U.S. Jail Population Falls 2.4%, Dropping for Second Straight Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nation's local jail population dropped 2.4 percent in the year ending June 30, the second consecutive year of decline, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said today. The inmate count fell from 767,434 to 748,728. That followed a 2.3 percent decline in 2009. The jail incarceration rate in 2010 declined to 242 jail inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents―the lowest rate since 2003. The inmate decline was concentrated in places holding 1,000 or more inmates. Los Angeles County, with a drop of 3,007 inmates, led the nation in overall decline; five other places reported a decline of more than 1,000 inmates: Maricopa County, Az. (down 1,196 inmates); Orange County, Ca. (down 1,143); Philadelphia (down 1,111); Fresno County, Ca. (down 1,105); and Harris County, Tx. (down 1,096). Jails were operating at 86 percent of their rated capacity at midyear 2010, the lowest percentage since 1984 |
Are Budget Cuts Depriving Defendants of Competent Lawyering? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ States and counties struggling to balance their budgets are cutting spending on public defenders, says the Wall Street Journal. Some lawyers say the move is compromising criminal defendants' constitutional right to counsel. Providing for that right, guaranteed in a 1963 Supreme Court ruling, has grown increasingly expensive amid a dramatic rise in arrests and prosecutions in recent decades. Spending on indigent defense rose from about $1 billion in 1986 to roughly $5.3 billion in 2008, according to a 2010 report from by the American Bar Association. The increase was partly in response to litigation challenging the adequacy of funding for indigent defense. The austerity moves stemming from funding constraints now include laying off public defenders, holding the line on salaries, and reducing spending on the defense's case investigators and staff training. "The system is not allowing us to provide competent representation," said Edward Monahan, head of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, which lost about $500,000, or 1.5 percent, of its funding this year, and faces an additional 2.5 percent budget cut in the coming fiscal year. Other legal services in the criminal justice system have come under the budget scalpel. Some states have fired or not replaced police officers and prosecutors "Across the country, [prosecutors' offices] have been laying people off, furloughing prosecutors, and encouraging early retirement," said Scott Burns of the National District Attorneys Association. |
White House to Announce Plan to Combat Prescription Drug Abuse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Obama administration says it will announce a "national action plan" to address the prescription drug abuse epidemic next week. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy says that prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest-growing drug problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the number of people who have unintentionally overdosed on prescription drugs now exceeds the number who overdosed during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and the black tar heroin epidemic of the 1970s. The plan is to be announced Tuesday by drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, Howard Koh, assistant secretary of the department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, and Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Michele Leonhart. |
Illinois May Create Nation's First Murderers Registry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Would you want to know if a convicted murderer lives in your neighborhood? The Arlington (Il.) Daily Herald bets that most people would, and urges Illinois legislators to create the nation's first murderers registry. "Andrea's Law" was approved by the House last week, 97-1. Named after Andrea Will, who was strangled to death by her boyfriend when they were students at Eastern Illinois University in 1998, the bill requires all people convicted of first-degree murder to register with Illinois State Police for 10 years after they leave prison. The legislation was proposed when her ex-boyfriend, Justin Boulay, was released from prison last year after serving 12 years of a 24-year sentence. The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Dennis Reboletti, said up to 500 Illinoisans who are on parole and another 3,000 who will eventually be released from prison might have to register under this plan. |
Bonds Convicted for Evasive Answer on Performance Drugs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Barry Bonds, the former San Francisco Giants outfielder and baseball's all-time home-run leader, was convicted yesterday of obstruction of justice for giving evasive answers to a federal grand jury that questioned him about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, reports California Watch in the San Francisco Chronicle. The jury deadlocked on three perjury charges. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on those counts. The lone conviction came on a count charging Bonds with intentionally giving evasive, false, or misleading testimony. In response to a question about whether his trainer gave him injectable drugs, Bonds gave a rambling answer, saying he was a "celebrity child, not just in baseball, by my own instincts." The answer was obstruction of justice, the jury ruled, a deliberate attempt to interfere with the grand jury's probe. Bonds, 46, could be sentenced to two years in prison under federal guidelines, although some legal experts say he is likely to receive no more than house arrest. |
FBI Breaking Up International Ring of Computer Thieves ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The FBI is taking action against a ring of international computer thieves who stole hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide by infecting over 2.3 million computers with malicious software, reports the Associated Press. U.S. authorities called it the biggest such enforcement action they have ever taken against cyber criminals. FBI officials said investigators were able to perform a digital sting of their own - taking control of several of the malicious computer servers and sending commands to make them stop transferring pirated data. Millions of dollars were stolen from U.S. computer users. Investigators were trying to contain a malware program called Coreflood, which has been around for at least a decade and can record key strokes, allowing cyber criminals to take over unsuspecting computers and steal passwords, banking, and credit card information. Investigators seized five major computer servers that were controlling hundreds of thousands of infected computers, and seized 29 domain names used to communicate with those servers. |
Is Mexico's Language On Drugs Making Violence Seem Routine? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Mexico, there are a half dozen words for drug cartel informants, and double that for drug war dead, reports the Associated Press. "Narco" has become a general prefix. The trend has people worrying that Mexico is developing a kind of offhand jargon that makes escalating violence seem routine. Other experts say slang and euphemisms can help people deal with the horrors around them. Slang for those killed in Mexico's bloody drug war depends on how the victims are found. "Encobijados" are bodies wrapped in a blanket. "Encajuelados" are those stuffed in a car trunk. "Encintados" are suffocated in packing tape. "Narco" is strewn through everyday speech. "Narco-fosas" are pits where cartels dump victims. "Narco-mantas" are the banners strung by gangs from highway overpasses with threatening messages. "Narco-tienditas" are small drug-dealing locations also sometimes known as "picaderos," if heroin is sold there. Anti-crime activists view some language as a dangerous kind of avoidance, leaving little room for outrage at the violence engulfing Mexico. "Calling [a killing] a 'pickup' takes away from the seriousness of it," said Miranda Wallace, who led a successful decade-long fight to bring her son's kidnappers to justice, though his body still has not been found. "You become inured to the pain and suffering of these images." |
States In Legally Questionable "Swap Club" For Execution Drug ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A shortage of one of the three drugs used in most lethal injections has caused disarray as states pursue a desperate and sometimes furtive search that might run afoul of federal drug laws, says the New York Times. As states seek sodium thiopental to allow them to continue executions, inmates' attorneys have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to block importation of the drug. Until recently, states got the drug from Hospira Inc. That company stopped making the drug in 2009. States had to find a new source, but importation of sodium thiopental is restricted under federal law. Documents emerging from lawsuits in many states reveal the intense communication among prison systems to help one another obtain sodium thiopental, and what amounts to a legally questionable swap club among prisons to ensure that each has the drug when it is needed for an execution. Wendy Kelley of the Arkansas Department of Correction said she obtained sodium thiopental from a company in England after hearing about it from corrections officers in Georgia. Arkansas gave the drug to Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee free of charge, and obtained the drug from Texas and Tennessee. |
OK Position On Key Interstates Makes it a Human Trafficking Hub ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's position along the Interstate-40 and I-35 corridor makes it a hub for traffickers smuggling people in from Mexico and Texas port cities, says The Oklahoman. The problem was discussed yesterday at a human trafficking conference in Oklahoma City. Social problems in the state, including high poverty and incarceration rates, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy and drug addiction, make it a prime area for traffickers seeking vulnerable women and children to exploit. "When you're looking for poor, broken women who've been abused, these are fertile grounds," said Mark Elam of the Tulsa-based Oklahomans Against Trafficking of Humans. Human trafficking victims are forced or coerced into sexual or labor exploitation. Often they or their loved ones are threatened. Some are kidnapped, beaten or tricked into situations where they're made to do things against their will. Many of the exploited are undocumented workers. Elam said from 200,000 to 300,000 minor girls from the U.S. are drawn into the sex industry each year. Joseph Otrhalek of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country. "You can keep using human beings over and over repeatedly, so it's a lucrative and nasty business," he said |
"Double Initial" Killing Suspect Charged in California ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The slayings of four young women from 1977 to 1994 in Nothern California at first appeared unconnected. Now, says the Los Angeles Times, investigators have linked them to one suspect: Joseph Naso, 77, who was charged yesterday with four counts of murder. One mystery is whether their names, each with the same first and second initial, were a factor, and could the killer of Carmen Colon, Pamela Parsons, Roxene Roggasch, and Tracy Tafoya be the same man who committed the infamous "Double Initial Murders" in upstate New York four decades ago? Killings of three girls in the Rochester area in 1971 and 1973 have never been solved, and all three victims' names had the same first and last initial. One also was named Carmen Colon. Naso lived in the Rochester area in the 1960s and early '70s. He traveled the country as a professional photographer. Investigators, who spent years gathering information on the cold cases, said Naso may be responsible for more slayings. "When you are talking about a person who has killed more than once, this doesn't stop," said Chris Perry, acting director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. |
Ohio Chief Voids 906 Tickets After Complaints About Speed Trap ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deciding it was inhospitable - and unfair - to ticket out-of-state visitors at a bustling soccer tournament, Hamilton, Oh., Police Chief Neil Ferdelman voided 906 speeding citations, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Ferdelman said it was the first time he invalidated a batch of tickets since the city began using the speed-enforcement van about a year ago - and the incident is prompting debate about the program's future. An unmanned van generated tickets as thousands of vehicles whizzed out of Joyce Park, host of the Mid-American Soccer Classic for the past two weekends. Equipped with a camera that snaps photos of vehicles exceeding a designated speed, the van recorded 906 vehicles going faster than 37 mph in a 25-mph zone. Police were directing traffic, "telling people to come on, keep moving," Ferdelman said. Mike Dickey, police chief in adjoining Fairfield, told Ferdelman about complaints that police had turned the tournament into a "speed trap." |
U.S. Says SC Sheriff Can't Limit Jail Prisoners to The Bible ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge to allow it to intervene in a lawsuit against a South Carolina sheriff who forbids prisoners in his jail from receiving books, magazines, or printed materials other than copies of the King James version of the Bible, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne DeWitt denies that restrictions imposed at the lockup in Moncks Corner, S.C., violate the Constitution. The only book, magazine, newspaper, or religious publication that [jail officials] consistently permit prisoners to possess is the Bible," the Justice Department says. "These practices discriminate against non-Christian prisoners in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause." The clause forbids the government from favoring one religion over any other. The amendment also bars the government from interfering in private acts of worship. A Jewish prisoner seeking a Torah said he was told by jail officials that the prison only provides Bibles. Two Muslim prisoners seeking copies of the Koran were told the same thing. |
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
14 April 2011
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