Below is a link to an article in today’s Arizona Republic that I think some of you may be interested in. You can send this email and a copy of the news article to anyone in prison whom you think would be interested. As of January 1, 1994, as most of you know, parole was eliminated from Arizona’s criminal code. …
Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March
Mission Statement: WE SEEK TO UNITE ACTIVISTS, ADVOCATES, PRISONERS, EX-PRISONERS, THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AS WELL AS ALL OTHERS COMMITTED TO THE FIGHT TO DRASTICALLY REDUCE OR ELIMINATE PRISONS AND THE PRISON SYSTEM, AND REPLACE THEM WITH MORE HUMANE AND EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS. OUR AIM IS TO EXPOSE THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION THAT IT TRULY IS.…
Senate Bill 1162 3-3 No Pass
When it comes to sex offenders and laws that punish/govern them, it isn’t often that we can report good news. Here’s one tiny victory — For those of you who care about someone convicted of a sex offense, you already know that our society is especially unforgiving of such offenders and tend to lump everyone in the same boat. Also,…
Offenders on Federal Supervised Release Hits All-Time High
Number of Offenders on Federal Supervised Release Hits All-Time High Average inmate faces nearly four years of community monitoring after incarceration With nearly 190,000 inmates, the federal prison system is the largest in the nation, far exceeding those of California, Texas, and other states.1 But the reach of federal corrections extends well beyond prison walls. In 2015, approximately 115,000 offenders…
What NOT TO SAY TO POLICE
Police officers are trained in the art of deception. They know how to prey on fear and uncertainty. Whether you have committed a crime or not, odds are you will be putty in their hands. By Norm Pattis (blog 4/20/10) I’m a battle-hardened criminal defense lawyer, so it always surprises me how weak in the knees I get when a…
THE COMPLICATED STATE OF FEDERAL SENTENCING
Over the past 15 years, the United States Supreme Court has decided a series of cases that dramatically changed the constitutional landscape of sentencing in the United States. In the first of these cases, Apprendi v. New Jersey, 5 the Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of a statutory sentencing enhancement. That enhancement provided for an increase in the maximum sentence…
Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons
The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in a memo that instructs officials to either decline to renew the contracts for private prison operators when…
California makes it a felony for prosecutors to withhold or alter exculpatory evidence
More than two years into a dispute over alleged misconduct by Orange County, California, prosecutors trying a multiple-murder case, the state of California has made it a felony crime to withhold exculpatory evidence. According to the Los Angeles Times, the new state law makes it a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, for prosecutors to alter or intentionally withhold evidence that…
Probation: The nicest sounding way to grease the skids of mass incarceration
Last week, Shaila Dewan had a brilliant story in the New York Times about how probation sentences set people up to fail: Probation May Sound Light, but Punishments Can Land Hard. The article follows a woman who was arrested for drunk driving, her first offense of any kind, and whose life entered a very expensive spiral, including the loss of…
Relief from the imposition of lifetime probation
Gary Douglas Peek seeks review of a term of lifetime probation imposed upon his conviction for an act of attempted child molestation that occurred between 1994 and 1996. We conclude that lifetime probation was not available when Peek committed the crime and therefore vacate the trial court’s order placing him on lifetime probation. CONCURRING: RUTH V. McGREGOR, Chief Justice,…