The Candidates and the Supreme Court

by Matt Kelley

Published October 16, 2008 @ 05:27AM PT

In last night's third presidential debate, the candidates clashed over the Supreme Court. The focus was on Roe v. Wade, but Obama and McCain's answers revealed a great deal about their judicial philosophies.

With so many 5-4 decisions these days, and Justice Anthony Kennedy as the swing vote, the court is in a precarious place. John Paul Stevens, 88, and Ruth Ginsburg, 75, are the two oldest justices. Clarence Thomas is 60, Samuel Alito and John Roberts are both under 60. The next president will almost surely change the face of the court, and it the impact on the rights of prisoners and criminal defendants could be enormous.

Debate video after the jump.

Read More »

Blog Action Day 2008: The poverty line runs through the courtroom

by Matt Kelley

Published October 15, 2008 @ 02:05PM PT

Today is Blog Action Day, and thousands of bloggers around the world are posting about the issue of poverty. The connections (and disconnects) between poverty and justice are as obvious as they are many. In the U.S., and in most of the world, you get the justice you pay for. As the U.S. plunges into recession, we're already seeing states with budget shortfalls making cuts across the board. Indigent defense is often among the first to go.

Some recent news from the world of indigent defense:

• A Georgia judge said recent cuts to the state's public defense budget means a crisis for 2,000 people charged with crimes.
• Minnesota's court system has been slowed this year by state cuts.
• Maine is facing wide-ranging criminal justice cuts, which will affect indigent defense.

Sen. Jim Webb hosts drug war panel today

by Matt Kelley

Published October 15, 2008 @ 05:40AM PT

From Sentencing Law & Policy we learn that Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is holding a symposium today at George Mason University to examine, among other things, the "punitive vs. public health responses to drug abuse."

Webb has been a consistent critic of the war on drugs and the U.S. recipe of mass incarceration. Sentencing Law blogger Doug Berman, a professor at Ohio State University, writes:

As regular readers know, I have frequently praised Senator Jim Webb for being one of the few national politicians giving serious (and much-needed) attention to mass incarceration and criminal justice policies connected to the "war on drugs." ... I continue to hope that the next president might try a different kind of surge in the drug war — a surge focused on public health realities rather than criminal justice rhetoric.  I also hope that Senator Webb can and will be committed to leading a new battalion of troops in this seemingly never-ending war.

Will Georgia execute an innocent man?

by Matt Kelley

Published October 15, 2008 @ 04:53AM PT

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear an appeal from Troy Davis, who has spent two decades on Georgia's death row for a murder he says he didn't commit. The justices' refusal to hear the case means that Georgia can now set a new execution date. Davis has come within hours of execution twice in the last year. Nine non-police eyewitnesses testified at Davis' trial that they saw him shoot a police officer in a Savannah Burger King parking lot on August 19, 1989. Seven of those eyewitnesses have recanted, saying their statements were coerced by police.

Photo: Scott Langley

Read More »

Mexican president fed up with failing drug war

by Matt Kelley

Published October 14, 2008 @ 11:39AM PT

The War on Drugs doesn't work in Mexico any more than it works here. In fact, over the last few years, it has been much worse south of the border. This year alone, there have been 3,300 murders in Mexico related to drug trafficking and organized crime. The atrocities have been too numerous to follow each day while staying sane - decapitations and nightclub murders have become almost routine, especially in the border state of Chihuahua. Meanwhile, the number of drug addicts in Mexico have doubled in six years to 307,000.

With new legislation to decriminalize drugs, President Felipe Calderon is saying he's had enough.

Read More »

Getting ready for another Florida recount

by Matt Kelley

Published October 14, 2008 @ 05:17AM PT

We've heard plenty of talk about the vote of people with criminal records in the upcoming presidential election, and Florida has been in the eye of the storm. Last year, Gov. Charlie Crist announced a plan to ease the path to the voting booth for Floridians who have completed serving sentences for felony convictions. But the path is still tricky, and thousands of people with felony records are in limbo. Felons who have completed their sentences can't automatically vote, they have to apply for clemency.

More than 108,000 possible felons have registered, but the board of elections hasn't had time to review these applications. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning said the overwhelming increase in registrations across the board has left his staff scrambling. It seems unlikely they will have all questions answered by Nov. 4.

"This is part of a big mess," said Jeff Manza, professor of sociology at New York University and author of a book on felon voting. "It's almost certain there will be challenges if the election is close enough that things hinge on this. Both parties are armed to the teeth with legal talent in all the battleground states."

Read More »

‘Cell’ phones

by Matt Kelley

Published October 13, 2008 @ 01:32PM PT

By all accounts, the commerce conducted behind bars in the U.S. and around the world is lively and nearly impossible to control. Smuggled weapons have been a problem for centuries. Drugs make their way into every prison and jail everywhere with the help of new inmates, visitors and corrupt guards augmenting low salaries. But one of the newest challenges for prisons is the smuggled cell phone.

In the x-ray image above, a Salvadorean prisoner was caught smuggling a cell phone into a prison by wrapping it in plastic and inserting it in, um, his rectum.

Brazilian prisoners were caught using carrier pigeons to bring cell phones to them in jail.

In several jurisdictions - including Maryland and Oregon - police have trained dogs to sniff out cell phones.

Read More »