Posts by Alex Davidson
Sotomayor Sidesteps on Death Penalty and Sentencing
Published July 15, 2009 @ 11:09AM PT
The second day of questioning in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor is underway, and while there weren't any major fireworks in day one, there were some interesting moments for citizens concerned about the fate of the death penalty and over-sentencing in the United States.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina both targeted questions on the death penalty to Sotomayor. Durbin asked Sotomayor whether she agreed with former Justice Harold Blackmun that the death penalty has been unfairly administered in the United States.
She answered with caution:
The state of this question is different today than it was when Justice Blackmun came to his views. As a judge, I don't rule in an abstract. I rule in the context of a case that comes before me and a challenge to a situation and an application of the death penalty that arises in an individual case.
I've been and am very cautious about expressing personal views since I've been a judge. I find that people who listen to judges express their personal views on important questions that the courts are looking at, that they have a sense that the judge is coming into the process with a closed mind, that their personal views will somehow influence how they apply the law. It's one of the reasons why, since I've been a judge, I've always been very careful about not doing that. And I think my record speaks more loudly than I can.
Prison Rape: A Hidden Crisis
Published June 26, 2009 @ 06:48AM PT
Prison sexual assault is such a hidden problem in the United States that, until this week, no one even knew how many people were victims of this cruel treatment. Now, thanks to a government study, we're at last getting a sense of the problem and why certain people, like short, gay and trans folks, are targeted.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics conducted its first wave of surveys in 2007 in a random sample of 146 State and Federal prisons and 282 local jails. Approximately 63,817 prisoners filled out the survey, going way beyond academic surveys that, to this point, were the only attempts to get figures on sexual abuse in detention centers. Exactly 4.5% of prisoners surveyed reported experiencing sexual abuse one or more times during the 12 months preceding the survey or over their term of incarceration if they had been confined in that facility for less than 12 months. According to the final report, "Extrapolated to the national prison population, an estimated 60,500 State and Federal prisoners were sexually abused during that 12-month period."
The problem is, the U.S. media is not qualifying this number in any way, forgetting to note that centers like youth and community corrections facilities were excluded, and that under-reporting by prisoners can severely sway the outcomes. So while the initial study was a good one, later results will likely shed a more detailed light on what's going on. I spoke about the issue yesterday with Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International, an organization fighting abuse in U.S. detention centers.
"The actual rates [of abuse] are much higher," says Stannow, whose group helped push for the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 that ultimately called for the creation of a national commission to study the causes and consequences of sexual abuse in confinement. As a result, this commission has developed standards for correctional facilities nationwide that aims to eliminate prison rape.
The Aging Prison Population
Published June 17, 2009 @ 09:24AM PT
As federal and state lawmakers try to trim their budgets this year, they're looking at a solution long considered taboo - releasing long-term prisoners. America's prison population is aging quickly, and states have considered early release for elderly prisoners as a cost-cutting measure. But releasing inmates, especially those who have served decades for crimes like murder and sexual assault, raises ethical questions for society at large: Are these prisoners a threat and, if so, to what extent? Is it fair to the victims, and their survivors, to release criminals before their sentences are up? As our prison populations swell with younger inmates, are the older prisoners getting off easy due to overcrowding and budget fights in state capitals?
According to the most recent federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4.3% of all inmates in the U.S. in state or federal prisons, or in local jails, were over the age of 55 as of mid-year 2008, compared with 3.5% at mid-year 2004. That 23% increase easily trumps the 7% increase in overall inmates in U.S. federal and state prisons.
Transgender in Prison
Published May 27, 2009 @ 01:52PM PT
Prosecutors employ many strategies to convict defendants, using everything from hard evidence like DNA to less reliable material like eyewitness testimony. But what about using one's sexual identity against them?
One group that has been unfairly treated by our justice system's inability to come into modern times is the transgender community, composed mainly of people of color from low-income backgrounds. According to the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex (TGI) Justice Project in San Francisco, at least 1-in-2 transgender people have been imprisoned or jailed at some point in their lives. This group, which has limited protections under state and federal laws, is thus subject to all the crazy twists and turns the U.S. justice system takes.
The Dangerous Finances of Private Prisons
Published May 07, 2009 @ 12:44PM PT
Private prisons companies have expanded quickly and recklessly in the U.S. since 2000, earning millions in profits from lucrative government contracts. But at what cost?
The last five years have been good to our country's two biggest private prison operators - Corrections Corporation of America and The Geo Group. They have seen their respective stocks climb 13% and a whopping 113% during that period - beating the benchmark S&P 500, which fell 18%.
American taxpayers may be unknowing funders for the business of incarceration as we send more of our prisoners and detained immigrants to these facilities, but private investors have also fueled the growth of these two prison-for-profit companies.
