Around the World: February 24, 2015

 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — States are trying to reduce prison populations with secretive, new psychological assessments to predict which inmates will commit future crimes and who might be safe to release, despite serious problems and high-profile failures, an Associated Press investigation found.

 

These programs are part of a national, data-driven movement to drive down prison populations, reduce recidivism and save billions. They include questionnaires often with more than 100 questions about an offender's education, family, income, job status, history of moving, parents' arrest history — or whether he or she has a phone. A score is affixed to each answer and the result helps shape how the offender will be supervised in the system — or released from custody.

 

Used for crimes ranging from petty thievery to serial murders, these questionnaires come with their own set of risks, according to the AP's examination.

 

Many rely on criminals to tell the truth, and jurisdictions don't always check to make sure the answers are accurate. They are used inconsistently across the country, sometimes within the same jurisdiction. The same defendant might be scored differently in the same crime.

 

Supporters cite some research, such as a 1987 Rand Corp. study that said the surveys accurately can predict the likelihood of repeat offenses as much as 70 percent of the time if they are used correctly. But even the Rand study, one of the seminal pieces of research on the subject, was skeptical of the surveys' overall effectiveness. It's nearly impossible to measure the surveys' impact on recidivism because they are only part of broader efforts.

 

 

States have turned to a data-driven movement to drive down prison populations, reduce recidivism and save billions of dollars. One core element is the use of risk-and-needs assessment tools that explore issues well beyond criminal history. These include detailed surveys given to offenders making their way through the justice system.

 

Things to know about risk assessment surveys:

 

—THEY COULD BE USED IN A COURT SYSTEM NEAR YOU: Dozens of different surveys are being used across the country. The surveys vary in the kinds of questions asked and how they are used. Largely confined to parole and probation decisions, these surveys are increasingly being used for sentencing.

 

—IT'S A SECRET: The survey results — and in some cases the actual survey questions — are clouded in secrecy. Some states never release the evaluations, shielding government officials from being held accountable for decisions that affect public safety.

 

—100 QUESTIONS: Some of the surveys can include more than 100 questions and explore a defendant's education, family, income, job status, history of moving, parents' arrest history, or whether he or she has a phone. A score is affixed to each answer and the result helps shape how the defendant will be supervised in the system.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Divided Republicans are searching for a way out of an impasse over immigration that is threatening to shut down the Homeland Security Department within days.

 

With the agency's budget set to expire Friday at midnight without action by Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday he would split language overturning President Barack Obama's contested immigration measures from the department's funding bill.

 

The move seemed aimed at pressuring Senate Democrats who have opposed the legislation because the immigration language is included. It also would allow Republicans who oppose Obama's executive actions on immigration to register their opposition with a stand-alone vote. But Senate Democrats were quick to point out it left unanswered the question of how to fund the Homeland Security Department.

 

"This proposal doesn't bring us any closer to actually funding DHS, and Republicans still have no real plan to achieve that goal," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

 

In the wake of a federal court's ruling last week saying Obama overstepped his authority, and putting his immigration programs on hold, a growing number of Senate Republicans argued for letting the immigration fight play out in court, and passing a "clean" bill to fund Homeland Security, free of the language on immigration.

 

 

A FIFA task force on Tuesday recommended playing the 2022 World Cup in November-December to avoid the summer heat in Qatar.

 

FIFA said the task force chose the "most viable period" over other proposals to play in January, April or May, dates favored mostly by European soccer. FIFA also said the tournament should be shorter than the current 32-day schedule.

 

The plan must be approved by the FIFA executive committee, chaired by President Sepp Blatter, at a March 19-20 meeting in Zurich.

 

Blatter, who is an IOC member, has long favored November-December to avoid clashing with the Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 2022.

 

"Given that the two bidding cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics — Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China) — pledged recently to host the winter games from Feb. 4-20, 2022; that the month of Ramadan begins on April 2 in 2022; and that consistently hot conditions prevail from May to September in Qatar, the only remaining effective option is the November-December window," FIFA said in a statement.

 

 

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Losing his job on a Norwegian oil rig meant more to Kristoffer Sandberg than saying goodbye to a high salary. It has caused a shift down in lifestyle and expectations, something an increasing number of people in this small oil-rich country are facing.

 

After a decade of an oil and gas boom, plunging energy prices are shaking the Norwegians out of a Utopian reverie that guaranteed workers lengthy summer vacations, generous health and social benefits and allowed them to leave work at 4 p.m. and even earlier on Fridays.

 

Some of the helicopters that transport workers from Stavanger — the epicenter of the oil industry — to the platforms on the North Sea have fallen silent. Already 10,000 workers have been laid off. It's the start of what economists are predicting will be a long recession in the energy industry, which accounts for 15 percent of the economy, more than half of exports and 80 percent of the state's income.

 

The Nordic country is being forced to contemplate a future without the certainties of the past.

"I know that people are envious of these conditions elsewhere in the world. We joke about it sometimes," says Sandberg, a 24-year-old mechanic. "But I don't know how many more people will lose their jobs or how much longer it will be uncertain like this."

 

 

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska on Tuesday became the third U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, but organizers don't expect any public celebrations since it remains illegal to smoke marijuana in public.

 

In the state's largest city, Anchorage police officers are ready to start handing out $100 fines to make sure taking a toke remains something to be done behind closed doors.

 

Placing Alaska in the same category as Washington state and Colorado with legal marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the Alaska state constitution.

 

When they voted 53-47 percent last November to legalize marijuana use by adults in private places, they left many of the details to lawmakers and regulators to sort out.

 

That has left confusion on many matters.

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News on Monday released video from four stories it aired about the Falklands War in 1982, all part of a dispute involving Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly and his subsequent statements about covering the war.

 

None of the stories mentions O'Reilly, then a young CBS reporter, or makes any specific reference to a CBS crew member being hurt.

 

The television time travel was prompted by a Mother Jones article last week calling into question O'Reilly's claims he reported in a "war zone" or "combat zone" during the brief conflict between Britain and Argentina. Few reporters made it to the front of the war, some 1,000 miles from the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

 

O'Reilly has said that he covered an anti-government demonstration in Buenos Aires that turned violent and that a photographer he was working with was knocked to the ground and was bleeding.

 

Describing the events two years ago, O'Reilly said he "dragged off" the photographer from danger.

 

Former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg, who also was covering the event, characterized O'Reilly's account as "dishonest" and "completely nutty" during a Huffington Post interview on Monday. Engberg said none of the camera operators working the night in question remembers any colleague being injured. The camera person who was said to be hurt has not spoken publicly about the matter.

 

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday.

 

The extremist fighters swept through the villages nestled along the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province around dawn on Monday. The area is predominantly inhabited by Assyrians, an indigenous Christian people who trace their roots back to the ancient Mesopotamians.

 

In the assault, the militants took between 70 and 100 Assyrians captive, said Nuri Kino, the head of the activist group A Demand For Action, which focuses on religious minorities in the Middle East. He said some 3,000 people managed to flee the onslaught and have sought refuge in the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli.

 

Kino said his organization based its information on conversations with villagers who fled the onslaught and their relatives.

 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the abductions, but put the number of Assyrians held by the Islamic State group at 90. The Observatory relies on a network of activists inside Syria.

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologized Monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces.

 

McDonald made the erroneous claim while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on "CBS Evening News."

 

In a statement released Monday by the VA, McDonald said: "While I was in Los Angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status, I asked the man where he had served in the military. He responded that he had served in special forces. I incorrectly stated that I had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and I apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement."

 

The VA website says McDonald is an Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.

 

The Huffington Post website, which first reported on McDonald's mistake, noted Monday that the 82nd is not considered part of special forces.

 

McDonald said he remains committed "to the ongoing effort to reform VA."

 

 

PHOENIX (AP) — Steve Dreiseszun says he cannot sit in his backyard or read a story to his son without a sense of dread.

 

For the past several months, he and other residents in a Phoenix neighborhood of historic homes have been jolted — sometimes out of their sleep — by the sound of airplanes flying directly above them. The noise sometimes comes every three minutes and can last through the night.

 

"You want to read a book or you're trying to study something on the computer and these flights are overhead, it breaks your train of thought," Dreiseszun said. "Outside the house we've lost the enjoyment of our property. It's not just an annoyance. It impacts our quality of life."

 

Residents and city officials have been up in arms since September, when the Federal Aviation Administration implemented new satellite-based arrival and departure paths out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The changes are part of a new program the FAA is rolling out at major airports across the country as it looks to replace an outdated network of radar and radio communications with satellite-based and digital communications.

 

The new system is designed to save fuel, reduce emissions and make air travel more efficient nationwide as airplanes are able to make more efficient and direct flight paths in and out of airports.

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