10 October 2011

U.S. Attack on Medical-Pot Industry Big Shift from Low-Key Approach ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Obama administration's crackdown on California's highly profitable medical marijuana industry represents a dramatic departure from the low-key approach it has long pursued, the Los Angeles Times reports. California's four U.S. attorneys said they are taking aim at large-scale growers and dispensary owners who are raking in millions of dollars while falsely claiming that their medical marijuana operations comply with state law, which does not allow for-profit sales. In the early days of President Obama's tenure, Attorney General Eric Holder said prosecutors would not target medical marijuana users and caregivers as long as they followed state laws. As the risk of prosecution diminished, storefront dispensaries and enormous growing operations proliferated in California, often in brazen defiance of zoning laws and local bans. "That is not what the California voters intended or authorized, and it is illegal under federal law," said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. of Los Angeles. "It does not allow this brick-and-mortar, Costco-Wal-Mart-type model that we see across California." Los Angeles Times

Boston Globe Discloses Bulger Tipster; Is Ex-Miss Iceland In Danger? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ex-actress and Miss Iceland 1974 Anna Bjornsdottir was the tipster who led the FBI to one of its most wanted men, Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, after 16 years on the run, the Boston Globe reports. Bjornsdottir, who was famous for Vidal Sassoon and Noxzema commercials, was at home in Iceland when she saw a CNN report on the FBI's effort to track Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig. Bjornsdottir recognized them as her former neighbors in Santa Monica, Ca. The FBI, which vowed confidentiality to the tipster, could take a hit if it turns out that the agency was involved in the leak, says the Boston Herald. The Herald says her background, photo, husbands, career and $2 million reward were detailed by the Globe, and she faces a global media frenzy. "They can't guarantee her 100 percent safety going forward," said former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. "It's unnecessary publicity and unnecessary harassment." Boston Globe/Boston Herald

CA Inmates Resume Hunger Strike In Protest Against Solitary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When California prison inmates went on a hunger strike in July, prison officials negotiated with them, ultimately reaching an agreement to bring the strike to an end after three weeks. The New York Times reports that since inmates resumed the strike last week in protest against conditions of prolonged isolation, the corrections department has cracked down. The state is trying to isolate strike leaders, some of whom no longer trust the department and are hoping to push Gov. Jerry Brown to institute reforms. "I'm ready to take this all the way," J. Angel Martinez, one of the strike leaders at Pelican Bay State Prison, said in a message conveyed through a lawyer. "We are sick and tired of living like this and willing to die if that's what it takes." New York Times

"Don't Shoot"--David Kennedy's Community Interventions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In today's new "community interventions" against crime, says David Kennedy of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, "the cops get to see that everybody in the community isn't living off of drug money which they thought, they get to see that the guys on the corner aren't sociopaths, which is what they thought. The guys on the corner get to see cops saying I didn't come on the job to lock you and all your friends up, we would like you to thrive and we are going to respect you enough to tell you how to do that." Kennedy, co-founder of The National Network of Safe Communities, says the strategy demonstrably works. This month, he published a book, "Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America," that describes his work. An interview on the strategy was broadcast on CUNY-TV's "Criminal Justice Matters" and published on The Crime Report. The Crime Report

Can The Change In CA's "Catch-and-Release" System Work? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California prisons have begun to shift inmates to county jails and probation officers, starting a potentially far-reaching change in the nation's largest corrections system, the New York Times reports. Inmates who committed nonviolent, nonserious, and nonsexual offenses will be released to the county probation system rather than to state parole officers. Those newly convicted of such crimes will be sent directly to counties, which will decide if they should go to a local jail or to an alternative community program. "This is the largest change in the California state system in my lifetime," said Barry Krisberg of the University of California, Berkeley, law school. "Given that what we had was completely broken and was the most expensive, overcrowded and least effective in America, there's some hope that this will change it." Corrections secretary Matthew Cate said the state hoped counties would concentrate on rehabilitating prisoners and helping them reintegrate into the community, something the state was unable to do. Nearly 70 percent of California inmates end up there again. "The catch-and-release way we had before was not working - I don't know how anyone could disagree with that," Cate said. New York Times

Prosecutors Oppose OK Releases To Relieve Prison Crowding ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma prisons are preparing to put 250 to 300 inmates in ankle monitors and release them, and prosecutors are upset, The Oklahoman reports. The inmates, convicted of nonviolent offenses, are to be released starting Nov. 1 when a new law intended to relieve prison overcrowding goes into effect. "I suspect that many - if not most - of the legislators that voted for this didn't realize it was going to have the result of releasing several hundred inmates on Nov. 1," said Michael Fields, district attorney for five counties. House Speaker Kris Steele said the goal is to increase public safety, putting more low-risk, mostly female inmates into electronic monitoring so corrections officials can focus their limited resources on inmates who are truly threats to society. Prosecutors are concerned because some nonviolent offenders will be eligible for ankle monitors after 90 days of incarceration. They said quick releases would undermine public confidence in sentences. "Then, I will stop sending people to prison for less than five years," said Greg Mashburn, district attorney for three counties. "[ ]If I intended them to go to prison, I intended them to stay for more than 90 days." He said ankle monitors haven't worked well in his counties. The Oklahoman

How One Federal Judge Arrived at Sentencing Judgments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Federal appeals court judge Denny Chin, 57, is best known for the 150-year sentence he imposed as a trial judge on Bernard Madoff, perhaps the most well-known white-collar penalty in American history. Chin tells the New York Times the thinking that went into some of the 1,100 sentences he issued starting in 1994. He quickly learned that preparation was crucial and that he must not agonize over his decisions. One seasoned judge had advised: "Rule and roll." Be decisive. Don't second-guess yourself. The Times says Chin's thoughts offered a revealing look at how one judge approached sentencing, which he called "the hardest thing" about being on the bench. "It is just not a natural or everyday thing to do," Chin explained, "to pass judgment on people, to send them to prison or not." New York Times

FBI to Test Facial Recognition Service In Four States ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The FBI by mid-January will start a facial recognition service in select states that will allow local police to identify unknown subjects in photos, reports Nextgov. It's part of a $1 billion dollar overhaul of the FBI's fingerprint database to identify suspects more quickly and accurately, partly through other biometric markers, such as iris scans and voice recordings. Often authorities will "have a photo of a person and for whatever reason they just don't know who it is [but they know] this is clearly the missing link to our case," said Nick Megna of the FBI's criminal justice information services division. The new facial recognition service can help by retrieving a list of mug shots ranked in order of similarity to the features of the subject in the photo. Today, an agent must know the name of an individual to pull up the suspect's mug shot from among the 10 million shots stored in the bureau's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Using the new Next-Generation Identification system that is under development, analysts will be able to upload a photo of an unknown person and, within 15 minutes, get identified mugs to inspect for potential matches. Users typically will seek 20 candidates. Michigan, Washington, Florida, and North Carolina will participate in a test of the new search tool before it is offered to criminal justice professionals across the U.S. in 2014. Nextgov.com

Journalist Authors Advocated For and Against Amanda Knox ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Journalist Nina Burleigh treaded a "dangerous line" in her near-constant television presence last week in defense of Amanda Knox, the U.S. exchange student who was freed last week from a murder charge in Italy, the New York Times says. In an emphatic defense of Knox (criticizing the "appalling" treatment of her by the Italian courts and news media, insisting "the evidence didn't exist," that the "jury rubber-stamped a conviction"), Burleigh seemed at times to move from journalist to advocate. Books about the case include two by a pair of authors who seem to represent the great divide between the presumption of innocence and the certainty of guilt. Burleigh, a former reporter for Time, made her appearances as the author of "The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox." The title of an earlier book, "Angel Face: The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox," left little doubt as to the perspective of its author, Barbie Latza Nadeau, a Rome-based writer for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. From Nadeau's perspective, Knox, now 24, fell in with the wrong people at the wrong time and place, then tried to squirm out of the consequences with the help of an American news media machine. New York Times

Texas Highway Patrol "Charity" Takes in Millions, Pays Few Benefits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The small Texas Highway Patrol Museum in San Antonio is a telemarketing operation that generated nearly $12 million from 2004 to 2009, says the San Antonio Express-News in a story available only to paid subscribers. The museum is run by the Texas Highway Patrol Association, which the Grits for Breakfast blog calls "a so-called '"charity' that spends barely any of the millions of dollars it raises for its stated purpose - helping families of state troopers slain in the line of duty - and instead spends most of its money on fundraising costs and executive pay." Telemarketers say they are from the "Texas Highway Patrol," but the group is unaffiliated with the Department of Public Safety. The Express-News says that while the association takes in more than $1 million per year, it spends $20,000 or less on "death benefits" for troopers' families. San Antonio Express-News

Under Budget Cut, Topeka Stops Prosecuting Domestic Battery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kari Ann Rinker of the National Organization for Women expressed outrage to Shawnee County, Ks., commissioners that those who commit domestic batteries in Topeka aren't being prosecuted, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. Rinker expressed anger that Topeka was the only city making "national headlines" for a failure to prosecute those who commit domestic battery. District Attorney Chad Taylor announced last month he would no longer prosecute misdemeanors, including misdemeanor domestic batteries, after his budget was cut 10 percent, or $347,765. The city says it lacks the resources to prosecute the cases. Topeka Capital-Journal

Holder Denounces "Inflammatory" Fast & Furious Rhetoric ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Attorney General Eric Holder lashed out at members of Congress who are investigating Justice Department actions in the disputed Fast and Furious gun-trafficking inquiry, saying that public discussion about the issue had become "base" and "inflammatory" and was aimed solely at gaining political advantage, the New York Times reports. Holder was referring to comments by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az.), a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He implied that those responsible for the gun-trafficking investigation were accessories to murder. In a letter to the chairmen and ranking minority members of three House and Senate committees, Holder said, "Such irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric must be repudiated in the strongest possible terms." He added, "Those who serve in the ranks of law enforcement are our nation's heroes and deserve our nation's thanks, not the disrespect that is being heaped on them by those who seek political advantage." New York Times