[abc7news.com – 6/6/18] SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Voters have recalled Judge Aaron Persky from office after he sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault to a short jail sentence instead of prison. Persky sentenced Brock Turner in June 2016 to six months in jail instead of prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman outside a fraternity house. The recall campaign launched shortly afterward. The campaign gained national prominence after the victim’s powerful courtroom statement lamenting her treatment by the judicial system was circulated…
Read MoreTag: judicial independence
Should the Movement to Oust Bad Prosecutors Go After Judges Next?
[slate.com – 6/1/18] Four public defenders think so, but critics worry they’re turning criminal justice reform into an assault on the judiciary. Major cities across the United States are getting swept up in a movement to replace tough-on-crime prosecutors with reform-minded outsiders. Last November, Larry Krasner, a former federal public defender turned civil rights lawyer, was elected district attorney in Philadelphia. He rapidly set about changing business as usual, refusing to prosecute low-level marijuana offenses and instructing his deputies to begin plea negotiations from the minimum rather than the maximum…
Read MoreI was Raped. And I Believe The Brock Turner Sentence Is a Success Story [opinion]
[injusticetoday.com] On the morning of June 12, 2016, a small plane circled over Stanford University’s commencement ceremony trailing a banner reading, “Protect Survivors. Not Rapists. #PerskyMustGo.” The plane’s voyage was commissioned by feminist group UltraViolet to protest former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner’s six-month sentence handed down by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky in 2016 for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus the previous year. The sentence ignited an outcry and an effort to recall Judge Persky. Over 1 million people have signed a petition to remove…
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