POSTED OCTOBER 19, 2019
News Item (Democracy Now!, Aug 15): "On July 25, in a surprise announcement, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that the federal government would be resuming executions, with five scheduled in the coming months. This overturns an effective moratorium on the federal death penalty that has lasted over 16 years." [link in sidebar]
Vatican News, August 2, 2018: Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide”.
In a year in which few states have carried out any executions, the aggressive execution practices of a single state — Texas — stand in sharp contrast. The Lone Star State has scheduled thirteen executions for the last five months of 2019, more than the rest of the country combined. And a DPIC review of the circumstances in which the warrants were issued raises troubling questions as to whether the state is executing the most morally culpable individuals for the worst of the worst crimes or the most vulnerable prisoners and prisoners who were provided the worst legal process.
The death penalty has long come under scrutiny for being racially biased. Earlier in the twentieth century when it was applied for the crime of rape, 89 percent of the executions involved black defendants, most for the rape of a white woman. In the modern era, when executions have been carried out exclusively for murder, 75 percent of the cases involve the murder of white victims, even though blacks and whites are about equally likely to be victims of murder....Today there is growing evidence that racial bias continues in society, particularly within the criminal justice system. The existence of implicit racial bias among some law enforcement officers, witnesses, jurors, and others allows harsher punishment of minorities, even without legal sanction or intention. Although these prejudices are hard to uproot, the unfair application of the death penalty could be halted by eliminating that sentencing option altogether.
Not only is the death penalty administered in an unjust, biased way, but it is also irreversible. Death is final. Clifford Williams Jr. and Charles Ray Finch became the 165th and 166th death row prisoners to be exonerated. Each of these innocent African American men spent over 40 years on death row.
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is a statewide, grassroots advocacy organization working to end the death penalty.
OK-CADP advances alternatives via public education, legislative advocacy, & research towards our mission to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma.
POSTED NOVEMBER 4, 2019
Among deaths reported by Mapping Police Violence, an officer was charged with a crime in 1.7% of the cases, says Samuel Sinyangwe, a policy analyst who co-founded the on-line non-profit site, which compiles data from news articles, police reports, social media and other sources.
Of the more than 10,000 police killings between 2005 and April 2017, 80 officers had been arrested on murder or manslaughter charges for on-duty shootings. During that 12-year span, 35% of these 80 were convicted*, while the rest were pending or not convicted, according to work by Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Police in multiple states have voiced criticism of open carry laws, which many say make their jobs more difficult, stressful and dangerous. Instead of listening to these police criticisms, those who continue to demand unfettered gun rights — nearly the whole of the GOP and its base — imperil the same police lives they claim to want to protect. “You can’t be the party of law and order and not listen to your police chiefs,” Art Acevedo, police chief of Austin, Texas, admonished his state’s Republican lawmakers recently. (Salon, Aug 2016)
Bring Back the FBI Data on Police-Involved Shootings: This one was finally implemented in November 2018. The FBI announced the official launch of a national use-of-force data collection effort to track officer-involved shootings and other police incidents.
Require More Detailed Local Data on Police Shootings: "While it seems that the deaths of ...many ... unarmed black men contribute to a clear pattern, in fact we know very little about the circumstances of most police-involved shootings. What data we do have on these deaths excludes important information and context that would help to explain what's happening from a national perspective."
Take Prosecutors Off Cases That Involve Police Shootings: "Prosecutors face a standing conflict of interest in homicide cases that involve police....One answer might be to take these cases out of the hands of local authorities...In the case of an officer-involved shooting, the relevant U.S. Attorney could make a recommendation about how to proceed: prosecute the officer or officers involved, set up a grand jury to investigate, or decline to prosecute."
Put Cameras on Police, and Researchers on Cameras :"Whether police outfitted with body cameras will lead to fewer lethal interactions is an open question, but the research isn't being done to test both the unintended consequences and the unintended upsides."
*This compares with a conviction rate of 70% for civilians charged with manslaughter or murder.
"Police and law enforcement officers play a critical role within our communities. Every day they help people in need and keep citizens safe. Every day they also kill an average of three people nationwide. We believe officers can play a vital role in communities they serve without killing the people they are sworn to protect." - From the Institute's home page.
POSTED NOVEMBER 24, 2019
Graph of the state and federal prison population is from the New Orleans Catholic Charities website and does not include the prisoners held in jails.
In a criminal justice system that emphasizes punishment over rehabilitation and with mentally ill people making up 10-20 percent of the incarcerated population, mental health professionals often struggle to implement rehabilitation programs while keeping up with their regular prison caseloads. "We're focused so much on the basic mental health services that there's not enough time or emphasis to devote to rehabilitative services," says Robert Morgan, PhD, a psychologist at Texas Tech University who has worked in federal and state prisons and studies treatment methods for inmates. [1]
The Hill notes that"The U.S. prison system lacks the prisoner rehabilitation programs needed to help inmates take control of their emotions and stress, needed steps in order to transform the inmate from within and address the anger and despair that led the individual to opt for a life of crime....Sadly, when an individual in the U.S. commits a crime, all too often there are no rehabilitation programs that help the offender address the core issues — rage, sadness, anguish, misery, frustration, greed, jealousy, vengeance — that led him or her to commit the crime. The offender is usually locked away and not given access to effective consultation, evaluation and treatment for his or her core issues."
"Economics aside, the toll that mass incarceration takes on communities is immeasurable. Losing one or more parents to incarceration can set a child up for a life of poverty and detrimental mental health issues. Further, communities that suffer from a high rate of mass incarceration often are impacted by “zero-tolerance” policies in schools. Thus, children often experience their first arrest in their early teenage years and quickly find themselves on a path of repeated incarceration. One of the most heartbreaking pieces of the mass incarceration story is the repeated injustices that inmates find themselves faced with. 1 in 5 individuals serving time in federal prison was charged with a drug offense. Almost 3 percent of black male U.S residents of all ages were imprisoned in 2013. When released and searching for a job, many felons aren’t even given the chance to apply to many jobs.
Drug offenses still account for the incarceration of almost half a million people, and nonviolent drug convictions remain a defining feature of the federal prison system. Police still make over 1 million drug possession arrests each year, and many of these arrests do lead to prison sentences. Drug arrests continue to give residents of over-policed communities criminal records, hurting their employment prospects and increasing the likelihood of longer sentences for any future offenses [4]
Restorative justice...
is a different way of thinking about crime and our response to crime
focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime and reducing future harm through crime prevention
requires offenders to take responsibility for their actions and for the harm they have caused
seeks redress for victims, recompense by offenders and reintegration of both within the community
requires a cooperative effort by communities and the government
Increasingly lengthy prison terms for federal offenses have become counterproductive for promoting public safety. There are several reasons for this: long-term sentences produce diminishing returns for public safety as individuals “age out” of the high-crime years; such sentences are particularly ineffective for drug crimes as drug sellers are easily replaced in the community; increasingly punitive sentences add little to the deterrent effect of the criminal justice system; and mass incarceration diverts resources from program and policy initiatives that hold the potential for greater impact on public safety.
...while remaining in the community is certainly preferable to being locked up, the conditions imposed on those under supervision are often so restrictive that they set people up to fail. The long supervision terms, numerous and burdensome requirements, and constant surveillance (especially with electronic monitoring) result in frequent “failures,” often for minor infractions like breaking curfew or failing to pay unaffordable supervision fees.
In 2016, at least 168,000 people were incarcerated for such “technical violations” of probation or parole — that is, not for any new crime. Probation, in particular, leads to unnecessary incarceration; until it is reformed to support and reward success rather than detect mistakes, it is not a reliable “alternative.”
Restorative Justice recognizes that crime hurts everyone — victims, offenders and community. It creates an obligation to make things right.
..substance-abuse-treatment facilities reduce both violent and financially motivated crimes in an area, and that the effects are particularly pronounced for relatively serious crimes. The effects on homicides are documented across three sources of homicide data. (National Bureau of Economic Research)
...Medicaid expansions led to an economically meaningful reduction in the rates of robbery, aggravated assault and larceny theft. (Journal of Public Economics)
* In 2017, blacks represented 12% of the U.S. adult population but 33% of the sentenced prison population. Whites accounted for 64% of adults but 30% of prisoners. And while Hispanics represented 16% of the adult population, they accounted for 23% of inmates.
**According to the National Institute of Justice, about 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years.
[1] American Psychological Society, July/August 2003
[2] Medium.com. May 25, 2016
[3] CNN, April 21, 2019
[4] Prison Policy Initiative web page on mass incarceration
[5] "Life After Life", Kenneth E. Hartman, Harper's Magazine, October 2019