Hearings begin today for SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after weeks of publicly reserving judgment on President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, ahead of historic hearings on the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice, reports The New York Times.

Republican leaders, wary of engaging in a potentially racially charged spectacle that could prompt a political backlash, have promised a more dignified review of the latest Supreme Court candidate, after a series of bitter clashes over the court. But in recent days, with the approach of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on her nomination that begin on Monday, their tone has shifted.

Last week, Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who sits on the panel and will question Judge Jackson, claimed his review of her judicial record had determined that she had been lenient in sentencing some sex offenders and those convicted of possessing child pornography. He also suggested that, as a member of the United States Sentencing Commission, she worked to reduce penalties for those caught with child pornography. A detailed background paper prepared for the Judiciary Committee made a similar case.

At the same time, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, has doubled down on his suggestion that Judge Jackson’s experience as a public defender could influence her view of the law and lead her to favor criminal defendants.

 “Her supporters look at her résumé and deduce a special empathy for criminals,” Mr. McConnell said in a lengthy floor speech in which he argued that her work on behalf of the accused was a blot on her record. “I guess that means that government prosecutors and innocent crime victims start each trial at a disadvantage.”

The increasingly hostile critiques of Judge Jackson suggest that her confirmation hearings might not be the sober, drama-free proceeding that many had anticipated when she was nominated to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who has announced he will retire at the end of the court’s current term this summer.

Her confirmation would not change the ideological composition of the court, which is tilted 6-3 toward conservatives. And Judge Jackson has previously been confirmed three times by the Senate for two judgeships and a spot on the sentencing commission. Nothing surfaced on those occasions to impede her approval. Republicans concede she has the legal experience and educational qualifications for the lifetime position.

Mr. Hawley, who is regarded as a potential Republican presidential contender and has not voted for a single Biden administration judicial nominee, was never considered a likely supporter of Judge Jackson. Still, his detailed takedown of her record on sex crimes has generated concern among Democrats, who worry it could deter some Republicans who are considering supporting her, or even rattle some senators in their own party, all of whom will likely be needed to win confirmation.

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Mangino discusses Jussie Smollett with Nancy Grace on Crime Stories

Listen to my guest appearance on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace discussing the release of Jussie Smollett from jail after five days.

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The politics of murder: Red states have a problem

The national think tank Third Way has published an interesting study of politics and the rise in homicides nationwide.  Red states appear to have a homicide problem.

According to Third Way, the US saw an alarming 30% increase in murder in 2020. While 2021 data is not yet complete, murder was on the rise again this past year.  Some “blue” cities, like Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, have seen real and persistent increases in homicides. These cities—along with others like Los Angeles, New York, and Minneapolis—are also in places with wall-to-wall media coverage and national media interest.

But there is a large piece of the homicide story that is missing and calls into question the veracity of the right-wing obsession over homicides in Democratic cities: murder rates are far higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states. And sometimes, murder rates are highest in cities with Republican mayors.

For example, Jacksonville, a city with a Republican mayor, had 128 more murders in 2020 than San Francisco, a city with a Democrat mayor, despite their comparable populations. In fact, the homicide rate in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco was half that of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s Bakersfield, a city with a Republican mayor that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Yet there is barely a whisper, let alone an outcry, over the stunning levels of murders in these and other places.

Third Way collected 2019 and 2020 murder data from all 50 states. (Comprehensive 2021 data is not yet available.) We pulled the data from yearly crime reports released by state governments, specifically the Departments of Justice and Safety. For states that didn’t issue state crime reports, we pulled data from reputable local news sources. To allow for comparison, we calculated the state’s per capita murder rate, the number of murders per 100,000 residents, and categorized states by their presidential vote in the 2020 election, resulting in an even 25-25 split.

Third Way found that murder rates are, on average, 40% higher in the 25 states Donald Trump won in the last presidential election compared to those that voted for Joe Biden. In addition, murder rates in many of these red states dwarf those in blue states like New York, California, and Massachusetts. And finally, many of the states with the worst murder rates—like Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas—are ones that few would describe as urban. Only 2 of America’s top 100 cities in population are located in these high murder rate states. And not a single one of the top 10 murder states registers in the top 15 for population density.

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Thiel College-Death Penalty

 Death Penalty-Comment No. 3

The Tennessee legislature is considering abolishing the death penalty for killers with mental illness.  What is is your opinion on the legislation? Do you support it, oppose it and would you limit its scope or expand those covered by the prohibition?

Pennsylvania faces ‘historic shortage of police.’

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro met with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, along with area police chiefs, on Tuesday to discuss an ongoing problem: a historic shortage of police officers, reported WHYY-FM.

“The fact is, and we see this, fewer young people are deciding to make law enforcement their career,” Shapiro said. “That’s a problem. And it’s going to lead to long-term negative consequences in our communities.”

Pennsylvania as a whole currently has 1,229 vacant police positions across the state.

In Philadelphia, Commissioner Outlaw said, a combination of staff shortages and rising crime have worn police increasingly thin.

  “They’re all just bearing heavier case loads, suffering from burnout, and experiencing increased stress,” Outlaw said.

In 2015, the Philadelphia Police Department had approximately 6,600 sworn officers and 800 civilian personnel — that’s well above this year’s staffing numbers with 5,900 sworn officers and 600 civilian personnel.

In an attempt to triage the situation, Outlaw said, the PPD has been shifting officers from special units and administrative assignments to patrol duties in an effort to increase police presence in crime hotspots.

“But the truth is these efforts are just pulling from the same diminishing pool of resources,” Outlaw said, adding that they need more detectives to investigate cases — but they also need patrol officers to aid in preventing crime.

“To put it plainly, we’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said, “We know that rapidly increasing caseloads and reduced staffing equals lower case clearance rates, and lower clearance rates aren’t just about numbers or percentages. We’re talking about finding justice for victims and bringing closure to loved ones. It’s about healing our communities and about living freely without fear.”

Shapiro added that staff shortages have had a detrimental effect on police departments’ ability to build crucial relationships with the communities they work with — forcing officers to choose between walking their beat or engaging with the community in ways that help build confidence and trust.

“And that confidence really matters because having it leads to more tips from the public, more cooperation in solving crime, and it leads, importantly, to safer streets,” Shapiro said.

In the closed-door meeting with local police leaders that preceded public remarks, Shapiro said they discussed the origin of the problem, and possible solutions.

“It’s not just pay or pay differences or the inability to pay a competitive wage,” Shapiro said. “Oftentimes, would-be applicants are choosing not to apply because police feel beaten down in our communities.”

He called for elected officials and the media to express stronger support for law enforcement, along with funding to invest in recruitment, training for officers, crisis intervention teams, and mental health units to work with the police. Shapiro also suggested incentives, like $6,000 signing bonuses for new officers in Pennsylvania, and $1,200 “hero pay” to keep existing officers on their beat.

“Unfortunately, it has not moved in Harrisburg,” Shapiro said. “It’s time for Democrats and Republicans to come together and invest in policing here in Pennsylvania. I want to hire 1,000 new police officers in the Commonwealth right away. We have the funds to do that. We have the leadership that wants to do it. It’s time for the politicians to act.”

In response to questions about how the effort jibes with ongoing calls to defund the police, Outlaw took a balanced stance.

“We have to swing the pendulum back,” she said. “We have to let folks know that these are not either/or conversations. We can be supportive of the police and hold us accountable at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive.”

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Mangino a guest on The Daily on Law and Crime Network

 Watch my guest appearance on The Daily on Law and Crime Network.

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Prison housing fees and and prison labor create indentured servitude

 Two former inmates are challenging a Connecticut law that has, since 1997, allowed the state to impose a debt on inmates for each day of their incarceration.

In a putative class action lawsuit filed in a Connecticut federal court on Monday, the former inmates are asking the court to declare their prison debt invalid and the statute permitting the collection of such debt to be null and void, reported the Courthouse News Service.

As of Monday, the daily incarceration fee in Connecticut is $249, or $90,885 annually. The statue claims this fee is meant to recoup the state's expenditure in feeding and sheltering inmates, but the suit alleges it traps former inmates in an oppressive debt cycle — a second incarceration — from which there is no escape.

"For people in prison, Connecticut’s prison debt laws mean that the state can collect against nearly all their property at any time. Once a person is released, prison debt follows them for decades, decimating inheritances from deceased loved ones, proceeds from lawsuits (even for injuries sustained in prison), and, ultimately, anything a person leaves upon their death," the 21-page lawsuit state. "Even after a person serves their designated sentence, the prison debt laws punitively and arbitrarily impose an additional sentence, just in a different form."

The plaintiffs in the suit are Teresa Beatty and Michael Llorens, former Connecticut inmates representing a putative class of over 30,000 other people.

"Ms. Beatty’s case is not unique. Under Connecticut’s prison debt law, the state currently charges people $249 per day, or $90,885 per year, for the cost of their incarceration — more than what an in-state student would owe for 2.5 years’ attendance at UCONN, including housing, food, and books," a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut reads.

The suit was submitted on the plaintiffs' behalf by David A. Slossberg of Hurwitz Sagarin Slossberg & Knuff in Mitford, and Dan Barrett with the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut.

The complaint names Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong as defendants due to the power both individuals have over the state's Department of Corrections. It seeks to enjoin Lamont, as the state's chief executive, from enforcing the statute, and Tong from filing collection actions against people who owe prison debt.

The suit also aims to wipe out Beatty's and Llorens' current debt, which between the pair is over $356,000. As with many other states in the union, Connecticut's prison population is majority Black and Latino. The ACLU of Connecticut argues the 1997 statute is part of the United States' history of systemic racism.

“Connecticut’s prison debt laws inflict a form of extreme punishment that locks people, especially Black and Latinx people, into unbelievable debt that can haunt them and their loved ones even after their deaths," said ACLU of Connecticut Legal Director Barrett. "The law also rewards the state’s own bad behavior by collecting money from payouts in prison brutality lawsuits and funneling that money right into the general fund."

Connecticut is not the only state that profits off its inmate population. Every state in the union except Hawaii allows for the collection of daily "pay-to-stay" fees. Similarly, all states make use of prison labor programs in which inmates are compelled to work public and private jobs for mere cents an hour, if they are paid at all. The practice began after the Civil War, when southern state prisons began to lease their inmates — mostly Black men — out to private companies. This was and is allowed by the wording of the Thirteenth Amendment, which expressly forbids all forms of involuntary labor, except as punishment for a crime.

Beatty said she hopes the suit will change this system for those who come after her.

“I am speaking out because I don’t want anyone else to go through what I’m going through. It’s not just about me, it’s about the tens of thousands of people coming out after me,” Beatty said in a statement.

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