j u s t c r i m: 01.2009

1.28.2009

innocence project @ scotus

"In March, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an Innocence Project case seeking DNA testing for a client in Alaska who was convicted of rape and attempted murder 15 years ago.

The Innocence Project filed its brief with the Supreme Court this week, arguing that the U.S. Constitution allows prisoners access to DNA testing that could prove their innocence. In the vast majority of cases, prisoners are granted DNA testing under state law or because prosecutors consent to DNA testing without a court order — but Alaska is the exception. It is one of only six states without a law granting access to DNA testing, and it is the only state in the nation with no known cases of prisoners receiving DNA testing, either through a court order or a prosecutor’s consent.

Suing in federal court is the only option for Innocence Project client William Osborne to get the DNA testing he says will prove his innocence. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that Osborne had the right to testing, but the state of Alaska appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld will argue the case on March 2."

"corrections funds vanish in madoff scandal"

Stateline.org Where Policy & POlitics Click - Corrections funds vanish in Madoff scandal [By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer. (Wednesday, January 28, 2009)

The $50 billion Ponzi scheme that Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff is accused of orchestrating has stunned many state corrections officials — and not simply because of the magnitude of the alleged crime.

Among the funds lost in the scandal, it has emerged, were millions of dollars earmarked for corrections-related projects in the states, ranging from post-conviction DNA testing for inmates in Texas to housing assistance for ex-convicts in Kansas.

The money belonged to the JEHT Foundation, a New York-based charity that has provided tens of millions of dollars in grants to state and local governments, nonprofit organizations and other groups working for progressive corrections reforms.

The 9-year-old foundation, whose name stands for Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance, invested heavily with Madoff, and will shut its doors at the end of the month, its chief executive announced in a brief statement posted on the charity’s Web site.

Madoff was arrested by federal authorities in December amid allegations he carried out the largest individual financial fraud in history. The former money manager is accused of paying off existing investors with funds collected from new ones, rather than with actual returns.

The foundation’s sudden collapse has rocked the criminal justice reform community, from those advocating for looser criminal sentencing laws to those promoting expanded opportunities for inmates who have already served their time.

california prison health care in the news

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown will ask U.S. to end oversight of California prisons: Officials say receivership has become a government unto itself. Overseer says such action would prolong unnecessary deaths and suffering among inmates [By Michael Rothfeld (Los Angeles Times. January 28, 2009)]

1.27.2009

grisham on the prison industrial complex

A Law Blog Q&A with John Grisham (WSJBlog posted January 27, 2009) " ... We have 2.5 million people in prison in this country. We’re not thinking. We’re warehousing these young black kids, we grind them through the mill for minor drug charges – or even, you know, more serious drug charges – and we spend $40,000 a year to incarcerate them. But we spend only $8,000 a year to educate them. We’re not using our heads. It’s costing a fortune and nobody’s talking about it..."

"prison spending increased 127% from 1987 to 2007"

Strapped States Eye Prison Savings [Stateline.org. Jan. 26, 2009] ~ "Nationally, corrections trails only health care, education and transportation in consuming state dollars. Prison spending increased 127 percent from 1987 to 2007 [emphasis added], and at least five states — Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Oregon and Vermont — now spend as much or more on corrections as they do on higher education, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers and the Public Safety Performance Project..."

supreme court cecisions (pdfs)

Source: U.S. Supreme Court - + Nelson v. U.S. (sentencing guidelines) + Van de Kamp v. Goldstein (habeas corpus) + Arizona v. Johnson (search and seizure) + U.S. v. Eurodif S.A. (trade and tariffs) + Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings & Investment Plan (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) + Crawford v. Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn. (sexual harassment)

top 300 repositories

open access news ~ ranking the top 300 oa repositories: University of California eScholarship Repository is ranked 39th globally.

the search for obama's crime policy ...

Huffington Post. President Obama It's now safe to talk about Civil Rights [By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Political Analyst and Social Issues Commentator] -- "... Obama pledged to take swift action on hate crimes, voting rights, employment discrimination, and the repressive drug laws on his campaign website [emphasis added]. Yet they never got off the campaign website and were virtually non existent as campaign talking points..."

1.22.2009

what would china do to bernie madoff?

Cancelled luxury auto leases in the U.S. -- "Irving Picard, the trustee in the Madoff case, has asked a federal judge to cancel leases the firm had on six luxury cars, including three Mercedes and a Range Rover. Picard wrote that the vehicles “are of no use or value to the creditors” of the firm and he wanted to cancel the leases to minimize the costs of administration in this case...."

But in China, see prior post ...

i drink milk [teen idles]

China court sentences 2 to death over tainted milk scandal -- from JURIST by Christian Ehret [JURIST] A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced two people to death and several to life imprisonment for their involvement in the melamine-tainted milk scandal [JURIST news archive] that sickened almost 300,000 children and killed at least six. Chairwoman of the now-bankrupt [NYT report] Sanlu Group [Research and Markets profile] Tian Wenhua pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in December and received

1.13.2009

preliminary semiannual uniform crime report

CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES - Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report (01.08 to 06.08): Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 3.5 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first six months of 2008 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2007. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2008 decreased 2.5 percent when compared with data from the same time period in 2007. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime, but data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2008 indicate that arson decreased 5.6 percent in 2008 when compared to 2007 figures. Available @ http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2008prelim/

1.12.2009

[un]speedy

CRIMPROF BLOG - Speedy Trial Case Before Supreme Court This Week

After he was charged with hitting his girlfriend in the face, career criminal Michael Brillon sat in jail without bail for nearly three years, going through six public defenders before being tried for assault.

The delays paid off -- for Brillon, anyway: A Vermont court threw out his conviction and freed him from prison last spring, saying his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial had been violated.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the case, trying to decide whether delays caused by public defenders can deprive a criminal defendant of that right. In particular: Whether governments can be blamed for such delays because they're the ones who assign and pay the lawyers for indigent defendants.

Forty states and 15 organizations -- state governments, county governments, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a victim's rights' group -- are backing the Vermont prosecutor's appeal of the ruling, worried that if it stands, criminal suspects will try to game the system and get the result Brillon did.

"You're greasing that slippery slope," said David Parkhurst, an attorney with the National Governors Association, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the prosecutor's appeal. "That's the big concern here."

Brillon, a 46-year-old construction worker whose criminal past includes convictions for sexual assault on a minor, felony obstruction of justice and cocaine possession, was charged with aggravated domestic assault over the 2001 incident with his girlfriend, who is the mother of his child.

Held without bail, his case inched along as lawyer after lawyer asked for postponements and eventually withdrew or were replaced at Brillon's request. [See also, Law Blog WSJ.com post]