Death and Texas
Published November 20, 2009 @ 08:06AM PT
Another week, another refusal by Texas to reconsider a death row case. Actually, make that two refusals.
Robert Lee Thompson, 34, was executed last night in Huntsville, just an hour after Gov. Rick Perry had declined to commute his sentence to life. Perry was presented a rare commutation recommendation from the state's Board of Pardons and Parole, which had voted 5-2 in favor of a life sentence for Thompson, who was convicted under the "law of parties" -- meaning he participated in the crime but didn't pull the trigger. Perry decided to ignore the board and authorize the execution.
In another case, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals yesterday rejected an appeal from Max Soffar (left), who has been on the state's death row for 28 years for a crime he says he didn't commit. Soffar, who is mentally ill, was convicted of killing four people in 1980 after giving what he and advocates say was a false confession.
Crowdfunded Court Reporting
Published November 20, 2009 @ 06:15AM PT
This week, a reporter from San Francisco public radio station KALW is spending her days in Oakland courtrooms, taking in all of the action (and inaction). She's reporting for a story funded by individuals through the website Spot.us, on the daily activity in a criminal court -- and she's blogging about what she sees, letting us in on both the process of reporting a story like this and the day-to-day workings of a court that the media usually misses in its 800-word story about a murder conviction.
So far, reporter Rina Palta has seen some high-level cases, more than one might expect from the daily grind of a criminal court. She wrote on Tuesday about watching arguments from both sides of a death penalty sentencing hearing. The proceedings piqued her curiosity about jury selection and she spent the next day watching lawyers interview potential jurors in a case where the state was seeking to label a man a sexually violent predator, making him eligible for lifetime civil commitment.
Together, Spot.us and KALW are exploring a new method of covering our criminal justice system, and there's great potential here. Criminal justice reform can't happen until the system's failures and successes become human stories to which we can connect. Crowd-funded reporting offers a chance to shine a spotlight on the invisible people within the system.
Massachusetts Steps Away from Mandatory Minimums
Published November 19, 2009 @ 08:57AM PT
The Massachusetts Senate yesterday passed a bill that would open the possibility of parole for prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Many were sentenced under mandatory minimum laws and aren't currently eligible for parole. Finally, amidst budget difficulties, another state is seeing the light.
On its website, Families Against Mandatory Minimums profiles Robert Anger, a Massachusetts prisoner who could potentially be eligible for parole if the bill becomes law. Anger, from Vermont, became addicted to OxyContin as a teenager and soon transitioned to heroin. He began selling cocaine to support his habit and was arrested in Massachusetts in 2004 buying cocaine worth $15,000. He was 22 when a judge sentenced him under mandatory statute to 15 years in prison, saying "I wish I had discretion" as he did it. His full story is here.
A Somali Judge’s Assassination and the Struggles of a Tattered System
Published November 19, 2009 @ 05:39AM PT
An excellent post yesterday from Daniel J Gerstle on the War and Peace blog offers important -- and highly personal -- background on the tragic story of a Somali judge’s recent assassination.
Judge Sheikh Mohamad Abdi Aware was shot and killed outside his mosque last week, allegedly by separatist leaders or pirates angry with him for handing down harsh sentences to pirates and criminal kingpins.
Daniel writes about the time he spent in Somalia conducting the first review of juvenile justice in the country got the UN. He writes that he struggled to come to grips with a weak, fledgling court system that was torn between traditional, Islamic and state law. His post makes clear the incredible courage of people like Judge Aware to stand up to violent factions when in an attempt to establish the rule of law in a war-torn land. Daniel writes:
Judge Aware's surviving colleagues have near their reach the reigns of law for northeastern Somalia. With success there, chances are better to bring greater rule of law to the south. But their number, those who can equally satisfy not only the state but also the Islamic and traditional leadership, which requires gravitas, are dwindling.
Could Hate Crime Laws Backfire?
Published November 18, 2009 @ 11:46AM PT
President Obama recently signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law -- expanding existing federal hate crimes laws to protect against assault based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability.
So why would the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a pioneering group that works on behalf of transgender, transsexual, intersex and other gender non-conforming people, oppose it?
Sometimes friends and allies disagree. This is as it should be. In progressive circles, we can and should dispute strategy and tactics while still affirming our commitment to the same core set of shared values. Dissent gives our body politic a healthy workout. In that spirit, it seems healthy to consider the SRLP's opposition to a new law that was generally praised by progressive LGBT voices.
The group advances two primary arguments as to why the legislation is a "counterproductive response to the violence faced by LGBT people." First, it sees hate crime laws as expanding the tentacles of the current criminal justice system that already results in "staggering incarceration rates of people of color, poor people, queer people and transgender people." Second, the SRLP argues that evidence fails to show that hate crimes legislation actually works to deter or prevent violence against oppressed groups. Taken together, the basic proposition is that the new legislation is essentially another version of a "get tough on crime" measure that threatens to increase violence in oppressed communities rather than decrease it.
Open-Sourcing Our Courts
Published November 18, 2009 @ 06:04AM PT
Most records and documents created and filed within court systems and police departments in the U.S. are public. And Google is trying to make it feel that way.
The company that conquered the web and coined the phrase “Don’t Be Evil” announced yesterday in a blog post that it was adding full-text decisions from federal and state legal courts to Google Scholar.
This announcement means the free web becomes a richer source not only for education and research, but also for those of us trying to overturn injustice through the court system.
The law is still a paper profession. It’s changing, but slowly. Google’s move only covers opinions filed by courts; those are currently among the easier documents to find. For real reform, we need a sea change in the way the law looks at data. We need to bring the digital revolution to the courtroom and the police station. During the Presidential campaign last year, Barack Obama talked about a Google for Government. He’s right. We need to Google-ize our courts.
The DEA Quietly Updates its Website, and Drug Reformers Score a Victory
Published November 17, 2009 @ 07:31PM PT
It's been a week since the American Medical Association reversed its long-held and counterproductive position on medicinal marijuana, but the DEA still included the AMA's hard line on its website until this evening.
The advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition -- and online activists -- didn't allow the misinformation to last. The group called on members to email the Department of Justice, and now the bullet point is gone.
While I think the problem was more likely an oversight than an attempt on the part of a government agency to lie to its citizens, LEAP should be congratulated for seeing the error and getting it fixed. The government is aware that advocates for sensible drug policies are watching closely and won't stand for misinformation. It does feel like the tables have been turned, and this victory is a sign of more to come. Kudos to LEAP for mobilizing quickly and bringing about this change.
And while we’re looking at that hideous DEA site, maybe we should urge the Justice Department to get around to redesigning the DEA website to look all Baracky like the main DOJ site.
