Currently, prosecutors in both the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems have too much discretion in pressing charges, determining what sentences are sought, and negotiating plea deals. Trial by jury is a key tenant of the American criminal justice system, but heightened prosecutorial power significantly reduces the power and frequency of a trial by peers. Attempts at sentencing reform must address largely unchecked prosecutorial discretion.
“And while it can be misused, the discretion that district attorneys and prosecutors have gives them the power to immediately address many problematic issues with criminal justice that legislatures continue to struggle to fix.“
Birmingham News
September 29, 2018
Read More“District attorneys from around the U.S. who gathered in Salt Lake City on Thursday and Friday say they're being pressed on issues such as Black Lives Matter, mass incarceration and police shootings. They're also facing more election challenges, often from reform-minded candidates.“
The Journal Times
September 28, 2018
Read More“A bit of good news on the accountability front emerged late last month out of Indiana. The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission recently handed down an order suspending former Porter County deputy prosecutor Trista Hudson from the state bar following allegations that she withheld key exculpatory evidence in the trial of a man accused of child molestation. The former prosecutor’s suspension is the culmination of a story that has features both all-too-common and all-too-rare.“
The Open File
September 27, 2018
Read More“‘Cold case’ playing cards were just introduced into Delaware prisons in hopes of producing tips on unsolved homicides—but critics warn that informants cultivated behind bars can be dangerously unreliable.“
The Appeal
September 27, 2018
Read More“One—James Erb—radiates an enthusiasm and excitement for change. He is clear that the failure of those previous tax initiatives is what alerted him to the need for change, and what motivated him to seek office. The other—Eric Richey—is more cautious, reticent to declare change is ready and easy to implement. He’s a realist. His desire is to hold a steady and experienced hand on the tiller of an office he has known for 25 years, and has directed as chief deputy criminal prosecutor for six years.“
Cascadia Weekly
September 26, 2018
Read More“The complaint portrays two vulnerable men—“McCollum and Brown have IQs in the 50s,” the bar wrote—who were exploited by a lawyer required to act in their best interest. The complaint lists 16 separate ethical violations. Megaro allegedly lied to federal and state judges, double-billed his clients and misused trust funds. The complaint says he engaged in fraud by signing off on loans at 42 percent interest and shared legal fees with a non-lawyer.“
Marshall Project
September 26, 2018
Read More“Although America’s use of the death penalty is declining rapidly, even with fewer cases, courts are not getting better at ensuring that only the most culpable are sentenced to death, and the system is deeply broken. Below, we explore the state of the death penalty in America today.“
The Appeal
September 24, 2018
Read More“This week, however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his lawsuit, siding with the city’s defense that it wasn’t legally liable for the guard’s actions. But the judges also rejected Alvarez’s constitutional argument. Yes, the court said, prosecutors have to turn over evidence that may prove a defendant’s innocence for a criminal trial. But that constitutional right doesn’t apply when the defendant agrees to a plea bargain, they concluded.“
The New Republic
September 21, 2018
Read More“More than two-thirds of California’s top county prosecutors are asking Gov. Jerry Brown to veto bills on his desk that have been cheered by prison reform advocates. One bill would bar 14- and 15-year-olds from being prosecuted as adults, while the other would narrow the scope of California’s felony murder rule, which holds murder accomplices just as accountable as those who committed the killing.“
San Francisco Chronicle
September 21, 2018
Read More“Two weeks ago, Rachael Rollins won the Democratic primary for District Attorney of Suffolk County, an outcome hailed by progressives nationwide. But she hardly had time to enjoy her success before critics emerged, expressing concern about her intention to decline to charge people with a range of petty crimes. WGBH's Morning Editionhost Joe Mathieu spoke with WGBH legal analyst and Northeastern law professor Daniel Medwed about Rollins’ victory, her vision for the job, and this criticism.“
WGBH Boston
September 18, 2018
Read More“Noted political scientist and author Marie Gottschalk has called life without parole ‘death in slow motion.’ Pope Francis deemed it ‘a death penalty in disguise.’ Kenneth Hartman, who served more than 37 years in prison before California governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence, was the first to label it ‘the other death penalty.’ When he was still behind bars, Hartman wrote for The Marshall Project that life without parole is ‘the sense of being dead while you’re still alive, the feeling of being dumped into a deep well struggling to tread water until, some 40 or 50 years later, you drown’.“
Truthout Magazine
September 16, 2018
Read More“‘To condone prolonged and unjustifiable delays in this case would both penalize defendant for the state’s fault and ‘simply encourage the government to gamble with the interests of criminal suspects assigned a low prosecutorial priority’,’ the judges said, quoting from another court ruling.“
The Advocate
September 14, 2018
Read More“It had been less than 24 hours since homicide Lt. Michael Russell had been summoned to a killing, and now, on a hot Saturday morning in July, he was headed to yet another. One of his sergeants texted him with a message and a location: “Man, can’t get a breather,...“
Washington Post
September 13, 2018
Read More“As a result, they say, Gardner's stance could be hard to predict. Many assumed, for example, that a reform-minded prosecutor with an interest in ending mass incarceration would be more receptive than Joyce in re-evaluating cases they considered problematic or short on evidence. Instead, one of their first direct messages from Gardner was a staff-wide email chastising prosecutors for what she saw as a disturbing trend of staffers trying to reduce charges or dismiss cases, according to multiple people who received the email.“
Riverfront Times
September 12, 2018
Read More“Lawmakers in Louisiana passed the split-jury rule in 1880 after the 14th Amendment guaranteed all men, including former slaves, the right to vote and serve on juries. The rule was formally entered into the Louisiana Constitution at the state’s 1898 constitutional convention, where lawmakers declared a mission to ‘perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana’.“
LA Times
September 12, 2018
Read More“Currently on his way out of state prison, Agtuca will have a gradual release. He will be moved to a halfway house and slowly returned to free society. He hopes to work as a paralegal and finally make a home with Susan, whom he married in prison.“
The Appeal
September 11, 2018
Read More“Led by an 85-year-old incumbent who has been in power for nearly three decades, the Queens district attorney’s office is one of only two in the city (Staten Island’s is the other) that publicly opposes the slow-moving closure of Rikers. Some advocates have also questioned the plan, which aims to reduce the jail population while increasing the number of jails.“
The Appeal
September 10, 2018
Read More“Among the states that do have compensation statutes, Gutman ranks Mississippi as the most generous, though in order to receive payment, exonerees there must also forgo their right to sue the state for civil damages. But blue states on average pay out about 50 percent more to exonerees than red states.“
Washington Post
September 10, 2018
Read More“Once a prosecutor makes a recommendation, a judge would still have to impose the new sentence, and the sentence must be allowed by law. But just as prosecutors have enormous power to seek harsh penalties when a defendant is first sentenced, so too could prosecutors demand leniency after someone has already spent many years in prison.“
The Appeal
September 7, 2018
Read More“Over 90% of the individuals who are incarcerated in Delaware will return to their communities and will be our neighbors once again. I believe we have an obligation to give these individuals the tools necessary to exit the system better people than when they entered. I firmly believe that by providing inmates with job training and career resources while incarcerated, they will be better positioned to find a job that can be a career when they return home“
Dover Post
September 6, 2018
Read More