The federal government's reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks once again returned to the Supreme Court on Wednesday as justices considered whether former attorney general John D. Ashcroft could be held personally liable for the detention of an American Muslim.
Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in 2003 and held as a material witness. But Kidd contends that he was not detained because he had information about terrorism. Instead, he says, he was detained as part of a plan approved by Ashcroft to sweep up Muslim men the government suspected but could not prove had ties to terrorism.
Read more...
Justice Roberts is clearly worried about the impact of holding prosecutors accountable for their actions. But I hope that the Court will take into consideration the following: (1) police officers seem to function under qualified immunity while prosecutors and judges have absolute immunity. (2) prosecutorial misconduct is a leading reason for wrongful convictions. (3) Bar associations have failed to adequately police the behavior of prosecutors. A study of prosecutorial conduct in California reveals the rampant disregard by prosecutors for the rule of law and the consequences of illegal and unethical behavior.
What remedy do victims like Mr. al Kidd have unless absolute immunity is removed and replaced with qualified immunity? In addition, the Court should impose requirement similar to the exclusionary rule - if you cheat, the case is dismissed. But that would not resolve the problem faced by victims like Mr. al Kidd.
Showing posts with label Prisons and Jails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prisons and Jails. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Reducing Prison Spending
The centerpiece of Mr. Daniels’s approach is a set of reforms governing sentencing and parole. Judges would be allowed to fit sentences to crimes and have the flexibility to impose shorter sentences for nonviolent offenses. A poorly structured parole system would be reorganized to focus on offenders who actually present a risk to public safety.
Addicts would be given drug treatment to try to make them less likely to be rearrested. And there would be incentives for towns to handle low-level offenders instead of sending them into more costly state prisons.
Read more...
Why can't Idaho and other states admit they have a problem similar to Indiana and take similar steps to reduce prison expending? More treatment will not only save money, but it will lower recidivism rates, which translates into fewer victims in the future.
But it seems that no one in the legislature or governor's office is interested in those sorts of outcomes. What is that saying about insanity?
Addicts would be given drug treatment to try to make them less likely to be rearrested. And there would be incentives for towns to handle low-level offenders instead of sending them into more costly state prisons.
Read more...
Why can't Idaho and other states admit they have a problem similar to Indiana and take similar steps to reduce prison expending? More treatment will not only save money, but it will lower recidivism rates, which translates into fewer victims in the future.
But it seems that no one in the legislature or governor's office is interested in those sorts of outcomes. What is that saying about insanity?
Friday, January 7, 2011
Hell Just Froze Over
We can no longer afford business as usual with prisons. The criminal justice system is broken, and conservatives must lead the way in fixing it.
Read more...
Conservatives broke it and now they want to fix it. Good for them. It is too bad that this conversion had to result from the budget crisis instead of the revelation that "get tough" crime control polices were failing.
States like Idaho need to get busy reforming their criminal justice systems. Mandatory minimum sentencing, juvenile waivers, the "drug war," capital punishment and community corrections (probation and parole) are all issues that are in dire need of substantive reform (no lipstick on the pig, please).
Read more...
Conservatives broke it and now they want to fix it. Good for them. It is too bad that this conversion had to result from the budget crisis instead of the revelation that "get tough" crime control polices were failing.
States like Idaho need to get busy reforming their criminal justice systems. Mandatory minimum sentencing, juvenile waivers, the "drug war," capital punishment and community corrections (probation and parole) are all issues that are in dire need of substantive reform (no lipstick on the pig, please).
Monday, December 6, 2010
Crimes Against Us All
In 2005, when a federal court took a snapshot of California’s prisons, one inmate was dying each week because the state failed to provide adequate health care. Adequate does not mean state-of-the-art, or even tolerable. It means care meeting “the minimal civilized measure of life’s necessities,” in the Supreme Court’s words, so inmates do not die from rampant staph infections or commit suicide at nearly twice the national average.
Read more....
No society can refer to itself as civilized while allowing thousands of its citizens (yes inmates are citizens) to be treated in such a manner as described in California. But California is not alone in its mistreatment of inmates. Idaho has its own "gladiator academy" operated by the Corrections Corporation of America.
Aside from the moral (or lack thereof) aspects of the current conditions in our prisons (and jails), Justice Alito raises the myth of crime control through mass incarceration. Alito ponders the impact of releasing so many inmates on California's crime rate.
As one of my late professors (George Beto) once told us in class, opening the doors of prisons would not significantly impact the crime rate. So Alito and others are asking the wrong question - will the crime rate change? Probably not. Will there be new crimes and victims? Probably yes.
But we also have to keep in mind that over 90% of inmates will be released from prison at some point. And a significant number will fail in the free world (California reports 70% recidivism rate). So has it occurred to Justice Alito and others that our current crime control policies are not only failing to reduce crime, but in fact may make the crime rate higher?
The decline in the crime rate since the 1990s is largely attributable to changing demographics. There are fewer people in the crime-prone and victim-prone age groups. I maintain that providing treatment for mental illness and drug addiction (including alcohol) instead of engaging in mass incarceration would further reduce the crime rate. But California broke it, now they own it.
It will be interesting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Schwarzenegger v. Plata. My bet is that fear and bad policy will win out over rationality and morality.
Read more....
No society can refer to itself as civilized while allowing thousands of its citizens (yes inmates are citizens) to be treated in such a manner as described in California. But California is not alone in its mistreatment of inmates. Idaho has its own "gladiator academy" operated by the Corrections Corporation of America.
Aside from the moral (or lack thereof) aspects of the current conditions in our prisons (and jails), Justice Alito raises the myth of crime control through mass incarceration. Alito ponders the impact of releasing so many inmates on California's crime rate.
As one of my late professors (George Beto) once told us in class, opening the doors of prisons would not significantly impact the crime rate. So Alito and others are asking the wrong question - will the crime rate change? Probably not. Will there be new crimes and victims? Probably yes.
But we also have to keep in mind that over 90% of inmates will be released from prison at some point. And a significant number will fail in the free world (California reports 70% recidivism rate). So has it occurred to Justice Alito and others that our current crime control policies are not only failing to reduce crime, but in fact may make the crime rate higher?
The decline in the crime rate since the 1990s is largely attributable to changing demographics. There are fewer people in the crime-prone and victim-prone age groups. I maintain that providing treatment for mental illness and drug addiction (including alcohol) instead of engaging in mass incarceration would further reduce the crime rate. But California broke it, now they own it.
It will be interesting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Schwarzenegger v. Plata. My bet is that fear and bad policy will win out over rationality and morality.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Who Profits, Indeed
Who really profits from the spew of bills recently advanced by the legislators across the country, and here in Texas, that make immigration enforcement a state matter?
The answer is private prison corporations. In a recent feature on National Public Radio, it was made abundantly clear to anyone who cared to listen that the real motivation behind the Arizona anti-immigrant bill titled SB 1070 was profits for the private prison industry, which hoped to garner new markets from contracted prisons they would build to house the estimated tens of thousands of immigrants, undocumented and otherwise, that they believed would be snagged in this ever-widening net. Now, no one likes to make a dollar more than yours truly. Yet is there anything more cynical than hoping to write a law that imprisons women and children in order to make that buck?
Read more...
Corrections Corporation of America and other for-profit prisons stand to make out like bandits if the Faustian bargains succeed. But a few politicians are also benefiting from the deal:
A Tennessean survey of campaign finance records shows that CCA, its officers and their families contributed more than $95,000 to campaigns in the state this past election cycle. The company also had five lobbyists on its payroll working at the Tennessee legislature this year.
CCA is also making the rounds in Idaho. Denton Darrington (R-Declo), chair of the Senate Judiciary& Rules Committee, received a donation from CCA.Other members of the committee who received CCA donations include Patti Anne Lodge and Dean Mortimer, Republicans who received CCA contributions include Mike Moyle, John McGee, Joe Stegner, Lawrence Denney, Darrell Bolz, Russ Fulcher, Clif Bayer, Dean Cameron, Maxine Bell, Janice McGeachin, Steve Kren, Brent Crane, Fred Wood, Eric Simpson, Jeffrey Thompson, Bert Brackett, Frank Henderson, Jim Clark, Jim Hammond, and Butch Otter. Democrats who received CCA contributions include James Ruchti and Diane Bilyeu.
While Idaho politicians did not rake in quite the largess that Tennessee (and I imagine other states) did, the state did not go unnoticed by CCA.By spreading around a little money (under $10,000 reported), CCA gets a contract worth $27 million to run a prison that is currently a target of ongoing litigation regarding its "gladiator school" conditions.
Coming soon - their own private Idaho.
The answer is private prison corporations. In a recent feature on National Public Radio, it was made abundantly clear to anyone who cared to listen that the real motivation behind the Arizona anti-immigrant bill titled SB 1070 was profits for the private prison industry, which hoped to garner new markets from contracted prisons they would build to house the estimated tens of thousands of immigrants, undocumented and otherwise, that they believed would be snagged in this ever-widening net. Now, no one likes to make a dollar more than yours truly. Yet is there anything more cynical than hoping to write a law that imprisons women and children in order to make that buck?
Read more...
Corrections Corporation of America and other for-profit prisons stand to make out like bandits if the Faustian bargains succeed. But a few politicians are also benefiting from the deal:
A Tennessean survey of campaign finance records shows that CCA, its officers and their families contributed more than $95,000 to campaigns in the state this past election cycle. The company also had five lobbyists on its payroll working at the Tennessee legislature this year.
CCA is also making the rounds in Idaho. Denton Darrington (R-Declo), chair of the Senate Judiciary& Rules Committee, received a donation from CCA.Other members of the committee who received CCA donations include Patti Anne Lodge and Dean Mortimer, Republicans who received CCA contributions include Mike Moyle, John McGee, Joe Stegner, Lawrence Denney, Darrell Bolz, Russ Fulcher, Clif Bayer, Dean Cameron, Maxine Bell, Janice McGeachin, Steve Kren, Brent Crane, Fred Wood, Eric Simpson, Jeffrey Thompson, Bert Brackett, Frank Henderson, Jim Clark, Jim Hammond, and Butch Otter. Democrats who received CCA contributions include James Ruchti and Diane Bilyeu.
While Idaho politicians did not rake in quite the largess that Tennessee (and I imagine other states) did, the state did not go unnoticed by CCA.By spreading around a little money (under $10,000 reported), CCA gets a contract worth $27 million to run a prison that is currently a target of ongoing litigation regarding its "gladiator school" conditions.
Coming soon - their own private Idaho.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
We Should Be Ashamed
The British government has decided to pay former detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, tens of millions of dollars in compensation and conduct an independent investigation into its role in the mistreatment of prisoners.
The United States still operates the Guantánamo camp, with no end in sight. None of the truly dangerous terrorists there have been brought to justice, while many prisoners are still held who never should have been. The government not only refuses to come clean on this ignoble history, but it is covering up the Bush administration’s abuses by denying victims a day in court.
Read more....
Canada compensated Maher Arar, a Canadian torture victim, who was the victim of a rendition while on U.S. soil. Not only did the U.S. fail to offer this victim compensation, it block his law suit, claiming national security interests.
Now Britain has decided to step up and compensate more victims of American foreign policy. Good for them, bad for us. The Bush regime has no shame, and the Obama administration is making the same mistakes by covering up for the Bush war crimes.
Sort of a hollow gesture to point out human rights abuses by other countries when our own house is in such disarray.
The United States still operates the Guantánamo camp, with no end in sight. None of the truly dangerous terrorists there have been brought to justice, while many prisoners are still held who never should have been. The government not only refuses to come clean on this ignoble history, but it is covering up the Bush administration’s abuses by denying victims a day in court.
Read more....
Canada compensated Maher Arar, a Canadian torture victim, who was the victim of a rendition while on U.S. soil. Not only did the U.S. fail to offer this victim compensation, it block his law suit, claiming national security interests.
Now Britain has decided to step up and compensate more victims of American foreign policy. Good for them, bad for us. The Bush regime has no shame, and the Obama administration is making the same mistakes by covering up for the Bush war crimes.
Sort of a hollow gesture to point out human rights abuses by other countries when our own house is in such disarray.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Prison Economics
Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal.
Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch.
"The gentleman that's the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise ring on his finger," Nichols said. "He's a great big huge guy and I equated him to a car salesman."
What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants.
"They talk [about] how positive this was going to be for the community," Nichols said, "the amount of money that we would realize from each prisoner on a daily rate."
But Nichols wasn't buying. He asked them how would they possibly keep a prison full for years — decades even — with illegal immigrants?
"They talked like they didn't have any doubt they could fill it," Nichols said.
That's because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona's immigration law.
Read more...
We have long feared the impact of the prison-industrial complex. Perpetuation of the war on drugs and mass incarceration is a partial result of the marriage of money and politics. But this is the first case I am aware of where the private sector played a leading role in creating the criminals who would then fill the facilities that, would, in turn, fill the coffers of the for-profit. prison industry.
Politics has corrupted the criminal justice system. The pace of corruption has accelerated with this latest sordid meménage à trois between money, politics, and the criminal justice system.
BTW- investigative journalism like this report is the real reason that conservatives are once again targeting NPR's funding. They don't like it when truth speaks to power.
Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch.
"The gentleman that's the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise ring on his finger," Nichols said. "He's a great big huge guy and I equated him to a car salesman."
What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants.
"They talk [about] how positive this was going to be for the community," Nichols said, "the amount of money that we would realize from each prisoner on a daily rate."
But Nichols wasn't buying. He asked them how would they possibly keep a prison full for years — decades even — with illegal immigrants?
"They talked like they didn't have any doubt they could fill it," Nichols said.
That's because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona's immigration law.
Read more...
We have long feared the impact of the prison-industrial complex. Perpetuation of the war on drugs and mass incarceration is a partial result of the marriage of money and politics. But this is the first case I am aware of where the private sector played a leading role in creating the criminals who would then fill the facilities that, would, in turn, fill the coffers of the for-profit. prison industry.
Politics has corrupted the criminal justice system. The pace of corruption has accelerated with this latest sordid meménage à trois between money, politics, and the criminal justice system.
BTW- investigative journalism like this report is the real reason that conservatives are once again targeting NPR's funding. They don't like it when truth speaks to power.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Race and the Drug War
According to a report released Friday by the Marijuana Arrest Research Project for the Drug Policy Alliance and the N.A.A.C.P. and led by Prof. Harry Levine, a sociologist at the City University of New York: “In the last 20 years, California made 850,000 arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and half-a-million arrests in the last 10 years. The people arrested were disproportionately African-Americans and Latinos, overwhelmingly young people, especially men.”
For instance, the report says that the City of Los Angeles “arrested blacks for marijuana possession at seven times the rate of whites.”
This imbalance is not specific to California; it exists across the country.
One could justify this on some level if, in fact, young blacks and Hispanics were using marijuana more than young whites, but that isn’t the case. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, young white people consistently report higher marijuana use than blacks or Hispanics.
Read more...
What additional evidence do we need in order to decriminalize or legalize marijuana? Prohibition does not work; in fact, it makes matters worse. Now we see that the law is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.
Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) argues that mass incarceration (and we must add arrest and prosecution to the formula) has evolved as the latest iteration of the Southern strategy. Locking up people of color gives the appearance of a race-neutral policy when, in fact, the ultimate goal is to attract white voters to policies (and the party that supports them).
The problem, as this article points out, is that Democrats are now trapped because no party can be successful if it appears soft on crime. There is no room in U.S. crime control policies for being smart on crime.
For instance, the report says that the City of Los Angeles “arrested blacks for marijuana possession at seven times the rate of whites.”
This imbalance is not specific to California; it exists across the country.
One could justify this on some level if, in fact, young blacks and Hispanics were using marijuana more than young whites, but that isn’t the case. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, young white people consistently report higher marijuana use than blacks or Hispanics.
Read more...
What additional evidence do we need in order to decriminalize or legalize marijuana? Prohibition does not work; in fact, it makes matters worse. Now we see that the law is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.
Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) argues that mass incarceration (and we must add arrest and prosecution to the formula) has evolved as the latest iteration of the Southern strategy. Locking up people of color gives the appearance of a race-neutral policy when, in fact, the ultimate goal is to attract white voters to policies (and the party that supports them).
The problem, as this article points out, is that Democrats are now trapped because no party can be successful if it appears soft on crime. There is no room in U.S. crime control policies for being smart on crime.
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Failure to Act
"THIS IS SOMETHING that I think needs to be done, not tomorrow, but yesterday."
Those were the words of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in March to a House subcommittee on the subject of preventing sexual abuse in prison. Five months have passed since then, and two have passed since the June 23 deadline for Mr. Holder to approve the guidelines set forth by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. His "yesterday" is long past.
Read more...
The bureau estimates that at least 88,500 adults were sexually abused in U.S. prisons and jails in the past year. This number represents 4.4 percent of prison inmates and 3.1 percent of those in jail but fails to include assaults on minors, which a January survey suggested was more than 12 percent -- one in eight. And the statistics fail to portray the human toll of each day that standards are not enacted to prevent sexual assault behind bars.
There is no legitimate excuse for delaying implementation of better policies. People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment. And the fact that many of these assaults are carried out by staff only compounds this issue. The lack of response is one more reason the criminal justice system has become a major embarrassment and failure.
Those were the words of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in March to a House subcommittee on the subject of preventing sexual abuse in prison. Five months have passed since then, and two have passed since the June 23 deadline for Mr. Holder to approve the guidelines set forth by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. His "yesterday" is long past.
Read more...
The bureau estimates that at least 88,500 adults were sexually abused in U.S. prisons and jails in the past year. This number represents 4.4 percent of prison inmates and 3.1 percent of those in jail but fails to include assaults on minors, which a January survey suggested was more than 12 percent -- one in eight. And the statistics fail to portray the human toll of each day that standards are not enacted to prevent sexual assault behind bars.
There is no legitimate excuse for delaying implementation of better policies. People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment. And the fact that many of these assaults are carried out by staff only compounds this issue. The lack of response is one more reason the criminal justice system has become a major embarrassment and failure.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The New Jim Crow
A “tough on crime” federal law that requires harsher prison terms for people arrested with crack cocaine than with the powered version of the drug is scientifically indefensible and hugely unfair. A bill that reduces this onerous sentencing disparity has passed the Senate easily. The House, which has been vacillating over whether or not to schedule a vote on the Senate bill, needs to show the same good sense.
Congress passed the misguided law two decades ago, when it was believed that crack — cocaine in baking soda — was more addictive and led to more violence than the powdered form of the drug. These myths were quickly debunked. But the country was stuck with a law under which a drug defendant found holding five ounces of crack received the same mandatory five-year prison term as one busted with 500 ounces of the chemically identical powdered form of the drug.
Read more...
I've been reading Michell Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This work provides a historical context and theoretical explanation about the reasons behind and the impact of mass incarceration in our society. It is not just happenstance that people of color are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
Laws that permit the continuation of sentencing disparity are a perpetuation of bad policy and are extensions of the the New Jim Crow.
Congress passed the misguided law two decades ago, when it was believed that crack — cocaine in baking soda — was more addictive and led to more violence than the powdered form of the drug. These myths were quickly debunked. But the country was stuck with a law under which a drug defendant found holding five ounces of crack received the same mandatory five-year prison term as one busted with 500 ounces of the chemically identical powdered form of the drug.
Read more...
I've been reading Michell Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This work provides a historical context and theoretical explanation about the reasons behind and the impact of mass incarceration in our society. It is not just happenstance that people of color are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
Laws that permit the continuation of sentencing disparity are a perpetuation of bad policy and are extensions of the the New Jim Crow.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Hiring Felons
Boston, Chicago and San Francisco set a welcome example earlier in the decade when they abandoned counterproductive policies that often barred former offenders from municipal jobs, no matter how minor their crime nor how distant in the past. Connecticut, New Mexico and Minnesota have recently passed laws protecting the employment rights of former offenders. Other states should quickly follow.
Read more...
With 2.3 million people in prison and over 5 million convicted felons on probation and parole, the reality of the system of mass incarceration is becoming more apparent. Do we continue to feed people into the prison system or do we try to break the cycle? It seems the rational thing to do is to have polices like this one that assist felons in getting jobs instead of relegating them to the growing underclass or undercaste, to use Michelle Alexander's phrase.
We can decide to spend more money on prisons and ensure more failures and victims, or we can enact policies that help felons become participants in society.
Read more...
With 2.3 million people in prison and over 5 million convicted felons on probation and parole, the reality of the system of mass incarceration is becoming more apparent. Do we continue to feed people into the prison system or do we try to break the cycle? It seems the rational thing to do is to have polices like this one that assist felons in getting jobs instead of relegating them to the growing underclass or undercaste, to use Michelle Alexander's phrase.
We can decide to spend more money on prisons and ensure more failures and victims, or we can enact policies that help felons become participants in society.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Penny-wise and Pound-Foolish
The proposed state budget cuts $55 million out of the Medi-Cal methadone program for 35,000 individuals in California. It is tantamount to destroying the lives of 35,000 people, as well as having them return to addiction. The impacts are significant, and go beyond the patients themselves.
This particular initiative will result in the elimination of funding and the closure of drug treatment facilities. That will directly impact our county jails, our state prisons, parole and probation departments, as well as hospital emergency rooms and public health programs.
The elimination of the state's drug treatment funding would strain public safety programs and increase the number of relapsed individuals who are incarcerated.
These programs save our communities a significant amount of money by keeping people from using illegal drugs and seeking to support their addictions through criminal behavior.
Read more...
It defines logic that states will cut programs that actually save money. In this case, this program also reduces rates of criminal victimization. In short, when opiate addicts are in treatment, their rates of criminal offending decline. So keeping addicts out of prison and jail (a cost savings) while reducing their rates of offending (a victim savings) should be seen as a program that is more than just cost-effective.
Situations like this also reveal that we need new models of funding for government programs. No program that people depend on should suffer because of the vagaries of the economy and politics.
This particular initiative will result in the elimination of funding and the closure of drug treatment facilities. That will directly impact our county jails, our state prisons, parole and probation departments, as well as hospital emergency rooms and public health programs.
The elimination of the state's drug treatment funding would strain public safety programs and increase the number of relapsed individuals who are incarcerated.
These programs save our communities a significant amount of money by keeping people from using illegal drugs and seeking to support their addictions through criminal behavior.
Read more...
It defines logic that states will cut programs that actually save money. In this case, this program also reduces rates of criminal victimization. In short, when opiate addicts are in treatment, their rates of criminal offending decline. So keeping addicts out of prison and jail (a cost savings) while reducing their rates of offending (a victim savings) should be seen as a program that is more than just cost-effective.
Situations like this also reveal that we need new models of funding for government programs. No program that people depend on should suffer because of the vagaries of the economy and politics.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Politics Rears Its Ugly Head Again
Mr. Kempfert is now certain that his father, William Macumber, is innocent. Arizona’s clemency board, citing Mr. Kempfert’s “very moving testimony” and saying there had been “a miscarriage of justice,” unanimously recommended last year that Mr. Macumber be freed.
But Mr. Macumber remains in prison, and Gov. Jan Brewer has refused to explain why.
Read more...
Politics and the criminal justice system should never mix. When these two intersect, we get results like this one. You would think that the candidate for governor would have some explaining to do, but her support of the "Papers, please" legislation has probably overshadowed this case of injustice.
You might also think that I would grow weary of reporting and commenting on stories of wrongful conviction. The lack of outrage from the public is disheartening, but no one said that changing attitudes about our failed criminal justice polices and practices would be easy.
But Mr. Macumber remains in prison, and Gov. Jan Brewer has refused to explain why.
Read more...
Politics and the criminal justice system should never mix. When these two intersect, we get results like this one. You would think that the candidate for governor would have some explaining to do, but her support of the "Papers, please" legislation has probably overshadowed this case of injustice.
You might also think that I would grow weary of reporting and commenting on stories of wrongful conviction. The lack of outrage from the public is disheartening, but no one said that changing attitudes about our failed criminal justice polices and practices would be easy.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Perpetuating Prison Violence
"RAPE IS VIOLENT, destructive, and a crime -- no less so when the victim is incarcerated." These were the opening words of a report delivered to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. last June by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. By law, the attorney general was given one year to consider the report's recommendations and issue standards to reduce the scourge of sexual violence in the nation's prisons.
The Justice Department is about to miss its June 23 deadline -- and probably by a shamefully wide margin.
The department will not say, but those following this issue closely estimate that the Justice Department is unlikely to take action until the end of this year. At that time, federal prisons will be obligated to adopt whatever standards Justice approves. State and local facilities will not be forced to embrace the measures for another year after that. In the meantime, more prisoners -- including juveniles -- will have been senselessly brutalized.
Read more...
Addressing prison violence in any form is a difficult challenge. There are so many factors to contend with - too many inmates, too few correctional officers and staff, too little hope and too much anger and frustration. All of this occurs in the context of simple-minded bromides from politicians and citizens who wish to continue the failed "get tough" ideology of the 1980s and '90s.
But stalling and delaying any progress on addressing prison violence should be unacceptable. Offenders are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment. The essay correctly points out that allowing violence of any kind to flourish is an indication of a prison out of control. We only have to look at the Idaho Correctional Center as a case in point.
In the mean time, states like Idaho continue to ignore the realities of a burgeoning prison population and declining budgets. I wonder why the recidivism rate is not higher?
The Justice Department is about to miss its June 23 deadline -- and probably by a shamefully wide margin.
The department will not say, but those following this issue closely estimate that the Justice Department is unlikely to take action until the end of this year. At that time, federal prisons will be obligated to adopt whatever standards Justice approves. State and local facilities will not be forced to embrace the measures for another year after that. In the meantime, more prisoners -- including juveniles -- will have been senselessly brutalized.
Read more...
Addressing prison violence in any form is a difficult challenge. There are so many factors to contend with - too many inmates, too few correctional officers and staff, too little hope and too much anger and frustration. All of this occurs in the context of simple-minded bromides from politicians and citizens who wish to continue the failed "get tough" ideology of the 1980s and '90s.
But stalling and delaying any progress on addressing prison violence should be unacceptable. Offenders are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment. The essay correctly points out that allowing violence of any kind to flourish is an indication of a prison out of control. We only have to look at the Idaho Correctional Center as a case in point.
In the mean time, states like Idaho continue to ignore the realities of a burgeoning prison population and declining budgets. I wonder why the recidivism rate is not higher?
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Probation, parole for nonviolent crime could save states billions of dollars
The United States currently incarcerates a higher share of its population than any other country in the world. We calculate that a reduction in incarceration rates just to the level we had in 1993 (which was already high by historical standards) would lower correctional expenditures by $16.9 billion per year, with the large majority of these savings accruing to financially squeezed state and local governments. As a group, state governments could save $7.6 billion, while local governments could save $7.2 billion.
These cost savings could be realized through a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of exclusively non-violent offenders, who now make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population.
A review of the extensive research on incarceration and crime suggests that these savings could be achieved without any appreciable deterioration in public safety.
Read the report
The threats to our society from binging on mass incarceration are well documented. The bottom line is that the U.S. is spending billions of dollars building the prison-industrial complex and society is the poorer (in more ways than one) for it. And it is too bad that states like Idaho are guided by ideology rather than rationality - the prison population continues to grow while the budgets continue to shrink, thus ensuring more future failures.
These cost savings could be realized through a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of exclusively non-violent offenders, who now make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population.
A review of the extensive research on incarceration and crime suggests that these savings could be achieved without any appreciable deterioration in public safety.
Read the report
The threats to our society from binging on mass incarceration are well documented. The bottom line is that the U.S. is spending billions of dollars building the prison-industrial complex and society is the poorer (in more ways than one) for it. And it is too bad that states like Idaho are guided by ideology rather than rationality - the prison population continues to grow while the budgets continue to shrink, thus ensuring more future failures.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
"A Human Rights Nightmare is Occurring on Our Watch"
With 5% of the world's population, the United States today boasts 25% of its prison population. Despite declining crime rates in the last three decades (even in the midst of our current recession), rates of incarceration in the U.S. have been stunning. The Economist recently called this trend "a disgrace."
Even more staggering has been the racial disparity in the people our nation incarcerates.
In her new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Ohio State University legal scholar Michelle Alexander cogently considers the tidal wave of incarceration that has swept America in the past 30 years. She says mass incarceration has created a "new racial undercaste" which, although race-neutral on its face, has sharply greater impacts on people of color. "A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch," Alexander asserts; if we avert our gaze, "history will judge us harshly."
Read more...
Reported street crime down, prison and jail populations continue to grow (albeit at a slower rate). As a utilitarian, I believe we have exceeded the number of people we need to incarcerate in order to have an impact on crime. Mass incarceration breeds theories such as those of Professor Alexander. Capitalism has also staked a claim in the prison-industrial complex. Some speculate that mass incarceration is a way to control the surplus labor pool. There are elements of reality in all of these theories. Clearly, mass incarceration represents the worst in an out of control criminal justice system.
Even more staggering has been the racial disparity in the people our nation incarcerates.
In her new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Ohio State University legal scholar Michelle Alexander cogently considers the tidal wave of incarceration that has swept America in the past 30 years. She says mass incarceration has created a "new racial undercaste" which, although race-neutral on its face, has sharply greater impacts on people of color. "A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch," Alexander asserts; if we avert our gaze, "history will judge us harshly."
Read more...
Reported street crime down, prison and jail populations continue to grow (albeit at a slower rate). As a utilitarian, I believe we have exceeded the number of people we need to incarcerate in order to have an impact on crime. Mass incarceration breeds theories such as those of Professor Alexander. Capitalism has also staked a claim in the prison-industrial complex. Some speculate that mass incarceration is a way to control the surplus labor pool. There are elements of reality in all of these theories. Clearly, mass incarceration represents the worst in an out of control criminal justice system.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Prosecutorial Misconduct
He was known as a jailhouse lawyer, a high school dropout turned amateur legal adviser who helped other inmates file legal motions and craft appeals while he served a sentence of 34 years to life for a murder he swore he never committed.
But the cause for which the inmate, Jabbar Collins, most zealously advocated was his own. He requested public records; tracked down old witnesses; and, on at least one occasion, impersonated a law enforcement officer — all in an effort to gather evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
The fruit of Mr. Collins’s efforts wound its way to United States District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday and into the hands of Judge Dora L. Irizarry, who indicated that she would vacate his 15-year-old murder conviction because of concerns about how the prosecution was handled by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
Read more...
Witness misidentification and misconduct by police and prosecutors are leading factors in wrongful convictions. The judge in this case captures part of the problem -“Prosecutors have a duty not just to get a conviction by any means necessary or at all cost but to do justice, as hokey as that sounds.”
When prosecutors function in a political world of winning and losing, some are tempted to take shortcuts to victory. Justice (and finding the real perpetrator) be damned.
Update on this case.
But the cause for which the inmate, Jabbar Collins, most zealously advocated was his own. He requested public records; tracked down old witnesses; and, on at least one occasion, impersonated a law enforcement officer — all in an effort to gather evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
The fruit of Mr. Collins’s efforts wound its way to United States District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday and into the hands of Judge Dora L. Irizarry, who indicated that she would vacate his 15-year-old murder conviction because of concerns about how the prosecution was handled by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
Read more...
Witness misidentification and misconduct by police and prosecutors are leading factors in wrongful convictions. The judge in this case captures part of the problem -“Prosecutors have a duty not just to get a conviction by any means necessary or at all cost but to do justice, as hokey as that sounds.”
When prosecutors function in a political world of winning and losing, some are tempted to take shortcuts to victory. Justice (and finding the real perpetrator) be damned.
Update on this case.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Idaho Ranks Among Bottom Five States in Mental Health Spending
On average, a seriously mentally ill person in the USA is three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, a report concludes today.
In no state was a seriously mentally ill person — someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, for example — less likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, the report by the National Sheriffs' Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center found.
But there were wide variations among states. In North Dakota, a seriously mentally ill person was equally likely to be hospitalized as incarcerated. But in Nevada and Arizona, such a person was nearly 10 times more likely to be jailed than hospitalized.
Read more...
In Idaho, the odds are 4.6 to 1 that a mentally ill person would be incarcerated instead of being hospitalized.
The bottom five states in mental health spending are Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma. I am tempted to ask if things can get worse in the criminal justice system, but of course the answer is yes. Idaho continues to add new inmates while cutting the budget. Fewer options for treatment, more inmates with mental health issues is not a formula for future success.
Here is a link to the report.
In no state was a seriously mentally ill person — someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, for example — less likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, the report by the National Sheriffs' Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center found.
But there were wide variations among states. In North Dakota, a seriously mentally ill person was equally likely to be hospitalized as incarcerated. But in Nevada and Arizona, such a person was nearly 10 times more likely to be jailed than hospitalized.
Read more...
In Idaho, the odds are 4.6 to 1 that a mentally ill person would be incarcerated instead of being hospitalized.
The bottom five states in mental health spending are Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma. I am tempted to ask if things can get worse in the criminal justice system, but of course the answer is yes. Idaho continues to add new inmates while cutting the budget. Fewer options for treatment, more inmates with mental health issues is not a formula for future success.
Here is a link to the report.
A Rare Breed
In his 43-year career as a federal judge, Jack B. Weinstein has come to be identified by his efforts to combat what he calls “the unnecessary cruelty of the law.” His most recent crusade is particularly striking because of the beneficiary: a man who has amassed a vast collection of child pornography.
There is little public sympathy for collectors of child pornography. Yet across the country, an increasing number of federal judges have come to their defense, criticizing changes to sentencing laws that have effectively quadrupled their average prison term over the last decade.
Read more...
Too many people have bought into the myth of deterrence - all we need to do is get tough on crime and the problem will be solved. Deterrence is far more complicated that this simple formula. And recent evidence suggests that we have lost most or all of any deterrent value by continuing to lengthen punishments.
Some states have begun to back off draconian punishments, but mainly due to the financial situation. But judges like Jack Weinstein are an example of the potential to reverse decades of failed sentencing policy. If more judges would follow his lead, prosecutors and legislatures might take heed.
There is little public sympathy for collectors of child pornography. Yet across the country, an increasing number of federal judges have come to their defense, criticizing changes to sentencing laws that have effectively quadrupled their average prison term over the last decade.
Read more...
Too many people have bought into the myth of deterrence - all we need to do is get tough on crime and the problem will be solved. Deterrence is far more complicated that this simple formula. And recent evidence suggests that we have lost most or all of any deterrent value by continuing to lengthen punishments.
Some states have begun to back off draconian punishments, but mainly due to the financial situation. But judges like Jack Weinstein are an example of the potential to reverse decades of failed sentencing policy. If more judges would follow his lead, prosecutors and legislatures might take heed.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I am a Criminal And So Are You
Lately, I've been telling people that I'm a criminal. This shocks most people, since I don't "look like" one. I'm a fairly clean-cut, light-skinned black woman with fancy degrees from Vanderbilt University and Stanford Law School. I'm a law professor and I once clerked for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice -- not the sort of thing you'd expect a criminal to do.
What'd you get convicted of? people ask. Nothing, I say. Well, then why do you say you're a criminal? Because I am a criminal, I say, just like you.
This is where the conversation gets interesting. Most of my acquaintances don't think of themselves as criminals. No matter what their color, age or gender, most of the people in my neighborhood and in my workplace seem to think criminals exist somewhere else -- in ghettos, mainly.
Read more...
Alexander has touched a lot of sensitive issues with this essay and with her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
On one level she is saying that all of us have committed crimes for which we could have been punished. Now the usual definition of a criminal is someone who has been caught and convicted of violating the law. Maybe Alexander's definition fails to meet the legal criteria, but her other point is that crime and criminality is a social and political phenomenon.
She points out that many people believe that criminals are other people, and that they themselves are law abiding. Not true - we are all criminals. Granted, most of us have not committed violent felonies with the exception of Massey Energy, BP, and Toyota, to name just a few. But what about adultery? Or fornication? Or crime against nature? Drinking under age? Illegal and legal drugs? The list goes on and on.
Part of our current problem is that too many people are in prison and jail for non-violent crimes and that too many of these people are black, brown, and poor. We are building a huge, permanent underclass that will tax our resources well into the future. Several states are beginning to reduce this trend, but states like Idaho are only cutting their budgets, which will ensure that more people will fail.
If you are ever tempted to judge someone because, please keep in mind that but for the grace of God, there go I.
What'd you get convicted of? people ask. Nothing, I say. Well, then why do you say you're a criminal? Because I am a criminal, I say, just like you.
This is where the conversation gets interesting. Most of my acquaintances don't think of themselves as criminals. No matter what their color, age or gender, most of the people in my neighborhood and in my workplace seem to think criminals exist somewhere else -- in ghettos, mainly.
Read more...
Alexander has touched a lot of sensitive issues with this essay and with her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
On one level she is saying that all of us have committed crimes for which we could have been punished. Now the usual definition of a criminal is someone who has been caught and convicted of violating the law. Maybe Alexander's definition fails to meet the legal criteria, but her other point is that crime and criminality is a social and political phenomenon.
She points out that many people believe that criminals are other people, and that they themselves are law abiding. Not true - we are all criminals. Granted, most of us have not committed violent felonies with the exception of Massey Energy, BP, and Toyota, to name just a few. But what about adultery? Or fornication? Or crime against nature? Drinking under age? Illegal and legal drugs? The list goes on and on.
Part of our current problem is that too many people are in prison and jail for non-violent crimes and that too many of these people are black, brown, and poor. We are building a huge, permanent underclass that will tax our resources well into the future. Several states are beginning to reduce this trend, but states like Idaho are only cutting their budgets, which will ensure that more people will fail.
If you are ever tempted to judge someone because, please keep in mind that but for the grace of God, there go I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)