Smart on Crime in North Carolina
Published October 30, 2009 @ 06:19AM PT
A few years ago, the West End neighborhood of High Point, North Carolina, had a serious crime problem. Drug dealers controlled entire blocks, gun shots rang out at night. But now the streets are safer. Violence is down. And locals say a targeted, community-based approach to drugs and crime brought the change they needed.
A great story last week in the Economist checks in on High Point and finds solid evidence that the 'smart-on-crime' approach works.
High Point Police Chief Jim Fealy tells the Economist that his department did the normal thing for years, where officers would “come rolling in like an occupying army" and descend upon West End's rough blocks. It didn't work.
On Judicial Diversity, I'm with Clarence
Published October 29, 2009 @ 07:16AM PT
In a talk last week at the University of Alabama, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said he wants to see more diversity (geographic diversity, at least) on the Supreme Court, and presumably, on lower courts throughout the land.
"My goal is to have a court that is fair, and I think it's fair when we are fair in selecting people from all parts of the country, from all walks of life," Thomas said. He went on to say that he prefers to hire clerks from modest backgrounds.
It's an odd sentiment to hear from the mouth of an outspoken opponent of affirmative action.
A Typewriter in Kenya, and the Need for Global Justice Journalism
Published October 28, 2009 @ 03:51PM PT
The Global Post -- an excellent source of news from around the world -- ran a story recently on a Kenyan prison with a paralegal class and a single typewriter.
It's an inspiring -- and frustrating -- story. A Christian legal organization called CLEAR runs a paralegal training class in Kenya's Kisumu prison. Prisoners help one another with appeals and they learn a trade they'll be able to practice once they're released.
But here's the frustrating part: the prison office has a single typewriter, and every appeals goes through it. Since appeals in Kenya need to have seven copies, it takes a while to get a single document written. The appeals process was paralyzed recently when the typewriter broke down.
This case tells us a great deal about justice in the developing world, and I've written before about how something as simple as paperwork can cause terrible injustices. But I want to focus for a moment on the reporting itself.
Sidestepping Immigration to Focus on Solving Crimes
Published October 28, 2009 @ 06:28AM PT
When federal and local officials work on identifying, detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants, there's something else they're not doing: investigating, solving and preventing crime.
A great op-ed yesterday in the Los Angeles Times by LAPD Chief William Bratton makes a forceful and eloquent case for police departments to keep their priorities straight.
Police officers should concentrate their energy on solving crime, and undocumented immigrants shouldn't be afraid to come into contact with police if they witness a crime, or even more importantly, if they are the victims of a crime.
Unfortunately, police departments across the country are moving in the opposite direction. More than 65 law enforcement agencies across the county have entered into a partnership with the federal government, called 287(g). This program gives police officers the power to act as agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a monumentally bad idea. Bratton argues, rightly, that this program takes critical emphasis away from crime investigation and prevention.
A Community Option for Alabama Juveniles
Published October 27, 2009 @ 03:24PM PT
It was the tough-on-crime, war on drugs 1970s and 1980s. America feared a dangerous outbreak in juvenile crime, and lawmakers cracked down -- passing legislation to ensure that kids were incarcerated for breaking the law -- even if they were non-violent first-time offenders.
Alabama's prison system grew faster than the rest of country during the tough-on-crime years, but not by much. From 1977 to 2000 Alabama prisons grew by 373%, compared to 364% for the country as a whole. We were all swept up in the hysteria.
Well, things are definitely changing, in Alabama and elsewhere. Last year, Alabama legislators passed laws requiring judges to choose community sentences and other alternatives to incarceration for non-violent juvenile offenders. This means kids who make a mistake might have a chance to stay with their families, stay in school, get some special training -- the opportunities that research shows actually prevents crime later in life.
Two Posthumous Pardons in South Carolina
Published October 27, 2009 @ 07:07AM PT
Last week, the South Carolina pardon board voted unanimously to clear the names of two men executed in 1915 for a murder they may not have committed. The men -- Meeks and Thomas Griffin -- were great uncles of syndicated radio talk show host Tom Joyner (left), who sought the pardons after learning last year about the men’s story.
It was the first posthumous pardon ever granted in a capital case by the state of South Carolina.
I wrote about this case a couple of weeks ago, and I’m excited to be able to report on this positive outcome. Joyner was delighted with the news:
“It’s good for the community, it’s good for the nation. Anytime you can repair racism in this country is a step forward,” he said.
Pot and the Safe Driving Myth
Published October 26, 2009 @ 06:19AM PT
Advocates for marijuana reform frequently argue that the drug should be legalized because it's safe. This is generally true, and I support legalization for this and many other reasons. But when it comes to driving and safety, legalization advocates often go a step too far -- claiming that driving under the influence of marijuana is not dangerous and that marijuana causes zero deaths each year. These misleading arguments are harming the reform movement.
It's a fact: marijuana impairs driving ability. Reliable scientific studies have shown that marijuana usage causes slower reaction time, impairs eye tracking and lateral awareness and that drivers fail to reliably regulate speed and the distance between their car and the car ahead of them. Driving ability is especially bad when the a person has smoked recently. The authors of the recent book "Marijuana is Safer" agree that driving while high shouldn't be condoned, though they focus on the decreased risk when driving high is compared to driving drunk.
It's true: driving drunk is worse than driving high. Legalizing marijuana may lead to a decrease in drunk driving deaths, and this is a good thing. But it's no reason to turn a blind eye to driving under the influence of drugs. We should be working now to advocate against ever driving under the influence of pot, and when marijuana is legalized, tax income from pot sales could be used in part to support a public awareness campaign about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana.
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