Civil Rights | Incarceration Trends

2010-09-03: Headlines

• Times Record News: DEED OF TRUST 2010-09-03

  Matter of Record (Sept. 3) | Asset Acquisition Group LLC vs. Leslea Davis, 120 Rose, Burk, $16,162.28, V3528 P225. | Griselda R. Savant, 1607 Brazos, 76309, DBA Dixie Steam. | Miguel Guadalupe Ayala, 507 Carolina, 76306, DBA Ayala & Boss Cake Co. | Arturo Zuniga, 113 Galveston, 76301, DBA Unique Creations Photography. | David E. Newberry to Donnie B.

• Los Angeles Times: Browns office reconsidering motion seeking to send Lisker back to prison 2010-09-03

  A spokesman for California Atty. General Jerry Brown said Thursday that his office was reconsidering a move to have a man whose murder conviction was overturned last year sent back to prison on procedural grounds. | The announcement came about 24 hours after state lawyers had asked a judge to reverse her decision to overturn the murder conviction of Bruce Lisker. That ruling set Lisker free after he had served 26 years behind bars.

• American Chronicle: Goddard, Brewer agree: Each calls other ruinous for state 2010-09-03

  Brewer, whose stumbling debate start was marked with long lulls of silence, rallied to hammer the Democratic attorney general for his stance against SB 1070, for his tepid support of the temporary sales tax increase for education and for his refusal to challenge the new federal health-care law.

• Albany Times Union: How to keep kids out of jail 2010-09-03

  We need to punish, and to treat, juvenile delinquents appropriately. But we also need to take steps to prevent juvenile delinquency, to keep kids out of the justice system. We have to find ways to keep children in their homes and in their schools, with their families and their friends.

• LA Observed: Lisker Chronicles: Justice will win the day 2010-09-03

  Photographer Iris Schneider is following Bruce Lisker as he returns to society. He was released from prison in August 2009 after 26 years. | Villaraigosa sightings at the Emmys * | A campanile in Culver City * | Get our feeds and widgets. | For information on becoming a sponsor, email the editor.

• San Francisco Examiner: Ken Garcia: Confusion on ballot again 2010-09-03

  This week, the election games continued when a San Francisco Superior Court judge removed one of said poison pills, this one on a pension and health care reform measure that would raise city worker contributions to their pensions. | The measure, by Public Defender Jeff Adachi, also included a provision that if it passed and was successfully challenged in court, a five-year cap on employee compensation would be imposed

• Calgary Sun: Sentence as shocking as the crime 2010-09-03

  A scant 100 days for nearly three years of abuse.

• Houston Chronicle: Pill mill law puts just 217 clinics on radar 2010-09-03

  The Texas Medical Board will work with police to investigate complaints from patients, family members, pharmacists and others. | Doctors have registered 217 pain clinics with the Texas Medical Board under a new state law meant to attack rogue pill mills, though authorities suspect the newly-documented clinics represent only a fraction of a massive network of suppliers of potentially dangerous prescription pills.

• The Associated Press: Calderon: Violence price worth paying in drug war 2010-09-03

  President Felipe Calderon tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind his increasingly bloody drug war Thursday, saying he knows violence has surged under his watch, but arguing that it is the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels. | Calderon delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his government brought down the third major kingpin in less than a year.

2010-09-02: Headlines

• Express.co.uk: WHY YOBS ARE LEFT LAUGHING AT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM 2010-09-02

  BRITAIN’S soft touch justice is shamed again tonight in a TV documentary that exposes the “holiday camp” regime for yobs on community sentences. | Young criminals who are meant to be digging allotments, sorting through junk or helping people with learning difficulties are instead spending hours playing computer games or smoking cannabis.

• Mirror.co.uk: BLAIRS BONKERS 2010-09-02

  Friends of Mr Brown said he was keeping a dignified silence.

• Long Island Press: AG Candidates Address Confining Sex Offenders 2010-09-02

  There also was a bit of a flare-up at the WAMC public radio studio among the group of five candidates who have mostly stuck to issues. | Coffey, who called himself a true outsider, said he donated $5,000 to her campaign last year. | Brodsky said the law balances civil liberties and public protection. | The winner of the Sept. 14 primary will face Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, a Republican, in the Nov. 2 general election.

• msnbc.com: Ali Weinberg: Ad Watch: Owning extremist in NV 2010-09-02

  Still nothing on Democratic Senator Wyden urging Oregon to opt out of HCR. Not one word. | The truth is that the big multi-national companies have had the subsidies and tax breaks at the expense of small business. All we have to do is equalize tax among all business at a lower rate for all which would bring in more money. These big companies have been taking advantage of us all by shipping jobs overseas, tax shelters, buying subsidies.

• Manila Times: aaron salido: Umpil Honors Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Francisco Balagtas Awardees 2010-09-02

  The Unyon ng mga Manunulat na Pilipino (Umpil), the largest alliance of Filipino writers, honored this year€™s Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Francisco Balagtas awardees during its 36th congress held on August 28 at the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman.

• The Phoenix: Just a reprieve? Unless Republican leaders learn from the past, another Iraq is in our future 2010-09-02

  In his address to the nation Tuesday evening, discussing the end of American combat operations in Iraq, Barack Obama took great pains to be apolitical, nonjudgmental, and even gracious toward his predecessor. As presidential as that may have been, it left unsaid a critical and unavoidable truth: in terms of foreign policy, the Republican Party remains unapologetically committed to Bush/Cheneyism.

• NBC Chicago: West Side Community Leader to Hold Press Conference Over 'Secret Trick Meeting' 2010-09-02

  Tha Movement believes this to be nothing more then the continuation of Commander Jon Burge style tactics of harrassment! | The release then quoted excerpts from the Constitution, including Section 9, the Limits of Congress, on the rights of habeas corpus and ex post facto laws, and the Fourth Amendment, concerning illegal searches of property. | Allen, a West Side community activist, was not immediately available for comment.

• The Malaysian Insider: No polls before 2012, says EIU 2010-09-02

  Najib has been trying to open up the economy and make affirmative action more market friendly but Malay rights group Perkasa has been vocal in pressuring the prime minister to retain the status quo in terms of pro-Bumiputera policies even though four decades of affirmative action are widely perceived to have made Malaysia less competitive than it could be.

• Evansville Courier Press: Evansville Courier & Press and Evansville Courier & Press: Coats uses Berry visit to address health care, tax cuts 2010-09-02

  Republican Dan Coats, running to reclaim his old seat in the U.S. Senate, on Wednesday called for a do-over in health care reform and an extension of all tax cuts approved during the administration of former President George W. Bush. | Coats has criticized Ellsworth for opposing Republican-led initiatives to prevent the use of federal funds to move Guantanamo Bay detention camp detainees to the United States.

• The Underground: Christian Solidarity Worldwide seeks release of Cuban pastor 2010-09-02

  Christian Solidarity Worldwide asked recently the Cuban government to release a pastor who was taken from his home and brought to a small town in the country...

• Columbia Daily Tribune: Jury duty ruling contradicts earlier Ferguson decision 2010-09-02

  A Lincoln County court policy that allowed people to dodge jury duty by paying $50 and performing community service was ruled unlawful Tuesday by the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District. The decision could potentially impact Ryan Ferguson€™s conviction in a 2001 Columbia murder.

• Malaysia Star: ISA detainee released after eight years 2010-09-02

  PETALING JAYA: One of the longest serving Internal Security Act detainees, Shamsuddin Sulaiman, a suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) member, has been released.

• Sydney Morning Herald: Big parties focused on the city, spurned regions 2010-09-02

  The Labor Party showed interest only in its city electorates and the National Party could never muster the courage to use the power when it had it to sway its similarly city-centric Liberal partners. The party politicians have only done anything for the regions when they are forced to through embarrassment and pressure.

• Bahamas Tribune: A security danger growing on Bank Lane 2010-09-02

  BETWEEN Monday and Friday the Bank Lane area of the courts becomes a tinderbox just waiting for the right day and the right match to set it off.

• KRCG: Appeals Court ruling could grant new Ferguson murder trial 2010-09-02

  Ryan Ferguson is serving 40 years in prison for the 2001 murder of Columbia Daily Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt.

• Ogaden Online: Inhabitants of Three Towns Kidnapped 2010-09-02

  Keywords: The kidnapping of the inhabitants follows recent extra judicial killings perpetrated by the Woyane (Ethiopian) militias stationed in and around the town of Boodhleey. It also follows brazen press announcements in which the Woyane head, Mr. Meles Zenawi, threatened these types of genocidal actions against one of the tribes that inhabit in the Ogaden.

• Nigerian Compass: 2011: Thugs risk N2 million fine, two-year jail term 2010-09-02

  HARD times await hoodlums who, in the past, engaged in thuggery and perpetrated violence at political rallies and campaigns. | Reason: The 2010 Electoral Act has stipulated a maximum fine of N2 million or a two-year imprisonment for anyone who runs foul of the Act.

• Malaysia Star: Court adjourns Home Ministers appeal against Raja Petras release from ... 2010-09-02

  This is following the notice of appeal not being served to Raja Petra. | On Nov 7, 2008, the Shah Alam High Court ordered the release of Raja Petra from ISA detention after ruling that his two-year detention at the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping was unlawful. | Raja Petra was arrested on Sept 12, 2008 as he was deemed a threat to national security and the order to detain him under the ISA was issued on Sept 22, 2008.

• Columbia Daily Tribune: Ryan Fergusons attorney outlines next step 2010-09-02

  Ryan Ferguson’s defense could file a petition for a habeas corpus hearing with the Cole County Circuit Court in the next 30 days in response to its recent appellate defeat.

• The Press Association: Community service a holiday camp 2010-09-02

  Community service 'a holiday camp' | The Tonight investigation, to be screened on ITV1 at 7.30pm on Thursday, showed criminals on community service doing nothing for long periods, being left unsupervised, and even breaking the law by smoking cannabis. | Footage filmed over six weeks at projects in Manchester, Nottingham and Derbyshire, showed a series of serious problems with the schemes.

• WBUR: Merle Haggard Reflects On His Outlaw Country Past 2010-09-02

  We start with songwriter and singer Merle Haggard. Music writer Peter Guralnick has said about Haggard: There is no one in contemporary popular music who has created a more impressive legacy, or one that spans a wider variety of styles. | GROSS: I spoke with Merle Haggard in 1995, just a week before he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. He told me how he started hopping freight trains as a kid.

Background Briefing: Sentancing and Drug Laws

Human Rights Watch: California: Repeal Law Jailing Children for Life 2008-01-14

Senate Should End Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders | Californias State Senate should pass a law this month to end the sentencing of children to prison for life with no possibility of parole, Human Rights Watch said today in a report on a practice outlawed in most of the world.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Girls Abused in New Yorks Juvenile Prisons 2006-09-25

Violent Restraints, Sexual Abuse Must Stop | Girls in New Yorks juvenile prisons are being abused and neglected by state authorities, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch: Human Rights Watch Submission to the Human Rights Committee 2006-07-12

Human Rights Watch Supplemental Submission to the Human Rights Committee During its Consideration of the Second and Third Periodic Reports of the United States | In January 2006, Human Rights Watch submitted a list of issues for the Human Rights Committees reference while posing questions to the United States about its adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR). Since that submission, the United States has enacted or begun to undertake new laws, policies, and practices that reflect the continuing failure of the U.S. to fulfill its obligations under the ICCPR. Oulined here are some of those developments, as well as some additional issues that HRW believes are central to the Committees work.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: House Amendment Tilts Playing Field for Death Penalty 2005-10-27

Radical Changes to the Federal Death Penalty May Soon Be Law | The House has slipped an amendment into the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act that would dramatically skew federal death penalty cases in favor of the prosecution.

Human Rights Watch: United States: Thousands of Children Sentenced to Life without Parole 2005-10-12

National Study by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Finds Majority Face Life for First Offense | There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes committed before they were age 18, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a new joint report published today.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Supreme Court Ends Child Executions 2005-03-01

With the Roper v. Simmons Supreme Court ruling abolishing the execution of child offenders, the United States joins the international consensus rejecting this cruel and inhuman punishment.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Children Are Collateral Casualties of N.Y. Drug Laws 2002-06-18

Excessively severe drug laws have deprived thousands of children of their parents, Human Rights Watch said today. Governor Pataki and New York politicians in Albany are now debating legislation to reform these drug laws

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Pataki Drug Reform No Improvement 2001-07-16

New York Governor George Pataki's proposed drug law reforms would leave drug offenders vulnerable to excessive prison sentences and maintain prosecutors' undue power over sentencing decisions, Human Rights Watch charged today.

Human Rights Watch: US: A Human Rights Agenda for the Justice Department 2001-03-29

In a letter released today, Human Rights Watch called on the Bush Administration's Justice Department to promote and protect human rights in the United States. The letter outlines a human rights agenda for the new U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on such issues as prisoner abuses, police brutality, sentencing, the mistreatment of immigrants, the federal death penalty, and the poor U.S. record on ratifying international human rights treaties.

Background Briefing: Prison Conditions in the United States

Human Rights Watch: Scores of Muslim Men Jailed Without Charge 2005-06-27

Justice Department Misused Material Witness Law in Counterterrorism Efforts | Operating behind a wall of secrecy, the U.S. Department of Justice thrust scores of Muslim men living in the United States into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention without charge and baseless accusations of terrorist links, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Maryland Death Penalty Moratorium Applauded 2002-05-09

Human Rights Watch applauded Maryland Governor Paris N. Glendening's decision today to impose a moratorium on executions in Maryland. Citing the need "to be absolutely sure of the integrity" of the death penalty process, Governor Glendening announced the moratorium would continue until an ongoing University of Maryland study on racial bias and the death penalty is completed and reviewed and acted upon by the state legislature.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Illinois Commission Highlights Death Penalty's Inherent Flaws 2002-04-17

Human Rights Watch welcomed the unanimous conclusion of the bi-partisan commission, appointed by Governor George H. Ryan to examine the administration of the death penalty in Illinois, that no system of criminal justice can guarantee absolutely that innocent persons will not be sentenced to death.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Bush Urged to Stop Federal Execution 2001-06-18

Human Rights Watch urged President Bush to halt Tuesday's scheduled federal execution of Juan Raul Garza. Citing continuing concerns over racial and geographic disparities in the application of the federal death penalty, HRW called for a stay of execution until the government can guarantee that race plays no role in the federal death penalty.

Human Rights Watch: US: Clinton Urged to Impose Moratorium on Executions 2000-12-12

Human Rights Watch commended President Clinton for staying the execution of Juan Raul Garza. The group urged the president to impose a moratorium on federal executions.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Florida Ex-Offenders Barred from Vote 2000-11-08

31% of State's African American Men Denied Vote | The permanent disenfranchisement of over 400,000 ex-offenders in Florida is likely to have determined the outcome of the presidential election, two non-partisan research and advocacy groups said.

Human Rights Watch: United States: Stark Race Disparities in Drug Incarceration 2000-06-08

Some states send black men to prison at rates 27 to 57 times greater than whites | The U.S. war on drugs has been waged overwhelmingly against black Americans, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released "Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs".

Human Rights Watch: Felon Laws Bar 3.9 Million Americans from Voting 1998-10-22

A stunning proportion of black men in the United States will not be able to vote in the November elections because they have been convicted of a felony, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In seven states, a staggering one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised. In two states, Alabama and Florida, the ratio is one in three