j u s t c r i m

Sotomayor protests court's refusal of appeals

 

My life saved by reprieve of 24-year sentence for crack - CNN.com

Editor's note: Kemba Smith Pradia has received awards for her efforts to educate the public about the social, economic and political consequences of drug policies. She received a Soros Justice Postgraduate Fellowship for advocates and is developing the Kemba Smith Foundation.

Indianapolis (CNN) -- Ten years ago, days before Christmas, President Bill Clinton changed my life forever. I was in federal prison, serving the seventh year of a 24-year sentence for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense.

Clinton's mercy and acknowledgement that my sentence was unjust led him to grant me a commutation. Had he not done so, I would be in prison until 2016. On December 22, the anniversary of my release, I will join others in a fast for justice to honor those in prison who deserve the same relief from their long sentences for low-level drug offenses.

via www.cnn.com

[ Imagine - Our system of "justice" handed a first-time, nonviolent crack cocaine offender a 24 year sentence .. I don't care what SCOTUS says about sentencing proportionality, this is absolutely cruel and unusual punishment ]

Harris County Hearing Convenes

Capital punishment in Texas will go on trial Monday, as lawyers for an accused killer prepare to argue that the death penalty is unconstitutional because it carries high risks that innocent people could be executed.

Lawyers for John E. Green Jr., who is charged with killing a woman in front of her children, are not challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty, only how the punishment is applied by the state.

At the hearing before State District Judge Kevin Fine in Houston, Mr. Green's lawyers are expected to argue that he should not be prosecuted for capital murder, which is punishable by death.

via standdown.typepad.com

Oklahoma's lethal injection process not fit for animals | NewsOK.com

But one key point is getting lost in the shuffle: Even with this change, Oklahoma's lethal injection process is nothing like animal euthanasia. In fact, it would be illegal to euthanize an animal in Oklahoma the way the state intends to execute John Duty on Dec. 16.

Keep in mind the proposed switch is to the first drug in Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection procedure. The first drug is an anesthetic, intended to ensure that the inmate does not experience the effects of the second drug, which paralyzes him, and the third drug, which stops the heart.

The decision to paralyze inmates before executing them with the third drug presents a fundamental problem. If the anesthetic is not delivered properly (and ample evidence suggests the danger of maladministration is real), the inmate will likely experience excruciating pain and suffering.

via newsok.com

justice john paul stevens: speech on harmelin

Justice John Paul Stevens, SPEECH at the National Legal Aid & Defender Assoc. Exemplar Award Dinner (JW Marriott Hotel Washington, D.C., Wednesday Oct. 6, 2010.

"It was a five-to-four decision; the ... opinions occupy 73 pages in volume 501 of the U.S. Reports. The name of the case is Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991).

Harmelin, a first-time offender, was convicted of possession of over 650 grams of a mixture containing cocaine.  ...

I understand that the quantity actually possessed by Harmelin - 672 grams, or a little less than a pound and a half - could have been carried in a brown paper bag or concealed in a glove compartment. 

Pursuant to Michigan law, he received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. ...

The question presented to the Court  was whether that sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of the federal constitution. ..."

WithOut Teeth - Prisoners Rights & Farmer v. Brennan

Constitution 2020: Prison Conditions and the Eighth Amendment

Sharon Dolovich (Via Balkinization, Sept 29, 2010) For the Constitution in 2020 conference on The Future of Criminal Justice.  "Why does the Eighth Amendment have no teeth in the prison conditions context? The reason lies in the unlikely case of Farmer v. Brennan."

hac (heinous, atrocious, cruel)~capital sentencing in alabama

Quantifying the ‘Worst of the Worst’: Victim, Offender and Crime Characteristics Contributing to ‘Heinous, Atrocious, or Cruel’ Findings in Alabama

Jennifer Leigh Adger, Columbia University (July 15, 2010

ABSTRACT:   This study focuses on capital sentencing in Alabama. Specifically, it will attempt to identify characteristics of homicides that distinguish cases with “heinous, atrocious, and cruel” (HAC) findings from those homicides that do not have this finding. Critics of HAC assert that it lacks a clear statutory definition, and is, as a result, particularly vulnerable to being applied inconsistently. HAC is found in approximately forty percent of the cases in which an individual is sentenced to death in Alabama and is one of the most highly litigated aggravating circumstances across the country.

In order to examine how Alabama trial courts have been applying the HAC aggravating circumstance this study gathered data from all 414 individuals sentenced to death in Alabama from 1976 to 2008. Information was collected about procedural aspects of the cases, perpetrator and victim characteristics, and characteristics of the homicide. I examined the relationship between HAC findings and various crime characteristics using a logistic regression model. Even though the results of this analysis indicated that some case characteristics may be statistically relevant in predicting whether a particular case will result in a HAC finding, this study’s overall quantitative and qualitative examination was unable to identify a unifying set of characteristics that categorically distinguish the cases in which HAC is found from those where it is not. Because of these results, it appears that Alabama’s construction of HAC does not result in a consistent application of this aggravating circumstance ...  (via Sentencing Law and Policy)

shoot me now utah shoot me now utah shoot me now utah

Shoot Me Now - Are firing squads a better means of execution than lethal injection? SLATE - By Margot Sanger-Katz. Posted Wednesday, June 16, 2010):

"Ronnie Lee Gardner, on death row in Utah for the murder of a defense attorney in 1985, is scheduled to be executed this week. At one time, he had selected to die by lethal injection, but in a court hearing in April, he expressed a different preference: "I would like the firing squad, please." Utah is the only state in the country that still executes inmates by firing squad. Did Gardner make a foolish choice?" [RESTOFSTORY@SLATE]

 

"pleased to meet me" | the national criminal justice commission

ACLU BLOG - "A bill was introduced today in the House that replicates a criminal justice bill already making good headway in the Senate. The National Criminal Justice Commission Act would create a bipartisan commission to study the American justice system and offer recommendations to ease imbalance and, well, injustice... This proposed commission could have a huge impact on our criminal justice system by giving lawmakers a bipartisan and thorough review of what needs to be done to fix this badly broken system..."

Background and tracking available on the Senate Bill here: GovTrack.us - S. 714:  National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 ; OpenCongress.org - S.714 - National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 ; Thomas.gov -  S.714 - National Criminal Jutice Commission Act of 2009.

famm - families against mandatory minimums

Remember the "if this is so, nevada is completely insane" post ? Well, Nevada is in fact completely insane and FAMM is now responding to this devastating example of cruel sentencing ...

FAMM Condemns Mandatory Life Sentence for NV Woman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2010

WASHINGTON D.C. - Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the nation's only nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to fighting one-size-fits-all sentences, condemned the mandatory life sentence issued to Michelle Lyn Taylor on April 15 in Elko County, Nev.

According to published news reports, a jury convicted Ms. Taylor, 34, of lewdness with a minor under 14 for forcing a 13-year-old boy to touch her breast through her clothing and soliciting him for sex.   Conviction for lewdness with a minor under 14 carries a mandatory life sentence in Nevada with parole eligibility after 10 years.

"Based on what we've learned so far, we believe the life sentence handed to Ms. Taylor is a total travesty of justice," said Julie Stewart, FAMM founder and president. "FAMM does not condone criminal behavior, especially where a minor is the victim, but no reasonable person can believe that the punishment fits the crime in this case. Life sentences are usually reserved for murderers and repeat violent offenders."

"FAMM opposes mandatory minimum sentencing laws that carry disproportionate one-size-fits-all sentences and enormously expensive penalties.  Keeping Ms. Taylor in jail for the rest of her life could cost Nevada taxpayers well over $1 million. This seems like a terrible waste of a life, and limited taxpayer resources," concluded Stewart.

The harshness and high expense of mandatory sentences, like the one meted out to Ms. Taylor, are two reasons why other states are reforming mandatory minimums.  Over a dozen cash-crunched states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island and Michigan have enacted significant sentencing reforms in the last decade, saving millions of dollars and reducing pressure on overcrowded prisons. FAMM can provide background about the states that are rejecting mandatory minimums and retooling their sentencing laws.

"i'm not pure and i'm not pretty i'm not going to salt lake city" - dwarves

Death By Firing Squad Unusual, But Is It Cruel?  NPR

"Ronnie Lee Gardner, convicted of murder in Utah, has opted to die by firing squad instead of lethal injection. Among states with the death penalty, Utah is the only one to use the firing squad as a method of execution since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976..."

20100426_totn_04

 

breaker morant - "shoot straight"