Cal. App. Dumps ACLU Suit in Execution Controversy

by · Mar 10, 2021 3:38 pm

Three years ago, three California District Attorneys sought to intervene in the long-running federal litigation over California’s lethal injection method. The Attorney General, in his role as attorney for the head of the prison department, was not properly representing the people of the State as the plaintiff in the underlying criminal cases, in their view. The federal district court refused intervention, and the DAs appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

Last Friday, the ACLU filed a petition for writ of mandate in the California Court of Appeal for the First District, which covers the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area and the north coast. They asked the state court to restrain the DAs from litigating in federal court. See this press release, with a link to the petition.

Yesterday, a mere two business days after the petition was filed, the Court of Appeal dismissed it. They did not even wait for the DAs to respond. Continue reading . . .

The Massive “Murder Tax” on the Poor

by · Mar 9, 2021 7:41 pm

My friend Sean Kennedy, a visiting fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute, has the specifics about how America’s unprecedented murder spike in 2020, fueled in part by coerced police pull-backs and partial de-funding, has brought catastrophic economic damage to those least able to withstand it.  As Sean sums it up:

[T]he crime tax costs jobs, reduces property values, deters investment, and undermines trust in public institutions  —  and, destroying opportunity, dashes hope for those who need it most….Crime may not pay but it certainly costs, a lot. Economically struggling Americans need relief, so let’s start by cutting the most regressive tax of all—violence.

Continue reading . . .

Americans Oppose Defunding the Police by 3 to 1

by · Mar 9, 2021 4:05 pm

Three times as many Americans oppose defunding the police as support the notion, according to a recent Ipsos/USA Today poll. Sarah Elbeshbishi and Mabinty Quarshie have this report in USA Today.

Support to redistribute police department funding has decreased among Americans since August after a summer of protests had erupted across the country against racial injustice and police brutality, a recent Ipsos/USA TODAY poll found.

Continue reading . . .

Death Penalty Off the Table for Child-Abusing Murderers in L.A. County

by · Mar 9, 2021 11:06 am

An article by Roman Chiarello of Fox News this morning highlights the demand to restore the option to seek the death penalty for the worst murderers in Los Angeles County. On June 21, 2018, a 10-year-old boy named Anthony Avalos was pronounced dead at a hospital in Los Angeles County after suffering from a horrific brain injury. Years of abuse from Anthony’s mother and boyfriend came before the untimely death of Anthony.

According to Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, “The decision [to seek the death penalty] was made by a committee through a rigorous process. This happened over a year ago, with discussions with the family, taking into consideration the mitigation of the defendants, taking into consideration any evidence that the defense attorneys presented.” Now with Gascón’s movement in favor of offenders, and in this case murderers, there is no ability to seek the death penalty in this case. 

Continue reading . . .

Addicts for Incarceration

by · Mar 8, 2021 2:37 pm

Deseret News has this op-ed collectively written by The Other Side Academy.

We are a group of former longtime felons and drug addicts. Collectively we have been arrested over 400 times. Between us, we’ve been incarcerated for well over 150 years. And that was the best thing you could have done for us. Continue reading . . .

Study Shows…What the Interest Group Wants it to

by · Mar 8, 2021 2:03 pm

In an article published by The Washington Post on March 2, written by Tom Jackman, there are many references to a ‘new study’ by the Sentencing Project. The argument being made by Jackman via the study is that no individual in the United States should receive a prison sentence for more than 20 years, no matter the level of crime. Are we to believe that if an individual murders a child, or brutally murders a family member, we should ensure they have another chance at being a member of society? 

Continue reading . . .

Why Do We Have a “School to Prison Pipeline”?

by · Mar 8, 2021 11:44 am

For the most part, we don’t.  A recent report from the Pew Foundation, linked here at Sentencing Law and Policy, shows that the the number of people housed in prisons and jails in the USA is just over one-half of one percent of the population (that is, 1.8 million out of 330 million).  This sliver of one percent is what the “justice reform” crowd ceaselessly and dishonestly refers to as “mass incarceration.”

But to the extent we do have a “school to prison pipeline” in some jurisdictions, the following article reporting on conditions in Baltimore tells us why:    “City student passes 3 classes in four years, ranks near top half of class with 0.13 GPA”

Continue reading . . .

Should Prosecutors Take a Pass on Stealing?

by · Mar 8, 2021 10:28 am

For practical purposes, that is the question raised by this piece in the Washington Post authored by three professors at the Georgetown University Law Center’s Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic.  You will not be surprised to hear that their answer is “yes.”  Specifically, they opine that, “The U.S. attorney’s office should stop criminally prosecuting nonviolent misdemeanors,” which means, in practice, that it should stop prosecuting almost all the massive amount of stealing that gets done in Washington, DC’s stores.

I respectfully dissent.

Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Adds Fourth Amendment Case

by · Mar 8, 2021 8:36 am

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning took up a search-and-seizure case for full briefing and argument. The case involves procedural questions regarding (1) the termination of the criminal case before the seized person can sue for damages and (2) the burden of proof on the existence of exigent circumstances to justify a warrantless entry. [See update below.] Continue reading . . .