New Series about Juvenile Justice System

This link will take you to three videos that involve the
juvenile justice system: why kids join gangs as well
as what it is like being in the system.

These videos are quite well done and present a
realistic view of the life of a juvenile delinquent.

Sea of stability is proof of theories

We keep reading about how the stability of an area is
dependent upon neighbors who know one another and
know what is going on in the area. Los Angeles has a small
mile-wide area that is not plagued by homicides which
occur all around it.

The article about this neighborhood and the safety it
offers is living proof that some things really work and
it is possible to have havens of safety.

This article is really a must read and you should take
the time to do so.

Technology Tried to Keep Youngsters Away from Meth

A Mendocino County (California) sheriff is attempting a new means
of trying to get young people to avoid using methamphetamine. He is using
a software program that shows a person presently and then makes changes
to show the effects after months and years of methamphetamine use.

You can read the article here, but the concept is unique.

It will be interesting to see if the demonstration has positive results.

Do you think it is worth trying? Do you think it will work?

$10 BILLION in tax dollars could and should be saved

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency has issued a report
that shows the foolishness and costliness of not utilizing proven, workable
alternatives to incarceration for non-violent crime and non-sexual crime
offenders.

Crime and Justice News summarizes the report this way:
A new report calculates potential cost savings
in four populous states: California could save
$1.4 billion, Texas $2.4 billion, New York $1.1 billion,
and Florida $271 million. The council contends
that as of 2008, 414,000 U.S. men and women
were incarcerated for nonviolent, nonsexual crimes
not involving significant property loss.

Most of these prisoners could be eligible for

effective and cost-saving sanctions such as

drug courts, drug treatment, electronic monitoring,

or work release programs. These alternatives to

prison and jail have been proved effective and

could be promptly expanded, NCCD maintains.

The costs and operations of the alternatives

are well documented - and served as a basis

for the report's cost comparison. These costs

were compared to the current costs of incarceration

for 80 percent of the likely eligible incarcerated population.

So the question that immediately pops up is why we are

not using these alternatives to maximum advantage.

One primary reason is probably the American public's

perception that alternatives are little more than a slap on

the wrist. It is imperative that our media begin to focus

on these alternatives as demanding but effective means of

preventing recidivism.

In addition because of the "if it bleeds, it leads" journalism

credo, few realize that most crimes are non-violent property

offenses whose perpetrators have abuse or mental problems

that need treatment. The public also needs to become aware

of the effectiveness of alternative treatments and be willing

to fund them.

Those who run for public office and advocate the alternatives

to incarceration must NOT be called soft on crime. The message

must be sent, loudly and clearly, that incarceration is not

effective as a means of preventing recidivism for non-violent,

non-sexual crime offenders. Prison beds should be reserved for

the true predators among us who need to be keep apart from

the rest of society.

Small Steps but True Success

This article describes a relatively small program that assists people coming out of
halfway houses with job skills and job themselves.

Those who take Intermediate Corrections courses learn about the hazards involved
when someone is on probation or parole and is unable to find employment. This
program has been going since 1984 and in the ensuing years has only had two of its
graduates return to jail, which is pretty impressive.

Here is a quote from a posting about the article:
Kevin Lynch runs a 25-year-old St. Paul-based business
that makes no profit and has an annual worker
turnover rate of about 400 percent. His Rebuild
Resources Inc., says St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Ruben Rosario, provides services
and jobs for people in recovery, particularly
ex-offenders returning to the community.
About 68 percent of nearly 1,000 graduates
since 1984 landed permanent jobs over the years.

This article is well worth your time and shows that even small programs
can have great impact.

DO NOT CLICK LINK

UTA Today in an article warned about the proliferation of malware that
can and WILL infect your computer. The reason is that cybercrime
kits are becoming readily available, cost less than before, and are
even said to be user friendly.

The article states that "newbie cybercrooks and veterans alike
are using DIY kits to carry out phishing campaigns at an
accelerated rate, security researchers say. They've been
blasting out fake e-mail messages crafted to look like official
notices from UPS (UPS), FedEx (FDX) or the IRS; or account
updates from Vonage, Facebook or Microsoft Outlook (MSFT);
or medical alerts about the H1N1 flu virus.

The faked messages invariably ask the recipient to click on a

Web link; doing so infects the PC with a banking Trojan,

a malicious program designed to steal financial account log ons.

Often, the PC also gets turned into a "bot": The attacker silently

takes control and uses it to send out more phishing e-mail."

DO NOT CLICK ANYTHING THAT ARRIVES IN EMAIL.

GO to the site itself instead (by typing the address into your

browser itself) and see if there is any notice related to

the matter the email addressed.

I made it a rule years ago that I would never click on an attachment

or go to a link within an email. It is the

safest way to avoid an infected machine.

Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2010-01-17-internet-scams-phishing_N.htm?csp=Tech

Will names on Twitter Deter DUI?

In an article today, there is a discussion about the decision of the Montgomery
County and Houston area district attorneys to post the names of those charged
with DUI during the Christmas-New Years time frame. It is a matter of public
record, so it is considered legal to list the names.

Will this cyberspace shaming work? It seems questionable. But the problem
is that although charged, there is no guarantee of a finding of guilt. The
names will turn up on searches years into the future and could impact jobs,
as well as other important life changes.

Will there be any deterrence? Most who sit down to drink have no intention
of becoming too drunk to drive or even consider the possibility.

Deterrence theory relies of swift, sure, punishment and posting names after
the fact does not appear to lend itself to the concept of deterrence.

Do you think this is a workable idea that will lessen DUIs?

Transfer to Adult System is not granted automatically

An article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported on the request by the

Assistant District Attorney who was prosecuting a case involving robberies

of two elderly people, an 85-year old was beaten during one, to have a 16-year

old certified to stand trial as an adult. The prosecutor had cited what he called

the "shocking brutality" of the crimes as well as the youth's criminal history. He

had been placed on deferred-prosecution probation following charges of writing

gang graffiti on a school desk and being a suspect in the burglary of a friend's home.

State District Judge Jean Boyd, however, denied prosecutors’ request, saying that

the teen had not yet been afforded all of the services available within the juvenile system.

If convicted in the juvenile system, he could face up to 40 years of confinement,

including time in an adult prison after he reaches age 19. He will be 17 next month.

The immediate question is why he did not receive the services the judge refers to

already. Was the decision too lenient? Will getting the services in the juvenile system

keep this youngster out of trouble in the years ahead?

There is no mention made of his being confined or who will oversee the services needed.

Why would something like this automatically not be considered a violation of probation?

Hopefully the decision was wise and juvenile services will have the outcome that is

desired; only time will tell.

Facebook is bringing Prosecution to the Foolish

When you talk on a cellphone, it is always possible that someone can hear

your conversation. Obviously what you post on Facebook and elsewhere

can also be observed by others - people forward things; things considered

private are viewed by others.

OMG! Nobody told the bomb squad it was a joke.

Four New Jersey teens had some Facebook fun"?" Sunday night,

talking with one another online about how they were going to

destroy their high school.

But come yesterday morning, Belleville HS was swarming with cops,

police dogs, FBI agents and the Essex County Sheriff's Bomb Squad,

who evacuated the school and searched it for evidence of an impending attack.

They didn't find anything incriminating.

"At this point, we think it was just talk," said Belleville Police Deputy

Chief Mark Minichini. "But we took it very seriously."

The teens -- two 16-year-old girls, one 17-year-old girl and

a 17-year-old boy -- triggered the emergency by writing about

ways they could blow up or set fire to the school, authorities said.

The teens were charged with making terroristic threats, creating

a false alarm and conspiracy.

Ranting and raving on Facebook can have dire consequences. A University

of Michigan student found police waiting for her when she showed up for a

class -- she had voiced her anger after being dumped and said she would like

to stab that person. Threats posted on Facebook are reported and can be

prosecuted under harassment-type laws.

Some find themselves rejected when applying to graduate school or even to

college and the cause, rarely admitted by the schools, revolves around a

posting on MySpace or Facebook that produced a negative impression

of the candidate. Examples go on and on.

The answer is old fashioned. Do not post or email anything that you do not

want to see as headlines in the local newspaper. If you write anything while angry,

save it and read it 24 hours later before you decide to post it. Then the wise

choice is probably to use the delete key.

The other often forgotten part of posting involves the impression you create by

using poor English or making errors in spelling and/or homonyms. What may be

acceptable as a Twitter is not acceptable when characters are not limited.

When you Twitter, it is a considered by some groups as a status change. I was

quite surprised to see something a relative Twittered show up on a totally

unrelated network group. It appeared as if this person had changed jobs, when

in reality, she was just remarking about where she was visiting. Never hit send

until you read what you are posting to be sure it is what you want to say.

Postings, unlike paper, remain available seemingly forever. Some sites are

being created specifically to allow you to find things from decades ago.

Words that are spoken can never be totally obliterated and

apparently neither can postings. Discussion Boards that are part of courses

on Blackboard or other school-type systems are limited to those enrolled

in the class and not open to public view. Thus what is posted on a

class discussion board which is limited to class members will not be

viewed by the general public.

But remember that what you put on Twitter or MySpace or Facebook

can be viewed, even if you select the privacy choice. Anything that

you post can always be copied and sent to others.

Negative comments can have unintended consequences.

A good rule of thumb that remains true is:

if you cannot say something nice, say nothing.

Wishing those of you who are in school a great spring semester.

When jurors and the Internet connect-mistrials may result

An interesting article appeared in the Washington Post which
detailed the problems that judges are having with jurors who
turn to the Internet for information .

One juror would did not understand the term "lividity" and how it
related to the victim's death, looked up the meaning on Wikipedia.
The case was thrown out and another trial ordered as a result of the
appeal's court learning what had happened.

This raises an interesting question. Why if jurors are to weigh the
evidence presented in the courtroom should they be prohibited from
using a dictionary to get a word's definition? Smartphones, laptops,
netbooks, and desktops are now a ubiquitous part of today's society.

It makes sense to instruct jurors not to post about the case on Facebook,
or Twitter or MySpace since they have long been instructed not to
discuss the case outside of the deliberation room.

You cannot compare the knowledge base of today's jurors with those
at the time of the original jury trials in the colonies. Early jurors knew
the victims and the accused and obviously brought that knowledge
into discussions with other jurors.

Experts spout statistics, but jurors may or may not know what the
numbers mean in terms of the likelihood of something matching or
occurring.

It is time to consider the knowledge that should be given to the jury
and end the "which lawyer spins the best tale" basis for a
conviction. Whether it is knowledge from "Law and Order" or "CSI,"
today's juror does not enter the courthouse with a blank screen for
a mind.

We claim that critical thinking and analysis are important concepts for
students to master. This cannot occur in a vacuum; one takes everything
heard from witnesses and viewed in exhibits to reach conclusions. These
conclusions have been influenced by our own past experiences.

"I knew who had committed the crime because of the ring." What ring?
The ring left in a tub after washing out dirty items? The ring where
boxers compete? The ring on a female's left hand? The ring of a cellphone?
etc? there are many, many different meaning of this one word. For the
testimony to be valuable, we need to know which definition of the word is
used.

The time has come to either only allow bench trials where judges may
look up information or revisit the type of information that is given to
a jury. Intelligent people want to know -- if I am on trial, I want an
intelligent jury, don't you?

Hawaii proves deterence theory works

In 2004 Hawaii state trial judge Steven Alm decided to try to do
something to stop the revolving prison doors. This article informs
us that in many states, the majority of prison admissions come not
from arrests for new crimes, as you might think, but from probation
and parole violations. Nationwide, roughly two-thirds of parolees fail
to complete parole successfully.

To a large degree when there is a positive drug test or a missed appointment
the probation/parole officer will speak with the violator but not enforce
the rules with immediate jail time. The message that goes out is that
rule compliance is not really important.

Enter Judge Alm. He called a group of sex offenders and another group of
drug offenders to his courtroom and stated quite plainly that any violation
meant immediate arrest and jail time. No ifs, ands, or buts.

While he expected to see some positive results, what actually happened
was nothing short of amazing. Within a 6-month period, violations fell
by 93%. In comparison groups the compliance rate was 14%.

The program is called HOPE which stands for Hawaii's Opportunity Probation
with Enforcement. Take the time to read the entire article and learn how
effective this type of program was in Boston where gang members were the
focus.

The time has come for citizens to demand reforms such as this. Bills are
being introduced in Congress, but we must also see that the state
legislatures get on the band wagon. Unless we contact our legislators and
let them know that this is the type of reform we want to see, nothing will
happen. We can not afford to overcrowd our prisons with violators whose
conduct could, should, and must be changed for their sake and ours.

More Prosecutorial Misconduct

A county judge ordered release for a man who was sentenced four years
ago in a child molestation case where even the victim says it was NOT this
man. The article is sure to get your blood boiling as you read how this
was a pattern in the prosecutor's office and not an isolated incident.

This excerpt gives you a small indication of what type of misconduct
was involved:

The decision casts a shadow over the career of Deputy District

Attorney Troy Benson and further tarnishes the reputation of

the District Attorney's Office, which has come under fire in

recent years for alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

Uribe's conviction on charges he sexually assaulted a young

relative was overturned by an appellate court in 2008, after

a finding that the District Attorney's Office had improperly

withheld a videotape of the purported victim's physical exam,

which was turned over only after Uribe had been sentenced.

A defense expert then reviewed the videotape and said it

contradicted the prosecution witnesses' testimony that

the child had been assaulted.

Prosecutors have since acknowledged the existence of

about 3,300 of those videotapes dating back to 1991

that were never provided to trial attorneys, as required by law

Police and Fire Departments And Budget Crunch

In an article today on the Plain Dealer newspaper web site,
Cleveland, Ohio, has announced that police and firemen will no
longer be able to automatically extend their retirement past aged
65 years. Those who wished to remain on the job after reaching
aged 65 in the past were allowed to do so nearly every time.

The decisions are now made by the Safety Director and not the
City Council. He anticipates that 20-25 will be eligible to retire
and that extensions will only be made based on the needs of
the agency. Both the Fire Chief and the Police Chief have been
asked to assess agency needs to help determine if an extension
should be considered.

You will want to read the article and pay attention to the costs of
unused vacation and sick pay to the city when someone retires. In
most non-government employment, those who do not use their
vacations days, lose them. Will the current economic crunch
cause governments to reconsider the accumulation of vacation
days and even sick days?

Do you think the current policy should remain?

Limited Immunity Yes; Total Immunity Absolutely Not

Because of a 12 million dollar settlement, the Supreme Court will not be
considering whether prosecutors should have absolute immunity from

prosecution according to an interesting article in today's Christian Science

Monitor.

The two innocent men, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee, had spent
nearly 26 years in prison for a murder they didn’t commit.
Once the truth was discovered and they were released,
they sued the prosecutors in Pottawattamie County, Iowa.

The investigation into their claim of innocence revealed that
prosecutors had helped to gather and present false testimony
that resulted in their life without parole sentences.

Qualified immunity that offers prosecutors protection from most lawsuits
except when they have violated a clearly established constitutional right
is the doctrine that those involved in criminal defense and the innocence
project were urging the court to follow.

Prosecutors wanted absolute immunity. Prosecutors are normally given
absolute immunity for actions taken during a trial. But the many recent
revelations about prosecutorial misconduct should require the judicial
system to back qualified immunity. No one in a democracy should ever
be allowed to violate another's constitutional rights with total protection.

A web search using prosecutorial misconduct reveals literally thousands
of articles of such instances. Many, if not most, of the cases involve
poor defendants and often members of a minority. There is a well
written book called Arbitrary Justice about the frequency of abuse
that is taking place. I wrote a review of this book for the Law and Courts
section of the Political Science Association Book Reviews; you can read it here

Judges and Warden Say Man Scheduled for Execution is not Guilty

The crime occurred in 1983, within a week an escapee was arrested, tried and
convicted of killing members of a California family. One child did not die immediately
and said 3 white men were responsible. When the escapee's picture was shown on
television, the boy said it was not that man.

The article and the reason why so many believe the man on death row is innocent,
but is scheduled to be executed, is truly frightening. The opponents of capital
punishment who have long clung to puzzling clues and hints of police misconduct
have been joined by a prison warden, 11 federal judges and five jurors now
bothered by allegations that Cooper was framed.

When serious questions of guilt arise, governors and/or boards of pardon and parole
should automatically see that the sentence is commuted to life without possibility
of parole to prevent the execution of someone who might be innocent.

Going ahead with an execution when so many raise questions appears to be a
travesty of justice

Supreme Court had a light load

In years gone by, the Supreme Court handed down over 100 opinions
by the end of a term. That is no longer the case.

In a Washington Post article, The Chief Justice who gives a
traditional State of the Judiciary Report wrote the following:

Criminal case filings rose 8 percent in 2009 over the previous year,

and the number of defendants in the federal system set a record at

nearly 98,000. "The number of criminal cases reached its highest

level since 1932, the year before ratification of the Twenty-first

Amendment, which repealed prohibition," Roberts wrote.

He said the increases came in cases related to immigration, fraud,

marijuana trafficking and sex offenses. Immigration filings

climbed to record levels, mostly because of allegations of

"improper reentry by aliens or fraud or misuse of a visa

or entry permit," according to the report.

The number of bankruptcy filings grew 35 percent from

the 2008 total, a result of the nation's struggling economy.

Roberts noted that it was the highest number of filings

since 2005, when there was a rush to file in advance

of a new federal law that changed standards.

He noted that his own court had a modest uptick in its

workload in the term that began in October 2008.

The court heard arguments in 87 cases,

and 83 of them were decided in 74 signed opinions.

That compared with 67 signed opinions in the previous term.

Another article in the New York Times provides some

interesting facts about the actual numbers of cases

heard by the federal courts.