The Justice Gambit

The Myth of Closure via Execution

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Of all the arguments in support of capital punishment, perhaps the most emotionally compelling is that it provides "closure" for the loved ones of murder victims. Prosecuting attorneys, politicians and journalists commonly refer to how executions allow family members to "move on" from their pain, providing a sense of relief at knowing that "justice" was finally served.

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Muhammad died silently Tuesday night in a Virginia prison death chamber filled with lawyers, lawmen and his victims' survivors.
After the execution, Steven Moore said he thought about Muhammad's accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, who received a life sentence for their crimes.

"Well, myself, I wish Malvo was right there beside Muhammad," said Moore, whose sister, FBI analyst Linda Franklin, was gunned down in Virginia. "They both committed the same crimes. No, I don't feel any closure. I mean, it's ... it ... nothing changes."

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The nationally publicized execution of Mr. Muhammad has once again brought controversy surrounding the administration of capital punishment to the forefront. Among these controversies is the impact of capital punishment on the victim's family and friends. Many believe that every family member wants to see the offender executed, which is simply not accurate.

There is also the perception that executions bring closure. Again, that is simply not the case. Many victims' family and friends have come to realize that a death sentence ensures prolonging the matter, thus delaying or denying the ability to begin the recovery process.

Several family members of Mr. Muhammad's victims attended the execution. While I hope that they do reach some kind of closure, the research on this subject does not provide for much hope.

I surveyed one of my classes on this subject. A majority support capital punishment for murderers, but a significant number would not attend the execution of someone who had been convicted of murdering one of the family members. While interesting, we need to better understand why people do and do not want to witness an execution. Such information may be invaluable to policy makers and may lead to improvements in the recovery process for all crime victims and their families.

Do some family and friends feel the only way to show how much they loved the victims is to demand a sentence of death and to view the eventual execution? What emotions do family and friends go through during the process? And what about the family and friends of the offender? Margaret Vandiver has already begun to answer some of these questions, but we need more research.

But we already know that some family and friends of murder victims do not support the death penalty or want to see the offender's execution. Arguing that death sentences and executions provide closure for everyone is a myth.

The Permanent Underclass

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:17:00 +0000

If you think it's tough getting a job during a recession, imagine what it's like for an ex-convict.

Gregory Headley, 29, knows exactly what it's like. The Harlem resident was released from prison in July after serving two years and eight months for the criminal sale of a firearm. Now that he's out, he said, the conviction is dogging his attempts to land a full-time job.

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20 years ago, the U.S. had approximately 700,000 inmates in prison. This year, that number will be released. As the article points out, getting and keeping a job has become increasing difficult. The lack of educational opportunities, in and out of prison, continues to be problematic. It is a a virtual certainty that the recidivism rate will climb as prisons reduce programs and continue warehousing inmates.

Our crime control policies, buffeted by the effects of the recession, are creating a permanent underclass of people who cannot compete for good jobs in any economy. More needs to be done in the area of prisoner reentry in order to intervene in the revolving door of prison.

Many states have begun to reduce the effects of policies such as technical violations of probation and parole, drug-related crimes, and mandatory minimum sentences. We need other efforts, such as job training and education, tax credits for employers who hire convicted felons, and programs that work to promote successful transition into the free world instead of setting released inmates up for failure.

The cost of the permanent underclass that our current polices have created will have a significant and lasting impact on other parts of state and local budgets. Helping inmates stay out of jail and prison is the smart thing to do.

Needle Exchange Programs

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:21:00 +0000

PROGRAMS THAT allow drug addicts to swap their dirty needles for sterile syringes are effective in reducing the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A 2008 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that an 80 percent reduction in the incidence of HIV in intravenous drug users over the past 20 years can be attributed in part to such programs funded by private organizations and localities. But Congress appears intent on gumming up the works.

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Needle exchange programs work. There is no evidence that such programs encourage intravenous drug use. But they do slow down the rate of diseases spread by sharing dirty needles. They are also very cost effective. Compare the cost of syringes and administrative costs to a life-time of treatment for AIDS/HIV.

Thanks a lot Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga). Your lack of rationality in the face of this epidemic is appalling.

The Cost of Killing in Idaho

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:06:00 +0000

BOISE - Thomas Creech sits and waits on Idaho’s death row.

Creech was already serving a life sentence for a double murder in 1981, when he was convicted of bludgeoning a fellow inmate to death using a sock filled with batteries. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Ada County. But almost three decades later, Creech still doesn't have an execution date.

And your tax money is keeping him alive.

Through a string of appeals over the decades, many of them mandatory in capital cases, Creech waits. And the relatives of his victims wait. And Idaho taxpayers spend.

For that reason alone, Democratic State Senator Elliot Werk of Boise says it's time to toss out the death penalty in Idaho.

"It's just a huge waste of government money and money that could go to other really beneficial uses," says Werk.

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The most amazing quote was provided by Senator Darrington (R- Declo). He states "...the death penalty shouldn't come down to dollars and cents, and feels Idaho would be making a big mistake getting rid of it."

“We do not impose criminal sentences, be it prison sentences or the death penalty, with economics in mind," says Darrington.

Now we know why Idaho has gone from 1 out of 128 adults under some type of correctional supervision in 1982 to out of 18 in 2007. Idaho is second in the nation in terms of this rate. We also know that Senator Darrington will never permit any bill to revise the death penalty through his committee, regardless of the cost or efficacy.

Shouldn't the death penalty and prisons be held to the same standard as any other state policy? Some would say we should not put a price on "justice." But don't we ration other items that are necessary for life, such as health care, education, housing, food, clothing, etc? And does the criminal justice system have unlimited dollars to pursue any policy? Is not the essence of good government setting priorities, tying the budget to intended outcomes, and evaluating whether or not policies are working as intended?

I invite Senator Darrington to reevaluate his stance on capital punishment in Idaho. 11 states considered abolition this year; New Mexico succeeded. One execution in 52 years hardly seems fair to the crime victims' family and friends, to offenders who languish for decades waiting for a sentence that will most likely never be carried out, and to the people of Idaho who have to shoulder the burden of this failed policy.

No Constitutional Protection Against Being Framed

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:37:00 +0000

"THERE IS NO Freestanding Constitutional 'Right Not To Be Framed.' " So states a brief filed by Iowa prosecutors hoping to persuade the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit against them for allegedly fabricating evidence that led to the 25-year incarceration of two innocent men. It's a breathtaking proposition that the justices should roundly reject when they hear the case Wednesday.

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"The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor-indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one." Burger v. United States (1935)

It is clear that police and prosecutors can use deception, to a degree, in order to obtain confessions and convictions. However, knowingly allowing the use of perjured testimony goes beyond the use of trickery. There is no defense against unscrupulous prosecutors who will do anything in order to win.

The defendants maintain that prosecutors have absolute immunity for actions during the trial. They maintain that this immunity extends to the pretrial phases. They also argued that modifying absolute immunity would result in a flood of litigation, which would then result in prosecutors "flinching" - they would be reluctant to perform their duties.

Odd that no mention seems to be made of the fact that police officers have a qualified immunity, which does not hamper them from performing their duties. Police can be hed accountable for their actions when they engage in illegal behavior. No one is disputing the facts of this case (Pottawattamie County v. McGhee.). The prosecutors fabricated evidence, coerced perjured testimony, withheld exculpatory evidence, and covered up evidence that led to the real suspect.

Our criminal justice system has enough problems without the U.S. Supreme Court adding another one. The decision in this case should be clear, but it is not clear that members of the Court have the moral courage to arrive at what should be a clear cut outcome. No one, including prosecutors, is above the law.

Here is another report from National Public Radio.

Justices will scrutinize life sentences for youths

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:17:00 +0000

It did not take long for the judge to determine that the convicted rapist in front of him was irredeemable.

"He is beyond help," Judge Nicholas Geeker said of Joe Harris Sullivan. "I'm going to try to send him away for as long as I can."

And then Geeker sentenced Sullivan to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the time, Sullivan was 13 years old.

Now, 20 years after that sentencing in a courtroom in Pensacola, Fla., the Supreme Court will consider whether Sullivan's prison term -- and what his supporters say is an only-in-America phenomenon of extreme sentences for juveniles -- violates the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

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The U.S. has more juveniles serving life without parole than any place on the planet. We also treat juveniles as adults in an ever-widening net that has yet to produce little in the way of crime control, but has actually made matters worse. Juveniles in adult court and serving adult sentences tend not to receive the necessary treatment, are at higher risk of assault from inmates and staff, and have higher rates of recidivism.

It is time to end this failed public policy and reform the laws on juvenile waivers. Missouri has made good progress on this front. The U.S. Supreme Court should also rule that life without parole is cruel and unusual for all juveniles.

Like Giving Car Keys to A Drunken Teenager

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

State officials will soon seek bids from private companies for 9 of the state’s 10 prison complexes that house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 here on death row. It is the first effort by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.

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Turning over the prison system to a for-profit company is akin to giving car keys to a drunken teenager - totally irresponsible.

Aside from the malfeasance that continues to surround the for-profit prison industry, there is the issue of the morality of making a profit from other people's misery. The state may think that it is saving money, but the evidence doesn't support this conclusion. Shifting death row into private hands also seems rather macabre. The state is abdicating its role the dispenser of punishment and handing it over to a group with profit as its motive. It would not occur to elected officials to reduce the prison population by reforming sentencing and investing in programs that minimize the likelihood of offenders returning to prison. Very irresponsible.

For a humorous take on this pending tragedy, take a look at this Colbert Report.

The Death Penalty in Texas Looks Bad?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:08:00 +0000

Questions about whether Gov. Rick Perry allowed the execution of a man some arson experts say may have been innocent, and then hindered an investigation into the evidence, continue to reverberate across Texas, where issues surrounding capital punishment have rarely stirred such controversy.

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The criticism of Gov. Perry continues.

But I love the quote from the other Republican candidate for Texas governor, Senator Kay Baily Hutchison - “The only thing Rick Perry’s actions have accomplished is giving liberals an argument to discredit the death penalty,” she said in a statement. “We should never do anything to create a cloud of controversy over it with actions that look like a cover-up.”

Sleeping lawyers, a prosecutor and a judge romantically involved before and during a trial, 10 exonerations from death row, sentence and conviction reversals, botched executions, wrong convictions and executions, but Senator Hutchison would not want to do anything to create a cloud of controversy over the death penalty. Other than this misstep by Perry, there is nothing else with which to discredit the death penalty.

In the words of Rep. Barney Frank, what planet do you live on Senator Hutchison?

An Example of Prosecutorial Misconduct

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:27:00 +0000

After spending three years investigating the conviction of a Harvey man accused of killing a security guard with a shotgun blast in 1978, journalism students at Northwestern University say they have uncovered new evidence that proves his innocence.

Their efforts helped win a new day in court for Anthony McKinney, who has spent 31 years in prison for the slaying. But as they prepare for that crucial hearing, prosecutors seem to have focused on the students and teacher who led the investigation for the school's internationally acclaimed Medill Innocence Project.

The Cook County state's attorney subpoenaed the students' grades, notes and recordings of witness interviews, the class syllabus and even e-mails they sent to each other and to professor David Protess of the university's Medill School of Journalism.

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Let's assume that the prosecutors are right - that the professor in the class told students to dig up information or receive a poor grade. Does that change the fact than an innocent person may have spent 31 years in prison for a crime he did not commit?

Clearly the prosecutor is trying to harass and intimidate the professor, his students, and anyone else who is involved with the Innocence Project.

Just as clearly, the argument that the students and the professor are not journalists and are not covered by legal protections is another stab at undermining the effort to exonerate the wrongly convicted.

Misconduct by prosecutors must be challenged at every level. At a minimum, I hope this outrageous act results in a complaint and investigation from the Illinois Bar Association. Politically, I hope the Cook County attorney is driven from office for wrongful prosecutions and immoral acts like this case.

Governor Perry Did What?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:43:00 +0000

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday shook up the ranks of a state commission that is probing whether a man executed in 2004 belonged on death row, forcing the commission to delay a scheduled hearing on the case.

Read more... Dallas Morning News

I have witnessed some pretty outrageous conduct by elected officials, but this action by Governor Perry is way over the top. Meddling with the commission just days before a public hearing on the execution of an innocent person (based on the evidence presented thus far) is reminiscent of the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" during the Nixon Administration.

What is Governor Perry trying to hide? If he has an ounce of integrity left, he should resign as governor. If he does not, I hope the Texas legislature takes action against him.

Decriminalizing Drugs in Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Reporting from Tijuana and Mexico City - Mired in a bloody battle with major drug traffickers, Mexico is quietly eliminating jail time for possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

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This policy change is a great first step in shifting the issue of drug use away from the failed prohibition policies. Portugal has had great success since it took a similar approach in 2001. The problem for Mexico is providing the second step - access to treatment.

The U.S. has the ability to provide more mental health treatment, but has been reluctant to do so as it appears to many to be a sign of weakness. Instead policy makers continue the reckless path of prohibition, which enriches the drug cartels and creates new classes of deviant and criminal behavior.

When will we learn that prohibition does not work?

Priority Test: Health Care or Prisons?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:13:00 +0000

At a time when we Americans may abandon health care reform because it supposedly is “too expensive,” how is it that we can afford to imprison people like Curtis Wilkerson?

Mr. Wilkerson is serving a life sentence in California — for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks. As The Economist noted recently, he already had two offenses on his record (both for abetting robbery at age 19), and so the “three strikes” law resulted in a life sentence.

This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it’s also an extraordinary waste of money.

Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. The United States is anomalous among industrialized countries in the high proportion of people we incarcerate; likewise, we stand out in the high proportion of people who have no medical care — and partly as a result, our health care outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are unusually poor.

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We waste an incredible amount of money in the criminal justice system if the goal is crime control. As the editorial by Kristof points out, we are the world leader when it comes to incarceration. But we do not need these current levels in order to maintain safe communities. Nationally, crime rates have been dropping since the 1990s. This drop is attributable to a number of factors, least of which is incarceration.

Many of our current policies, such as drug prohibition laws, actually make matters worse. The bottom line is that we can save money, which can be redirected to other needs, while continuing to improve public safety. The question is do we have the political will to invest in people and break the current cycle of ineffective crime control policies?

The Politics of Crime Control

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:34:00 +0000

After an impassioned debate over the cost and benefit of California's massive prison system, the state Senate on Thursday narrowly approved a controversial bill to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on state lockups by reducing the time lower-level inmates would spend behind bars and on parole.

But the proposal remained stalled in the Assembly, where a host of lawmakers vying for higher office refused to take a vote that could portray them as soft on crime. Speaker Karen Bass kept her members late into the night in an effort to push through a watered-down version, to no avail. The Assembly adjourned just before midnight without taking action, planning to reconvene Monday.

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We see the first problem in managing a failed prison system - politics - in this story from California. Policy makers - those who played a significant role in creating this problem - are afraid of being labeled soft on crime. Never heard an elected official claim to be afraid of being smart on crime.

Inside the political issue is the fact that many politicians have built their careers being tough on crime. They don't have tangible results of positive outcomes from the pursuit of their get tough approach, but that doesn't matter. They pander to the baser instincts in order to score political points. I don't think that many of these politicos care about victims or offenders - crime is just a means to an end for them.

We also see the typical response to any attempt to be smart about crime control - fear.

Republicans and some law enforcement groups, who characterize the plan as "early release" and "get out of jail free," warned that it would reverse the significant drops in crime of recent years.

"We will see mayhem on the streets of California," Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater) told colleagues on the Senate floor Thursday.

Never mind the facts. Cut straight to the fear mongering. Never mind that the inmates who would be released are non-violent. Never mind that many of them are recidivists because of technical violations. Just claim that crime will go up and many elected officials will wilt.

But in this case, the federal courts have gotten involved, which was predictable. If Californai doesn't step up, we will see more riots and lawsuits. Other states - take heed.

When Pigs Fly

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:01:00 +0000

The Supreme Court on Monday took the rare step of ordering a federal judge to consider the innocence claims of condemned Georgia prisoner Troy Anthony Davis, who has mounted a global campaign to declare he was wrongfully convicted of murder and barred by federal law from presenting the evidence that would prove it.

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A recent story in the NY Times suggested that some federal judges were pushing back against the effects of the 1996 Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. Now this decision - I swear that I saw a pig flying today!

Of course Scalia and his 5th appendage Thomas don't see it that way. "This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent," Scalia wrote. Law professor Alan Dershowitz put Scalia and Thomas' logic into simpler terms: "If a defendant were convicted ... of murdering his wife and then came to the Supreme Court with his very much alive wife at his side ... these two justices would tell him, in effect: 'Look, your wife may be alive as a matter of fact, but as a matter of constitutional law, she's dead, and as for you, Mr. Innocent Defendant, you're dead, too, since there is no constitutional right not to be executed merely because you're innocent.'"

From a legal standpoint, Scalia and Thomas don't seem to believe a person can actually be innocent, only "guilty" or "not guilty," because that's the only thing the system is designed to determine. That's an incredible view of our justice system, one that deserves much more debate. Read more...

Getting Smart on Crime?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:59:00 +0000

After decades of supercharged incarceration rates, our bloated prison system is straining under its own weight, and policy makers are finally being forced to deal with the need to shrink it.

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Asking elected officials to get smart on crime is asking a lot. Many have difficulty in admitting that the get tough approach of the 1908s has failed to reduce street crime. Challenges to the current orthodoxy are frequently labeled as being soft on crime and/or a liberal approach. There seems to be little appetite for changing polices such as mandatory minimum sentences or drug prohibition, except where the budget is forcing some changes such as in California.

The politicization of crime may have left an enduring legacy from which we may never recover.

Death Qualification

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:19:00 +0000

NASHVILLE (WATE) -- Death penalty questions in Nashville Thursday brought out tears and hedging from the jury pool for the first trial of suspects accused of killing Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

Attorneys for both sides continue questioning potential jurors in Davidson County for the trial of Letalvis Cobbins.

Several potential jurors were dismissed Thursday morning because they're strongly opposed to the death penalty. One woman quoted the Bible during questioning, saying "it's not our place, it's God's place."

Needle Exchange Programs

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:13:00 +0000

The House voted to end a 21-year-old ban and allow federal funding of needle exchange programs. It also voted to allow the District to use its own money for such a program. There's one catch: the programs cannot be located "within 1,000 feet of a public or private day care center, elementary school, vocational school, secondary school, college, junior college, or university, or any public swimming pool, park, playground, video arcade, or youth center, or an event sponsored by any such entity." This would render whole sections of cities off-limits. And it would effectively kill the District's one needle exchange program. None of this is a done deal. The Senate version of the bill doesn't have those onerous restrictions. When the House and Senate meet in conference committee to hash out the final legislation, this restrictive language must be removed.

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Why has it taken 21 years to repeal this failed policy? How many lives have been lost and how much money has been squandered becasue of the irrational fears of a few legislators? Fact: it is far cheaper to fund needle exchange programs than it is to pay for the health costs of people who contract HIV/AIDS and other diseases while sharing needles. Fact: Needle exchange programs lower the rate of the spread of infection diseases. Fact: needle exchange programs do not promote the use of intravenous drug use. So once again, irrationality and ideology trump science and sound policy decisions. When will we ever learn?

Collateral Damage From Wrongful Convictions

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Instead of the killer being caught, prosecuted and punished, quickly and efficiently, and the Nicarico family receiving whatever solace it could, the case has shapeshifted into something it should have never been.

With three innocent men being prosecuted for the crime, it's become a case about law enforcement's mistakes and misconduct.

And it's been an example of the DuPage County state's attorney's office putting other priorities ahead of justice for far too long.

Read more....

26 years ago, Brian Dugan kidnapped and murdered 10 year old Jeanine Nicarico. Dugan offered to plead guilty to this case in 1985, but the prosecutor did not believe his confession. Instead, two innocent men were sent to Illinois' death row. Dugan has finally entered a plea in this case.

One of the many consequences of wrongful convictions is that the real perpretrator may be free to continue his or her criminal offending. When the police and prosecutors fail to investigate and prosecute cases objectively based on the evidence, miscarriages of justice often result.

The case of Charles Fain has a smiliar pattern. Arrested and convicted of killing nine year old Daralyn Johnson in 1982, Mr. Fain spent 18 years on Idaho's death row. DNA evidence eventually led to his exoneration. The real killer has never been apprehended for this crime. What other crimes were committed and who else became victims while the police and prosecutor focused on an innocent person?

What Happend at the Gates Residence?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:19:00 +0000

By now most people are aware of the events that took place at the Cambridge home of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. A person in the neighborhood (not a neighbor) saw two black men trying to force open a door and called police. Gates was returning home from an overseas trip and could not open the door to his home. Police arrived, a confrontation arose, and Gates was arrested for creating a public disturbance. The charges were almost immediately dropped.

Washington Post
L.A. Times
L.A. Times
NY Times
NY Times

Lots has been made of President Obama's response to a question from a reporter during his Wednesday night speech on heath insurance reform.

Here are some of the facts: (1) President Obama acknowledged that he did not know if race was a factor in the arrest of Gates; (2) he did say the arrest was stupid; and (3) race is a factor in confrontations between police and people of color in this country.

Here is my take on what might have happened. Gates was tired from his trip and was frustrated by his inability to enter his home. The police arrived and things escalated from that point. I don't know what my reaction would be if the police asked me to identify myself in my own home, but I suspect I would not be happy about the request. Gates challenged the officer's authority and the officer did not back down. The officer lured Gates outside and then arrested him. It was stupid to arrest someone in their own home for a trivial offense. On the other hand, Gates could also have diffused the situation by changing his demeanor.

I don't know if race was a direct factor, but the police culture that includes suspicion and isolation from the public certainly contributed. Throw in the possibility that Gates committed the crime of "contempt of cop" and you have the makings for a very ugly incident.

But perhaps something positive will result form this incident. We are talking about race and the criminal justice system, but we have to move beyond talk. Gates has promised to document the case of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. He will not have too look far as evidence abounds.

The immediate downside of this episode is that the president's comments are a distraction from other issues. And there are those who will politicize the issue into the 2009 version of the well-know "southern strategy." Race baiting is a powerful political tool.

Here is an update from the NY Times regarding my argument.

Use of Life Sentences Continues to Increase

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:30:00 +0000

More prisoners today are serving life terms than ever before — 140,610 out of 2.3 million inmates being held in jails and prisons across the country — under tough mandatory minimum-sentencing laws and the declining use of parole for eligible convicts, according to a report released Wednesday by the Sentencing Project, a group that calls for the elimination of life sentences without parole. The report tracks the increase in life sentences from 1984, when the number of inmates serving life terms was 34,000.

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A number of factors are driving the increase in the number of people serving life sentences, but an increase in the violent crime rate is not one of them. A number of policies - "three-strikes," determinate sentencing, juvenile waivers - all have an underlying common denominator - the politics of "get tough" on crime.

One of the problems with this approach is that it is disconnected from effective crime control. The politics of incarceration have more to do with appearing to be tough on crime. Another problem is the cost of this "get tough" policy. Not only are we locking up more people, be we are keeping them incarcerated for longer periods of time. Add this this the fact that older prisoners tend to have health issues and you have the ingredients for increased spending in coming decades.

Is this how we want to spend our tax dollars?

Note - Idaho has 523 inmates serving a life sentence (8.3% of total prison population), with 102 serving life without parole (1.6% of the total prison population). There are 21 juveniles serving life and four serving life without parole sentences, which is below the national average.

Older Prisoners Denied Social Security

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Mother Jones - Not long ago I described the plight of the growing numbers of older prisoners filling up the country’s prisons and jails. They receive poor health care and are subject to any number of cruel and inhuman punishments—people with bad arthritis are required to climb into upper bunks to sleep; it's next to impossible for inmates in wheelchairs to access parts of prisons available to younger people, like baths. Among the worst sights described to me by a medical consultant were sick and often older inmates of an Alabama women’s prison who were forced to get out of bed at 3 a.m. and stand in lines to obtain medicine.

Another major issue faced by older prisoners is that they do not receive Social Security from the fund they paid into for years before being convicted of a crime. Lois Ahrens, who runs the indispensable Real Cost of Prisons Project, alerted me to the situation of David Hinman, a prisoner in Iowa. Now 65 years old, he contributed to Social Security for years while in the free world. He is not eligible for parole for a number of years

Read more....

This article describes many of the problems faced by the elderly while they are incarcerated. But denying them social security benefits is one of those WTF moments. Inmates do need money while incarcerated, but that is beside the point. If any person paid into the system, then they are entitled to draw upon it when they are eligible. It does seem that the federal government is looking for ways to avoid fulfilling its promise.

Race and the Criminal Justice System

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has spent much of his life studying the complex history of race and culture in America, but until last week he had never had the experience that has left so many black men questioning the criminal justice system.

Read more....

Dr. Gates is in for an eye-opening journey through he annals of of criminal justice policy and practices. I hope that he follows through on his proposed documentary. And I hope that we learn more about stupid policies and practices based on race while addressing a question ignored far too long - why are lower-class people (and people of color) over-represented in the criminal justice system?

One place to start is an examination of race sand the death penalty. The research is quite clear - race of the victim is a predictor of who gets (and who doesn't) a death sentence. The history of rape and capital punishment is even more rife with racial discrimination.

One of the motivations for studying the death penalty is to place it in a larger context and learn more about a society that embraces it despite its adverse impact on poor people and people of color. But that is the legacy of the entire criminal justice system.

Giving Life, Wearing Shackles and Chains

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:42:00 +0000

One day last November, the first shudders of childbirth woke Venita Pinckney before dawn. She was well into her ninth month of pregnancy. She was also incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a state prison.

Before she left for the hospital, Ms. Pinckney said, a corrections officer wrapped a chain twice around her waist and handcuffed her to it. Then he covered the handcuffs with a locked black box to further limit her range of motion. Finally, her ankles were shackled.

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You would think that after 30+ years of involvement with the criminal justice system that policies and practices such as shackling pregnant women during child birth would: (a) be part of a bygone era; (b) cease to amaze me. Obviously neither of these items are true.

In far too many instances, our criminal justice policies resemble those of a third-world despot rather then an evolving democracy. Shackling all pregnant women (instead of restraining the truly violent offenders) is just one of many barbaric policies that are an embarrassment to a rational and democratic society.

Mental Health and the Death Penalty

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:42:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time, families of murder victims have joined with families of persons with mental illness who have been executed to speak out against the death penalty.

Double Tragedies, a report being released today at a special session on the first day of the annual convention of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), calls the death penalty "inappropriate and unwarranted" for people with severe mental disorders and "a distraction from problems within the mental health system that contributed or even directly led to tragic violence."

The report calls for treatment and prevention, not execution. It is available online at www./nami.org/doubletragedies.

No to More Prisons

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Michael Blankenship) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Wednesday morning began with 100,552 inmates locked up in Florida prisons. The state also has or will soon have 11 thousand more beds under construction at a cost of almost a billion dollars. Florida’s major business groups are saying enough is enough.

The bed this inmate will sleep in tonight cost 77,000 dollars to build. The state wants to build 11,000 more beds over the next five years. For the first time, Florida’s major business organizations are saying enough is enough. Florida can’t afford any more prisons.