The number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice
system rose to 7.2 million in 2006, the highest ever, costing states
tens of billions of dollars to house and monitor offenders as they go
in and out of jails and prisons.
According to a recently released report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
more than 2 million offenders were either in jail or prison in 2006,
the most recent year studied in an annual survey. Another 4.2 million
were on probation, and nearly 800,000 were on parole.
The cost to taxpayers, about $45 billion, is causing states such as
California to reconsider harsh criminal penalties. In an attempt to
relieve overcrowding, California is now exporting some of its 170,000
inmates to privately run corrections facilities as far away as
Tennessee.
"There are a number of states that have talked about an early
release of prisoners deemed non-threatening," said Rebecca Blank, a
senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution,
a centrist think tank. "The problem just keeps getting bigger and
bigger. You're paying a lot of money here. You have to ask if some of
these high mandatory minimum sentences make sense."
It's an open secret in the fashion industry: black models rarely get
jobs on catwalks, in magazines and on billboards. According to
executives, they do not inspire women to spend money.
Apart
from Naomi Campbell in one Louis Vuitton advertisement this season, it
would be difficult to find a single black model in a prominent position
in a magazine. Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has
received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to
magazines, black models don't sell."
The leading British
photographer Nick Knight says: "The fashion industry and the
advertising industry are steeped in racism. You just have to look
around at the number of black girls you see in ads – virtually nil.
Among the main fashion brands, they are completely under-represented.
It's shocking and atrocious."
Mr Knight blames business people at
the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that
black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia". He goes
on: "I have tried to redress the balance. It is enormously important to
use black models and models of different ethnic backgrounds."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the
Democratic nomination for president, according to CNN estimates, making
him the first African-American in U.S. history to lead a major-party
ticket.
Obama picked up a slew of superdelegate endorsements on Tuesday.
Those endorsements, combined with the delegates he's projected to
receive from South Dakota's primary, will put him past the 2,118
threshold, according to CNN estimates.
Obama will claim victory during a speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to prepared remarks released by his campaign.
"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic
nominee for President of the United States," he's expected to say.
His remaining rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, does not plan to concede the
race Tuesday night, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN -- but
one of her leading supporters said "a moment of truth" was at hand.
"I think a decision has to be made about whether keeping this
nomination wide open is in the best interest of winning in November,"
said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.
"I do not believe
that it is, and I'm a very strong supporter of Hillary being placed on
ticket as a vice presidential candidate."
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