The American Bar Association (ABA) is proposing pre-trial detention reform that could save state and local municipalities millions of dollars. The ABA web site provides an overview of the problem and a model program in Kentucky dealing with coslty pre-trial detention.
Pre-trial release reform is part of a criminal justice reform effort by the ABA aimed at changing laws and practices on not only pre-trial release but also decriminalization of minor offenses, prisoner re-entry, increased use of parole and probation, and community corrections in 10 states. The program will operate in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.
In addressing pre-trial release the ABA writes, according to the United States Department of Justice, over 500,000 men and women sit in jail awaiting trial. Two-thirds of these people are low bail risk, meaning they have been deemed by a magistrate to pose no significant risk to themselves or the community, as well as representing a low risk of flight. Often, these inmates will sit in jail for over a year before standing trial. While these non-violent offenders are in jail, taxpayers provide them with food, clothing, healthcare, and security – last year alone the United States spent $9 billion on services for those who could not afford bail.
With the development of better tools, methods, and technologies to supervise non-violent offenders, states will be able to save money on pretrial detention and reduce risk to the community. Those who pose the lowest risk can be identified, released before trial, and then appropriately monitored and supported so they do not become a risk. Under these narrow circumstances, not only do taxpayers save money, but the community is not put in danger.
Although community safety and risk of flight are key components of a pre-trial detention determination, two thirds of the 500,000 individuals sitting in jail before trial are low bail risk – identified as posing no significant risk to themselves or the community with a likelihood of reappearance at subsequent court dates. Proper identification and release of low risk individuals to supervision programs or on their own recognizance will decrease the costs associated with operating detention facilities and housing detainees and reduce the collateral consequences of confinement such as job loss,inability to pay child support, eviction and potential immigration consequences.
Kentucky's model program provides for state pre-trial diversion officers who are trained to be neutral in all decisions regarding treatment. The state’s program has 256 employees and provides investigation and supervision services in all 120 counties in the state. Diversion provides selected individuals with non-punitive case processing if they satisfy certain conditions of release. The program is designed to help an individual before he or she develops long-term destructive behavior and is entirely voluntary, although the district judge and county attorney must approve all participants. If a participant successfully completes the program, the charges are dismissed with prejudice, and the individual avoids the stigma of a criminal record.
To read more: http://www2.americanbar.org/sections/criminaljustice/CR203800/Pages/statepolicyproject.aspx
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Ohio House of Representatives passes prison reform bill
Youngstown Vindicator
May 8, 2011
This past week the Ohio House of Representatives passed a measure to reduce the size of the state’s prison population and the enormous cost of running America’s sixth largest prison system.
The state currently houses approximately 51,000 offenders with capacity for only 38,389 inmates. Those numbers only scratch the surface in terms of the magnitude of Ohio’s prison problem. One in 25 adults in Ohio is either in prison or under community supervision.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (DRC) budget has increased by 246 percent since 1990. The corrections budget has gone from $432 million to $1.58 billion during the last 21 years. Prison personnel costs alone represent 25 percent of the state’s government employment expenditures.
House Bill 86 passed by a vote of 95-2. The bill mirrors Senate Bill 10 which has strong support from the new director of the DRC, Gary C. Mohr. During a recent Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee hearing Mohr said, “I believe that they [Senate Bill 10] are critical to not only stabilizing Ohio’s prison population, but also to ensure that we are housing the right people in prison.”
GOP retribution
SB 10 lost some of its luster when the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Bill Seitz, fell out of favor with the GOP leadership in the state Senate. Seitz has referred to Gov. John Kasich’s governing style as a “Dirty Harry” routine. He was recently stripped of his committee chairmanship.
According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, House Bill 86 provides for, among other things, the release of inmates who have served at least 85 percent of new sentences. This provision does not apply to any inmate serving a life sentence or any of a number of enumerated crimes of violence. The bill provides that an offender, serving a sentence for a first or second degree felony, may be placed under parole supervision with GPS monitoring.
The bill eliminates the sentencing disparities that exist for drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The bill provides a penalty that splits the difference between existing crack and powder cocaine penalties.
The reforms would include creating a new category for offenses involving trafficking in marijuana. The bill provides for potentially shorter mandatory prison terms for marijuana offenses. Under specifically defined circumstances, an offender who is guilty of marijuana trafficking may be sentenced to a prison term as provided for by the sentence guidelines.
The bill also provides that Intervention in Lieu of Conviction (ILC) be available to persons charged with certain theft or nonsupport offenses. ILC is a sentence diversion program available to offenders whose drug or alcohol usage was a factor leading to their criminal offense. Offenders alleging that drug or alcohol use contributed to the offense must be assessed by a certified program administrator in order to be eligible for ILC. The bill also authorizes ILC for an offender whose mental illness or retardation contributed to the criminal behavior.
Post-release control
Finally, the bill requires that a prisoner who is placed on post-release control from prison, by reason of earning 60 or more days of credit for participation in prison programming, shall be subject to GPS supervision by parole authorities for the first 14 days after release.
Gov. Kasich said that reforms contained in HB 86, “[A]re common sense improvements that are badly needed and I look forward to their quick passage in the Senate so I can sign them into law.” The Columbus Dispatch reported the legislation could save up to $78 million a year.
HB 86 does not address Ohio’s efforts to curtail corrections costs by selling off prisons. Kasich announced that the sale of five prisons to a private corrections company would put about $200 million in state coffers. The privatization of prisons appears to be inevitable in Ohio. Kasich’s choice to run DRC, Director Mohr, is a former state prison official and employee of a company that operates private prisons.
May 8, 2011
This past week the Ohio House of Representatives passed a measure to reduce the size of the state’s prison population and the enormous cost of running America’s sixth largest prison system.
The state currently houses approximately 51,000 offenders with capacity for only 38,389 inmates. Those numbers only scratch the surface in terms of the magnitude of Ohio’s prison problem. One in 25 adults in Ohio is either in prison or under community supervision.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (DRC) budget has increased by 246 percent since 1990. The corrections budget has gone from $432 million to $1.58 billion during the last 21 years. Prison personnel costs alone represent 25 percent of the state’s government employment expenditures.
House Bill 86 passed by a vote of 95-2. The bill mirrors Senate Bill 10 which has strong support from the new director of the DRC, Gary C. Mohr. During a recent Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee hearing Mohr said, “I believe that they [Senate Bill 10] are critical to not only stabilizing Ohio’s prison population, but also to ensure that we are housing the right people in prison.”
GOP retribution
SB 10 lost some of its luster when the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Bill Seitz, fell out of favor with the GOP leadership in the state Senate. Seitz has referred to Gov. John Kasich’s governing style as a “Dirty Harry” routine. He was recently stripped of his committee chairmanship.
According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, House Bill 86 provides for, among other things, the release of inmates who have served at least 85 percent of new sentences. This provision does not apply to any inmate serving a life sentence or any of a number of enumerated crimes of violence. The bill provides that an offender, serving a sentence for a first or second degree felony, may be placed under parole supervision with GPS monitoring.
The bill eliminates the sentencing disparities that exist for drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The bill provides a penalty that splits the difference between existing crack and powder cocaine penalties.
The reforms would include creating a new category for offenses involving trafficking in marijuana. The bill provides for potentially shorter mandatory prison terms for marijuana offenses. Under specifically defined circumstances, an offender who is guilty of marijuana trafficking may be sentenced to a prison term as provided for by the sentence guidelines.
The bill also provides that Intervention in Lieu of Conviction (ILC) be available to persons charged with certain theft or nonsupport offenses. ILC is a sentence diversion program available to offenders whose drug or alcohol usage was a factor leading to their criminal offense. Offenders alleging that drug or alcohol use contributed to the offense must be assessed by a certified program administrator in order to be eligible for ILC. The bill also authorizes ILC for an offender whose mental illness or retardation contributed to the criminal behavior.
Post-release control
Finally, the bill requires that a prisoner who is placed on post-release control from prison, by reason of earning 60 or more days of credit for participation in prison programming, shall be subject to GPS supervision by parole authorities for the first 14 days after release.
Gov. Kasich said that reforms contained in HB 86, “[A]re common sense improvements that are badly needed and I look forward to their quick passage in the Senate so I can sign them into law.” The Columbus Dispatch reported the legislation could save up to $78 million a year.
HB 86 does not address Ohio’s efforts to curtail corrections costs by selling off prisons. Kasich announced that the sale of five prisons to a private corrections company would put about $200 million in state coffers. The privatization of prisons appears to be inevitable in Ohio. Kasich’s choice to run DRC, Director Mohr, is a former state prison official and employee of a company that operates private prisons.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Cautionary Instruction: Compassion and juvenile justice in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/Ipso Facto
May 6, 2011
Compassion is not what comes to mind when talking about juvenile criminal justice in Pennsylvania. Luzerne County judges are facing prison as a result of a “kids-for-cash” scheme. Hundreds of children were sent to out-of-home placements for minor offenses, often without legal representation.
Pennsylvania has the disturbing distinction of leading the nation in juveniles serving life without the possibility of parole. Any juvenile accused of murder in Pennsylvania must be charged as an adult. If convicted of first degree murder, the juvenile must be sentenced to life in prison. There are 444 offenders serving life without parole in Pennsylvania for murders committed as juveniles.
In 2009, an 11-year-old Lawrence County boy, Jordan Brown, was charged as an adult with homicide for allegedly shooting his father’s pregnant girlfriend in the head with a shotgun while she slept. He then rode the bus to school.
Brown faces life in prison. If he receives a life sentence he would be the youngest person in the U.S. sent to prison for life. He remains in a juvenile detention center after the Superior Court instructed the trial court to re-examine his request to be transferred to juvenile court.
These matters have focused international attention on Pennsylvania’s criminal and juvenile justice system. At times the mechanical nature of Pennsylvania’s criminal statutes, combined with the absence of discretion, have produced untenable results.
However, two recent cases in Pennsylvania illustrate that judges and prosecutors can work within the law to pursue just and reasonable resolutions to difficult cases.
Last month, a Franklin County fifth grader was charged as an adult with homicide. The girl allegedly caused the death of an 11-month-old boy by violently shaking him and throwing him into a crib. After the charges were filed, with the support of the D.A., the case was immediately transferred to juvenile court. The child was released to her parents.
This week a 17-year-old Allegheny County juvenile was arrested after he allegedly accosted, robbed and stole the vehicle of Michael Schacht, a PNC usher, who was suffering a heart attack. Schacht died as he lay bleeding along the road. The teen was not charged with homicide. The D.A. could not prove corpus delicti — that the unlawful act caused the victim’s death. The law did not support charging the juvenile as an adult. He faces a juvenile charge of robbery and remains in the Shuman Center.
Check out Ipso Facto
May 6, 2011
Compassion is not what comes to mind when talking about juvenile criminal justice in Pennsylvania. Luzerne County judges are facing prison as a result of a “kids-for-cash” scheme. Hundreds of children were sent to out-of-home placements for minor offenses, often without legal representation.
Pennsylvania has the disturbing distinction of leading the nation in juveniles serving life without the possibility of parole. Any juvenile accused of murder in Pennsylvania must be charged as an adult. If convicted of first degree murder, the juvenile must be sentenced to life in prison. There are 444 offenders serving life without parole in Pennsylvania for murders committed as juveniles.
In 2009, an 11-year-old Lawrence County boy, Jordan Brown, was charged as an adult with homicide for allegedly shooting his father’s pregnant girlfriend in the head with a shotgun while she slept. He then rode the bus to school.
Brown faces life in prison. If he receives a life sentence he would be the youngest person in the U.S. sent to prison for life. He remains in a juvenile detention center after the Superior Court instructed the trial court to re-examine his request to be transferred to juvenile court.
These matters have focused international attention on Pennsylvania’s criminal and juvenile justice system. At times the mechanical nature of Pennsylvania’s criminal statutes, combined with the absence of discretion, have produced untenable results.
However, two recent cases in Pennsylvania illustrate that judges and prosecutors can work within the law to pursue just and reasonable resolutions to difficult cases.
Last month, a Franklin County fifth grader was charged as an adult with homicide. The girl allegedly caused the death of an 11-month-old boy by violently shaking him and throwing him into a crib. After the charges were filed, with the support of the D.A., the case was immediately transferred to juvenile court. The child was released to her parents.
This week a 17-year-old Allegheny County juvenile was arrested after he allegedly accosted, robbed and stole the vehicle of Michael Schacht, a PNC usher, who was suffering a heart attack. Schacht died as he lay bleeding along the road. The teen was not charged with homicide. The D.A. could not prove corpus delicti — that the unlawful act caused the victim’s death. The law did not support charging the juvenile as an adult. He faces a juvenile charge of robbery and remains in the Shuman Center.
Check out Ipso Facto
South Carolina Uses New Execution Drug
The 14th Execution of 2011
This week South Carolina executed Jeffrey Motts at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. He was the first person to be executed in South Carolina in two years and the first to be put to death using a new drug, pentobarbital, in the three-drug execution protocol, according Reuters.
Soon after his conviction, Motts began writing to the South Carolina Supreme Court asking to forgo all appeals and be put to death. In April, the state Supreme Court, having found him mentally competent to make the decision to die, granted his wish.
Motts had been convicted in 1997 of the robbery and murders of his great-aunt and another relative in South Carolina. Motts was sentenced to death in 2007 for strangling inmate Charles Martin after a verbal altercation in their cell at Perry Correctional Institution in upstate Greenville County, South Carolina.
Motts chose to have a spiritual advisor, who is a volunteer for Death Row inmates at the prison, with him in his final hours, according to Reuters.
Between 3:30 and 4 on Friday afternoon, Motts was served his last meal of pizza, fried fish, popcorn shrimp, French fries, cherry cheesecake and sweet tea. In his last words, he apologized to the families of his three victims and his own family and warned children away from drugs.
"I was the child everyone wanted their children around until I got on drugs," Motts said. "Drugs will destroy your life," reported Reuters.
To read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/06/us-execution-south-carolina-idUSTRE7456SK20110506
This week South Carolina executed Jeffrey Motts at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. He was the first person to be executed in South Carolina in two years and the first to be put to death using a new drug, pentobarbital, in the three-drug execution protocol, according Reuters.
Soon after his conviction, Motts began writing to the South Carolina Supreme Court asking to forgo all appeals and be put to death. In April, the state Supreme Court, having found him mentally competent to make the decision to die, granted his wish.
Motts had been convicted in 1997 of the robbery and murders of his great-aunt and another relative in South Carolina. Motts was sentenced to death in 2007 for strangling inmate Charles Martin after a verbal altercation in their cell at Perry Correctional Institution in upstate Greenville County, South Carolina.
Motts chose to have a spiritual advisor, who is a volunteer for Death Row inmates at the prison, with him in his final hours, according to Reuters.
Between 3:30 and 4 on Friday afternoon, Motts was served his last meal of pizza, fried fish, popcorn shrimp, French fries, cherry cheesecake and sweet tea. In his last words, he apologized to the families of his three victims and his own family and warned children away from drugs.
"I was the child everyone wanted their children around until I got on drugs," Motts said. "Drugs will destroy your life," reported Reuters.
To read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/06/us-execution-south-carolina-idUSTRE7456SK20110506
Friday, May 6, 2011
Status Conference for 11-year-old Alleged Killer
Lawrence County Judge Dominick Motto scheduled a status conference with Pennsylvania Attorney General and defense counsel representing Jordan Brown. The conference is scheduled for June 8, according to the New Castle News.
Brown was charged with the murder of his father’s pregnant girlfriend. It is alleged that Brown, 11-years-old at the time, shot Kenzie Houk in the head with a shot gun while she slept.
Brown was charged as an adult. If convicted of first degree murder he faces life in prison. He would be the youngest person in the United States ever sentenced to life. In March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court sent his case back to the Court of Common Pleas to reconsider whether Brown should be transferred to juvenile court.
The status conference will explore if the AG and defense counsel have reached any agreement on the transfer issue. The court will determine if a full hearing is needed to resolve Brown’s request for transfer to juvenile court. The court will also determine if the parties can agree upon the use of some or all testimony previously presented or if either or both sides want to present additional testimony.
Brown remains in a juvenile detention center.
To read more: http://www.ncnewsonline.com/opinion/x1892927897/Judge-lawyers-to-discuss-Jordan-Brown-case
Brown was charged with the murder of his father’s pregnant girlfriend. It is alleged that Brown, 11-years-old at the time, shot Kenzie Houk in the head with a shot gun while she slept.
Brown was charged as an adult. If convicted of first degree murder he faces life in prison. He would be the youngest person in the United States ever sentenced to life. In March, the Pennsylvania Superior Court sent his case back to the Court of Common Pleas to reconsider whether Brown should be transferred to juvenile court.
The status conference will explore if the AG and defense counsel have reached any agreement on the transfer issue. The court will determine if a full hearing is needed to resolve Brown’s request for transfer to juvenile court. The court will also determine if the parties can agree upon the use of some or all testimony previously presented or if either or both sides want to present additional testimony.
Brown remains in a juvenile detention center.
To read more: http://www.ncnewsonline.com/opinion/x1892927897/Judge-lawyers-to-discuss-Jordan-Brown-case
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Holder: bin Laden Killing 'A Lawful Act'
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. participated in a conference call with all U.S. attorneys this week according to Mike Scarcella's The Blog of LegalTimes. Holder addressed the justification for killing Osama bin Laden.
Holder called the fatal shooting of bin Laden a lawful act “consistent with our values.” The attorney general said there was no indication that bin Laden was willing to surrender. The White House yesterday clarified early misinformation that bin Laden was armed at the time he was shot.
Holder described bin Laden as an “enemy commander in the field” who was a lawful military target. “It was a kill or capture mission,” Holder testified today. The soldiers who killed bin Laden “conducted themselves totally appropriately,” he said.
To read more: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/05/holder-bin-laden-shooting-was-justifiable.html
Holder called the fatal shooting of bin Laden a lawful act “consistent with our values.” The attorney general said there was no indication that bin Laden was willing to surrender. The White House yesterday clarified early misinformation that bin Laden was armed at the time he was shot.
Holder described bin Laden as an “enemy commander in the field” who was a lawful military target. “It was a kill or capture mission,” Holder testified today. The soldiers who killed bin Laden “conducted themselves totally appropriately,” he said.
To read more: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/05/holder-bin-laden-shooting-was-justifiable.html
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
South Carolina Will Use New Drug for Friday’s Execution
South Carolina will join three other states—Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas—in using pentobarbital instead of sodium thiopental to carry out an execution. Jeffrey Motts is scheduled to die by lethal injection this Friday.
The change is necessary as result of the DEA’s seizure of the state's supply of sodium thiopental. According to the Associated Press, the agency confiscated the drug over concerns that officials broke the law by buying doses from England, which banned the drug's export for executions.
Motts is what is referred to as a volunteer. He dropped his appeals and asked to die. He was sent to death row for killing his cellmate while serving a life sentence for killing his great aunt and another man in South Carolina.
Motts choked cellmate Charles Martin to death as he begged for his life, then stuffed him under his bed, according to the Associated Press. They say Martin then ate breakfast and smoked a few cigarettes before dragging Martin's body into a common area in front of other inmates, kicking him as he said "this is what snitches get."
Pentobarbital is frequently used to put animals to death. It is also used for assisted suicide in Oregon. Oklahoma was the first state to use pentobarbital for lethal injection last December. Ohio used a single lethal dose of pentobarbital this year on three condemned inmates and this week Texas used pentobarbital for the first time.
Motts will be the first execution in South Carolina in nearly two years.
To read more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/a591bb1bfc3143ba9b09dd73ac961f90/SC--South-Carolina-Execution/
The change is necessary as result of the DEA’s seizure of the state's supply of sodium thiopental. According to the Associated Press, the agency confiscated the drug over concerns that officials broke the law by buying doses from England, which banned the drug's export for executions.
Motts is what is referred to as a volunteer. He dropped his appeals and asked to die. He was sent to death row for killing his cellmate while serving a life sentence for killing his great aunt and another man in South Carolina.
Motts choked cellmate Charles Martin to death as he begged for his life, then stuffed him under his bed, according to the Associated Press. They say Martin then ate breakfast and smoked a few cigarettes before dragging Martin's body into a common area in front of other inmates, kicking him as he said "this is what snitches get."
Pentobarbital is frequently used to put animals to death. It is also used for assisted suicide in Oregon. Oklahoma was the first state to use pentobarbital for lethal injection last December. Ohio used a single lethal dose of pentobarbital this year on three condemned inmates and this week Texas used pentobarbital for the first time.
Motts will be the first execution in South Carolina in nearly two years.
To read more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/a591bb1bfc3143ba9b09dd73ac961f90/SC--South-Carolina-Execution/
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