A Missisippi Mess

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned four convicted murderers before leaving office

Good Ole boy Haley Barbour really stepped in it during his last days in office as governor. Barbour issued 215 pardons and the uproar was deafening. Barbour, a former RNC Chair and lobbyist, long popular with right-wing Republicans came under immediate attack for releasing murderers and other violent criminals. The state attorney general filed a complaint alleging that 156 of the pardons were unconstitutional because state law requires a 30 day public notice in the communities where the crimes occurred. A judge refused to send those pardoned back to prison, but ordered those convicted of murder to check in with parole officers. A hearing has been scheduled for February 3. More about the legal challenges here.
 

The uproar got so bad, Barbour wrote a commentary in the elitist liberal Washington Post, pointing out that the Parole Board had recommended 90 % of those pardoned receive some sort of clemency and that previous governors had a long history of pardoning trustees who work in the governor’s mansion. Here’s Barbour’s attempt to set the record straight.

 

Missing from most of the heated verbal and online confrontations—is that just like most things in Mississippi, the pardons have an ugly racial tinge. Fully two out of three prisoners pardoned by Barbour were white--- even though the state’s prison population is two-thirds African-American. Barbour’s staff insist that race played no role in the decisions, as did the Parole Board. Statisticians who have looked at Mississippi’s pardon process overall say white prisoners are four times likelier to be paroled than African-Americans. Reuters initially broke the story about the racial discrepancy and it was picked up by the Huffington Post.

 

The fallout continues as Barbour’s successor, Republican Phil Bryant, has not only vowed to refrain from pardoning convicted prisoners—he has vowed to bar them from working in the governor’s mansion or grounds. While the rhetorical fallout continues—one place Barbour won’t be hurting is his wallet. He’s already given the first speech in a lucrative speaking contract with Leading Authorities in the $30,000-$50,000 range. This is only one of the former governor’s new jobs. Barbour has also rejoined his old law firm Butler Snow and the lobbying powerhouse BRG according to today's New York Times.

 

In case you’re wondering about the two  Scott sisters who Barbour granted an early release after a decade of appeals from state human rights groups—they’re still under court supervision. Jamie and Gladys Scott were paroled after serving 16 years of a life sentence, on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to Jamie. The two African-American sisters still have to report to a parole officer and with a felony conviction have found it impossible to find work. Maybe Barbour can turn some of his speaking gigs over to them.

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Criminal Justice: A Sin and A Shame

A Sin and A Shame

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Someone or some people ought to be losing their jobs over the wrongful deportation and incarceration of Houston teenager, Jakadrien Turner. Turner ran away from home to Atlanta, GA last year at the age of 14 and was picked up for shoplifting. After she gave the name of a Colombian native to police—they turned her over to ICE even though her fingerprints weren’t a match—and she spoke no Spanish—not one word. ICE then deported her to Colombia. Her grandmother who had been searching for Jakadrien—finally tracked her whereabouts through Facebook.

If you think the incompetence and callous treatment of the African American teen is pretty shocking up to this point—it gets worse. ICE officials told the grandmother that if she wanted her granddaughter returned to the US—she would have to buy a plane ticket for her. Finally as news accounts of the story spread, the government was shamed into returning her. And fortunately she was reunited with her family two days ago.

No one charged with enforcing the law or immigration policy looks good in this story—not ICE, the Colombian government or Atlanta police. Even sadder, immigration advocates and lawyers say Jakadrien’s story isn’t that unusual or even that tragic. The case against ICE is replete with stories of people dying in custody, being denied medical treatment or medication and nursing infants being separated from their mothers.

Yet so far there have been no reports of ICE officials being fired or investigated—no calls from Congress for eliminating the agency. Is it because this error and a host of others—humiliating, outrageous and even fatal—disproportionately impact Black, Brown and poor people?

You can read a pretty full account of Jakadrien’s ordeal at Madame Noire and Juliane Hing offers more details at Colorlines.

Criminal Justice: Finally- A New Sheriff in Town

Associated Press

Finally- A New Sheriff in Town

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Civil rights supporters heard welcome news on a couple of fronts last week. First Attorney General Eric Holder made it clear in a speech at the LBJ Center at the University of Texas that the Department of Justice was prepared, able and ready to enforce the Voting Rights Act, and to seek legal sanctions against states refusing to comply. Welcome news for voting rights supporters busy tallying up the new restrictive voting measures passed in 25 states.

Then in an even more satisfying move, DOJ civil rights chief Tom Perez released a devastating report detailing how Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio, also known as America’s meanest sheriff, had engaged in racial profiling and other civil rights abuses against Latinos. Rinku Sen wrote a brilliant piece in Colorlines titled “Because the Arc is Bending Toward Justice.” You can check out her analysis here.

Poor Joe really had a bad week, after the report was released, the Department of Homeland Security run by none other than former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano announced that it was ending an agreement with the Maricopa department that allowed deputies to enforce immigration laws and use the Secure Communities programs which uses fingerprints collected in local jails.  DHS sanctions Arpaio.

The Supreme Court will review Arizona’s restrictive immigration law, SB 1070 in 2012. Arizona voters spoke last month when they recalled the bill’s author, Senate President Russell Pearce. He is the first state senate president to ever be recalled. More about Arizona law here. Meanwhile Pearce’s followers in Alabama are scrambling to undo the damage their state’s copycat anti-immigrant law has caused the state’s bottom line and reputation. Apparently several traffic cops have been enforcing the strict laws against the wrong immigrants. When executives with Honda and Mercedes were stopped for not having proof of citizenship—Chamber of Commerce types thought they had gone just too far. Despite the fact that the Chamber backed most of the miscreants behind the bill. The Republican attorney general is suggesting several fixes as is the Republican governor who signed the bill. The arrests of the two auto execs prompted Missouri to run an ad encouraging foreign investment saying, “We’re the show me state—not the show me your papers state.”

Mayor Sheldon Day in Thomasville Alabama is worried about recruiting industries. According to Day, "Up until a few months ago, nobody raised the immigration issue," he said. But in the last few months, it's been brought up regularly. Day suspects competing states are portraying Alabama as hostile to foreigners even though he says that is not the truth. Based on the questions he gets from industrial prospects, he also believes competing states are recounting stories from Alabama's civil rights past. "It's bringing back old images from 40 or 50 year ago," he said.

The governor says he's declined many national TV interviews about the law because he doesn't want to fuel comparisons with what he sees as Alabama's long gone past. "It's going to take us a long time to outlive those stereotypes that are out there among people that Alabama is living in the '50s and '60s," Bentley said.  You can read more here.

Criminal Justice: A Tale of Two Prosecutors

A Tale of Two Prosecutors

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Two recent events showcase the difference a prosecutor can make. The first is the decision to reduce the death sentence against Mumia Abu-Jamal to life imprisonment, and the second is the exoneration of Thomas Haynesworth after serving twenty-seven years for rapes he did not commit.

In both cases, Abu- Jamal and Haynesworth had family, friends and advocates who fought to prove their innocence, and legal teams who donated their services. Mumia has become an international cause célèbre, known for his radio broadcasts from prison, stinging political commentary and media interviews. Both men struggled for years to be heard and in both cases, a prosecutor played a critical role in the final outcome. In Mumia’s case the prosecutor chose not to seek the death penalty again. For those of us who believe in Mumia’s innocence—this is a bittersweet ending but a victory nonetheless.

In Haynesworth’s case, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli known for his tough-on-crime stance, decided that Haynesworth’s case deserved a second look, two state prosecutors agreed and supported exoneration. Cuccinelli became so convinced of Haynesworth’s innocence that he gave him a job after his March parole. Read about Haynesworth’s exoneration here.

Troy Davis was not so fortunate.  In that case Larry Chisholm the current district attorney refused to even consider withdrawing the death warrant, despite the flimsy evidence and flawed prosecution meticulously documented by Troy’s legal team. The former prosecutor Spencer Lawton refuses to acknowledge even now that the case was flawed and Troy was put to death on September 21, 2011. Apparently for some prosecutors, preserving the façade of infallibility matters more than a man’s life.

Criminal Justice: Never Ending Crime and Punishment

Never Ending Crime and Punishment

By Llenda Jackson-Leslie

One of the harshest realities of our criminal justice system is that punishment can be never ending. Walking through the prison gates doesn’t guarantee a fresh start. The lingering stigma of a previous conviction continues to haunt many former prisoners and often fuels their return to prison. Finding a job with a prison record is next to impossible, regulations bar them from public housing and many states have enacted punitive restrictions which make it next to impossible for former prisoners to regain their right to vote.

 
The Washington Post posted a recent blog on the high rate of unemployment among the formerly incarcerated in the DC area 46% , you can read the article here the article is based on a report by the Court Excellence Project, you can access the report here.

Harold Hill is luckier than most, he’s found a job and re-connected with family. His struggle to turn his life around was published in the Washington Post, you can read the article here

Strong Laws and Lax Enforcement

The DC police are being called out once again for failing to enforce laws that intended to protect gay, lesbian and transgender District residents from violence and intimidation based on their sexual identity. Activists have taken to the streets to put DC cops on blast. Read Police Chief Kathy Lanier’s response here.

Criminal Justice: The Prison Industrial Complex Hurts The Economy

The Prison Industrial Complex Hurts The Economy

By Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Lately, some surprising folks have been talking about what needs to change in the criminal justice system. There have been repeated calls for a national conversation. But at the moment, people are understandably preoccupied with the worst economic crisis since the Depression.

But criminal justice is not unrelated to the economy. Our nation’s prison industrial complex contributes in large and small ways to our overall economic decline. We pay a cost through incarcerating large numbers of men and growing numbers of women who could be a productive part of the economy, and making them basically unfit for anything other than prison or continued criminal pursuits. We pay for the toll their absence plays on families in poor communities and communities of color. And all of us suffer from the warped economic priorities that push states to direct more and of their scare resources to maintaining prisons, while starving education, human services, arts and infrastructure.

As people organize to speak truth to power whether on Wall Street  or at the nation’s capital, real criminal justice reform needs to be on the agenda.

A recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics featured on the Sentencing Project’s weekly electronic newsletter proves that when it comes to traffic stops, we’re not post-racial. Read more from the Sentencing Project, here.

Blacks Three Times as Likely as Whites to be Searched in Traffic Stops

The survey showed that African Americans were slightly more likely to face multiple contacts with police officers, but that blacks were about as likely to be pulled over in traffic stop as whites and Hispanics. However, when pulled over blacks were more likely than whites and Hispanics to be arrested, while both blacks and Hispanics were more likely to receive tickets than whites. Blacks were also more likely to have force used or threatened against them by police officers.”

“A special report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that black drivers in 2008 were three times as likely to have their cars searched during traffic stops as whites. The study, which looked at contact between citizens and law enforcement, also found that traffic stops involving blacks were roughly twice as likely to result in a search as those involving Hispanics.

Former Harvard law professor William J. Stuntz says the American justice system is unraveling.

 

Justice System Unraveling

Still more so the African American portion of that prison population: for black males, a term in the nearest penitentiary has become an ordinary life experience, a horrifying truth that wasn’t true a mere generation ago. Ordinary life experiences are poor deterrents, one reason why massive levels of criminal punishment coexist with historically high levels of urban violence.

“Among the great untold stories of our time is this one: the last half of the twentieth century saw America’s criminal justice system unravel. Signs of the unraveling are everywhere. The nation’s record- shattering prison population has grown out of control.

Outside the South, most cities’ murder rates are a multiple of the rates in those same cities sixty years ago — notwithstanding a large drop in violent crime in the 1990s. Within cities, crime is low in safe neighborhoods but remains a huge problem in dangerous ones, and those dangerous neighborhoods are disproportionately poor and black. Last but not least, we have built a justice system that strikes many of its targets as wildly unjust. The feeling has some evidentiary support: criminal litigation regularly makes awful mistakes, as the frequent DNA-based exonerations of convicted defendants illustrate. Evidently, the criminal justice system is doing none of its jobs well: producing justice, avoiding discrimination, protecting those who most need the law’s protection, keeping crime in check while maintaining reasonable limits on criminal punishment.”

 

Read the whole article on Salon.com  

Criminal Justince: We Are All Troy Davis

We Are All Troy Davis

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Troy Davis was buried on Saturday and several thousand people gathered to pay tribute and promised to continue the fight to abolish the death penalty. Mourners chanted,        “ We are All Troy Davis.”

 

A lot has been said and written since Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia. Michael Moore has vowed to donate the proceeds of Georgia sales of his newest book Here Comes Trouble to the Innocence Project. You can read Moore’s Democracy Now interview here.

  

Even right-of- center New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote that the execution of Troy Davis should cause us all to reexamine the criminal justice system. Douthat wrote “If capital punishment disappears in the United States disappears in the United States, it won’t be because voters and politicians no longer want to execute the guilty. It will be because they’re afraid of executing the innocent.” Read the whole column here.

 

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens criticized the death penalty calling it pointless and needless, and while Stevens says he "can't say that the Court misapplied the law in any way." He is still troubled by Davis’ execution, "It's an example of cases in which there's some -- perhaps remote -- possibility of error, and whenever there's error in a death case, you cannot be very happy about that particular penalty." Click here to see the article. 

 

One of the most moving pieces of commentary was from Jen Marlowe at Racewire. Marlowe writes about how the machinery of death sparked a global movement to save Troy Davis that was both deeply personal and managed to cross the race, class, political and cultural lines that normally divide people.

 

Read Marlowe’s article here.

The Execution of Troy Davis: A Turning Point for US Justice?

The Execution of Troy Davis:

A Turning Point for US Justice?

By Tamara Braunstein

“We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment." Senator Russ Feingold on Civil Rights as a Priority for the 108th Congress, Senate, January 2003

Whether or not you believe an innocent man has been unjustly, legally murdered, one thing is undeniable in the aftermath of Troy Davis’ state execution: our country is at a potentially pivotal point in its adoption of capital punishment.

In the months, weeks, days and hours leading to Troy’s death, demonstrators both in the U.S. and abroad rallied not just to advocate for Davis, but to protest the U.S.’s death penalty.

Underlying the protest is a significant concern surrounding racial disparities in capital punishment enforcement.

According to Amnesty International, despite the fact that African Americans make up about half of homicide victims nationally, since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, just 15 percent of death row defendants have been executed for killing a Black victim, and “the overwhelming majority [77 percent] of death row defendants have been executed for killing White victims.”

When it comes to interracial murders, the disparities are even more appalling:

-          17 cases of a White defendant killing a Black victim have resulted in a death sentence

-          254 cases of a Black defendant killing a White victim have resulted in a death sentence

Troy Davis’ supporters argue his innocence for reasons penetrating far more broadly and deeply than race. Nevertheless, his execution has brought to the forefront one of the most controversial and inexcusable atrocities in this country’s embattled and racially charged history. It has also created one of the most advocacy-ripe atmospheres our country has seen, and for better or for worse that cannot be ignored.

Capital Punishment = Revenge, Not Justice

Capital Punishment = Revenge, Not Justice

Byline: Shannon Mouton

We punish as a way to teach or train…children, spouses and animals

We punish to get inflict pain or injury…opposing teams, political parties, countries

We punish to assert revenge…gangs, inmates

Which is the motive for executing Troy Davis?

Is it a good enough motive to take a man's life?

Criminal Justice: Creating A Carnival to Kill

Creating A Carnival to Kill

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole denied clemency for death-row inmate Troy Davis, who was convicted of the 1989 killing of Savannah, Georgia, police officer Mark MacPhail. Davis is now scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday at a state prison in Jackson, Georgia.

"Monday September 19, 2011, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a clemency request from attorneys representing condemned inmate Troy Anthony Davis. After considering the request, the Board has voted to deny clemency," the board said in a statement Tuesday morning via CNN.

Amnesty International reacted angrily to the clemency denial on Tuesday.

"It is unconscionable that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied relief to Troy Davis. Allowing a man to be sent to death under an enormous cloud of doubt about his guilt is an outrageous affront to justice... Should Troy Davis be executed, Georgia may well have executed an innocent man and in so doing discredited the justice system," the statement said.

Something is seriously wrong with our society when we can sentence someone to death under such conflicted and unclear circumstances. However, it appears many in our society applaud and cheeringly support man playing God, in deciding to pursue the ultimate justice upon our fellow man. Just take a look at this video in which Republican Presidential candidate, Rick Perry of Texas is questioned about the 234 death row conviction, more than any other governor in modern times. You can hear the applause from the crowd when this number is exclaimed, and Rick Perry shows no remorse or hesitation in his decisions. This cheering for the death of another human being is so disturbing, that it is tantamount to creating a carnival to kill atmosphere, similar to that we saw with the lynchings of African Americans in our early history.

If you're interested in attending a protest against Troy Brown's execution, there are several popping up around the country and being organized by such groups as the NAACP and Amnesty International. The following are details about a similar rally here in Washington, DC. I urge you to voice your opinion on this matter, however you can. A life hangs in the balance.

TROY DAVIS DENIED CLEMENCY

EMERGENCY RALLY IN DC TONIGHT 9/20
6 PM
TIVOLI SQUARE - 14th ST and PARK RD, NW

TAKE ACTION NOW:
Send your messages urging reversal to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole:
Call 404-656-5651, e-mail webmaster@pap.state.ga.us and fax 404-651-8502.

You can also call District Attorney Larry Chisolm at 912-652-7308 and ask that he withdraw the death warrant.

Criminal Justice: The Eyes of the World are on Georgia

The Eyes of the World are on Georgia

Today the Georgia Board of Parole and Clemency met to consider the fate of Troy Davis who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday September 21.  Appeals for Davis’ life have come from the expected and unexpected sources, Bianca Jagger and Reagan appointed FBI chief William Sessions  have joined the chorus of famous and little known voices calling for a halt to the execution. Click here for article.

#TooMuchDoubt has become a popular twitter topic, demonstrations were held in dozens of cities over the weekend and several thousand people marched in Georgia. Civil rights icon John Lewis appealed directly to the Georgia Board of Parole. Former president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among the 638,000 people who have signed appeals asking the Board to grant clemency. Click here to read more.

The digital campaign to save Davis has become immense with supporters posting his photo as their Facebook profile, uploading videos by his mother and sister to their pages and, asking their friends to sign online petitions.  As I write this, the board has not yet rendered a decision, and CNN points out that the Board has never reversed itself in its 33 year history.

But I remain cautiously optimistic, that although the moral arc of the universe is long in this case it will bend towards justice.

Criminal Justice: Georgia's Rough Justice

Georgia's Rough Justice

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

In nine days Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed. The State of Georgia is planning to kill Davis despite the fact that seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted, saying their earlier testimony was coerced. The NAACP, National Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Amnesty International are mounting an international campaign to save Troy Davis. Amnesty International’s Laura Moye calls the case “emblematic of a broken and unjust death penalty system.”   Davis is an African American charged with the murder of a white police officer.

The evidence against Davis is incredibly weak, it is unlikely that without the twin engines of race and the sensational nature of the crime, that Davis would have been charged at all. There is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. Several of the witnesses in the original trial were minors at the time and were questioned without their parents being present; another was illiterate and several had criminal records. One of the seven witnesses who has recanted has said another witness, is the real killer.

Troy Davis’ best hope is a public outcry to save his life. It only takes a few minutes to add your voice.

There are active online petition campaigns from Color of Change  www.justicefortroy.org, and Twitter and Facebook campaigns from the NAACP http://www.naacp.org/blog/entry/breaking-news-judge-sets-troy-davis-execution-date-for-sep.-21 and the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty http://www.ncadp.org/#Troy_Front_Page  

Read more of the Amnesty International Laura Moye interview here: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/troy-davis-appeal-denied-execution-date-could-loom/

Criminal Justice: Your Lyin' Eyes

Criminal Justice: Your Lyin' Eyes

Adam Serwer blogs at The American Prospect about the recent New Jersey Court ruling on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote an opinion holding that the legal standards for admissibility of eyewitness evidence needs to change. Rabner cited factors like cross-racial identification and stress that may impact victim's recollection. The ruling cites scientfic studies on the unreliability of eyewitness identification that show victims pick the wrong person in a lineup as often as they pick the right one.

While victims' memories may be shaky, if they appear confident while giving testimony juries are likely to convict.

According to the Innocence Project, over 75 percent of DNA exonerations involve eyewitness misidentification.

Read about it here: http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=08&year=2011&base_name=you_cant_believe_your_eyes

Race, Class and Generational Warfare

Richard Prince takes a look at media coverage of UK riots and the often racialized terms of debate. One historian’s comment on BBC that “whites have become black” drew 700 complaints. Read more about media analysis and coverage of the riots here.

Colorline’s Global Justice writer, Michelle Chen accuses British courts of working overtime to impose extreme sentences for stealing bottled water or posting incendiary messages on Facebook. Chen contrasts that with the treatment of disgraced British corporate and government officials. You can check out Chen’s commentary here.

Criminal Justice: Tale of Two Cities - San Francisco police and BART overreact to protests DC police fail to react to hate crime against lesbians

Criminal Justice:

Tale of Two Cities - San Francisco police and BART overreact to protests DC police fail to react to hate crime against lesbians

Last week, San Francisco’s transit authorities stepped on the First Amendment, in the supposed interest of preventing commuter protests on BART, the regional subway system, by closing cell phone access on the system.

The protests have been ongoing since July when police shot and killed two civilians on BART in separate incidents, that sparked massive protests.

Media reports on CNN and the Christian Science Monitor indicate that this is the first time police in the US have blocked cell phone access to suppress protests although it has happened in Syria and Iran. You can read more about it at http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0812/To-defuse-flash-protest-BART-cuts-riders-cell-service.-Is-that-legal

Meanwhile, DC cops are under investigation for refusing to take a police report when lesbians reported being assaulted by a group of men who used homophobic slurs and then beat them. After local advocacy groups complained, Chief Lanier intervened and hate crime charges were filed. More on the incident from DCist http://dcist.com/2011/08/lanier_says_cops_could_be_let_go_af.php

Criminal Justice: Justice Delayed But Not Denied

Justice Delayed But Not Denied

The quality of justice in our nation is still distorted by a persistent racial bias, but justice sometimes prevails. The conviction of the last  of the police officers charged in the  charged in the Danzinger Bridge killings in New Orleans following Katrina is one example. In the aftermath of Katrina, officers shot and killed two unarmed African American civilians, refused to transport one victim to the hospital, and shot another who attempted to come to the man's. Finally the police conspired to frame another unarmed civilian for the killings.

Like most trials involving police officers charged with assaulting or killing African American civilians, the trial was politically and racially charged. But this time the police weren't treated as they were above the law, as in countless other cases, and the jury voted to convict.  You can read about the trial and convictions here:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/from_heroes_to_villains_nopd_convictions_set_katrina_history_straight.html

And in Mississippi the convicted killer of civil rights workers, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, James Ford Seale, 76, died in prison this Tuesday. Seale almost got away with the murders, he was only tried and convicted recently and served four years of the life sentences he received.

James Ford Seale, a long-time member of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The bodies of Dee and Moore were uncovered in 1964 along with several hundred others as the FBI searched for the bodies of Goodmanm Schwerner and Chaney. The dogged persistence of local activists who pressed federal authorities to bring Seale to trial on federal charges finally resulted in his conviction forty years later.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-potok/klansman-murder-prison_b_917231.html

New Rules to Retroactively Re-Sentance Prisoners for Crack Cocaine Possession

New Rules to Retroactively Re-Sentance Prisoners for Crack Cocaine Possession

Via the NAACP:

"On June 30, 2011, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to apply the new guidelines for a federal conviction of crack cocaine possession as established by the Fair Sentencing Act retroactively to those men and women currently incarcerated. This means that more than 12,000 men and women currently incarcerated for crack cocaine possession, more than 10,000 of whom are African American, will be eligible for an adjustment of their sentences.

[...]

With the Sentencing Commission’s decision to support a retroactive application of the guidelines as established by the Fair Sentencing Act, the federal government can begin to mend the mistrust which has resulted between African American community and our criminal justice system due to the disproportionate and disparate incarceration of black men and women. By applying the guidelines retroactively, the Sentencing Commission will be reducing the sentences of over than 12,000 prisoners nationwide, more than 10,000, or 85% of whom are African American. Another 8.5% of those who would see their sentences reduced are Hispanic, and 5.5% are Caucasian."

Via Wikipedia:

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. As of year-end 2009 the rate was 743 adults incarcerated in prisons and jails per 100,000 population. At year-end 2007 the United States had less than 5% of the world's population and 23.4% of the world's prison and jail population (adult inmates).