Category Archives: Prisons and Justice and Police

Police Officer Gets Four Years In Prison For Shooting Unarmed Black Man. But The Main Culprits Go Unpunished.

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Ampersand

This tragic story from New Orleans is unusual not because a cop shot a young Black man to death – that happens with depressing regularity – but because the cop is in prison for the shooting. On March 7 of … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police | 32 Comments

Florida Cops Arrest Man For Having Stroke While Driving; Man Dies After Lying Untreated On Jail Floor For 36 Hours

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Ampersand

Allen Daniel Hicks Sr., 51, was found stopped in his car on the side of Interstate 275 by a sheriff’s deputy and a Florida Highway Patrol trooper the morning of May 11, 2012. Passers-by had called 911 after they saw … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police, Race, racism and related issues | 6 Comments

Civil Forfeiture Laws, Freedom, Profiling, and Discrimination

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Ampersand

I strongly recommend reading this Sarah Stillman article about government abuse of civil forfeiture laws in The New Yorker. But prepare to be pissed off. When they returned to the highway ten minutes later, Boatright, a honey-blond “Texas redneck from … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police, Race, racism and related issues | 31 Comments

Homicides Are A Lot More Likely To Be “Justified” If The Corpse Is Black

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Ampersand

John Roman examines the data on race, Stand Your Ground jurisdictions, and justifiable homicide: Are there are racial disparities in justifiable homicide rulings? Out of 53,000 homicides in the database, 23,000 have a white shooter and a white victim. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police, Race, racism and related issues | 65 Comments

Texas Jury Acquits Man For Killing Escort Who Wouldn’t Have Sex With Him

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Ampersand

(UPDATE: Make sure to read the update at the end of the post, which puts a very different spin on the jury’s decision.) From Vanity Fair: Frago went outside where her driver, Christopher Perkins, was waiting. Gilbert came out and … Continue reading →

Posted in In the news, Prisons and Justice and Police, Sex work, porn, etc | 36 Comments

Forgiving Their Daughter’s Murderer

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Ampersand

Jake Squid’s comments about an acquaintance who accidentally shot a relative reminded me of this stunning New York Times article, about a pair of parents who forgave their daughter’s murderer, going so far to get him a reduced sentence (20 … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police | 18 Comments

President Obama’s Worst Betrayal Of Liberals

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Ampersand

Robert Kuttner writes about Obama’s bewildering indifference to judicial appointments: But the common element was that nobody—not the White House chief of staff, not the Senate leadership, not the president himself–made judicial nominations a priority. So nearly four years into … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons and Justice and Police | 2 Comments

Obama and Pot

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Ampersand

David Maraniss‘ forthcoming biography of President Obama reports that in high school and college, Obama not only inhaled, he was a rather intense user. This quote from Penn Jillette is apropos: Do we believe, even for a second, that if … Continue reading →

Posted in In the news, Prisons and Justice and Police, Race, racism and related issues | 18 Comments

If everyone demanded a jury trial, the system would crash

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Ampersand

All of this short article by Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow) is worth reading, but here’s a highlight: No wonder, then, that most people waive their rights. Take the case of Erma Faye Stewart, a single African-American … Continue reading →

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Prisons and Justice and Police | 28 Comments

Increased Incarceration And The Decline In Marriage Rates

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ampersand

From economist Marina Adshade’s “Dollars And Sex” blog: New research published in The Review of Economics and Statistics shows that growing incarceration has contributed to declining marriage rates. In fact, this paper finds that about 13% of the decline in … Continue reading →

Posted in crossposted on TADA, Families structures, divorce, etc, Prisons and Justice and Police | 2 Comments