Texas Resumes Executions

by · Jul 9, 2020 3:22 pm

Texas resumed executions yesterday after a 5-month hiatus that was due in part to Covid-19 and in part to flaps over whether clergymen would be allowed in the execution chamber. Juan Lozano and Michael Graczyk report for AP:

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas inmate received lethal injection Wednesday evening for fatally shooting an 82-year-old man nearly three decades ago, ending a five-month delay of executions in the nation’s busiest death penalty state because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Understanding Prop 47’s Real Outcomes

by · Jul 9, 2020 2:18 pm

Last month, the Public Policy Institute of California released a report, entitled “Proposition 47’s Impact on Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice Outcomes”.

The report examines Proposition 47, “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act”, which implemented three broad changes to felony sentencing laws. First, it reclassified certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, including shoplifting, forgery, insufficient funds, petty theft, receiving stolen property, and petty theft with a prior. The proposition also reclassified drug possession under Health and Safety Code sections 11350, 11357(a) , and 11377 as strictly misdemeanors. (As with the aforementioned theft offenses, these new misdemeanor rules do not apply to individuals who one or more prior offenses (specified under Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv).)

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Politically Incorrect Research Withdrawn

by · Jul 9, 2020 11:10 am

Two university psychologists have retracted their study published last year in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), because its politically-incorrect findings have been cited in some pro-law enforcement articles.  The  study:  Officer characteristics and racial disparities in fatal officer-involved shootings,  by Joseph Cesario of Michigan State and David Johnson of the University of Maryland, analyzed 917 fatal police shootings in 2015 to determine if racial bias played a role in who got shot.  The study concluded that it did not.

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Indian Country

by · Jul 9, 2020 8:49 am

The U.S. Supreme Court ended its term today with a 5-4 bombshell decision that much of Oklahoma remains “Indian country” for the purpose of prosecuting crimes, even though it hasn’t been that in reality for a century. The Court also decided two politically charged cases regarding subpoenas for President Trump’s financial records.

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Ballot Measure Lets Parolees Vote

by · Jul 8, 2020 2:52 pm

In the last week of June the California Legislature passed a Constitutional Amendment that, if adopted by the voters this November, would give criminals on parole the right to vote in state and federal elections.  Evan Symon of the California Globe reports that ACA 8 passed 28-9 in the Democrat-controlled state senate and is now on its way to the November 3rd ballot.  Spearheading passage of the bill was Northern California Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, who noted that because a disproportionate number of African Americans are on parole the bar against parolees voting unfairly excludes them.

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They’re Telling Us What They Have in Mind. Best We Listen.

by · Jul 7, 2020 12:49 pm

One among many reasons I regularly read Doug Berman’s excellent blog, Sentencing Law and Policy, is the breadth of its coverage.  Today it features an article of great value because of its honesty.  It tells us, without a whole lot of varnish, what our opponents on criminal justice policy have in mind for the country.

We ignore it at our peril.  The people behind these suggestions are going to be eager candidates for politically-appointed sub-Cabinet positions in a Democratic administration, at the Justice Department and elsewhere.  If you want to know what the Biden DOJ is actually going to be pushing  —  as opposed to the relative pablum we’ll be hearing about in the campaign (if the former Vice President chooses to mount one)  —  here it is.

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Abandoning Cities

by · Jul 7, 2020 10:14 am

People are leaving America’s larger urban centers at an unprecedented rate this year.  Kristin Tate of the Hill writes that “an estimated quarter million New York residents are moving upstate for good while another 2 million could permanently move out of state.”  She cites the spread of the coronavirus due to the dense living conditions and the lack of proper local government planning as reasons for the exodus.  Redfin, a real estate search engine, reports that over 40% of urban residents are brousing for new homes, more than twice that of rural residents.  Rural states such as Colorado, Montana, Vermont, Connecticut, and Florida are popular destinations.

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