The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/Ipso Facto
December 7, 2012
In 2005, when Americans were presented with a list of six crimes that could happen in their local communities, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that Americans expressed the greatest concern about child sexual molestation, with roughly two in three saying they are "very concerned" about the issue.
The growing unease about sex abuse is also reflected in two surveys taken four years apart in Massachusetts by Masskids, a nonprofit child advocacy organization. In 2003, fewer than half of Massachusetts residents said they would be willing to participate in training to learn about child sexual abuse and how to prevent it. By 2007, two-thirds of residents said they would be willing.
Parental anxiety seems to be on the rise even as the rate of child sexual abuse is falling. Data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System showed that the rate of substantiated child sexual abuse dropped 62 percent between 1992 and 2010, from 150,000 cases to 63,000 cases.
This trend corresponds with the general feelings of Americans about crime. Despite a sharp decline in the United States' violent crime rate since the mid-1990s a majority of Americans continue to believe the nation's crime problem is getting worse. In 2011, 68 percent say there is more crime in the U.S. than there was a year ago, 17 percent say less, and 8 percent believe that crime is unchanged.
That is why Sandra Hagen Solin’s comment to the Denver Post in 2010 came as no surprise. Solin told the Post, "I know on a couple of occasions, I've woken up because I think, 'Is the door locked?'" She added, "Someone could come in and swipe my son. It has happened."
The fear of child abductions has taken the same course as child molestation and crime generally. In 1999, a nationwide study found that there were only 115 stereotypical child abductions, including 81 kidnappings that were by a total stranger and 34 that were by a slight acquaintance. Forty percent of the children in those stereotypical kidnappings were killed. Statistics, often cited since then, report that only about 50 children throughout the country each year are abducted and murdered by a stranger.
Today, the link between child abduction and sexual crimes has become better understood. Threats to a child have been shown to be less likely to come from "stranger danger" than from family and friends. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) continues to encourage parents to adhere to the organization’s national child safety campaign.
Keeping children safe is best achieved by focusing on real and likely dangers. Sometimes those dangers are close to home and at the hand of those we know and love. That is an unpleasant fact that children need to know.
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Friday, December 7, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Arizona carries out the nation's 42nd execution of 2012
The 42nd Execution of 2012
Richard Dale Stokley was executed on December 5, 2012 for murdering Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder in 1991 in a rural Arizona ghost town where they were raped, strangled and stabbed before being dumped in a partly flooded mine shaft.
Stokley had no formal last words but told members of the execution team, "I do wish that I could die doing something meaningful, you know, this seems like such a waste," reported The Associated Press.
Stokley said in a recent letter to the state clemency board that he would "go without fanfare," and he seemed at ease during the hour-long execution setup. He bantered at times with the execution team, at one point telling a joke.
The setup was extended when the execution team had difficulty finding a second injection point.
Stokley said in the letter to the board that he was sorry for the victims and their families.
However, he didn't address family members of the girls who witnessed the execution. Patricia Hancock, the mother of Mandy Meyers, said that showed cowardice.
Hancock noted that Stokley previously said accomplice Randy Brazeal had already raped the girls when Stokley finished taking a bath in a stock tank. He could have saved the girls from being murdered instead of participating, she said.
"He was a coward from the beginning and he was a coward because he couldn't face us," Hancock told AP. "He should have at least apologized."
The execution of Stokley was Arizona's 34th since 1992. Daniel Cook was put to death on Aug. 8 in Arizona's most recent execution.
Stokley said in the letter to the clemency board that he wasn't requesting clemency but thought his life was worth saving, that he knew he had made "grave and irreversible errors," and that he was sorry he "was mixed up in these awful events that brought me to this."
Dale Baich, one of Stokley's lawyers, said the inmate spent his last evening reading letters from friends and meeting with of his lawyers, reported AP.
To read more: http://www.correctionsone.com/capital-punishment/articles/6057070-Arizona-inmate-executed-after-murdering-2-girls/
Richard Dale Stokley was executed on December 5, 2012 for murdering Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder in 1991 in a rural Arizona ghost town where they were raped, strangled and stabbed before being dumped in a partly flooded mine shaft.
Stokley had no formal last words but told members of the execution team, "I do wish that I could die doing something meaningful, you know, this seems like such a waste," reported The Associated Press.
Stokley said in a recent letter to the state clemency board that he would "go without fanfare," and he seemed at ease during the hour-long execution setup. He bantered at times with the execution team, at one point telling a joke.
The setup was extended when the execution team had difficulty finding a second injection point.
Stokley said in the letter to the board that he was sorry for the victims and their families.
However, he didn't address family members of the girls who witnessed the execution. Patricia Hancock, the mother of Mandy Meyers, said that showed cowardice.
Hancock noted that Stokley previously said accomplice Randy Brazeal had already raped the girls when Stokley finished taking a bath in a stock tank. He could have saved the girls from being murdered instead of participating, she said.
"He was a coward from the beginning and he was a coward because he couldn't face us," Hancock told AP. "He should have at least apologized."
The execution of Stokley was Arizona's 34th since 1992. Daniel Cook was put to death on Aug. 8 in Arizona's most recent execution.
Stokley said in the letter to the clemency board that he wasn't requesting clemency but thought his life was worth saving, that he knew he had made "grave and irreversible errors," and that he was sorry he "was mixed up in these awful events that brought me to this."
Dale Baich, one of Stokley's lawyers, said the inmate spent his last evening reading letters from friends and meeting with of his lawyers, reported AP.
To read more: http://www.correctionsone.com/capital-punishment/articles/6057070-Arizona-inmate-executed-after-murdering-2-girls/
Illinois court: Miller is retroactive
Here is a post from Sentencing Law and Policy, the blog of Ohio State law professor Douglas A. Berman, examining two Illinois state appellate court decisions finding that Miller v. Alabama should be fully retroactive and therefore applicable to defendants already sentenced and serving life in prison.
The first panel to rule, in State v. Williams, 2012 IL App (1st) 111145 (Nov. 27, 2012), explained its holding in these terms:
We hold that the Supreme Court's decision in Miller should be retroactively applied in this case because it is a rule that requires the observance of those procedures that are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.... [U]nder the proportionate punishment analysis in Miller, defendant was denied a "basic 'precept of justice'" by not receiving any consideration of his age from the circuit court in sentencing....
A new rule of criminal procedure applies retroactively in those instances where it has made a substantial or substantive change in the law.... We find that Miller not only changed procedures, but also made a substantial change in the law in holding under the eighth amendment that the government cannot constitutionally apply a mandatory sentence of life without parole for homicides committed by juveniles. Life without parole is justified only where the State shows that it is appropriate and fitting regardless of the defendant's age. We hold that Miller is such a " 'watershed rule[] of criminal procedure.' "
The second panel to rule, in State v. Morfin, 2012 IL App (1st) 103568 (Nov. 30, 2012), explained its holding in these terms:
We conclude that, pursuant to Teague, Miller v. Alabama is applicable retroactively on collateral review. Miller creates a new rule of law that was not required by either the precedents on what penalties a minor constitutionally cannot receive (Roper and Graham) or by the cases cited in Miller requiring sentencing discretion for the death penalty.... However, we find that Miller constitutes a new substantive rule. While it does not forbid a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a minor, it does require Illinois courts to hold a sentencing hearing for every minor convicted of first degree murder at which a sentence other than natural life imprisonment must be available for consideration. Miller mandates a sentencing range broader than that provided by statute for minors convicted of first degree murder who could otherwise receive only natural life imprisonment.
Pennsylvania is awaiting a decision on Miller's retroactivity from the state's Supreme Court.
To read more: http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2012/12/two-distinct-illinois-appellate-panels-find-miller-retroactive-on-two-distinct-grounds.html
The first panel to rule, in State v. Williams, 2012 IL App (1st) 111145 (Nov. 27, 2012), explained its holding in these terms:
We hold that the Supreme Court's decision in Miller should be retroactively applied in this case because it is a rule that requires the observance of those procedures that are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.... [U]nder the proportionate punishment analysis in Miller, defendant was denied a "basic 'precept of justice'" by not receiving any consideration of his age from the circuit court in sentencing....
A new rule of criminal procedure applies retroactively in those instances where it has made a substantial or substantive change in the law.... We find that Miller not only changed procedures, but also made a substantial change in the law in holding under the eighth amendment that the government cannot constitutionally apply a mandatory sentence of life without parole for homicides committed by juveniles. Life without parole is justified only where the State shows that it is appropriate and fitting regardless of the defendant's age. We hold that Miller is such a " 'watershed rule[] of criminal procedure.' "
The second panel to rule, in State v. Morfin, 2012 IL App (1st) 103568 (Nov. 30, 2012), explained its holding in these terms:
We conclude that, pursuant to Teague, Miller v. Alabama is applicable retroactively on collateral review. Miller creates a new rule of law that was not required by either the precedents on what penalties a minor constitutionally cannot receive (Roper and Graham) or by the cases cited in Miller requiring sentencing discretion for the death penalty.... However, we find that Miller constitutes a new substantive rule. While it does not forbid a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a minor, it does require Illinois courts to hold a sentencing hearing for every minor convicted of first degree murder at which a sentence other than natural life imprisonment must be available for consideration. Miller mandates a sentencing range broader than that provided by statute for minors convicted of first degree murder who could otherwise receive only natural life imprisonment.
Pennsylvania is awaiting a decision on Miller's retroactivity from the state's Supreme Court.
To read more: http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2012/12/two-distinct-illinois-appellate-panels-find-miller-retroactive-on-two-distinct-grounds.html
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Oklahoma executes man for 1993 murders
The 41st Execution of 2012
George Ochoa was executed in Oklahoma on December 4, 2012. He was given an injection of lethal drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester less than a month after the state Pardon and Parole Board rejected Ochoa's request that it recommend Gov. Mary Fallin reduce his death sentence to life in prison, reported The Associated Press.
Ochoa is one of two men convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Francisco Morales, 38, and Maria Yanez, 35. Investigators say Morales was shot 12 times and Yanez 11 times in their bedroom on July 12, 1993. The couple's three children were inside the house at the time of the shootings.
According to AP, Ochoa claimed he had been shocked and suffered injuries during his incarceration, but prosecutors said his claims of hallucinations and harm were likely an attempt to feign mental incompetence. Courts prohibit the execution of people who do not understand why they are being punished.
Officials said earlier psychological evaluations showed no evidence of delusions or hallucinations, and that claims about such didn't start until he was charged.
Ochoa lost a late attempt at having his execution postponed when the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his request for a stay. A federal appeals court on Monday rejected arguments that Ochoa was mentally unfit to be executed and a challenge to the state's procedure for determining sanity, reported AP.
Prosecutors said there was little evidence to suggest a motive for the killing, but no doubt that Ochoa and his co-defendant, Osbaldo Torres, 37, were responsible. Ochoa and Torres were stopped by police near the crime scene and were described by police as "sweating and nervous," court records show.
Torres, a Mexican citizen, was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the shootings, but his sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Brad Henry in 2004. Henry imposed a sentence of life without parole after Mexican government officials raised concerns that Torres was not given a chance to speak with the Mexican consulate after being accused, as required by international conventions.
To read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/04/oklahoma-executes-george-ochoa-for-13-shooting-deaths-couple-while-children-at/#ixzz2E8NRBAyk
George Ochoa was executed in Oklahoma on December 4, 2012. He was given an injection of lethal drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester less than a month after the state Pardon and Parole Board rejected Ochoa's request that it recommend Gov. Mary Fallin reduce his death sentence to life in prison, reported The Associated Press.
Ochoa is one of two men convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Francisco Morales, 38, and Maria Yanez, 35. Investigators say Morales was shot 12 times and Yanez 11 times in their bedroom on July 12, 1993. The couple's three children were inside the house at the time of the shootings.
According to AP, Ochoa claimed he had been shocked and suffered injuries during his incarceration, but prosecutors said his claims of hallucinations and harm were likely an attempt to feign mental incompetence. Courts prohibit the execution of people who do not understand why they are being punished.
Officials said earlier psychological evaluations showed no evidence of delusions or hallucinations, and that claims about such didn't start until he was charged.
Ochoa lost a late attempt at having his execution postponed when the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his request for a stay. A federal appeals court on Monday rejected arguments that Ochoa was mentally unfit to be executed and a challenge to the state's procedure for determining sanity, reported AP.
Prosecutors said there was little evidence to suggest a motive for the killing, but no doubt that Ochoa and his co-defendant, Osbaldo Torres, 37, were responsible. Ochoa and Torres were stopped by police near the crime scene and were described by police as "sweating and nervous," court records show.
Torres, a Mexican citizen, was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the shootings, but his sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Brad Henry in 2004. Henry imposed a sentence of life without parole after Mexican government officials raised concerns that Torres was not given a chance to speak with the Mexican consulate after being accused, as required by international conventions.
To read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/04/oklahoma-executes-george-ochoa-for-13-shooting-deaths-couple-while-children-at/#ixzz2E8NRBAyk
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Attorneys general oppose federal gun law
Pennsylvania's Attorney General-Elect Kathleen Kane and attorneys general in nine other states have written to U.S. Senate leaders urging them to stop legislation that would allow licensed gun owners to carry concealed firearms across state lines, reported The Associated Press.
Letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., say the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act would restrict their states' ability to control gun permits inside their borders, forcing them to recognize permits from states with weak oversight and making it harder to prosecute illegal gun traffickers.
The bill is supported by the National Rifle Association. The organization says the bill allows owners to protect themselves in other states.
The other attorneys general included in the letter are from California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and Oregon.
To read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/ap/787798_10-state-attorneys-general-oppose-gun-permit-law.html#ixzz2E01FdRxN
Monday, December 3, 2012
Faith-base group looks to cut Wisconsin incarceration rate in half
California-based Human Impact Partners, has recommended that Wisconsin increase funding for its existing treatment alternative programs from about $1 million to $75 million annually, expand eligibility, and add $20 million for mental health treatment, jobs programs and other, related services, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"There's every reason in the world to see that alternatives to incarceration work, especially for people whose primary issue is addiction or a mental health issue," David Liners of the faith-based advocacy group WISDOM told the Journal Sentinel. The group's Campaign for Justice aims to cut the state's prison population in half to 11,000 by 2015.
WISDOM, which sees the state's incarceration rates as a moral and social justice issue, commissioned the study with a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The faith-based coalition of social justice groups is working on legislation for the 2013-'15 biennium modeled after a 1973 Minnesota law that stressed community treatment over incarceration for low-level offenders.
Such measures have historically been a tough sell in Wisconsin, where the Legislature passed the truth-in-sentencing law in 1999 and last year rescinded a program that released prisoners early for good behavior or health reasons, reported the Journal Sentinel.
Wisconsin incarcerates more than 22,000 people a year, up from about 7,000 in 1990 and more than double the number imprisoned in Minnesota, according to the Department of Corrections. And it has another 67,000 ex-offenders on probation and parole. The corrections budget has ballooned since 1990 from under $200 million a year to $1.3 billion in 2011, now surpassing the money spent on the University of Wisconsin system.
The prison population is disproportionately African-American: 51% compared with 6% of the general population.
To read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/reforms-would-cut-crime-save-money-advocates-say-587qlnv-181200341.html
"There's every reason in the world to see that alternatives to incarceration work, especially for people whose primary issue is addiction or a mental health issue," David Liners of the faith-based advocacy group WISDOM told the Journal Sentinel. The group's Campaign for Justice aims to cut the state's prison population in half to 11,000 by 2015.
WISDOM, which sees the state's incarceration rates as a moral and social justice issue, commissioned the study with a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The faith-based coalition of social justice groups is working on legislation for the 2013-'15 biennium modeled after a 1973 Minnesota law that stressed community treatment over incarceration for low-level offenders.
Such measures have historically been a tough sell in Wisconsin, where the Legislature passed the truth-in-sentencing law in 1999 and last year rescinded a program that released prisoners early for good behavior or health reasons, reported the Journal Sentinel.
Wisconsin incarcerates more than 22,000 people a year, up from about 7,000 in 1990 and more than double the number imprisoned in Minnesota, according to the Department of Corrections. And it has another 67,000 ex-offenders on probation and parole. The corrections budget has ballooned since 1990 from under $200 million a year to $1.3 billion in 2011, now surpassing the money spent on the University of Wisconsin system.
The prison population is disproportionately African-American: 51% compared with 6% of the general population.
To read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/reforms-would-cut-crime-save-money-advocates-say-587qlnv-181200341.html
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Jail an option for drowsy driving?
Ophadell Williams, was driving a bus on what prosecutors said was just a few hours of sleep when it crashed on the way back from a Connecticut casino, killing 15 passengers. He is being prosecuted in New York on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. His crime is drowsy driving and he faces 15 years in prison.
According to the New York Times, drowsiness has also been cited in criminal cases against drivers in more than half-a-dozen other states, including Florida, New Jersey and Texas. In Virginia last month, a bus driver was convicted of involuntary manslaughter; authorities said that he fell asleep before a crash that killed four passengers and injured dozens of others.
Criminally prosecuting drowsy driving follows successful efforts to criminalize other dangerous driving habits, like speeding, drinking alcohol, texting and talking on using cellphones. But drowsy driving, which the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety calls “one of the most significant, unrecognized traffic safety problems,” faces tougher legal hurdles. According to the Times, a blood-alcohol test can show whether a driver was drunk. Skid marks may betray a speeder. And cellphone records will reveal whether someone was texting right before a crash. But drowsiness is a personal and often fleeting state of mind that leaves no permanent record.
Law enforcement officials have found ways to prove drowsy driving. Prosecutors have presented evidence of fatigue by reconstruction, often with the assistance of traffic cameras, event data recorders, GPS tracking and even cellphone records. “I would not be surprised based on everything that’s now available to investigators and prosecutors to see more of these cases being charged,” Joanne Thomka, director of the National Traffic Law Center of the National District Attorneys Association, told the Times.
To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/nyregion/push-to-prosecute-drowsy-driving-may-hinge-on-its-definition.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion
According to the New York Times, drowsiness has also been cited in criminal cases against drivers in more than half-a-dozen other states, including Florida, New Jersey and Texas. In Virginia last month, a bus driver was convicted of involuntary manslaughter; authorities said that he fell asleep before a crash that killed four passengers and injured dozens of others.
Criminally prosecuting drowsy driving follows successful efforts to criminalize other dangerous driving habits, like speeding, drinking alcohol, texting and talking on using cellphones. But drowsy driving, which the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety calls “one of the most significant, unrecognized traffic safety problems,” faces tougher legal hurdles. According to the Times, a blood-alcohol test can show whether a driver was drunk. Skid marks may betray a speeder. And cellphone records will reveal whether someone was texting right before a crash. But drowsiness is a personal and often fleeting state of mind that leaves no permanent record.
Law enforcement officials have found ways to prove drowsy driving. Prosecutors have presented evidence of fatigue by reconstruction, often with the assistance of traffic cameras, event data recorders, GPS tracking and even cellphone records. “I would not be surprised based on everything that’s now available to investigators and prosecutors to see more of these cases being charged,” Joanne Thomka, director of the National Traffic Law Center of the National District Attorneys Association, told the Times.
To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/nyregion/push-to-prosecute-drowsy-driving-may-hinge-on-its-definition.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion
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