Journals
Monday,Mar 31 2008, 10:25:24 PMU.S., Iraqi Soldiers in Baghdad Kill 48 Insurgents
American Forces Press Service
March 31, 2008 - U.S. and Iraqi security forces killed 48 insurgents and captured 11 others during a series of operations conducted across Baghdad yesterday, military officials reported.
In operations yesterday:
-- Coalition forces in western Baghdad captured an alleged associate of al Qaeda in Iraq's southern belt leadership.
-- North of Baghdad, coalition forces encountered two persons armed with AK-47 rifles. Perceiving hostile intent, the coalition force engaged the armed men, killing them. Four other suspected terrorists were detained.
-- U.S. soldiers killed five militants during a firefight in eastern Baghdad.
-- In southeastern Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers under attack by enemy small-arms fire responded and killed two insurgents and detained four other suspects.
-- U.S. soldiers were at a checkpoint in the Kadamiyah district when they came under enemy fire. A subsequent coalition air strike killed three insurgents and injured another.
-- In the Karkh district, U.S. soldiers detained an insurgent suspected of supplying weapons to militants involved in fighting in Basra.
-- U.S. soldiers killed an insurgent caught emplacing a roadside bomb in the New Baghdad area.
-- Three insurgents were killed by U.S. soldiers during an incident at another security checkpoint in Kadhamiyah.
-- A U.S. sniper killed an insurgent at a joint security station in New Baghdad.
-- U.S. aircraft engaged and killed 25 insurgents during operations in eastern Baghdad. Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team were investigating a possible point of origin for an indirect-fire attack when their armored vehicle encountered a roadside bomb. After the attack, the soldiers discovered a second roadside bomb. While attempting to secure the bomb, the soldiers came under fire from a nearby house. An enemy mortar team that was spotted on the house's roof was engaged by coalition air-to-ground fire, killing 25 insurgents. "We will defend ourselves when attacked by armed criminals," said Army Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a Multinational Division Baghdad spokesman. "We are not the aggressors, but we will defend ourselves and the Iraqi people with all resources available to us."
-- U.S. soldiers in Baghdad killed six insurgents during operations in northeastern Baghdad. First, U.S soldiers engaged a three-man rocket-propelled-grenade team, killing all three. Later, another group of U.S. soldiers came under fire by a three insurgents on a nearby rooftop. The soldiers returned fire and killed all three insurgents.
In March 29 operations:
-- U.S. soldiers under insurgent attack at a checkpoint in Kadhamiyah requested air-to-ground support. An Apache AH-64 helicopter fired two missiles that killed two insurgents.
-- East of Fallujah, Iraqi army scouts detained a suspected al Qaeda leader. The detainee is linked to roadside-bomb attacks in March and June of last year, which resulted in the deaths of several coalition members.
-- In the village of Makhiat, near Mosul, Iraqi soldiers detained four suspected al Qaeda members and held five additional persons for questioning. The detainees are linked to attacks on Iraqi civilians and Iraqi and coalition forces. The detainees also are implicated in numerous kidnappings, torture and murders of innocent Iraqi civilians, as well as attacks on Iraqi and coalition security forces.
-- Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team captured a key criminal leader in Diyala province near Sadiyah. The suspect is believed to be the leader of a criminal cell operating in the Khalis area and is linked to numerous bombings targeting local Iraqis as well as Iraqi and coalition forces. He also is believed to be an explosives expert who leads more than 300 criminals. Another key criminal also was detained during the operation. The second detainee is suspected of posing as an Iraqi police officer and has been implicated in the murder of 20 Iraqis and the burning of their homes. Two other individuals also were detained.
In other Iraq news, coalition forces killed three al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists and uncovered two dozen weapons caches during a five-day operation that targeted bomb-making cells in the Diyala River Valley that ended March 28.
Coalition forces discovered 12 booby-trapped houses as well as anti-aircraft weapons during five days of patrols near Khan Bani Saad, an area that had been used as a safe haven by terrorists.
During the operation, one terrorist was observed hiding in an area of reeds. The assault force repeatedly instructed the individual to come out, but he refused to comply with the ground forces' instructions. The ground force engaged the terrorist and killed him. Another suspect, hiding in a similar area, was detained when he followed instructions to surrender.
Surveillance teams observed two armed men digging in the road. Intelligence indicated the men were removing weapons from a buried cache. Coalition forces engaged and killed the terrorists. Two other terrorists wounded in the firefight were detained.
Coalition forces called in air-to-ground support to destroy the booby-trapped houses. Searching the area, coalition forces found anti-aircraft weapons, ammunition and vehicles with mounts for the weapons. In another area, terrorists had hidden vehicles prepared as car bombs and also had buried two bombs along a nearby road.
Coalition forces discovered additional weapons caches, bunkers and hidden fighting positions, some reinforced with concrete. The caches contained rockets, mortar rounds and launching devices, bomb-making materials, weapons and ammunition. The ground force also found several Iraqi police and military uniforms, body armor, license plates and other documents. The confiscated ordnance was destroyed.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
Monday,Mar 31 2008, 08:27:56 AMAftercare Services
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is launching a Juvenile Justice Practices Series to provide the field with updated research, promising practices, and tools for a variety of juvenile justice areas. These Bulletins are expected to be important resources for a large number of youth-serving professionals involved in developing and adopting juvenile justice policies and programs, regardless of their funding sources.
This first Bulletin in the series examines aftercare services that provide youth with comprehensive health, mental health, education, family, and vocational services upon their release from the juvenile justice system.
Aftercare can be defined as reintegrative services that prepare out-of-home placed juveniles for reentry into the community by establishing the necessary collaborative arrangements with the community to ensure the delivery of prescribed services and supervision (Altschuler and Armstrong, 2001). The term "aftercare," however, is something of a misnomer—the process does not begin only after an offender is released. Instead, a comprehensive aftercare process typically begins after sentencing and continues through incarceration and an offender's release into the community. Effective aftercare requires a seamless set of systems across formal and informal social control networks. It also requires a continuum of community services to prevent the recurrence of antisocial behavior, and it can involve public-private partnerships to expand the overall capacity of youth services.
Two key components of the aftercare concept distinguish it from the traditional juvenile justice model. First, offenders must receive both services and supervision. (Offenders in the traditional juvenile justice system are generally sentenced to some type of supervision and are sometimes provided with services.) Second, they must receive intensive intervention while they are incarcerated, during their transition to the community, and when they are under community supervision. This second component refines the concept of reintegrative services to include services that occur before release as well as after release.
This Bulletin describes how aftercare can address some of the problems that exist in the juvenile justice system. It also reviews relevant research, examines aftercare as it relates to system change, and identifies promising aftercare programs.
DOWNLOAD THE MANUAL
http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/201800/contents.html
Monday,Mar 31 2008, 07:57:25 AMAdolescent Motherhood: Implications for the Juveni
A recently released report on a major research project provides a wealth of information about the consequences of adolescent childbearing, including implications for the field of juvenile justice. Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing synthesizes the findings from eight separate studies on the consequences and costs of adolescent motherhood.
Adolescent childbearing has both contributed to and been affected by three alarming social trends. First, child poverty rates are high and rising. Second, the number of welfare recipients and the concomitant costs of public assistance have risen dramatically. Third, among those on welfare, there is a much higher proportion of never-married women, younger recipients, and recipients who have long average durations of dependency. To better understand the full costs and consequences of adolescent (age 17 or younger) childbearing, the Robin Hood Foundation commissioned seven research studies by teams of scholars. The eighth study, a background review of previously researched trends in teenage and adolescent childbearing, informed and helped round out this set of reports.
READ ON
http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/fs9750.txt
Monday,Mar 31 2008, 07:18:17 AMAddressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs a
Stress among correctional officers is widespread, according to research studies and anecdotal evidence. The threat of inmate violence against officers, actual violence committed by inmates, inmate demands and manipulation, and problems with coworkers are conditions that officers have reported in recent years can cause stress.
Those factors combined with understaffing, extensive overtime, rotating shift work, low pay, poor public image, and other sources of stress can impair officers' health, cause them to burn out or retire prematurely, and impair their family life.
This publication is designed to help correctional administrators develop an effective program to prevent and treat officer stress. Seven case studies illustrate diverse options for structuring a stress program. The following are among the seven programs' distinguishing features that administrators can consider adopting: Run the program in-house or contract with external agencies; Offer professional counseling, peer support, or both; Address chronic stress, stress following a critical incident, or both; Conduct academy or inservice training; and, Serve family members.
In addition to those operational aspects, the report discusses options for staffing a stress program; explores methods of gaining officers' trust in the program; lists sources of help to implement or improve a stress program; and covers monitoring, evaluation, and funding issues.
The various program options presented in this report constitute, in effect, a "menu" from which correctional administrators can select program features and tailor them to a particular set of needs and resources. The potential payoff attributed to stress programs--such as reduced stress-related overtime costs, improved officer performance, and increased institutional safety--more than justifies careful consideration of this report's observations and conclusions.
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http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/183474.txt
Monday,Mar 31 2008, 04:33:21 AMPromoting Effective Homicide Investigations
In 2006, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) hosted two conferences addressing violent crime: the “Promoting Effective Homicide Investigations” (May 25 and 26) and the “National Violent Crime Summit” (August 30). Both were instrumental in understanding violent crime in the United States, as well as national and local initiatives to reduce it. The primary goal of this document is to improve homicide investigations by exploring law enforcement agency practices and examining relatively new procedures that may lead to more effective investigations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) report of 2005 crime data showed a 2.4 percent nationwide increase in homicides from 2004. The FBI’s preliminary numbers for 2006 indicate a continued upward trend in homicides in cities across the nation. For example, during the period 2004 to 2006, homicides increased by 38 percent in Cleveland. Other cities with significant increases in homicides in that period include Cincinnati (41 percent), Houston (37 percent), Las Vegas (16 percent), Memphis (39 percent), Newark, New Jersey (25 percent), Orlando (188 percent), Philadelphia (22 percent), and Seattle (25 percent).
In light of these increases, police agencies not only need to increase their efforts to prevent homicides and focus the public’s attention on the violent crime problem; they also need to adopt best practices increase the effectiveness of homicide investigations.
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http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/ric/Publications/promoting%20effective%20homicide%20investigations.pdf
