Reflecting on Criminal Justice and Public Administration and Law in America

Reflecting on Criminal Justice and Public Administration and Law in America

Julie Ann Racino,  Cornell and Syracuse University Alumni 

July 31, 2021

Criminal Justice in America 

          After meeting with Editor of Criminal Justice Review (Michael Gaffney, Government Services) in Chicago, Illinois in 2015,  this week the new issue of Criminal Justice Review is online for September 2021. The Editorial Board and Editor are totally replaced and the new authors include faculty member at State University of New York in Albany hired in 2012. 

          As I briefly reviewed the first three issues (table of contents only), I was saddened, but certainly not surprised, by the titles from sentencing and punishment to supermax isolation, neutralization techniques and perpetrators, Muslim religiosity and youth delinquency, reintegration of ex-offenders and future of sexual offenders), and federal intervention and American police. 

          The three issues also include crime articles, not as we understand organized crime (See, another meeting in Seattle, WA on criminal corruption in government worldwide), on home sharing, neighborhoods and "hot spot policing". Friendships and moral beliefs are among the features, as you recall at the "student crime gates", and use of police force (prominent in the news media and government in 2021). 

        Our major universities were represented on the editorial board "at the level of the state university systems" in the US, and of course made note of Virginia Commonwealth University and Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg (the latter capital city where I met government officials from adoption and foster care at the American Society for Public Administration reception in Seattle, Washington). And, now always near me, Arizona where my brother resided for over 20 years.

        "I nearly fainted" when the new community places (yes, Walker, SU special education, 1990s) included "my brother Terry's-Terrance A. Racino- department stores" (he just passed via unexpected heart attack in 2020, after two hit and runs on his sister, this author, in New York) and our New York Mets and Yankees (Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday on baseball as official NYS sport) for assault patterns in the Bronx and Queens, New York. 

         In addition, "to round out an hour", the journal is hosted by Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Public Policy in line with the new Wilder School of Public Policy in Virginia. 

Public Administration and Law

          In 2016, we were honored to participate in the Mayor's receptions on Public Administration and the Law held in the cities of Seattle, Washington and Atlanta, Georgia in 2017. As you may recall, ASPA's Dovie Dawson was chairing the section and continued the tradition with a smaller hotel reception in Denver, Colorado in 2018. 

          I originally met Dovie Dawson while chairing the Public Administration and Disability formation group and we discussed via telephone meeting the current public administration and law challenges related to disability. The list did not include "reinstitutionalization in America" (e.g., sexual offenders, mental illness), "mass incarceration" (and Jim Crow laws and practices), or even the new housing and rehabilitation developments ("private contracting by governments"). The latter housing developments, not in the literatures, were discussed in Racino's white paper presented at the Northeast Conference on Public Administration (NeCopa) in Burlington, Vermont in Fall 2017. 

          Dovie suggested the hearing loss arena which indeed was popularized in the 2016 US Presidential campaign by Republican John Kasich, on "manufacturing and hearing loss". Of course, Gallaudet University and its leading graduates have long been part of the US and world debates on "integration and segregation" (Carr & Kutty, 2008) which we now understand differently in the context of human rights (e.g., LGBT rights at US Cabinet), and empowerment and control which has extended to the "creation of new independent states" (e.g., Baltic States). 

         Today, in central New York, several housing buildings in Syracuse and Utica, NY have been deemed "unsafe for occupancy" as the approach to better accommodations. The legal instrument is an instrument of public administration and the law. Yesterday in 2021, the residents included those living there for 20 years on News Channel 2 and "reminiscent of the Center on Human Policy's report on room and board homes" (Racino et al, 1987). Now, the fact that the news media reported that everyone will  relocate has a similar ring to the destruction of low income housing which were decried by blacks; however, the cities are in New York State with the Cuomo Administration committed to supported housing, quality services, and good government (back in 1996, 2013; see Executive and legislative program budgets). 

        In relationship to American Society for Public Administration, Racino's 2019 international paper featured international treaties from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and UN human rights treaties (e.g., Rights of the Child) and international peace treaties. The latter was based in part on ASPA's Hugo Renderos work in Central America and visit to the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia in 2017 with historic treaties in the Middle East. The newer UN Convention on the Rights of Indigeneous Peoples was prominent in world affairs, including support by Trudeau's Canadian government "with Inuit Peoples". 

Criminal Justice Reform

        We thank the Andrew M. Cuomo Administration of New York for its extended efforts over the past three terms to reform criminal justice in New York State. In particular, we lauded bail reform, while the local regions debated the costs and the local administration ("the details"). Criminal justice was also a major campaign issue of the Hillary Clinton for US President, and the former US Secretary of State held an audio podcast on criminal justice back in 2016.  We always value taking the harshness from the criminal justice system, and always say we lose, when compassion does not win.

      "We know the politics of New York" (now at the Mayoral primaries in Buffalo, New York City, Syracuse and Albany in 2021) and have had to address the relationship between elections and "arrests" (NYS Legislative Budget) as the methods of changing administrations. The latter is not unique to New York State and regretfully is tied to racial changes in government leadership, now after 8 years of historic US President Barack Obama and to second black administration of US Housing and Urban Development (appointees, both political parties). 

       The federal criminal justice laws were traced back to the William J. Clinton Administration; Joseph Biden Administration highlights his early support of the Domestic Violence Against Women Act; and Andrew Cuomo Administration in New York, together with the national agenda, features gun control and reform (e.g., universal versus targeted background checks). Luckily, Governor Andrew Cuomo may have come into his on own marijuana reform, indirectly taking on the Rockefeller Drug Laws of New York and those of the federal government which "intrudes into the US states". 

      Now, we believe the answer to criminal justice is "social services" (new profession of social work, under 50 years at the university) distinct from the practice of "requirements tied to arrests", and reform and promotion of public administration and the law. The latter is the basis of societal civility within and between Nations, and is the basis of international law. However, we already have that it is lawful to use brute force against another Nation (then to first strike), and the high morality levels hovered around the "level 3" of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" as justice. Level 3 is a recipe for more and more violence!

Afterword

        The author, Julie Ann Racino,  wishes everyone the best this summer in 2021, and will be delving deeper into "justice and the law" as the black administrations also take hold at the local levels. 

        We believe that the Biden US Cabinet as a diversity cabinet (following California, Gov. Newsom) may result in very different directions, and appreciate the "rent and foreclosure moratoriums" from the 2020 pandemic and the projected US economic recovery. 

        Thank you to both the Trump and Biden Administrations for "administratively forwarding" the economic stimulus checks "directly into the hands of people" and for having faith in the American people. Yes, it's what the people asked for! 

      Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York State says hello from his zoom virtual events, and Dr. Jill Biden (yes, at the Tokyo Olympics) encourages donations during the federal election periods to assure a Democratic agenda in America. 

          The First Lady Dr. Jill Biden

"I'm so proud of the progress we've already made.. Fifty days into his presidency, Joe signed the American Rescue Plan into law, the boldest and most consequential legislative package in modern history. This once-in-a-generation plan goes beyond one initiative: it provides direct relief to families, expands access to child care, increases the child tax credit, and so much more...Joe and I are fighting alongside all of you for a brighter future for every American, and we need more Democrats in office at all levels of government to keep building back better."

       Senator Charles Schumer (Majority Leader) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi extend their political greetings in 2021 as the races, nominations, and legislative work continues in the US. Democrat Sen. Schumer of New York indicates the Democrats hold the US Senate by just one vote or seat. And we are told that not one Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan.

       Nancy Pelosi announced that New York's Republican Elise Stefanik, Kevin McCarthy's handpicked replacement for Liz Cheney, has transferred $1 million to the NRCC. Schumer concludes for the first time in years, Republicans have outraised the DCCC in consecutive months. We are told that Republicans have total power to redraw 181 congressional districts.

       We, of course, have determined that the black DCCC and DCCC are accounted for separately. And that Tom Perez was replaced by Jamie Harrison at the DNC. Much more is yet to come!