support and resources, but no such appendix was attached to Akron’s policy document. 

This alumnus sees the policy as “misleading but partially plagiarized,” showing “that institutions are more interested in appearing to comply with the law than actually following it and helping their students.”  Experts agree: “It’s one thing to share best practices and another to just run them through the copy machine.”

Hot Report: Summary of Federal Railroad Administration Safety Assessment of Metro North

OLR Report 2014-R-0104 summarizes the Federal Railroad Administration’s recent assessment of Metro North Railroad’s safety.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched an in-depth investigation of Metro North Railroad on December 16, 2013 in response to several “high profile accidents” in a span of seven months. The most serious accident occurred on December 1, 2013, when a train en route to Grand Central Station derailed near Spuyten Duyvil station in New York, killing four passengers and injuring more than 70. The other accidents included the death of a Metro North maintenance of way worker in West Haven on May 28, 2013, and two other derailments, including one on the New Haven Line that injured more than 50 people.

 

The FRA report, released on March 14, 2014, found three overarching safety concerns:

• An overemphasis on on-time performance,
• An ineffective safety department and poor safety culture, and
• An ineffective training program

“Metro North has placed a strong emphasis on on-time performance,” the report said. “This emphasis…combined with the increased volume of train activity, appears to have led managers and supervisors to allow inspections, maintenance, and employee training to lapse. This, in turn, led to a deficient safety culture, which manifested itself in increased risk and reduced safety on Metro North.”

“This is a severe assessment, and it is intended as an urgent call to action to Metro North’s leadership,” the report said. “Metro North must never compromise safety in the interests of the reliability of its train schedule or the efficiency in its railroad operations. Senior leadership must put safety front and center, and communicate and implement that priority throughout the organization. This action must be taken immediately.”

FRA enumerated a number of corrective measures for Metro North to take. It directed the railroad to submit to it, by May 17, 2014, plans to improve both its safety department’s mission and effectiveness and its training program. The FRA will meet monthly with Metro North to review and evaluate its progress.

This report summarizes the FRA report’s three overarching concerns, its specific findings, and the specific actions it directs Metro North to take. Attachment #1, taken from the report, lists FRA’s safety concerns and directed actions.
For more information, read the full report.

Causes of Wrongful Convictions

A 2013 study by the National Institute of Justice has identified 10 statistically significant case factors that lead to wrongful convictions. The 10 factors identified by the authors are:  

1. a younger defendant,
2. a criminal history,
3. a weak prosecution case,
4. prosecutorial misconduct (such as when a prosecutor withholds evidence),
5. lying by a non-eyewitness,
6. eyewitness misidentification,
7. misinterpreted forensic evidence at trial,
8. a weak defense,
9. a defendant’s use of a family witness at trial, and
10. a punitive state culture.

DCF Campaigns to Prevent Sleep-Related Infant Deaths

Alarmed by the number of sleep-related infant deaths in its system in the past three years, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has begun a campaign to alert families to the dangers of unsafe sleeping conditions.

According to the Hartford Courant, 15 infants in families in which DCF had a previous or open case died while sleeping since January 1, 2011, more than died from any other single cause.

DCF announced that its case workers will inspect children’s sleeping conditions during visits to foster or family homes, and not leave a home until any problems are fixed. DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said the number of sleeping-related deaths called for a public education campaign for parents similar to that for car seats, smoke detectors, and not drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

Hot Report: Memoranda of Understanding and School Resource Officers

OLR Report 2014-R-0103 answers the question: Of the Connecticut public school districts that have school resource officers (SROs), how many have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or agreement (MOA) with the local police department that employs the SRO?

Since SROs are employees of local police departments, OLR surveyed 21 departments that listed SROs on their websites.  We also reviewed testimony to the Judiciary Committee on SB 54 (An Act Concerning Collaboration between Boards of Education and Law Enforcement Personnel) that indicated two other departments have SROs.

The survey responses and testimony from 14 of these departments reveal that as of the date of this report:

1. eight have a signed MOU with the school district,
2. three are in the process of drafting an MOU, and
3. three have no MOU or draft in progress.

For more information, read the full report.

Crimes Against Individuals With Disabilities

According to a recent federal report, the 2012 age-adjusted rate of violent crimes against people with disabilities was almost three times higher than the rate for people without disabilities.  The victimization rate for people with disabilities was higher than the rest of the population for both genders and for all racial groups measured.

The report, by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, found that over 1.3 million nonfatal violent crimes were committed in 2012 against victims with disabilities (age 12 or older).  Slightly more than half of such crimes were committed against people with multiple disability types. The highest victimization rates were among people with cognitive disabilities.

The full report has more detailed information on victimization statistics based on age, gender, race, disability type, and type of crime. 

Tiny Windmills

Research associate Smitha Rao and Professor J.-C. Chiao from the University of Texas at Arlington have designed and built a windmill so small that ten of them could fit on a grain of rice.

This type of technology is known as micro-electrical-mechanical systems, or MEMS. The researchers envision using the micro-windmills to charge cellphone batteries. The micro-windmills would be embedded on the outside of a cellphone. The user would wave the cellphone and that movement of air would turn the blades of the micro-windmills, generating energy that would charge the phone battery.

The micro-windmills are made of a metal alloy that allows them to be flexible and strong. “The problem most MEMS designers have is that materials are too brittle,” Rao said. “With the nickel alloy, we don’t have that same issue. They’re very, very durable.”

The researchers envision many possibilities for the micro-windmills, including providing energy for residential homes. The micro-windmills could be embedded into flat panels that harvest energy for various uses, including lighting, security, or wireless communication.

Hot Report: Dental Assistants

OLR Report 2014-R-0084 summarizes Connecticut law on dental assistants, and provides examples of dental assistant training requirements in other states.

Connecticut law does not require dental assistants to be licensed. To take dental x-rays, dental assistants must pass an exam. Connecticut law does not otherwise set requirements for dental assistants’ education or training. The law prohibits dental assistants from performing various procedures, and requires dentists to supervise assistants performing delegated dental procedures.
The Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB) is the national certification board for dental assistants. According to DANB, the majority of states, like Connecticut, set certain requirements for dental assistants to be allowed to take x-rays; this often includes passing a DANB examination. Unlike Connecticut, many states provide for different levels of dental assistants, allowing assistants with additional training or education to perform more tasks than those without such experience.
For more information, read the full report.

Alzheimer’s Task Force Report

The Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia released its final report earlier this year. The task force was established last year (Special Act 13-11) to study Alzheimer’s and dementia related care within the state and produce recommendations to improve services. According to the report, an estimated 70,000 individuals in Connecticut who are age 65 or older suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. The report warns that the number is expected to increase dramatically in the next two decades, and providing an adequate level of care will pose a significant challenge for the state.

Among other points, the report recommends:

• Conducting a public awareness campaign to better connect patients and caregivers to all available resources.
• Promoting Medicare annual wellness visits which include a cognitive assessment for early detection and diagnosis.
• Developing training programs for employees of financial institutions to reduce the risk of financial exploitation of the cognitively impaired.
• Increasing funding and support for informal and family caregivers.
• Encouraging family, medical, and estate planning for individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia, to ensure that the wishes of the individual are carried out, minimize family disputes, and reduce the burden on the court system.
• Studying the financial impact of developing Dementia Care Centers at Connecticut hospitals.
• Requiring dementia-specific training for nursing home staff, home health aides, and other caregivers; public safety responders; and emergency room staff.

For more information on Connecticut resources for those with Alzheimer’s or related diseases, see the Connecticut Statewide Respite Care Program and the Connecticut chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The Connecticut Commission on Aging provides updates on legislative activity relating to the elderly and Alzheimer’s care.

Driverless Cars: A Way to Prevent Accidents, Reduce Congestion, and Save the Government Money

A recent Atlantic Cities article noted that driverless cars have the potential to fix a lot of transportation woes and save the government a lot of money. Inefficiencies in the transportation system (e.g., poor road and bridge conditions, congestion) are worth over $100 billion, according to economist Clifford Winston.  Winston suggests that governments have a number of options to improve these conditions, such as road pricing, better pavement design, and improved traffic control systems. But he argues that governments have a bias toward maintaining the status quo which private companies do not, and these companies’ work on driverless car technology could have a significant economic benefit and save the government a lot of money in the future.

Driverless cars can travel closer together, thereby reducing congestion. GPS systems can direct heavy vehicles to suitable routes and help reduce wear on roads. Car crashes could be virtually eliminated because of vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The Eno Center for Transportation estimates the annual economic benefit of driverless cars could be $211 billion a year—and that’s if only half of the current fleet goes driverless. This calculation includes lives saved, cost savings from reduced crashes, and congestion benefits, among other things.

Because of the strides already being made, Winston suggests that government allow driverless technology to develop but address anticipated liability issues. But the private sector cannot make driverless cars a future success alone. The author of the Atlantic Cities article, Eric Jaffe, notes that driverless cars will make issues of road conditions and transportation funding more apparent. To truly reap the benefits of driverless cars, he argues government funding and investment in roads is also necessary.

Hot Report: Gestational Agreements

OLR Report 2014-R-0074 answers the question: Has the legal status of parties to gestational agreements in Connecticut changed since 1999?

Since 2011, the law has defined gestational agreements and treats intended parents in a valid gestational agreement as the child’s legal parents.

By law, for births arising out of gestational agreements, the Department of Public Health (DPH) must seal the original birth certificate on which the birth mother’s name appears and registrars of vital statistics must provide a replacement copy to an eligible party who requests it.  DPH must issue the replacement certificate naming the intended parents under the agreement as the child’s legal parents (1) immediately upon receiving a court order validating the gestational agreement and issuing an order of parentage or (2) immediately upon filing the original birth certificate, if it receives the court order before the child’s birth.

The law defines an “intended parent” as a party to a gestational agreement who agrees under it to be the parent of a child born to a woman through assisted reproduction. This applies regardless of whether there is a genetic relationship between the intended parent and child (CGS § 7-36).

Prior to 2011, the legal status of intended parents in gestational agreements was unclear due to statutory ambiguity and a lack of consensus among the courts. In 2011, the Connecticut Supreme Court held that the law permits a non-biological intended parent who is not the child's adoptive parent to become a legal parent of that child through a valid gestational agreement (Raftopol v. Ramey, 299 Conn. 681 (2011)). The Court also noted ambiguities in the law, which led the legislature to revise it.
For more information, read the full report.

Study: Video Games Might be Therapeutic for Dyslexia

This session, the General Assembly is taking a closer look at dyslexia in Connecticut’s schools. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, dyslexia is a language processing disorder that can cause academic problems with reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics. Among other things, SB 120 would expand training for educators in detecting and recognizing students with dyslexia. While the General Assembly considers ways to address dyslexia, a recent Oxford University study on the subject is turning heads: its findings suggest that playing video games could be therapeutic for students with dyslexia.

The researchers, led by experimental psychologist Vanessa Harrar, approached dyslexia as an attention problem rather than a phonetic problem, which in the past has led to treatments aimed at improving reading skills, word recognition, and phonetics. Harrar and her team, though, focused on attention, finding that people with dyslexia have a delayed reaction when shifting their attention between sights and sounds compared to those without dyslexia. They also found that playing action video games for 12 hours can actually “drastically improve” reading ability without any traditional phonological training. Because video games require players to respond quickly and constantly shift visual attention around the screen, they may help people with dyslexia to shift more quickly between visual and audio stimuli. Harrar’s study was published in the February 2013 edition of Current Biology.

You can read more about the status of dyslexia in Connecticut’s special education programs in OLR Report 2014-R-0058.

Why are Snowy Owls Spreading South?

At least 2,500 snowy owls were spotted this year in 25 states and seven Canadian provinces during the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count, which was discussed in a recent Associated Press article. The birds were spotted in multiple Connecticut locations, including Hammonasset Beach State Park and Avery Point.

Photo credit: Bill Asteriades, 2014 Great

BackyardBird Count

Snowy owls are Arctic-dwelling birds, which makes their presence in so many states and provinces unusual. According to the article, snowy owls are traveling farther south because of a (1) population boom and (2) decrease in their preferred food, lemmings, in the Arctic tundra.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual event where volunteers electronically report wild bird observations seen over a four-day period. The purpose of the bird count is to (1) engage the public in nature study and (2) help scientific research. The count creates an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of wild birds throughout the world.

The AP article reported that this year’s bird count participants are from 127 countries, but most are from the United States and Canada. Some of the most prevalent species reported during the 2014 count were snow geese, Canada geese, European starlings, mallard ducks, and red-winged blackbirds.

Hot Report: M.O.R.E. Recommendations Enacted in 2013

OLR Report 2014-R-0092 answers the question: What M.O.R.E. Commission recommendations were enacted in 2013?

During the 2013 legislative session, the M.O.R.E. Commission’s four working groups submitted to the commission’s leadership over 40 policy recommendations (see Appendix A). Of these, we identified 10 that were incorporated into bills that became law. The recommendations covered, among other issues, the statewide high-speed network, regional school calendars, and metropolitan planning organizations.

For more information, including summaries of the enacted provisions, read the full report.

Register Online to Vote in Connecticut

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Governor Malloy announced that state residents can now register online to vote, making Connecticut the 15th state to allow its residents to do so and the first in the Northeast.

People who will be at least 18 years old by election day and have a valid Connecticut driver’s license can visit https://voterregistration.ct.gov and fill out a voter registration form, the data from which is sent to the registrar of voters in the town where the new voter lives. The registrar then checks the data to ensure that it’s accurate and, as long it is, adds the new voter to the voter rolls.

When filling out the form, the new voter must “sign” it electronically, using his or her electronic signature on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Merrill hopes the new, potentially easier method of voter registration will allow more people to register. For example, the website also allows voters to change their address if they have moved within the same town (voters moving to a new town must reregister to vote). Electronic registration, Merrill believes, will reduce errors resulting from reading hand-written information. 

$600 Million Funding For Homeless Veterans Program

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has just announced that it will provide $600 million over the next two fiscal years to help low-income veteran families who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. The funding is being made available through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program in the form of grants to nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives that target this population. The SSVF program provides a range of supportive services for veterans, with priority given to services designed to help veterans keep their homes.

Hot Report: Automatic Transfers of Juveniles from Juvenile to Criminal Court

OLR Report 2014-R-0094 answers the question: When must a juvenile be transferred from juvenile to criminal court?

In Connecticut, juvenile courts have jurisdiction over children under age 18.  The law requires the juvenile court to automatically transfer a child aged 14 through 17 to adult criminal court if he or she is charged with a capital felony committed prior to April 25, 2012, a class A or B felony, or arson murder (CGS § 46b-127).

The state's attorney may file a motion to return the matter back to juvenile court at any time if the child is charged with:

1. a class B felony or
2. 1st degree sexual assault, when it involves sexual intercourse with a victim under age 13 when the actor is more than two years older (but under age 18) (CGS § 53a-70(a)(2)).

For children charged with other felonies (class C, D, or E or unclassified felonies), the prosecutor has discretion to request a transfer to adult court.  The court can only order the transfer if (1) the child was at least age 14 at the time of the offense, (2) there is probable cause to believe that the child committed the alleged offense, and (3) the best interests of the child and public are not served by keeping the case in juvenile court.  The criminal court can return such a transferred case to juvenile court any time before a jury verdict or guilty plea (CGS § 46b-127).

For more information, read the full report.

Private Flood Insurance Alternative

The Insurance Journal is reporting that a private flood insurance carrier has come to Connecticut as an alternative to the National Flood Insurance Program.  The Flood Insurance Agency of Florida is now offering flood insurance policies in Connecticut, according to the company’s chief executive officer Evan Hecht.  This private flood insurance market has sprung up in response to federal legislation that eliminated subsidies on federal flood insurance policies.  As a result of the federal action, flood insurance obtained through the National Flood Insurance Program is now rated to more accurately reflect actual risk of flooding, which has resulted in sharp premium increases.  Hecht believes his company can provide an alternative for homeowners along the shoreline.  The Connecticut Insurance Department confirmed to the Insurance Journal that the Flood Insurance Agency is licensed to do business in Connecticut.

Income Inequality in US and Connecticut Cities

A report from the Brookings Institution looks at income inequality in the 50 biggest cities in the United States. Researchers used data collected annually by the Census Bureau to compare the income of those in the top 5% income bracket against those in the bottom 20% to make a ratio. As the report explains, “it represents the distance between a household that just cracks the top 5 percent by income, and one that just falls into the bottom 20 percent” — the larger the ratio, the greater the inequality.
The cities with the five highest ratios were Atlanta (18.8), San Francisco (16.6), Miami (15.7), Boston (15.3), and Washington, D.C. (13.3).

The cities with the five lowest ratios were Virginia Beach (6.0), Arlington, Texas (7.3), Mesa, Arizona (7.5), Las Vegas (7.7), and Wichita, Kansas (7.7).

The ratio in 2012 for the United States as a whole was 9.1 and researchers found that 31 of the 50 largest cities had higher ratios than the national average.

The Brookings Institution researchers note there are a variety of reasons for inequality. San Francisco’s wealthy are extremely wealthy (they speculate that rising housing prices may have pushed many poor people out of the city). Miami’s poor, on the other hand, are very poor.

Using the same data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, one can calculate the ratio for Connecticut’s cities. Ratios range from a low of 7.66 in Danbury to a high of 12.68 in Hartford. For comparison, the table below also includes the 2007 ratios, which shows how the recession affected income inequality.

City	2007			2012			change in 20%	change in 95%
	20%	95%	ratio	20%	95%	ratio
Bridgeport	17,098	136,501	7.98	15,077	140,860	9.34	2,021	(4,359)
Danbury	27,089	194,311	7.17	24,119	184,706	7.66	2,970	9,605
Norwalk	33,872	278,519	8.22	28,463	250000	8.78	5,409	28,519
Stamford	35,670	393,783	11.04	31,017	250000	8.06	4,653	143,783
Hartford	11,286	112,733	9.99	9,436	119,685	12.68	1,850	(6,952)
New Britain	17,393	118,027	6.79	12,452	136,694	10.98	4,941	(18,667)
New Haven	15,523	132,910	8.56	13,147	156,964	11.94	2,376	(24,054)
Waterbury	16,069	126,606	7.88	15,672	135,618	8.65	397	(9,012)

* the median falls in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution

Source: American Community Survey, Data Table B19080, 2012 and 2007.

Connecticut’s #1 When It Comes To Budgeting…

photo: Dakota County Clerk

…according to a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities national survey of state budgeting practices. Connecticut earned the top spot because it uses of most of the tools and methods that allow states to see the long-term consequences of their budgetary choices. “When state policymakers are writing the budget, they should be mindful of the future, not just the present,” the Center stated.

10 Key Budgeting Tools and Practices Looking to the Future 1. Multi-year Spending and Revenue Forecasts 2. Legislative Fiscal Notes with Multi-year Projections 3. Current Services Baseline Making Professional and Credible Projections 4. Independent Revenue Forecasts 5. Nonpartisan Fiscal Office 6. Periodic Independent Reviews of Pension Obligations Capacity to Make Mid-Course Corrections 7. Well-Designed Rainy Day Fund 8. Oversight and Evaluation of Statutory Tax Breaks (i.e., Tax Expenditures) 9. Standards for Meeting Pension and Debt Obligations 10. Regular, Professional-Prepared Spending and Revenue Projections

With that in mind, the Center graded the states on how well they have implemented 10 key budgetary tools and methods. The table to the right lists the 10 tools and methods, sorted according to the three general purposes budgets serve: (1) showing how spending and taxing decisions affect immediate and future fiscal health, (2) accurately comparing actual and projected spending and revenue, and (3) including a plan to handle spending overruns or revenue shortfalls. 

How did the Center rate and rank the states? It gave each state one point for each tool a state uses, and a half point for each tool it uses, but “in a way that needs significant improvement.” 

Hmmm… Connecticut scored 8.5. Where did it fall short? Connecticut lost a point because it does not have, according to the Center, an independent authority that regularly reviews the methods for determining future pension funding. It also lost a half point because it does not adequately assess the cost and benefits of different tax breaks. Rating and ranking states for different reasons appears to be a national public policy pastime, perhaps reflecting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis’ observation that federalism lets “a single courageous state…if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” Still, as we learned in an earlier posting about studies ranking states based on their tax structure, it pays to read the fine print about a study’s scope and methodology. The Center weighed each tool equally, making no judgment about their relative value. Nor did it assess how well each state used its tools.

Hot Report: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

OLR Report 2014-R-0065 answers the question:How does the state electronically monitor offenders in the community?

Parole and probation officers can monitor offenders in the community using electronic monitoring. They use two types of monitoring: radio frequency (RF) and global positioning system (GPS) monitoring. Because probation and parole share a contract with a provider, they use similar electronic monitoring technology.

RF monitoring is primarily “curfew monitoring.” With RF, a participant wears an ankle bracelet and places a home monitoring unit in his or her home. The unit can be set to detect a bracelet within a range of 50 to 150 feet. When a bracelet comes in range of the unit, the unit sends a notice to the monitoring center. The monitoring center is staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Depending on whether the offender is on probation, parole, or a prison release program, the court or a parole or probation officer sets a person’s schedule. The person can come and go from his or her home according to the schedule.

GPS monitoring requires a participant to wear an ankle bracelet and allows probation officers to track the person’s location. Similar to RF technology, when the participant comes within the range of his or her home, it notifies the monitoring center. Officers set inclusion and exclusion zones for a participant, which can be permanent or set to a schedule. For example, a participant allowed to work can have an inclusion zone that requires him or her to be at the workplace during working hours.

Exclusion zones can be set to limit a person’s contact with a particular address and the bracelet sends an alert if the person comes within range of that address. Among other things, the GPS technology also identifies a person’s speed of travel and when a person stops at a location for a length of time.
The Judicial Branch states that because these technologies rely on cell service, GPS technology, and radio frequency, notices sent by the system can take five to 10 minutes or longer depending on the type of reporting established, type of technology, and technological issues such as the availability of cell towers or interruptions in service.

For more information, read the full report.

White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault

Indicating that the prevalence of rape and sexual assault at colleges and universities was “deeply troubling,” President Obama recently formed a task force - the White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault - to develop a coordinated federal response to campus rape and sexual assault. The president noted that a number of federal laws aim to make campuses safer, but that institutions’ compliance with the laws was “uneven” and, in some cases, “inadequate.”

The task force’s charge includes providing institutions with evidence-based best practices for sexual assault prevention and response, increasing institutional compliance with existing laws, increasing transparency of the federal government’s enforcement activities, broadening the public’s awareness of individual institutions’ compliance, and facilitating agency coordination.

The president gave the task force until April 22 to submit proposals and recommendations. It must also report annually on efforts to implement the recommendations.

The State Department of Aging Wants to Hear from You

The Department of Aging is crafting a new three-year strategic plan on what services to provide and how to provide them and wants to hear from state residents. The department is holding a series of meetings around the state at the following places and times:

Thursday, March 13, 12-2 p.m.
Max E. Muravnick Meriden Senior Center
22 West Main St., Meriden, CT 06451

Tuesday, March 18, 12-2 p.m.
Norwalk Senior Center South
92 Cedar Street, Norwalk, CT

Wednesday, March 26, 1-3 p.m.
Rose City Senior Center of Norwich
8 Mahan Drive, Norwich, CT

Wednesday, April 2, 12-2 p.m.
Waterbury Senior Center
1985 East Main Street, Waterbury, CT

Those who cannot attend a meeting but still want to make suggestions can email the department at aging.sda@ct.gov.

Behavioral Health Statistics

A recent federal report provides both national and state-specific data on a number of behavioral health indicators, such as rates of substance use, depression, and treatment. The report, Behavioral Health Barometer, 2013, was prepared by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Here are examples of Connecticut-specific information in the report (the following statistics reflect per-year averages from 2008 to 2012):

• About 7.2% of Connecticut youths ages 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the prior year.  60.7% of such youths suffering an MDE had received treatment for depression within the prior year.  An MDE is a period of at least 2 weeks when someone “experienced a depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities and had a majority of specified depression symptoms.”
• Among Connecticut adults who had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder in the past year, slightly less than half (46.8%) received counseling.
• Among Connecticut residents ages 12 or older, 8.3% were dependent on or abused alcohol within the prior year.

Public Defenders - Court Appointed Versus Client Choice

A recent New York Times article discusses two proposed solutions to what is seen as a residual problem stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.  In that case, the Court held that the poor, accused of serious crimes, are entitled to lawyers paid for by the government.  However, the Court was silent on how the lawyers should be chosen. According to the article, this has resulted in a public defender system in which (1) lawyers have conflicting incentives and (2) clients have no choices.

Two solutions, in select areas of Washington State and Texas, propose different approaches to these issues. 

The approach in Washington is focused on supervision and oversight of the public defender service.  A federal judge appointed a monitor to oversee the public defender services in two cities, Mount Vernon and Burlington. According to the Times article, this is intended to prevent what has come to be referred to as a “meet and plead” system where overloaded attorneys often meet their clients for the first time in the courtroom.  

On the other hand, the approach in Comal County, Texas is based on free-market principles.  A pilot program, which will start in the fall, will give indigent criminal defendants their choice of counsel to give them more control over their relationship with their attorney.  This approach will operate alongside the existing court appointed system for defendants who do not want to choose their own attorney.