In the past few years, the growth of incarceration and the inequality perpetuated through the US carceral system have become common topics of discussion and debate among academics, politicians, and the general public. Perhaps nowhere are these debates more salient than in the state of California, which houses the largest incarcerated population in the United States. In the most recent election, five out of 18 California ballot propositions addressed topics directly or indirectly related to incarceration; including the death penalty, felony sentencing, and ammunition possession. It seems we may finally…
Read MoreDay: January 5, 2017
CO: Colorado wasting as much as $44 million a year in sex-offender program, audit says
Colorado’s Department of Corrections is wasting as much as $44 million annually because it has not fixed problems in a treatment program intended to prepare sex offenders for release from prison, a recent state audit found.Full Article
Read MoreBest Buy Geek Squad Informant Use Has FBI on Defense in Child-Porn Case [updated]
FBI agents and prosecutors usually strut inside Santa Ana’s Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, knowing they’ve focused the wrath of the criminal-justice system on a particular criminal. But an unusual child-pornography-possession case has placed officials on the defensive for nearly 26 months. Questions linger about law-enforcement honesty, unconstitutional searches, underhanded use of informants and twisted logic. Given that a judge recently ruled against government demands to derail a defense lawyer’s dogged inquiry into the mess, United States of America v. ____ _ ____ is likely to produce additional courthouse embarrassments in 2017. Full Article…
Read MoreSerial child molester loses on appeal
An appeals court on Wednesday reinstated the conviction of a serial child molester from Maryland whose case was held out as a major success of a law to punish sexual predators overseas. Full Article
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