CORI reform: is this the year?

Can't even tell you how often people stop into Arise trying to figure out how to get a job and housing when they have a  past criminal record. 

And CORI's don't just cover convictions.  Ever been arrested and then had the charges dropped, or gone to court and been found not guilty?  It'll be on your record for future employers to see.  (Actually, that part-- removing arrests that don't lead to convictions-- isn't even part of the reform effort.)

Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which represents employers, objects to the part of the proposed changes which would prohibit  a check-off boxes about CORIs on a job application.  But what's the big deal?  Nothing prevents the employer from asking about a past criminal record during an interview.  Under the current system, many applicants don't even get that far.

Time for change!

State Probation Department: the lid is off.

The Boston Globe is running an incredible series on the state Probation Department.  The subhead on the article reads:

The troubles at the state Probation Department go way beyond patronage. Key programs have gone astray, with bloated budgets and indifferent management; caseload reports are wildly exaggerated; and a culture of secrecy has enveloped it all.

Yesterday I was writing about the effects of budget cuts on poor people in this state.  But somehow the Probation Department's budget continues to climb: "... state funding rose by 163 percent from 1998 to 2008, according to a study in December by the Crime and Justice Institute, a period in which budgets for prisons, sheriff’s offices, and other public safety agencies grew by no more than 20 percent."


Local readers in particular should pay attention to the claims of patronage swirling around State Rep. Thomas Petrolati, Seventh Hampden. - Consisting of precinct B of ward 6, of the city of Chicopee, the town of Ludlow, precincts E, F and G of ward 8, of the city of Springfield, all in the county of Hampden; and precincts B and C, of the town of Belchertown, in the county of Hampshire.

Hundreds of youth criminal records expunged

Update: Former Pennsylvania Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan are headed for prison-- seven years each and not nearly long enough, if you ask me-- for sentencing young people brought before the bar to a privately-run juvenile facility in return for kick-backs totaling in the millions. I wrote about the case when it first went national here.

Now the New York Times is reporting that the records of hundred of youths will be expunged. 70 of those youths have filed a class action suit against the judges, asking that "all profits that the detention centers earned from the scheme placed in a fund that would compensate the youths for their emotional distress." NYTimes.

If there were no prison, and still the judges could be sentenced, what should they be sentenced to do?

Belated Justice for Kathryn Johnston as Judge Sentences Atlanta Narcs Who Killed Her to Prison

From Stop the Drug War.org

A federal judge in Atlanta Tuesday sent three former Atlanta narcotics officers to prison for their roles in a misbegotten drug raid that ended in the death of a 92-year-old woman and shone a disturbing light on police practices in the Atlanta police drug squad. The victim, Kathryn Johnston, was killed when the three officers fired 39 rounds at her after she fired one shot at them as they were breaking down her door on a bogus drug raid.

US District Court Judge Julie Carnes sentenced former officer Arthur Tesler to five years in prison, Gregg Junnier to six years, and Jason Smith to 10 years. All three sentences were less than those called for by federal sentencing guidelines.

Johnston was killed about 7 p.m. on November 21, 2006. Three hours earlier, Tesler arrested and roughed-up a small-time drug dealer named Fabian Sheats and threatened to send him to prison unless he gave up another drug dealer. Sheats eventually pointed out Johnston's home, apparently at random, telling Tesler and his partners he saw a dealer named "Sam" with a kilo of cocaine there.

The three officers wanted to make a buy, but didn't consider Sheats reliable, so they called an informant named Alex White to come make the buy. But White was unavailable, so the trio simply wrote a false affidavit saying they had watched White make a cocaine buy at Johnson's home. Shortly before 6:00 p.m., they had their no-knock search warrant. An hour later, Johnston was dead after firing upon the intruders she apparently thought were robbers.

Then the cover-up kicked in, with the trio creating more false documents to hide the truth. But their cover-up fell apart when their informant, Alex White, grew frightened and went to the FBI.

In her sentencing statement, Judge Carnes criticized the Atlanta Police Department for its performance quotas for search warrants and arrests, saying the "pressures brought to bear did have an impact on these and other officers on the force." If anything good came from Johnston's death, it will be "a renewed effort by the Atlanta Police Department to prevent something like this from ever happening again," Carnes said. "It is my fervent hope the APD will take to heart what has happened here," the judge said.

What people will do for money

I'm not much for ranking oppressions but you have to admit that children and mentally disabled adults don't have much institutional power. Those two groups did, however, prove to be quite profitable for two juvenile court judges in Pennsylvania and-- allegedly-- the Texas-based Henry’s Turkey Service.

Until someone used an anonymous hotline to tip off the state of Iowa, 21 mentally disabled men lived in a 106 year old building-- a bunkhouse, you might call it-- that depended on space heaters for heat. During the day they worked at a meatpacking plant for Henry's Turkey Service for the princely sum of about 44 cents an hour the rest going to Henry's Turkey. Their disability checks also went straight to Henry's Turkey, which returned about $60 a month to the men. That means, according to the Houston Chronicle, the men paid $1,124 a month for room and board.

Now it turns out that at least some family members had made complaints to the Dept. of Social Services, although the agency has no record of complaints. In the town of Atalissa, Iowa, with a population of fewer than 300 people and where the men lived and work, people are doing a little soul-searching.

"Maybe we should have looked a little harder," said (City Councilor) Hepker. "We depended on their caretakers. Des Moines Register.

The men, whom one imagines have developed quite a bit of camaraderie, have been placed in a group home.

For three years, Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan moved children through their courtrooms and got rich in the process. The scheme was simple: the judges would sentence the young to a for-profit lockup owned by PA Child Care LLC, and PA Child Care LLC would pay them-- more than $2.6 million.

Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.

Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel. AP.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering expunging hundreds, maybe thousands of juvenile records. The judges will be sentenced to seven years in prison. The young people get a little justice and lifelong memories of their experience.

Photo from the National Juvenile Justice Network.

Black youth beaten, then arrested! Will there be justice for Jason?

Picture this: you're a pre-med student sitting in your UMass dorm room with a couple of friends when one friend looks out the window and sees two white guys looking in. One white guy says he wants to be "friends" with your female friend; when you go to the window and tell them to go away, they start calling you "nigger" and one of them breaks your dorm window. You call a friend to come over for support and when he enters the dorm, the two guys force their way in. One of the guys throws the first punch, hitting you in the face and breaking your nose. You've got a small knife with you for protection because you fear for your life and you use it to defend yourself. You've told a friend to call the police, and when they arrive, at first they put you in handcuffs-- but after further investigation, they release you.

The next day you go down to the Amherst Police Station to file charges against the guys. Instead, you're arrested and charged with attempted murder!

That's what happened to Jason Vassell on February 8, 2008. While the two white guys admitted to be drinking that night, one was charged with a misdemeanor and the other not charged at all.

Robert Thrasher, the on-call police lieutenant of the UMass campus police, appears to believe the event was a drug deal gone bad. (Vassell, being black, had to be a drug drealer, right?) This was true even though, according to the Valley Advocate and Vassell's attorneys,

Thrasher was in possession of police records that described numerous incidents involving Bowes; in at least one case he was charged with a civil rights violation for attacking a black man. Bosse’s rap sheet is similarly lengthy, and includes two incidents in which he became physical with the police. Once—nine days before the incident at UMass, according to court documents—he attacked an off-duty Hispanic police officer and an Asian fireman; in another incident 25 days after his encounter with Vassell, the record shows, Bosse attacked a mounted officer and his horse. It’s since been alleged that the two run in a gang-like group who call themselves the “East Milton Mafia.”

Jason was told by the UMass administration that he needed either to withdraw from school or face expulsion. Jason, who still hopes to become a doctor, chose to withdraw rather than have an expulsion on his record.

Much of the UMass student body and a number of professors feel the whole process has been tainted with racism and have formed the Justice for Jason Coalition along with many community organizations. They've mobilized to be in court for every hearing for Jason, who is now living at home with his parents in Mattapan.

On January 15th Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Dunphy Farris asked the judge to move Jason Vassell’s case out of Hampshire County, claiming that Jason’s supporters and defense had distributed sensitive information about the case to the media to infect the jury pool. The Judge promptly informed Ms. Farris that all documents, including the Motion to Dismiss, are in fact public court documents.
The Committee for Justice for Jason Responded to the request by releasing the following:
“At this hearing the Deputy First Assistant District Attorney now in charge of prosecuting Jason, Elizabeth Dunphy Farris, was clearly concerned by the support that the Committee for Justice for Jason has continued to mobilize for almost a year now. The fact that the prosecutor and the DA’s office are getting uncomfortable, frustrated, and accusatory is due largely to the success of the Justice for Jason campaign in shining a spotlight on this case. District Attorney offices and police departments around the country rely on the lack of transparency with most court cases. They thrive on the secrecy. But now this DA office is scared…scared of having to be accountable to a public that they have, until now, kept in the dark. The DA is elected by her constituency and must therefore be accountable to that constituency. It is clear that DA Scheibel does not want to be accountable. This case and the DA’s racist choices therein highlight the need for an open and transparent criminal justice system–both here in the Northwestern District and in the country at large.” Justice for Jason.

In spite of the substantial community support Jason Vassell is receiving, the outcome is far from certain.

Three events are coming up to assist with Jason's defense and to show widening community support.

On Wednesday, February 18, at the Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton, MA, the judge will be hearing a Motion to Dismiss filed by Jason's lawyers “on the grounds that the defendant has been selectively prosecuted because of his race, in violation of the rights guaranteed him by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Articles I and XII of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.”

On February 21, a Silent Auction will be held to raise funds for Jason's defense because although Jason's attorneys, David P. Hoose and Luke Ryan of Amherst and John Reinstein from the Massachusetts ACLU are working pro bono, there are a number of other costs. The Justice for Jason Coalition is still seeking donations of goods and services.

Then, on March 7, if the Motion to Dismiss has been denied, organizers are calling for a national march in support of Jason Vassell. Organizers can be reached at justiceforjason@gmail.com.

If there's anyone out there who believes that racism automatically came to an end on the day we elected a Black man as president, Jason's case reminds us how far we still have to go.

Three men arrested for the arson of a black church. Now what?

Last week arrests were made in the day after the presidential election burning of the predominantly African-American Macedonia Church of God in Christ. Benjamin F. Haskell, 22; Michael F. Jacques, 24; and Thomas A. Gleason Jr., 21, all of Springfield MA, face a minimum of ten years in prison for violating the civil rights of the Macedonian congregation.

Judging by what I read on Springfield's Masslive forum and what I heard in the community before the arrests, many whites were sure the burning wasn't arson or if that it was, it wasn't a hate crime, and many African-Americans just knew the burnings were related to the election of Barack Obama-- and so it seems to be, although there are rumors the young men were involved in other arson fires in the city.

Now comes the trial.

Sometimes I have a war going on between the more primitive parts of my nature and the parts that have been educated by the emotional, spiritual and intellectual experiences of my life.

Someone steals the battery out of my car.
A woman yanks the hair of her child to "make her behave."
A man grabs an elderly woman's purse and knocks her down.
A well-known sports figure organizes dog fights and kills other dogs with impunity.
A financier steals millions of dollars and ruins the lives of thousands who believed in him.
Three young white men burn down a predominantly African-American church because they're angry about Barack Obama being elected.

I'd be lying if I said that revenge is not one of the first impulses in my mind. How about if I pull your hair so you can feel what it's like? How about if I tie you up in the back yard and hit you with a baseball bat?. How about if we burn down your parents' houses?

And then what? Have we made our world safer or better?

In theory, incarceration serves three purposes: keep society safe from the offender, punish the offender, rehabilitate the offender.

Even if we were to agree on the purposes of incarceration and other aspects of the criminal justice system are what they should be, we must also agree that the standards are unevenly applied. Bernie Madoff is at home under house arrest and as of Monday, so will be the three young white men accused of burning the Macedonian Church of God in Christ to the ground. Think that scenario would be repeated for the Latino marijuana dealer or the African-American check forger? And do we really think Bernie Madoff's punishment will be proportional to the fifteen year sentence a Shreveport man received for holding up a bank for $100?

So what does the community think should happen to the three men if they are found guilty-- and why? I'm conducting my first-ever poll on this blog, and I'd like to know what people think.

shreveport man gets 15 years for stealing $100.00

ndon Preston tipped me off to this from We Saw That...

A homeless man goes into a bank, pretends he has a gun, and picks a single $100 bill from the stack presented to him. Later, he feels remorse and turns himself into the police. His sentence? Fifteen years.

Bernie Madoff sits at home in luxury awaiting trial. How many people's lives has he ruined? Want to guess what he'll get for a sentence?