A California study of drug offenders suggests that that drug treatment programs are not successful. It's a bum rap, based on a study that used fairly irrelevant criteria, following just 688 offenders for the first six months.

The study looked only at the early months of the program -- July 1 through Dec. 31, 2001 -- when counties were still grappling with how to implement it. [It] found that offenders in rehabilitation were 48 percent more likely to be arrested for a drug offense within a year of starting rehab than drug users who were on parole or probation.

What the article does not mention is that relapse is not only common, it is practically certain during first attempts at drug treatment. Ask a treatment expert how many of their patients relapse in the first six months and the answer is going to be close to 100%. That doesn't mean drug treatment is not effective. It means it is a process, and may take more than one attempt. As one California official pointed out,

the report is not an accurate evaluation because it was "a snapshot in time -- following just 688 cases in 13 counties for the first six months." "We know that procedures have evolved since the early days," she said.... more recent data shows more abusers are completing treatment programs.

Our Republican-dominated Congress has begun to turn up the heat on foreign countries that don't sign "article 98" immunity agreements with the U.S. The countries that don't capitulate stand to lose substantial amounts of foreign aid from the U.S., including amounts that go to programs we have supported in the past because they are in our best interest:

A provision inserted into a $338 billion government spending bill for 2005 would bar the transfer of assistance money from the $2.52 billon economic support fund to a government "that is a party" to the criminal court but "has not entered into an agreement with the United States" to bar legal proceedings against U.S. personnel. The House and Senate are to vote on the budget Dec. 8.....congressional staff members say the legislation would disproportionately hurt small countries with limited strategic importance to the United States.

...Congress's action may affect U.S. Agency for International Development programs designed to promote peace, combat drug trafficking, and promote democracy and economic reforms in poor countries. For instance, the cuts could jeopardize as much as $250 million to support economic growth and reforms in Jordan, $500,000 to promote democracy and fight drug traffickers in Venezuela, and about $9 million to support free trade and other initiatives with Mexico.

We've written a few times about Bush's wrong-headed refusal to sign onto the International Court. A short primer from today's Washington Post:

If your passport is due to expire soon, you might want to consider renewing it earlier than usual-- like now. The State Department has plans to put an embedded computer chip in passports, as early as next year, that raise serious privacy concerns. Critics charge the information can be viewed from several feet away by utlizing a practice called "skimming." It's not just the ACLU that is concerned: Britain, Canada and Germany are chiming in as well.

This is like putting an invisible bull's-eye on Americans that can be seen only by the terrorists," said Barry Steinhardt, the director of the A.C.L.U. Technology and Liberty Program. "If there's any nation in the world at the moment that could do without such a device, it is the United States."

The organization wants the State Department to take security precautions like encrypting the data, so that even if it is downloaded by unauthorized people, it cannot be understood.

Think of it like a "smart card" used at the subway turnstiles or toll booths. The card will soon be required of all visitors to the U.S. who are considered low security (because of the country they are traveling from)and don't need a visa:

Last Thanksgiving, I had a cast on my wrist and reduced my blogging for the weekend. Little did I know then it would get progressively worse until March when I finally had sugery on it. Jay Allen, who is the creator of MT-Blacklist that despams our comments, once had the same thing, called DeQuervain's Tensonsynovitis and began a thread at his blog about it that is still in use today. It was a great place to go and find others with the same problems. Some were musicians, some were engineers, everyone needed their wrists to work.

Thankgiving, 2002, we gave thanks to other bloggers who had helped put us on the blogging map. What's great about re-reading it is the realization that all of them are still blogging.

Analysis of the recently released 15 year study of federal sentencing guidelines in beginning to stream in. One major finding: Since the guidelines were enacted in 1987, the number of blacks imprisoned has increased sharply and they receive harsher sentences than white prisoners:

The 15-year study by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal judges,...found that while sentencing has become "more certain and predictable," disparities still exist among races and regions of the country.

The average sentence for all prisoners has almost doubled to 50 months under the guidelines.

The percentage of whites in prison dropped sharply from nearly 60 percent in 1984 to about 35 percent in 2002....In addition, the gap between sentences for blacks and whites widened. While blacks and whites received an average sentence of slightly more than two years in 1984, blacks stay in prison for about six years, compared with about four years for whites. The report attributed the disparity in part to harsher mandatory minimum sentences that Congress imposed for drug-related crimes, such as cocaine possession. In 2002, 81 percent of these offenders were black.

Sentences are longer in the South than in the Northeast and West. For links to the report, see our earlier post here.

Holiday blogging will be light here, as the TL kid is going to be in town and I'm getting ready to move houses for the first time in 13 years. It doesn't mean non-existent, just light. TChris is away for the holidays, as are lots of bloggers. But having blogged through the past two Thanksgiving holidays, I know that many will be blogging throughout. If you are one of them, or if you know of some, please put them in the comments here, so everyone else will know too.

Don't feed the trolls (post a menu when you see them, that will alert everyone to skip the comments and go onto another thread) and give a read to those on our blogroll. They are there because we think they're special, not because they asked for a link.

If you're interested in Colorado news, 5280 will be live through the holidays, and I'll be contributing. Today I wrote about the new "drug courier profile" being used to catch "doctor-shoppers" in the mountains. Yesterday it was about the new law giving you a free credit report, and how credit card companies are gouging consumers to the gills, while raking in $2.5 billion a month in profits (yes, you read that right.)

One day early, Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a special thanks to TalkLeft readers, commenters and contributers....you are what makes the site a success and keeps it strong.

[Comments now closed on this thread.]

Great news for Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish. They were acquitted of murdering Las Vegas casino son Benny Binion. At their last trial, they were both convicted.

After deliberating for about 18 hours, the jury returned on Tuesday morning with their verdicts. They found the defendants not guilty of murder but convicted them of conspiring to commit "burglary and/or larceny" as well as burglary and grand larceny. They were charged after sheriff's deputies discovered Mr. Tabish, less than two days after Mr. Binion's death on Sept. 17, 1998, digging the casino owner's fortune in silver bars and coins out of a vault sunk in the sand near the desert town of Pahrump. While he was in the desert, cellphone records showed, Mr. Tabish spoke at least three times with Ms. Murphy, a former stripper who lived with Mr. Binion until his death and with whom Mr. Tabish had been having an affair.

The two were accused of murdering Mr. Binion, 55, in his Las Vegas home by forcing him to ingest a large quantity of drugs and then suffocating him.

Court tv has all the details. It carried the trial live last year. We even commented on the case during opening arguments for CTV as we happened to be in NY that day.

The John Ashcroft legacy will include, in addition to the Patriot Act, the validity of medical marijuana raids. On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Raich v. Ashcroft. Check out Drug War Rant, which has compiled an incredibly useful guide to the case and the issues it presents. As Pete says, it is a historic case that

....may have significant impact on the future of medical marijuana, states' rights, federal power, and the meaning of the commerce clause. Possibly the most important case in recent years.

Our prior coverage of the case is accessible here.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued its long awaited 15 year summary report on federal sentencing. Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy has the details and the important highlights. Links to the actual reports are here.

So Dan Rather is stepping down as nightly news anchor at CBS. The press release makes no mention of his Texas National Guard story. Why now? I don't think it's just the end of the election cycle as he says. I tend to agree with Jay Rosen to this extent: He wants to reclaim his reputation as a reporter and journalist....and the independent investigative report on the Guard story likely will find fault with Rather and CBS.

I don't think the Guard story is a big enough deal to end Rather's anchor career. I don't think he's too celebrity oriented. I don't think his reporting exhibits a liberal bias, and if it did, I'd be glad. I hope people focus on his contributions over the past several decades rather than one instance where he fell short.

Wisconsin has one of the strictest "truth in sentencing laws" in the nation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is running a series on them, exposing them for what they are: brutally unfair and extravagently expensive. They also remove incentives and cause untold desperation in prisoners.

A state law that gives criminals virtually no chance for early release will cost Wisconsin taxpayers an estimated $1.8 billion for inmates admitted through 2025 if current trends continue, a Journal Sentinel analysis of prison and court records has found. Wisconsin implemented one of the nation's toughest truth-in-sentencing laws four years ago without ever assessing the cost. Today, thousands of inmates are on waiting lists for prison jobs, education and treatment programs. Wardens report more bad conduct and hopelessness among offenders.

....For crimes that occur on or after Dec. 31, 1999, the law requires offenders to serve every day of their sentences. It eliminates time off for good behavior and adds prison time for bad behavior. Judges must tack on a term of extended supervision equal to at least 25% of the prison time.

Most "truth in sentencing laws" require inmates to do 85% of their time. Not Wisconsin. It's 100%. Not only that, it applies to both violent offenders and non-violent property and drug offenders. It eliminates the role of the parole board. And there is no guideline system requiring judges to sentence in a particular range.

Three million voters propelled Bush to victory over Kerry in November. Conservatives claimed this was a mandate for Bush and his policies. Not so. The newest CBS/New York Times poll shows Americans are non-supportive of his agenda:

At a time when the White House has portrayed Mr. Bush's 3.5-million-vote victory as a mandate, the poll found that Americans are at best ambivalent about Mr. Bush's plans to reshape Social Security, rewrite the tax code, cut taxes and appoint conservative judges to the bench. There is continuing disapproval of Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, with a plurality now saying it was a mistake to invade in the first place.

And it's not just Democrats who disagree with the President:

Nearly two-thirds of all respondents - including 51 percent of Republicans - said it was more important to reduce deficits than to cut taxes, a central element of Mr. Bush's economic agenda.

...The poll reflected the electoral feat of the Bush campaign this year. He won despite the fact that Americans disapproved of his handling of the economy, foreign affairs and the war in Iraq. There has been a slight increase in the number of Americans who believe the nation should never have gone into Iraq. A majority of Americans continue to believe the country is going in the wrong direction, traditionally a warning sign for an incumbent.