The Prosecutors Who Aim to Kill. Photo One kept a paperweight model of an electric chair on his desk. Another boasted about being named the “deadliest prosecutor in America” by the Guinness Book of World Records and mocked defendants with intellectual disabilities. A third was dragged from the courtroom when jurors who acquitted six defendants he had charged with shooting police officers said he approached them and reached for his gun. These five people are members of a very small club: The death sentences they have obtained are equal to 15 percent of the current national death row population. Even as most states have moved away from capital punishment, the practice continues to be used in a tiny fraction of counties, and under the leadership of specific prosecutors, according to a new report by the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School.
The prosecutors are Joe Freeman Britt in North Carolina, Robert Macy in Oklahoma, Donnie Myers in South Carolina, Lynne Abraham in Philadelphia and Johnny Holmes in Texas. Mr. Sexual torture: American policing and the harassment of black men | US news. The officer must feel with sensitive fingers every portion of the prisoner’s body. A thorough search must be made of the prisoner’s arms and armpits, waistline and back, the groin and areas about the testicles, and entire surface of the legs down to the feet.– Police Manual, 1954 Here’s what happens when you are stopped and frisked.
You are walking to work on a Monday morning. The cop car stops suddenly, two men with guns jump out, and they order you to face the building and put your hands up. They put their hands roughly all over your body, one squeezes something in your pocket and asks you, “What’s that?” You take out your asthma inhaler and show it to him. They pat you down one more time and then they just leave. You feel humiliated. Or you are going to visit your mom in the projects. You open the door and enter the lobby.
Now it’s a situation. Nobody coming inside the building uses a key – it would be ridiculous because the lock is broken. The officer still found no contraband. For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business click 2x. Stories from American Experience. In November of 1924, two women pose for a picture outside the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded. Mother and daughter, they were separated some dozen years before, when municipal authorities decided that Emma Buck couldn’t provide adequate care for her little girl, Carrie, no more than six at the time.
Despite the years apart, their relationship seems affectionate. Before the camera, Emma rests a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. Now 18, Carrie has recently been separated from her own daughter. That child, born out of wedlock, has been adopted by the Dobbs family — the same people who fostered Carrie. After taking her out of school early, the Dobbses had Carrie do domestic work for themselves and their neighbors. And then she became pregnant. After learning of Carrie’s pregnancy, John and Alice Dobbs petitioned to have her institutionalized, claiming that she was “feeble-minded.” The wheels are in motion. The colony will be permitted to sterilize Carrie. It lasts an hour. The policing of black Americans is racial harassment funded by the state. The rap group Public Enemy famously stated that “911 is a joke”. But that was in 1990.
These days 911 is dead serious. Anyone in the United States can dial those three numbers and summon people with guns and handcuffs to participate in their anti-black paranoia. It’s racial harassment, sponsored by the government and supported by tax dollars. When one calls 911 in New York City, the first question the dispatcher asks is “What is your emergency?” I wonder how the white people recently in the news for calling the police on black folks would have answered that question. “Two men sitting at Starbucks.” The people who call the police are not the main problem. This does not mean that it is acceptable: everyday racism is aggravating, health draining, and, for its survivors, labor intensive. The people who call the police can fill a black person with a productive rage or a corrosive kind of hate. The main problem is the response of the state. The sad thing is that they are exactly right. Stabbed at a neo-Nazi rally, called a criminal: how police targeted a black activist.
Cedric O’Bannon tried to ignore the sharp pain in his side and continue filming. The independent journalist, who was documenting a white supremacist rally in Sacramento, said he wanted to capture the neo-Nazi violence against counter-protesters with his GoPro camera. But the pain soon became overwhelming. He lifted up his blood-soaked shirt and realized that one of the men carrying a pole with a blade on the end of it had stabbed him in the stomach, puncturing him nearly two inches deep.
He limped his way to an ambulance. But the police did not treat O’Bannon like a victim. None of the white supremacists have been charged for stabbing O’Bannon. “The judicial system is supposed to find the people who attack me, and they come after me with all these crazy charges,” O’Bannon said in a recent interview in Oakland, where he lives.
O’Bannon, 47, arrived early to the state capitol grounds the morning of the rally. Chaos and violence quickly erupted. ‘Empowering groups that kill’ Prison records from 1800s Georgia show mass incarceration’s racially charged beginnings. Henry Minter was working as a farm laborer in Georgia in the 1870s when he met Mary Dotson, a young black servant girl. The couple never married – which would have been illegal at the time – but they stayed together until Henry’s death. Mary, who was left with their four children, then became a washerwoman in Atlanta. Their daughter, Florence, tried to raise funds by making moonshine. Caught in 1920, she served three years for illegally making liquor. When Florence’s father was born in the 1850s, the state prison population was largely white.
But, by the time she was imprisoned, the majority of prisoners were black. Newly digitized records from the 19th and 20th centuries reveal the names and the stories of thousands of prisoners like Florence – as well as the racially charged beginnings of mass incarceration in the U.S. Mass incarceration In 2016, in the U.S., about 1.5 million people were in prison. Why does the American prison system disproportionately imprison black men? Off-Duty Buena Park Police Officer Caught on Video Pulling Gun on Man He Mistakenly Believes Is Stealing Mints. Off-Duty Officer Pulls Gun on Man He Mistakenly Believes Is Stealing <div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div> When a man who was ending a night out with his wife stopped at a gas station in Buena Park to buy some mints, he wound up facing down a police firearm when an off-duty officer incorrectly assumed he was stealing.
Jose Arreolla had gone into the convenience store in the 6300 block of Beach Boulevard the night of March 16 to use an ATM and buy mints, he said. In surveillance video from the store, he can be seen handing the cashier a $20 bill. Arreolla slips the mints into his pocket, and the officer can be seen immediately drawing his gun. "It was a bit of fear but more anger, I think," Arreolla said of his reaction. In the footage, he can be seen reacting with shock. The officer is heard telling Arreolla, "Put it back," and identifying himself as a police officer. Arreolla mimes helplessly to the cashier, who says nothing. "My apologies," the officer says. Sgt. Fatal encounters: 97 deaths point to pattern of border agent violence across America.
For six long years the family of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez have been caught in a legal saga seeking justice for the 16-year-old who was killed by a US border patrol agent who fired 16 times from Arizona into Mexico. Ending criminal proceedings that have dragged on since 2012, a jury last week cleared agent Lonnie Swartz of second-degree murder and could not agree on a verdict for two lesser charges of manslaughter. The shooting has compelled judges up to the US supreme court to deliberate whether the American government can be sued in civil court for wrongful deaths on Mexican soil – placing the incident, and eight other cross-border fatal shootings, at the center of scrutiny surrounding the use of force by agents in response to allegedly thrown rocks.
However, lesser known are similar shootings which have occurred inside the US. Ten years later, the Department of Justice settled another wrongful death claim involving a rock-throwing allegation in California for $500,000. The Sun Does Shine review: death row memoir spotlights a judicial 'lynching' If you think there is no reason for another book about a grave miscarriage of American justice, think again. Anthony Ray Hinton’s memoir of his wrongful imprisonment for 30 years for three murders he did not commit is a riveting account of the multiple outrages of the criminal justice system of Alabama.
But that isn’t what makes this a genuine spiritual experience: that comes from the nearly biblical capacity of the author to endure, to forgive, and finally to triumph. It only takes the first two pages of the introduction by the author’s equally remarkable lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, to make the reader appalled. There was no evidence at all to tie Hinton to two of the three murders he was accused of, and he was “locked in a supermarket warehouse cleaning floors … when a restaurant manager 15 miles away was abducted, robbed and shot”. The cop gave Hinton “five reasons”. “Number one, you’re black. The cop was right. . … we have a small favour to ask.
The US government should cede territory back to Native Americans | Timothy Snyder. Does the federal government mean to cede the territory of the United States back to the Native Americans? The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has altered its mission statement, removing the characterization of America as a “nation of immigrants” in order to emphasize the new goal of “securing the homeland”.
Some critics made the point that most citizens are immigrants or their descendants, while others noted that most Americans believed that immigration should remain stable or increase. Yet the problem with the change in language lies deeper. According to our own legal tradition, Americans claim sovereignty over the territory of the US as immigrants, precisely because the territories in question were someone else’s homeland: the Native Americans’. Since our country exists, we don’t ask ourselves how or why. The legal foundation of the federal claim to dominion over territory is something called the Doctrine of Discovery, a notion that goes back five centuries. Marijuana: is it time to stop using a word with racist roots? | Society. It’s been known as dope, grass, herb, gage, tea, reefer, chronic. But the most familiar name for the dried buds of the cannabis plant, and one of the few older terms still in use today, is “marijuana”.
For the prohibitionists of nearly a century ago, the exotic-sounding word emphasized the drug’s foreignness to white Americans and appealed to the xenophobia of the time. As with other racist memes, a common refrain was that marijuana would lead to miscegenation. Harry Anslinger, the bureaucrat who led the prohibition effort, is credited as saying back then: “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”
It’s clear why a business like Harborside would prefer the more scientific word for branding purposes, but does that mean everyone should follow along? Former assistant police chief urged recruit to shoot black people. 'Horrifying Step Backwards' as Sessions Retracts Guidance Designed to End Abuse of Poor by Courts. Time to break the myth: there’s no such thing as a 'good' or 'bad' immigrant. I arrived in the United States when I was seven. My mother worked in a garment factory and my father delivered restaurant supplies. Together, they pinched pennies to pay for daily expenses. Towards the end of middle school I decided to cut school with some of my new friends. I left in the morning with my schoolbag filled to the top, and came home to find my mother furiously sobbing on her bed. The school had called her to signal my absence. My father turned to me. Just as his hand reached for my face, it redirected to his chest, almost to take away the pain I had caused.
My parents worked below-minimum wage jobs, seven days a week, just to get by. When I finally reached high school, I was denied a full-ride scholarship opportunity, despite fulfilling its academic requirements, because I didn’t have a social security number. Then, in 2012, Daca was announced. For the first time, recipients like me were granted a meaningful identity in this country. Florida Man Awarded $37,500 After Cops Mistake Glazed Doughnut Crumbs For Meth. A Krispy Kreme doughnut was to blame for a white substance that led to an Orlando man being jailed on drug charges. Results from roadside drug test kits conducted by law enforcement officers can be unreliable. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images A Krispy Kreme doughnut was to blame for a white substance that led to an Orlando man being jailed on drug charges. It sounds like a joke, but, well — keep reading. In December 2015, 64-year-old Daniel Rushing had just dropped off a friend at chemotherapy and was driving home an older woman from his church who worked at the 7-Eleven and would otherwise walk the 2 miles home.
As Rushing drove away from the convenience store, police pulled him over. The officer then asked if police could search his car, and Rushing said sure — if it meant he wouldn't be ticketed. Finally, Riggs-Hopkins said to him, "You want to tell me about what we found? " "There's nothing to find," he said, confused. Quantifying underreporting of law-enforcement-related deaths in United States vital statistics and news-media-based data sources: A capture–recapture analysis. Abstract Background Prior research suggests that United States governmental sources documenting the number of law-enforcement-related deaths (i.e., fatalities due to injuries inflicted by law enforcement officers) undercount these incidents.
The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), administered by the federal government and based on state death certificate data, identifies such deaths by assigning them diagnostic codes corresponding to “legal intervention” in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases–10th Revision (ICD-10). Newer, nongovernmental databases track law-enforcement-related deaths by compiling news media reports and provide an opportunity to assess the magnitude and determinants of suspected NVSS underreporting. Methods and findings We created a new US-wide dataset by matching cases reported in a nongovernmental, news-media-based dataset produced by the newspaper The Guardian, The Counted, to identifiable NVSS mortality records for 2015. Conclusions. Soul Snatchers: How the NYPD’s 42nd Precinct, the Bronx DA’s Office, and the City of New York… Follow my words here carefully. In 2013, a federal judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, in a 193 page ruling, stated that New York’s horrendous “stop and frisk” police tactic was unconstitutional because it unfairly and disproportionately targeted “blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white.”
She did not rule that “stop and frisk” in and of itself is unconstitutional, but that the way New York was administering it, on the backs of people of color, was. The facts were undeniable, but the practice itself was not overruled. A staggering 5 million incidents of stop and frisk took place in New York since 2002. Nearly 90% of those stops were of people who were found to be completely innocent. The overwhelming majority of stops, of course, were done against black and Latino residents of the city. Here’s the lawsuit: Here’s the $75,000,000 settlement with 900,000+ bogus cases. I’ll start with the most recent case and work my way backwards. The NYPD 12 v. Here is Sgt. Arpaio Pardon May Be Opening Act of a Constitutional Crisis – BillMoyers.com. Donald Trump Pardons Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and Twitter Was Livid.
These For-Profit Schools Are ‘Like a Prison’ 25 Years After Junk Science Conviction, Texas Finally Admits Sonia Cacy’s Innocence. Texas Couple Exonerated 25 Years After Being Convicted of Lurid Crimes That Never Happened. Opinion: How Policing Black Boys Leads To The Conditioning Of Black Men : Code Switch. Bresha Meadows enters a plea deal, will spend two more months in detention.
Trial by Fire. Walking In Their Footsteps At A Former Japanese Internment Camp : Code Switch. The Supreme Court justices finally found an issue that unites them. Unarmed. Not wearing a seatbelt. Running away. Police are more likely to shoot if you’re black. | Why cops shoot | investigations. A $15 tax bill nearly cost a family their home. With Trump, it would have | Martha Bergmark | Opinion. How much did the Louisiana Purchase actually cost? For Female Inmates In New York City, Prison Is A Crowded, Windowless Room. 8,300 People Should Be Locked Up – BullshitIst. Do Not Resist Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Documentary. 'We shouldn't have to feel like this': Girl, nine, gives tearful speech in Charlotte | US news. New Analysis: 2016 Judicial Elections See Secret Money and Heightened Outside Spending. North Dakota activates National Guard to protect the pipeline instead of our tribes. The human toll of America's public defender crisis | US news.
Where the Death Penalty Still Lives. New report: In tough times, police start seizing a lot more stuff from people. Police Can Use a Legal Grey Area to Rob Anyone of Their Belongings. Study Supports Suspicion That Police Are More Likely to Use Force on Blacks. Police, Prosecutors and Judges Rely on a Flawed $2 Drug Test That Puts Innocent People Behind Bars. Instagram photo by Chris Rock • May 21, 2016 at 1:36 PM. The Prosecutors Who Aim to Kill. KING: Brock Turner, Cory Batey show how race affects sentencing.
Ronald Reagan’s shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness. One in 10 Dallas inmates locked up solely because they’re mentally ill. Can officials change that? Houston judge is responsible for student debt arrests. 4 Ways Border Patrol Union’s Trump Endorsement Is Filled With Lies and Misinformation. Death Row’s Race Problem. The Prison-Commercial Complex. Huffingtonpost. All 50 US states fail to meet global police use of force standards, report finds | US news. America Has a Horrific Wrongful Conviction Problem. Remembering Injustice to Japanese Americans. Melvin Russell: I love being a police officer, but we need reform. How One Organization Unravels Some of the Mystery of Campaign Finance.
How Did the U.S. Become a Prison State? And How Do We Get Out? Each Day, 731,000 People Are in Jail, Many Because They Can't Afford Bail. ALEC Exposed. America's Justice System Sure Doesn't Know Much Science. The Surprising Truth About Sniffer Dogs. Police Taser Drones Legalized In North Dakota. A wrongfully convicted person exonerated on average 1 every 3 days. We accept assembly-line justice for the poor. But we shouldn’t. More Harm Than Good: How Children are Unjustly Tried as Adults in New Orleans. Justice hard to find in Louisiana - Glenn Ford. Glenn Ford, Spared Death Row, Dies at 65. Lead prosecutor apologizes for role in sending Glenn Ford to death row.