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Criminal Justice System

Absolute Corruption Is the Rule in America

David A. Love | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Treasury Department, Capitalism, Wall Street, Blue Dogs, Health Care Reform, Max Baucus, Bernard Madoff, Joe Lieberman, Health Care, Healthcare, Blue Dog Democrats, Corruption, Citibank, Bank Bailout, Stock Market, Corporations, Banking Crisis, Sec, Corporate Greed, Citigroup, Regulation, Madoff Ponzi Scheme, Ponzi Scheme, Deregulation, New York, Criminal Justice System, Glass-Steagall, Politics News
David A. Love

Often, people will look at a high-profile example of corruption, and conclude that the egregious act is an exception to the rule. In reality, it might be the tip of the iceberg.

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Governor Rick Perry and His Texas Death Machine Are In Big Trouble

David A. Love | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Dna, George Bush, Capital Punishment, Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Crime, Rick Perry Secession, George W. Bush, Criminal Justice, Rick Perry, Texas, Jim Crow, New Yorker, Prison, Lynching, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice System, Death Penalty, Craig Beyler, Sharon Keller, Politics News
David A. Love

Cameron Todd Willingham is now a free man, but unfortunately it took death to release him from the confines of his prison bars.

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Torn Apart by Deportation, Families Struggle to Stay Together

Seth Freed Wessler | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Crime, Washington DC, Obama, Families for Freedom, Immigration, Criminal Justice, Child Citizen Protection Act, 287(G), New York, Barack Obama, Deportation, Racewire, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Reform, Colorlines, Nytimes, Criminal Justice System, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Prison, Applied Research Center, Jamaica, Jail, Politics News
Seth Freed Wessler

Families are being torn apart by deportation at the treacherous intersection of immigration enforcement and the criminal justice system.

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Prison Programs Take Innovative Approach To Reducing Recidivism

Halle Tecco | Posted 10.19.2009 | Living

Read More: Government, Law, Crime, Recidivism, Criminal Justice System, Prison, The Giving Life, Non-Profits, Criminal Justice, Pranks, Living News
Halle Tecco

Here's a question to the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world: how do we turn tax-consuming inmates into tax paying, law-abiding citizens?

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They Walk Among Us

Geri Spieler | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Murder, Phillip Garrido, Sara Jane Moore, Criminal Justice System, Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Three-Strikes-Laws, Justice Department, Squeaky Fromme, Politics News
Geri Spieler

Timing is everything when you are convicted of murder. Sentencing is all about timing. Guidelines change, and so do prison sentences.

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Shouldn't Innocence Matter?

David C. Fathi | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Supreme Court, Capital Punishment, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Death Penalty, Criminal Justice, Civil Rights, Politics News
David C. Fathi

The shocking truth is that even if the court concludes that Troy Anthony Davis -- who has been on Georgia's death row for 18 years -- is innocent, that may not be enough to save him from the death chamber.

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Study of Georgia's Wrongfully Convicted Highlights Powerful Need for Reform

John Terzano | Posted 09.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Wrongful Conviction, The Justice Project, Georgia, Eyewitness-Errors, Criminal Justice System, Politics News
John Terzano

For twenty innocent Georgians, eight years is the average length of time each spent behind bars for a crime they did not commit.

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A Job Nobody Wants: In Defense of (Gasp!) Drug Dealers

Mark Olmsted | Posted 11.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Poverty, Terrorists, Criminal Justice System, Drug Dealing, Prisoners, Inmates, Cure, Dehumanization, Changing Perception, Jim Webb, Politics News
Mark Olmsted

The man at the gas station who hands over Marlboro Lights is never called the scum of the earth. The makers of Oxycontin, Valium, and Vicodin -- the biggest drug dealers in the word -- spend no time in prison cells.

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Lapses Are the Norm, Not the Exception When It Comes to Our Justice System

Amy Bach | Posted 11.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Exoneration, Dna, Edward Flynn, Criminal Justice System, Walter Ellis, Department of Justice, Evidence, Dna Evidence, Troy Davis, John Dipko, Politics News
Amy Bach

Law enforcement agencies work independently of each other, and don't coordinate well as a rule. When problems do arise, they are quick to renounce responsibility. Usually, they blame each other.

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Disorder on the Border: Trashing the Law in the Name of Immigration Deterrence

Randall Amster | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: New Orleans, Humanitarian, Grassroots, Department of Interior, No More Deaths Border, Immigration, Border Wall, Humanitarian Aid, Deterrence, Faith-Based, Environmental Degradation, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Water, Illegal Immigrants, Doctrine of Necessity, Hurricane Katrina, Alice's Restaurant, Sierra Club, Litter, Politics News
Randall Amster

The strategy of deterrence that drives both border enforcement and crackdowns on humanitarians is fundamentally flawed.

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Trial and Error: Houston, We've Got a Problem

Lynne Glasner | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Exoneration, Trisha Meili, Texas-Executions, Jeffrey-Deskovic, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Manhattan District Attorney, Richard Aborn, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty, Central-Park-Jogger, Politics News
Lynne Glasner

As Morgenthau steps down as DA, one of the three primary contestants stands out. Richard Aborn has a track record of working for reform.

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Botched Search Warrant Negates Drug Convictions

Chicago Tribune | Jeff Long | Posted 11.08.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Illinois State Police, Search Warrants, Search Warrant Mistakes, Criminal Justice System, Jerry Lechner, Arrest Warrant, Chicago News

When police charged into the building with a battering ram, their search warrant authorized them to smash open the door of Apartment D at the top of t...

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Cameron Todd Willingham: Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?

Huffington Post | Posted 10.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Criminal Justice System, Capital Punishment, Cameron Willingham Innocence, Crime, Elizabeth Gilbert, Texas, Arson, Innocence Project, Barry Sheck, Cameron Todd Willingham Execution, Dna Testing, Gerald Hurst, Cameron Willingham Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Death Penalty, Cameron Willngham Death Penalty, Death Row, Politics News

Huffington Post blogger Barry Scheck, of the Innocence Project, weighs in on the new evidence revealed by an investigative report in the New Yorker on...

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Losing Wars We Already Won (Part I): Torture vs. WWII

Shahid Buttar | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Torture Investigation, Nuremberg Trials, Human Rights, Cold War, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Torture, Wwii, Criminal Justice System, Guantanamo Torture, Guantanamo, Criminal Justice, John Durham, Veterans, Politics News
Shahid Buttar

Despite public pressure from voices across the political spectrum, the Obama administration continues to sweep torture under the rug.

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Breaking Our Addiction to Prison

Gen. Barry McCaffrey | Posted 08.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Drug Addiction, Biden Crime Bill, Drug Court, Criminal Justice System, Prison, Dennis Challeen, Incarceration Rates, Samhsa, Substance Abuse, Drug Crime, Politics News
Gen. Barry McCaffrey

It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Drug Courts work. Drug Courts significantly reduce drug abuse and crime and do so at less expense than any other justice strategy.

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Why America Needs the Rage of the Privileged Black Class

Natalie Holder-Winfield | Posted 08.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: President Obama, Race, Henry Louis Gates Arrested, Criminal Justice System, Police, Obama Crowley Gates, Obama-Henry-Louis-Gates, Racial Profiling, Obama Race, Politics News
Natalie Holder-Winfield

Given the opportunity for improved police-community relations, it's actually a good thing that Sgt. Crowley didn't know who he was "messing" with.

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"All Rise!": A Better Way of Justice Is Now In Session

Nick Gillie | Posted 08.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Drug Addiction, All Rise, Drugs, War on Drugs, Drug Courts, Judges, Criminal Justice System, Judicial System, Politics News
Nick Gillie

It is time to abandon "conventional" views that prison is the solution to addiction, and consider what the research says.

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False Confessions: What Would It Take to Make You Confess?

John Terzano | Posted 08.14.2009 | Home

Read More: False Confessions, Criminal Justice System, The Justice Project, New York Times, Reform, Texas, Policy, Chicago Tribune, Electronic-Recording, Home News
John Terzano

Most people find it hard to understand how anyone could ever confess to a crime they did not commit. But it happens over and over again. False confessions are a well-documented reality.

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Guantánamo Detainees in U.S. Federal Courts

David Laufman | Posted 08.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo, Federal Court, Al Queda, Criminal Justice System, Obama Guantanamo, Criminal Trial, Guantanamo Detainees, Politics News
David Laufman

As the Obama Administration grapples with resolving the detention of prisoners at Guantánamo, one option which must be preserved is the criminal prosecution of detainees in U.S. federal courts.

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What If Released Inmates Stopped Committing Crimes?: Prison Reform That's Already Working -- Like Nothing You've Seen Before

Pamela Gerloff | Posted 07.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Prison Reform, Non-Violent Crime, Criminal-Justice-System, Crime, Prison Violence, Recidivism, Prison System, Prison, Senator Webb, Senator Jim Webb, Violent Crime, Violence, Criminal Justice, Inmates, Jim Webb, Prison Inmates, Politics News
Pamela Gerloff

Let's start changing our lock-up facilities into places that actually cause inmates to change their behavior -- so that when they leave them they never go back.

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Violent Criminals, Prison Cutbacks and the Women Who Suffer The Consequences

Danielle Cavallucci | Posted 07.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Women's Rights, Violence Against Women, Low-Level Drug Offenders, Criminal Justice System, Orange County, Domestic Violence, Cutbacks, Politics News
Danielle Cavallucci

Once again, the system operating under the auspices of service, protection and justice has failed.

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Why We Must Reform Our Criminal Justice System

Sen. Jim Webb | Posted 07.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Prison Reform, Senator Jim Webb, Criminal Justice System, National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009, Ex-Offender Re-Entry Programs, Gangs, Mexico Drug Wars, Drug Policy, Politics News
Sen. Jim Webb

One in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release. Numbers only tell part of the story.

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The Criminal (In)justice System

Saul Segan | Posted 07.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Legal System, Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Pharmacist, Criminal Justice System, Self-Defense, Politics News
Saul Segan

Pharmacist Jerome Erslund was accosted by two gunmen in his place of business and is now being charged with murder.

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A Latino Rodney King?

Daniel Cubias | Posted 06.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Latinos, Shenandoah, Hate Crimes, Luis Ramirez, Criminal Justice System, Race Relations, H1N1 Influenza, Immigration, Hispanics, Right-Wing Extremism, Mexican-American-Legal-Defense-Education-Fund, Rodney King, Politics News
Daniel Cubias

The verdict would actually make more sense if the teens had been acquitted of all charges. In that case, the implication is that the boys had nothing to do with the fight or Luis Ramirez's death.

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Los Angeles' Juvenile Justice Fiasco

Jacqueline Caster | Posted 06.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Los Angeles, Juvenile Justice System, Juvenile Dentention, Juvenile Crime, California, Los Angeles-California, Criminal Justice System, Juvenile Justice, Politics News
Jacqueline Caster

We can go a long way toward helping California's budget crisis simply by reforming Los Angeles County's antiquated juvenile justice system. Californ...

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