Month: October 2016

The head of the International Association of Chiefs of Police issued an apology this week to the minorities across the nation for their mistreatment at the hands of police departments during the last century. He spoke of how trust has been undermined and how police action has exacerbated tension between officers and the communities they are supposed to "protect and serve." He spoke of the long history of the police enforcing written laws that led them to perform "unpalatable tasks." Apparently he did not point to specific examples of police engaging in these "tasks" but they would include a...

Earlier this summer, President Obama's administration made it illegal for juveniles within the federal prison system to be placed in solitary confinement. New York State and New York City jails ban the practice as well. Yet just last month, the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, in Syracuse, came under fire for subjecting 16- and 17-year olds to "extended and arbitrary" solitary confinement, sometimes for periods that last several consecutive months. Both the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Services of Central New York have filed suit against the sheriff's office. According to...

Late last week, the Legal Aid Society of New York filed a federal civil rights suit that seeks to repeal a 40-year old statute in the state's penal code, which grants the police broad authority to arrest individuals for suspected prostitution. According to a recent article in the New York Times, the law is so broad that individuals can "be arrested while talking to two men on a corner; while talking to someone through a car window; while walking down the street with a bottle of Korbel; for going to your job selling sofas; if it happens that you have worked as a prostitute before; just for...

There are many problems with America's criminal justice system. One significant area that receives little attention is the prosecutor's office. It is one of the most powerful elements of the criminal justice system, yet it is subject to very little real oversight. Sure, most district attorneys and state's attorneys are elected, but that may be as much part of the problem as is the tremendous power they exercise. Prosecutors are often elected based on how "tough" they are, and that toughness is typically measured by one simple number: the number of convictions they secure. They are not graded...