Criminal Justice System

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.

Read Post

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...

Read Post

Security Central to Tackling Poverty in the 21st Century

Douglas Alexander | Posted 05.28.2009 | World

Read More: Uk, European Union, Security, Peace, Civil War, Criminal Justice System, Ndn, Safety, Community, Afghanistan, World News
Douglas Alexander

In countries afflicted by conflict we must now add to that core mission a commitment to build peace and to build functioning states.

Read Post

Police Brutality: Deal With It

Norm Stamper | Posted 04.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: Police Brutality, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice System, Police, Abner Louima, Paul Schene, Deputy Beats Girl, Police Beating, Cop Admits Beating, Deputy Paul Schene, Rodney King, 15 Year Old Girl Beaten, Politics News
Norm Stamper

As a rookie cop, why did I abuse the very people I'd been hired to serve? Law enforcement, for the most part, doesn't pick bad apples. It makes them, and not through academy training.

Read Post

Presumed Innocent? Bernie Madoff?

Dan Abrams | Posted 04.01.2009 | Media

Read More: Dan Abrams, TV News, Criminal Justice System, Jury Trials, TV Legal Analysts, Criminal Justice, Media, OJ Simpson, Innocent Until Proven Guilty, Media News
Dan Abrams

People constantly complain to me about news coverage of criminal cases. "What happened to the presumption of innocence?" they ask at almost every turn. Well, I'm tired of it.

Read Post

Kids for Cash

Robert Koehler | Posted 03.29.2009 | Politics

Read More: Fraud, Punishment, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Children, Amy-Swartley, Pennsylvania, Obama Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-Jailing-Kids-for-Cash, Politics News
Robert Koehler

A number of bad ideas and virulent trends in American life converge, it seems to me, in the unfolding scandal in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., known as "kids for cash."

Read Post

Almost is Not Enough

Jack Healey | Posted 03.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: South Africa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bush Administration Torture, Burma, Criminal Justice System, Argentina, Chile, National League for Democracy, Rwanda, Torture, Politics News
Jack Healey

As we move into the new year, with a new administration and a new outlook on the world, let us work toward "no on torture" both at home and around the world.

Read Post

The Long-Awaited Call for Forensic Science Reform

John Terzano | Posted 03.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: The Justice Project, Crime Labs, Forensic Science, National Academy of Sciences, Forensic Tests, Dna, Criminal Justice System, National Institute of Forensic Science, Csi, Politics News
John Terzano

Ensuring the best and most accurate evidence makes it into the courtroom is absolutely critical to maintaining fairness and accuracy in the criminal justice system.

Read Post

Patriarchal Privilege: Will We Ever Stop Protecting Johns?

Susan Braudy | Posted 03.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Prostitution, Eliot Spitzer, Johns, Criminal Justice System, Eliot Spitzer Hookers, Emperors Club, Politics News
Susan Braudy

The fact that rich clients are protected from any publicity only confirms their privileged status--and shows them that they can keep doing what they do.

Read Post

Strange Bedfellows at Guantánamo

Jamil Dakwar | Posted 03.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, War on Terror, Terrorism, Army Field Manual, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, CIA Torture, Obama Gitmo, Criminal Justice, Black Sites, War on Terrorism, Gitmo, Barack Obama, Bagram, Cia, Criminal Justice System, Obama Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo Detainees, Torture, Politics News
Jamil Dakwar

I've been observing the military commissions since 2004, and Guantánamo never felt more surreal or otherworldly than it did in what we hope were its ...

Read Post

The Price of Justice: Time to Invest in Criminal Justice Reforms

Ginny Sloan | Posted 03.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Exoneration, Wrongful Conviction, Criminal Justice, Dna, Ginny Sloan, Jon Gould, Lawyers, Criminal Justice System, Prisoners, Legislation, Politics News
Ginny Sloan

It is easy -- but wrong -- to say that we can save money by slashing government funding for lawyers for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own.

Read Post

Eric Holder: Help Save 49 Lives, Please!

Claudia Ricci | Posted 03.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Death Penalty, Criminal Justice System, Eric Holder, Senator Feingold, Death Row, Capital Punishment, Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft, Texas Death Penalty, Attorney General Holder, Obama Death Penalty, Buddhism, Politics News
Claudia Ricci

If it were up to me, I would withdraw death penalty eligibility in all of the pending cases, and I would tell prosecutors never to seek the death penalty. There is the possibility of saving 49 lives.

Read Post

Video for Change: The ICC and Justice for Child Soldiers in the DRC

Yvette Alberdingk Thijm | Posted 03.07.2009 | World

Read More: Killing, Luis Moreno Ocampo, World, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bukeni Waruzi, Child Soldiers, War, Holland, Criminal Justice, Congo Violence, Congo, Abu Ghraib, War Crimes, Thomas Lubanga, Congo War, Military, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Africa, International Criminal Court, World News
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm

The International Criminal Court commenced its first trial Jan 26, and I am inspired by the myriad and unprecedented ways video and technology have been incorporated into the proceedings.

Read Post

An Open Letter To Jeh Johnson/General Counsel, Department of Defense

H. Candace Gorman | Posted 03.05.2009 | World

Read More: Guantanamo, Obama Guantanamo, Closing Guantanamo, Letters, Letter to the President, Criminal Justice System, Prisoners, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo Bay, Obama Gitmo, Criminal Justice, Gitmo Detainees, Gitmo, World News
H. Candace Gorman

As the rest of the world is standing by waiting to see us take responsibility for Gitmo, we should release the Uighur detainees into the United States and grant them provisional asylum.

Read Post

CIA Secret Rendition Policy Backed by Human Rights Groups?

Tom Hayden | Posted 03.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: LA Times, Obama Justice Department, European Union, CIA Torture, Obama Administration, Criminal Justice, Italy, Justice Department, Macedonia, Barack Obama, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Human Rights Watch, Egypt, Middle East, Albania, Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Times, Europe, Torture, Politics News
Tom Hayden

If the Justice Department wants to defend renditions as constitutional on "national security" grounds, human rights groups should meet them in court and seek a better outcome.

Read Post

Justice Threatens Peace in Congo & Rwanda

Olivier Kamanda | Posted 03.04.2009 | World

Read More: Rwanda Genocide, Rwanda, Amnesty International, International Law, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Laurent Nkunda, Criminal Justice System, Africa, Criminal Justice, World News
Olivier Kamanda

In recent months, a number of warrants, arrests, and prosecutions have provided African countries with an opportunity to test the international criminal legal regime.

Read Post

Lying Voter Fraud D.A. Also a Racist?

Mike Stark | Posted 03.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Voter Fraud, Racism, Joe Deters, Ohio, District Attorney, Lawyers, Criminal Justice System, Criminal Justice, Law School, Crack, Politics News
Mike Stark

In the past week I've learned that the power of the prosecutor is extraordinary. If he decides not to charge, there's not a thing anyone can say or do about it.

Read Post

Local Pride and Supermax

Christopher Brauchli | Posted 03.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Prison, Immigration Debate, Illegal Immigrants, Closing Guantanamo, Guantanamo Detainees, Supermax, Unabomber, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Criminal Justice, Prisons, Ted Kaczynski, Richard Reid, Politics News
Christopher Brauchli

The list of prisoners who have been or are presently at Supermax is quite distinguished as prison rosters go; it includes Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," and Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber."

Read Post

Searching for Accountability in Gaza

Richard Bennet and Nicholas Quin | Posted 02.28.2009 | World

Read More: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Lebanon, Us Allies, Gaza, Crime, United Nations, War, Palestinians, Criminal Justice, Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Hamas, Israel Death Toll, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Prosecution, War Crimes, Criminal Justice System, Israel Gaza Airstrikes, Idf, Israel, Israel Airstrikes, Israel Gaza Invasion, International Court of Justice, World News
Richard Bennet and Nicholas Quin

In handling the case of the Gaza airstrikes, any war crimes prosecutor would be dealing with a mere snapshot of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict.

Read Post

Good Riddance Gitmo!

Patricia DeGennaro | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo, US Foreign Policy, Afghanistan, Barack Obama Guantanamo, Torture, Guantanamo Detainees, Kidnapping, Crime, Criminal Justice System, Incarceration Rates, Freedom, Criminal Justice, Detainees, Politics News
Patricia DeGennaro

Stuff? Is that what waterboarding is? Just stuff? How about putting hoods over people's heads and making them pile on each other naked like they did at Abu Ghraib? Is that also just stuff?

Read Post

Blago is The New Media Pinata. A Whacky Devil. Great Fun!

Blake Fleetwood | Posted 02.27.2009 | Media

Read More: Blagojevich, Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, Impeachment, Lisa Madigan, Blago, Governor, Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, Rod Blagojevich Scandal, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Criminal Justice, Rod Blagojevich Corruption, Rod Blagoyevich, Criminal Justice System, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich Indictment, Media News
Blake Fleetwood

Today, after being impeached by the Illinois House, the Senate is hearing evidence to remove Rod Blagojevich, which it will probably do in the next few days.

Read Post

President Obama Must Free Leonard Peltier

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman | Posted 02.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Prison Industry, Native Americans, Leonard Peltier, Obama, Justice, Prison Inmates, Imprisonment, Crime, Prisoners, Fbi, Amnesty International, Criminal Justice, Unfair Sentencing, Criminal Justice System, Political Prisoners, Jail, Prisons, 1970s, Politics News
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

Imprisoned in the late 1970s for allegedly murdering two FBI agents, Leonard Peltier has never been given a fair trial.

Read Post

The Devastating Consequences of Prosecutorial Misconduct

John Terzano | Posted 02.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Wrongful Conviction, Exculpatory Evidence, The Justice Project, Post-Conviction Dna, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Murder, Us Prison System, Prison System, Prison, Crime, Criminal Justice System, Prisoners, Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Politics News
John Terzano

Tim Masters was fifteen years old at the time of his alleged crime, and was not convicted until 12 years later. He languished in prison for almost ten years, and spent half his life trying to prove his innocence.

Read Post

New Year, New Administration, More Clemency

Jason Flom | Posted 02.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: George H. W. Bush, George Bush, Drug Sentencing, Grammys, Criminal Justice, Drugs, Music, Ben Taylor, Unfair Sentencing, The Beatles, Whitney Houston, George H.W. Bush, New Jersey, The Fugees, Carly Simon, Jail, Drug Trafficking, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Crime, John Forte, Exeter, Keith Richards, New York City, Elvis Presley, Presidential Pardons, Criminal Justice System, Prison, Beatles, Lava Records, Bush Pardons, Music Industry, Cocaine, Phillips Exeter, Politics News
Jason Flom

Obama ran on a campaign promise of change. He can begin by using the pardon power generously to correct as many individual cases of injustice as possible.

Read Post

Letting Go of the Death Penalty

Richard C. Dieter | Posted 02.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Exoneration, Law, Death Row, Death Row Exoneration, California, Execution, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Economic Crisis, Financial Crisis, Death Penalty, Criminal Justice, Politics News
Richard C. Dieter

California has 670 people on death row. Each one of them costs the state about $90,000 per year over what it would cost to keep them in prison if they were condemned to permanent jail time instead.

Read Post