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Criminal Law

The Justice Gambit

Commentary on events in the U.S. system of justice from a social science perspective.
By Michael Blankenship

Post Frequency: 2.9/day

Last Entry: March 15, 2011 at 14:45:00

Consensus on Counting the Innocent: We Can?t

Posted on March 25, 2008
"What the debate demonstrates is that we know almost nothing about the number of innocent people in prison."read more | digg story

Decriminalize prostitution

Posted on March 24, 2008
Paying for sex is common. The U.S. should follow Mexico's lead and accept that.read more | digg story

CCA inmate didn't leave cell to shower for 9 mos.

Posted on March 24, 2008
For profit prisons are not the panacea envisioned by elected officials. This story illustrates part of the problem - the bottom line is paramount in this immoral business. read more | digg story

Judge rejects killer's current, future appeals

Posted on March 22, 2008
A federal judge dismissed the latest round of appeals by Idaho's longest-serving death row- inmate.read more | digg storyMr. Sivak is serving two sentences - life on death row and then death at the hands of the State or of natural causes. Think of the costs associated with the trial, conviction, appeals, housing, etc...

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Over Three in Five Americans Believe in Death Penalty

Posted on March 18, 2008
95 percent believe that innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder, while 52 percent don't believe that the death penalty is a deterrent. 63 percent support capital punishment.read more | digg story

In Alabama, a Crackdown on Pregnant Drug Users

Posted on March 15, 2008
In an unusual burst of prosecutions, young women using drugs are being charged with harming their children.read more | digg story

Why so many people in jail?

Posted on March 14, 2008
Pennsylvania must re-evaluate its mandatory sentencing laws. They have created a monster: too many inmates, for too little reason.read more | digg story

Probation bill aims to ease load on Ariz. prisons

Posted on March 08, 2008
The data show that only about a third of offenders on probation commit new crimes. The Arizona legislature is considering changes in the law to reduce the rate of technical violations that lead to prison.read more | digg story

Death-penalty system loaded with racial bias

Posted on March 01, 2008
A bipartisan panel - the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice - is reviewing the evidence of racial, ethnic and geographic disparities and asking what should be done.read more | digg story

Idaho's prison population continues to rise

Posted on March 01, 2008
Idaho's prison population continues to keep pace with the rest of the nation. However, the correction's budget threatens to topple spending on education and health and welfare.read more | digg story

The Prison-Industrial Complex

Posted on February 29, 2008
Prisons have become big business in the U.S, which incarcerates a larger proportion of its citizens than any other country in the world.read more | digg story

1 in 100 Americans Are Behind Bars, Study Says

Posted on February 28, 2008
With the 1.6 million people in prison, the incarceration rate is now the highest in American history, according to a new report.read more | digg story

A Comeback For the Crime Issue

Posted on February 24, 2008
The next big issue is something the candidates aren't talking about.read more | digg story

Most state D.A.'s silent on death-penalty reasoning

Posted on February 20, 2008
Many refuse to answer a law school survey asking how each decided whether to seek execution. L.A. County's Steve Cooley was among the few who did.read more | digg story

Bill would ban non-elected judges from capital cases

Posted on February 20, 2008
In a blatant attempt to fix the outcome of capital cases, 3 Republican law makers have introduced a bill prohibiting non-elected judges from presiding over capital cases. This is a crude attempt to intimidate judges while undermining judicial impartiality...

Crime lab, ME: Investment price of death penalty

Posted on February 19, 2008
The lack of competent forensic experts and the necessary lab space and equipment are evident in the exonerations of two individuals and the capture of the real culprit.read more | digg story

Death penalty panel looks at reasons for reversals

Posted on February 19, 2008
Two common reasons for reversals of capital sentences are misconduct by police and prosecutors and ineffective counsel. read more | digg story

U.S. compares 9/11 cases to Nuremberg trials

Posted on February 13, 2008
The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II...

Nebraska Supreme Court: electric chair not legal

Posted on February 08, 2008
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that electrocution is cruel and unusual punishment, outlawing the electric chair in the only state that still used it as its sole means of execution.read more | digg story

Mine Operators Often Go Unpunished for Citations

Posted on January 28, 2008
CHARLESTON, W.Va., Jan. 27 -- The federal agency that regulates the nation's mining industry says it has failed to penalize mine operators for thousands of citations issued since 2000, and the oversight could extend back more than a decade.read more | digg story

A New Way to Fight the Death Penalty: Sister Helen Prejean

Posted on January 23, 2008
Sister Helen is tacking a new direction in her assault on the death penalty. Research shows that most death penalty supporters believe that killing is wrong, so she is attempting to show that the death penalty is plagued with problems. Will utilitarian arguments will the day? read more | digg story

Death penalty cases can't be tried on the cheap

Posted on January 23, 2008
While capital cases are more expensive than life sentences, funding of indigent capital cases is still woefully inadequate. read more | digg story

Tough but Smart on Drugs

Posted on January 21, 2008
A dozen troubled men and women from Hempstead, N.Y., got an unusual break this month. Instead of the failed policy of arrest and incarceration, these drug dealers participated in a novel program.read more | digg story

WSJ.com - Texas and the Death Penalty

Posted on January 19, 2008
The state solicitor general says he's defending democracy. He is also misrepresenting the views of the families of victims while distorting the actual practice of capital punishment. read more | digg story

Cramming in the Inmates

Posted on January 16, 2008
Kentucky's jails and prisons are overflowing. Does the state spend more money to build more capacity or should it reform its sentencing laws?read more | digg storyThe "get tough" crime control policies of the last 30 years are now bearing a bitter harvest...

Jail is no place for the mentally ill

Posted on January 14, 2008
An estimated 15% of jail inmates are seriously mentally ill. Treatment options are few. Is this the standard that we want to be known for?read more | digg storyAfter serving as a police officer, teaching in the Texas prison system, and my continued study of the criminal justice system for over two decades, I thought I was fairly immune to the deprivations that the system inflicts on individuals...

Clear the Norfolk 4

Posted on January 13, 2008
RARE IS the case that unites prosecutors and defense lawyers, Republicans and Democrats. Rarer still is a case that finds such diverse parties calling for the pardon of multiple defendants convicted of rape and murder.read more | digg storyIt seems that each day we are treated to new stories of the wrongfully convicted...

True and Untrue Confessions

Posted on January 12, 2008
The New York State Legislature should revive and pass a bill that would require videotaping of questioning in felony cases, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer should sign it into law. read more | digg storyThis reform, among others, is needed across the country, not just in New York...

Jurors in a Cape Cod Murder Case Testify About Racial Remarks

Posted on January 12, 2008
More than a year after it convicted a black trash hauler of murder, a jury returned to court for an extraordinary hearing on whether racism influenced its verdict.read more | digg storyThe racially oriented comments reported by jurors are consistent with those reported by researchers involved in the Capital Jury Project...

Government Secrecy about Execution Protocol

Posted on January 07, 2008
The issue of the secrecy surrounding the execution protocol of several states is well documented in today's L.A. Times (and elsewhere). Should the process and its participants enjoy this privilege?Read the storySeveral states have protected their execution protocols from public scrutiny...

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