j u s t c r i m

blogging and tenure

PrawfsBlog - Blogging and Tenure ... "[T]he real question is not whether pre-tenure blogging is a good idea; it already is happening. The real question is how to present blogging as part of our package of scholarship, teaching, and service..."

untested genetic evidence

L.A. County sheriff's officials acknowledge that genetic evidence in 5,635 rape cases may be untested - The department plans a case-by-case review to see which sexual assault kits remain unexamined. The revelation follows reports of a similar DNA backlog at the LAPD.  [By Joel Rubin  Los Angeles Times, November 13, 2008]

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, under pressure from county supervisors and watchdog groups to account for its handling of DNA evidence from sexual assault cases, acknowledged Wednesday it did not know whether genetic evidence from more than 5,600 rape cases had been examined.

In response to an inquiry by the Board of Supervisors last month, Sheriff's Department officials tallied 5,635 sexual assault evidence kits -- semen and other DNA samples collected by authorities from victims -- sitting in freezer storage facilities, Cmdr. Earl Shields said. The department must now manually compare that inventory with records from its crime laboratory to determine which kits remain unexamined, Shields told the board Wednesday..."

texas

Texas executes NY ex-convict for soldier's slaying [Nov. 13, 2008; MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press via Salon.com]:  "Texas executed a former New York City hair stylist with a long criminal record Thursday for the robbery, rape and murder of an Army medic at her apartment near Fort Hood.  "From Allah he came and from Allah he shall return," Denard Manns said from the death chamber gurney.  Manns, 42, criticized or thanked various attorneys who had represented him, expressed love to friends and said, "I'm ready for the transition." He uttered what appeared to be a brief prayer three times and was pronounced dead 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow..."

scotus ~ on sonar and whales

SCOTUSBLOG -- http://www.scotusblog.com -- Court rules for Navy in sonar use [Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 10:11 am | Lyle Denniston | Print This Post] --

"The Supreme Court, dividing deeply, upheld the Navy’s power to use sonar in military training exercises, even though the technology threatens marine life in the training zone off the Pacific Coast.  Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., wrote for the majority; there were three full dissents and one partial dissent.   The decision, the Court’s first ruling of the Term, came in the case of Winter (Navy Secretary) v. National Resources Defense Council, et al. (07-1239).

The Court partially overturned a federal judge’s order against the use of the active sonar at least until the Navy took additional measures to mitigate the threat to whales, dolphines and other marine mammals.  Those added measures would have required the Navy to stop its sonar exercises when the threat to mammals was deemed imminent.  The ruling set aside the District Court injunction to the extent challenged by the Navy.

Roberts wrote that “the Navy’s need to conduct realistic training with active sonar to respond to the threat posed by enemy submarines plainly outweighs” the environmental concerns raised by advocacy groups."

FROM THE LATIMES [:33 AM PST, November 12, 2008] "Court rules for Navy in dispute over sonar, whales" -- Four justices -- John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer -- dissented in whole or in part. They agreed with environmentalists that the Navy should be required to complete an environmental impact study before going ahead with its final training exercises..."

what must change

What must change?  "The 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, which includes The Sentencing Project and 20 other prominent national organizations, released today a collaborative report identifying critical needs for federal policy reform. Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress contains comprehensive policy recommendations at every stage of the justice system for the new Administration and Congress..." 

victim impact videos

"Court turns aside test on “victim impact videos”  [Monday, November 10th, 2008 12:22 pm | Lyle Denniston] ~ SCOTUSBLOG

"The Supreme Court refused on Monday, over the protests of three Justices, to provide new guidance on the kinds of “victim impact” evidence that may be put before jurors to try to convince them to impose a death sentence. Specifically, the Court turned down two appeals seeking to challenge the use of music and video portrayals that may be highly emotional. It would have taken the votes of four Justices to grant review; three said the Court should have examined anew that kind of evidence...

"In the new “victim impact” cases, Justice John Paul Stevens noted that the Court has not reviewed that type of evidence since its ruling 17 years ago in Payne v. Tennessee [501 U.S. 808 (1991)] — the first ruling to allow the introduction, in the sentencing phase of capital cases, testimony that seeks to show the impact of the crime on relatives and other survivors of the victim.

“In the years since Payne was decided,” Stevens wrote Monday, “this Court has left state and federal courts unguided in their efforts to police the hazy boundaries between permissible victim impact evidence and its impermissible, ‘unduly prejudicial’ forms….Having decided to tolerate the introduction of evidence that puts a heavy thumb on the prosecutor’s side of the scale in death cases, the Court has a duty to consider what reasonable limits should be placed on its use.” ... The cases denied review were ` and Zamudio v. California (07-11425)..."  [Justice Stevens’ statement respecting the denial is available here, and Justice Breyer’s dissent from the denial is available here.]

The California Supreme Court decisions are available free online @ People v. Douglas Oliver Kelly, 42 Cal. 4th 763; 171 P.3d 548; 68 Cal. Rptr. 3d 531 (2007) and People v. Zamudio (2008)43 Cal.4th 327 , -- Cal.Rptr.3d --; -- P.3d -- [No. S074414. Apr. 21, 2008.] ...

The Cali decisions are also available @ the California Courts official site.

[prop 8 writ petition]

ACS BLOG - "Calif. Couples Challenge Outcome On Prop. 8" - "The petition charges that Proposition 8 is
invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt
 to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by
eliminating a fundamental right from just one group-lesbian and gay
Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the
courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting
the equal protection rights of minorities. According to the California
Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state
government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative
process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state
legislature first.  The California Constitution itself sets out two ways
to alter the document that sets the most basic rules about how state
government works. Prop 8 passed through the initiative process. However,
any measure that would change the underlying principles of the
constitution must first be approved by the legislature before being
submitted to the voters. That didn't happen with Proposition 8, and
that's why it's invalid."
 

The groups' entire writ petition and brief can be viewed here.
Case No.: S168047

jimenez || habeas

SCOTUSwiki Preview: Jimenez v. Quarterman " -- This past Tuesday (ELECTION DAY), the Court heard oral argument in Jimenez v. Quarterman, No. 07-6984, a case involving the federal statute of limitations for federal habeas claims.

[ORAL ARGUMENT TRANSCRIPT]

prop 8

WSJLAW BLOG - California’s Prop. 8 Passes; Will ‘Legal Chaos’ Ensue? [Posted by Ashby Jones; November 5, 2008, 2:46 pm est] "Voters in California seem to have spoken clearly: under the state’s constitution, marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman. One result that’s far from clear, however: what happens to all those same-sex couples who rushed to wed prior to the election?  It’s hard to say, reports the LA Times — but a “legal chaos” could follow. Seven legal scholars recently interviewed by the Times were largely divided over which side the law favors. “There is no clear answer,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine Law School. “This is ultimately going to have to be litigated by the courts.”

VOLOKH CONSPIRACY - Losing California [Dale Carpenter, November 5, 2008 at 3:18pm] - "... Mostly, my heart breaks for the gay couples and their children who had a five-month window in which their families could celebrate the ultimate expression of commitment and love our culture knows. There was nothing academic about any of this for them. They don’t really care whether they get to marry by court decree, or legislation, or proposition. They simply want the protection, security, and support they believe marriage gives them. They want their families and communities to understand how much their relationships mean and how fiercely they will fight to protect the children they love. Over the past few days, I’ve fielded questions from some of them looking for some reassurance about what happens now, but I do not know what is going to become of their marriages. (See Eugene's interesting speculation on that topic.) Today, they have no idea whether they have just been divorced by their fellow citizens..."

DISCOURSE.NET - SNAPSHOT - " ... I would take even more pleasure from [election night] were it not tempered by the enshrinement in law of a different bigotry: although not all the votes are counted it seems that Amendment 2 passed in Florida, with more than 62% of the vote (60% was required); similarly, California’s Proposition 8 seems to have passed narrowly also. Enshrining discrimination in state constitutions is not what makes a country great.  We will come to regret these votes, and to see them as the same sort of stain as we now know Jim Crow to have been. The only question is when."

front pages

Fromn the DAILY KOS:  "Wednesday Newspaper Front Pages - US and Worldwide Edition- PRESIDENT OBAMA"

cheers

Friend --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

by the way

"And by the way, Governor Palin: Being President of the United State is, I don't know, maybe something like being a community organizer for the entire country."  Mark Tushnet [William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School] Balkinization

"Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls"

Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls -- New York Times -- "Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive. The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country..."

"snapshot"

Professor Froomkin on election night in america @ discourse.net: "Only 43 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the United States has elected a black man as President. As is often the case for a trail-blazer, he had to be twice as good as the other candidate for the job..."

president elect obama

yes we can

welcome to obama for america.  after 8 interminable years of bush/cheney/rumsfeld ... seems like 90 ... to jettison the neoconservatives on a perfect  fall evening ... President elect Obama ... we have begun the long process of rolling back the devastatingly isolationist policies of a radical party that inevitably chose military might over reason and diplomacy ...

under the bush regime, we became a self-fulfilling prophecy with enemies everywhere and friends few, far between.

rand ~ sex ~ tv ~ teen ~

RAND Study Is First to Link Viewing of Sexual Content on Television to Subsequent Teen Pregnancy
Source: RAND Corporation

Adolescents who have high levels of exposure to television programs that contain sexual content are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the following three years as their peers who watch few such shows, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The study, published in the November edition of the journal Pediatrics, is the first to establish a link between teenagers’ exposure to sexual content on TV and either pregnancies among girls or responsibility for pregnancies among boys.

more on money

laist : "The verdict: Keanu Reeves doesn't have to shell out a dime in the case of the paparazzo who took him to court in a civil trial. Today the judge dismissed the case against the popular actor."

money money money money ... money~

Driving along pch some morning this week [yesterday], joe escalante of The Vandals and Indie 103.1 was talking about how great it was to see Keanu Reeves fight litigious extortion ... If you haven't followed the story, it's tragicommon: A slimy person is injured in proximity to someone famous ... In fact, they're injured because they are a complete idiot ...  [In fact they're likely not injured at  all ... ] Yet they sue the famous person because famous people tend to by busy and rich and who needs the aggravation so they settle out of court - it's simpler ...  Rather than settling, Keanu Reeves is giving the paparazzi the blow back he deserves ...

Anyway, this BJS report reminded me of that ...

Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
From press release:

Over 14,000 plaintiffs received monetary damages in civil trials nationwide in 2005, with less than five percent receiving damages exceeding $1 million, the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The BJS study is the first nationally representative measure of general civil (tort, contract, and real property) bench and jury trials in state courts of general jurisdiction.

Nationwide, plaintiffs in civil bench and jury trials were awarded an estimated $6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages in 2005. The median final damage award (the amount at which half the awards are higher and half are lower) was $28,000. More than 14 percent of plaintiffs were awarded damages exceeding $250,000.

State courts of general jurisdiction in 2005 disposed of nearly 26,950 general civil cases through bench or jury trial. The majority (61 percent) of these trials involved a tort claim—the plaintiff alleged injury, loss or damage from negligent or intentional acts of the defendant. The most common tort cases involved motor vehicle accidents, which accounted for 35 percent of all civil trials in 2005. The median final award for plaintiff winners in motor vehicle accident cases was $15,000.

+ Full Report (PDF; 164 KB)

Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
From press release:

Over 14,000 plaintiffs received monetary damages in civil trials nationwide in 2005, with less than five percent receiving damages exceeding $1 million, the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The BJS study is the first nationally representative measure of general civil (tort, contract, and real property) bench and jury trials in state courts of general jurisdiction.

Nationwide, plaintiffs in civil bench and jury trials were awarded an estimated $6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages in 2005. The median final damage award (the amount at which half the awards are higher and half are lower) was $28,000. More than 14 percent of plaintiffs were awarded damages exceeding $250,000.

State courts of general jurisdiction in 2005 disposed of nearly 26,950 general civil cases through bench or jury trial. The majority (61 percent) of these trials involved a tort claim—the plaintiff alleged injury, loss or damage from negligent or intentional acts of the defendant. The most common tort cases involved motor vehicle accidents, which accounted for 35 percent of all civil trials in 2005. The median final award for plaintiff winners in motor vehicle accident cases was $15,000.

+ Full Report (PDF; 164 KB)

wsjlaw blog on dreadlocks - are they race-neutral?

Dreadlocks & the Law: Are they race-neutral? [Posted by Dan Slater. WSJLAWBLOG]

. . . I of course have to look at jurors in light of how I think they’re going to judge my client as well. I had some uneasiness about him. I don’t know if Your Honor recalls or not. He has – he’s about the only member of the jury I see out there with very long dreadlocks. — lawyer explaining why he struck an African-American juror in a personal injury trial

When members of a racial group are struck from a jury pool, the opposing counsel can request a Batson hearing. The proponent of the strike offers a race-neutral explanation. Then the burden shifts to the party challenging the strike to show that the explanation is mere pretext. South Carolina’s High Court, in a 3-2 vote, recently decided that counsel’s “uneasiness” over a juror’s dreadlocks didn’t meet Batson’s smell test. (Here’s a story from The State.)

imagine police without guns

Imagine police without guns ... Now back to our U.S. reality ... "Anaheim officer mistakenly kills man on his front lawn" LATIMES.COM.  By Paloma Esquivel and Tony Barboza  [ October 29, 2008 ] - "An Anaheim police officer chasing burglary suspects shot and killed an innocent 20-year-old man who heard a commotion and emerged from his house early Tuesday holding what authorities said was either a broomstick or a shower rod. The officer encountered Julian Alexander on his front lawn and shot him twice in the chest about 1:30 a.m..."

texas

The Exonerated - [by Michael Hall] Texas Monthly -- "37 men spent 525 years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. Then came the hard part: freedom..."

007 hate crime statistics [fbi]

FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics:   "Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released statistics which indicated that 7,624 criminal incidents involving 9,006 offenses were reported in 2007 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability. Hate Crime Statistics, 2007, published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, includes data from hate crime reports submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2007, includes the following information:

• Of the 7,621 single-bias incidents, 50.8 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 18.4 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 16.6 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, and 13.2 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. One percent involved a bias against a disability.
• There were 5,408 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2007. Intimidation accounted for 47.4 percent of crimes against persons, simple assaults for 31.1 percent, and aggravated assaults for 20.6 percent. Nine murders were reported as hate crimes.
• There were 3,579 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; most of these (81.4 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. The remaining 18.6 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.
• Of the 6,965 known offenders, 62.9 percent were white and 20.8 percent were black. The race was unknown for 9.8 percent, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders.
• The largest percentage (30.5 percent) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes. Also, 18.9 percent took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 11.3 percent happened at schools or colleges; 6.0 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.1 percent in churches, synagogues, or temples. The remaining 29.3 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2007 is available exclusively on the FBI’s website.

cali prison disaster

California Prison Disaster [New York Times Editorial]:  "... According to a new federally backed study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, the state’s corrections costs have grown by about 50 percent in less than a decade and now account for about 10 percent of state spending — nearly the same amount as higher education. The costs could rise substantially given that a federal lawsuit may require the state to spend $8 billion to bring the prison system’s woefully inadequate medical services up to constitutional standards. The solution for California is to shrink its vastly overcrowded prison system...."

in the constitution-free zone

ACLU - Constitution-Free Zone:  "Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders. The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This " Constitution-Free Zone" includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas..."