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Mapping Lead Contamination in the Granite State

Paul Cuno-Booth Kathie Ragsdale John M. Bassett

December 13, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Through education, public policy and grant programs, New Hampshire is working on decreasing the number of children with elevated blood lead levels. In 2016, the state wanted to improve lead-testing rates and over the year, they conducted 25 training sessions reaching more than 300 medical professionals, which led to 2,100 more children being tested than the previous year. Interest in lead-abatement grant programs by landlords and homeowners has also increased.

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'A clear winner': How education in prison can help people after release

Paul Cuno-Booth

December 13, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Correctional education opportunities provide a number of benefits: Skills, self-esteem, job opportunities, and lower chances of going back to prison. Educational opportunities for people serving prison time decrease the possibility of recidivism by 30 percent.

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In Portsmouth police reforms, some see 'model' for other communities

Paul Cuno-Booth

November 02, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Residents, community leaders, and the Police Commission came together to instate police reforms. Data will now be collected from every police stop of a civilian to provide a better understanding of who is being stopped and how that effects the entire criminal justice system.

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After 'painfully slow' start, restorative justice program tries to reset

Paul Cuno-Booth

July 17, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cheshire County, New Hampshire

The Cheshire County Restorative Justice Program works to take low-level defendants, accused of things like shoplifting or alcohol violations out of court and into an alternative process, sparing them criminal records that would later weigh them down. The program’s goal is to push the legal system toward restorative justice, reimagining its traditional processes.

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'A chance to choose life': For some, drug courts break cycle of addiction and crime

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 09, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Keene, New Hampshire

Cheshire County Drug Court provides intensive drug addiction treatment, behavioral therapy, and other services to help people charged with crimes whose drug problems are their underlying problem. Since 2013, it has helped dozens of people avoid re-offending and put their lives on track. Like other drug courts, it is not suited to all circumstances and its coercive nature – jail is threatened for failure to follow the rules – has its critics. But graduates credit it with saving their lives. And it serves as a gateway to services that people might not otherwise have access to.

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An alternative to arrest? Police turn to diversion for petty crimes

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 07, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Prosecutors often make decisions about which criminal charges can be resolved by addressing underlying problems and holding people accountable for petty offenses without incarcerating them. Police-led diversion programs catch cases earlier in the criminal process. Various New Hampshire police departments and in neighboring Brattleboro, Vermont, use the approach in dozens of cases per year, sparing those people the burdens and shame of jail and conviction. The approach has been proven effective in Seattle’s LEAD program as a way to prevent rearrests and to make people's lives more stable.

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A felony could have ruined his life. This program gave him a second chance.

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 05, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Vermont

Vermont's decades-old court diversion program uses restorative justice practices to erase criminal records and give people charged with lower-level offenses a shot at being held accountable, and giving back, without incarceration and convictions. Expanded significantly after legislators in 2017 applied the program to more categories of cases, the program has helped more than 90,000 people and now is used in as many as one-third of all misdemeanor cases. The program saves the state money and appears to contribute to lower rates of re-offending.

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In Brattleboro, a new kind of police patrol pushes treatment, not jail

Paul Cuno-Booth

January 02, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Brattleboro, Vermont

Police officers paired with substance abuse counselors go onto Brattleboro's streets to offer no-strings-attached help to people using drugs. Without using arrests or other coercion, the Project CARE "recovery coaches" have connected dozens of people to rehab and other needed services since the program began in July 2018. Modeled on bigger, successful programs in Gloucester and Brockton, Massachusetts, CARE's effect on overdoses is unknown and the involvement of police is seen by some as a drawback. But the outreach has let the community know help is available for the asking – even from cops.

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