Interesting website connecting criminologists and crime policy

I received a nice note today from Mike Israel, a retired criminologist who moved to Washington to monitor and write about the crime policy making process, alerting me to this website at www.crimeletter.net.  The website is aimed at the criminology academic and professional community and is affiliated with the Policy Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.   Here is the start of the the website’s mission statement:

The concept behind this website is the fairly widely held belief that criminologists have a research based perspective that ought to be heard by policy makers; and it has not been in an effective enough way.  The resources here are pointed toward relevant participation by the community of criminologists and professionals; although it is intrinsically valuable being informed about something so mystifying, this website can assist teaching, and stimulate research ideas.

The website includes an archive of periodic newsletters sent to members, and the latest newsletter discusses the (never-ending?) US Attorney purge story.