Alabama, that's Al . a . bama has introduced legislation to review the integrity of felony convictions.
Reports Tim Lockette of the Anniston Star from Montgomery: A Republican member of the Alabama State Senate, (Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery), wants to create an Innocence Inquiry Commission to review felony convictions.
Time for my county, Dane County, to catch up to reformist Republican lawmakers in Alabama. Indeed, statewide, especially Milwaukee and Dane County, the need for conviction integrity units is clear, (Mal Contends).
Lots of talk behind the scenes among jurists of the necessity of an independent Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in Dane County enacted by the Dane County Board of Supervisors.
See Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform and An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct, and the Innocence Project's Conviction Integrity Unit Best Practices for white papers.
Consider the cases from Dane County and the wrongful convictions such as Penny Brummer, and Forest Shomberg, and Ralph Armstrong, and Anthony Hicks, and Audrey Edmunds. These people had decades taken from the lives, and the toll on their families is incalculable.
An independent Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) analyzing and providing recommendations to the District Attorney's office could have taken years off their wrongful sentences and returned these innocents to their families. CIU recommends X because of Y, Z. Easy to contemplate how facts and science would reveal the rush to judgement and tunnel vision all too common in law enforcement.
Consider Penny Brummer.
Any examination of the integrity of the 1994 conviction of Penny Brummer would lead to the exoneration of Ms. Brummer as there is literally no case against Brummer who was convicted anyway by a jury, most of whom were admitted homophobes.
If you have not signed the petition calling for a new trial, please do.
An observer of Ms. Brummer's case remarked if Wisconsin had a death penalty, the resulting necessary scrutiny of Brummer's case would have already led to her exoneration. Instead Brummer has fallen through the cracks of the criminal justice system, like an untold number of others.
Consider Dane County.
With the analytical resources available in the Dane County citizenry, staffing a Conviction Integrity Unit with retired jurists, scholars, students, journalists, intellectuals from labor, business and myriad other segments of the community, a low-cost check on the criminal justice system could result in avoiding tragedy. Finding CIU staff who would happily work for a stipend would be easy.
We must ask ourselves the question: How cheap are lives in Dane County?
"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is exercised under cover of law, and with the colors of justice ... ."
- U.S. v. Jannotti, 673 F.2d 578, 614 (3d Cir. 1982)
Showing posts with label Scott Walker authored ALEC truth-in-sentencing law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott Walker authored ALEC truth-in-sentencing law. Show all posts
Mar 6, 2015
Conviction Integrity Unit Needed in Several Wisconsin Counties
Politicians, Police, Prosecutors, Judges the Whole Criminal Justice System Is Bleeding Lives
The career politician Scott Walker has left many victims in his wake.
In 1998 state Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa) served as chair of the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee.
Whether God-sent or not, Walker hit upon the idea the problem with the Wisconsin criminal justice system then was that not enough people were in prison long-enough.
Walker authored the "truth-in-sentencing" law, which was passed in 1998 and took effect in January 2000.
What wasn't known in 1998 is that Walker was a member of the Koch brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that "helped pioneer ... laws ... like mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, 'three strikes' laws, and 'truth in sentencing' laws. In 1995 alone, ALEC’s Truth in Sentencing Act (PRWatch) was signed into law in twenty-five states." (Nichols, The Nation)
ALEC also pushed for the privatization of prisons by advocating bills allowing state contracts with for-profit prison corporations. (ALEC Exposed, Prisons)
Four years later in 2002, Walker began his furtive run for the 2006 Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor by ordering the installation of the first of at least two secret email systems in the Milwaukee County Executive's office used by Walker and his aides to secretly campaign from public office. (Kiefert, Green Bay Progressive.
Today, we see the tragic results. "Wisconsin ... has actually invested more in public and private prisons over the last 20 years. The state budget now allots more funding for corrections than it does for higher education. Wisconsin also incarcerates the most black men in the country, and in Milwaukee County, more than half of all black men in their 30s and 40s have served time. In the 53206 Zip Code alone, 62 percent of all men have spent time in an adult correctional facility by age 34. (WUWM)
As governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker announced in December 2013 he would not issue pardons because 1,000s of Wisconsin deserve pardons; yes, Scott Walker said that.
As Walker coyly plays I'm-the-gonna-run-for-president game, the real POTUS released the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Includes Recommendations to Protect the Innocent. See also Remarks by the President after Meeting with Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
In December, the Center for Prosecutor Integrity issued a white paper, Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform. Other white papers include: An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct.
As Texas drools over killing another innocent man, Rodney Reed, and a rare stay of [cold-blooded] execution was granted, the All In with Chris Hayes Show featured a spectacular segment last night on Mr. Reed's story.
In Wisconsin, we also have the spectacle of a volatile District Attorney, Martin Lipske, of Iron County running interference for sex trafficking of minors, and often using the Felony Bailjumping charge indiscriminately and maliciously in revoking bail and in one recent case quite possibly driving another innocent man to death with unsubstantiated charges, literally killing him with stress and betrayal.
We need a Conviction Integrity Unit in several Wisconsin counties including Iron, Milwaukee, and Dane Counties.
Every case involving former Dane County Sheriff's deputy's Andrew Steele should be reexamined, for example.
If misconduct or an inadequate basis for conviction is found, the wrongfully convicted should be ordered released. Just ask Penny Brummer, an innocent woman still behind bars.
All In America: The 11th Hour
The career politician Scott Walker has left many victims in his wake.
In 1998 state Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa) served as chair of the Assembly Corrections and Courts Committee.
Whether God-sent or not, Walker hit upon the idea the problem with the Wisconsin criminal justice system then was that not enough people were in prison long-enough.
Walker authored the "truth-in-sentencing" law, which was passed in 1998 and took effect in January 2000.
What wasn't known in 1998 is that Walker was a member of the Koch brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that "helped pioneer ... laws ... like mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, 'three strikes' laws, and 'truth in sentencing' laws. In 1995 alone, ALEC’s Truth in Sentencing Act (PRWatch) was signed into law in twenty-five states." (Nichols, The Nation)
ALEC also pushed for the privatization of prisons by advocating bills allowing state contracts with for-profit prison corporations. (ALEC Exposed, Prisons)
Four years later in 2002, Walker began his furtive run for the 2006 Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor by ordering the installation of the first of at least two secret email systems in the Milwaukee County Executive's office used by Walker and his aides to secretly campaign from public office. (Kiefert, Green Bay Progressive.
Today, we see the tragic results. "Wisconsin ... has actually invested more in public and private prisons over the last 20 years. The state budget now allots more funding for corrections than it does for higher education. Wisconsin also incarcerates the most black men in the country, and in Milwaukee County, more than half of all black men in their 30s and 40s have served time. In the 53206 Zip Code alone, 62 percent of all men have spent time in an adult correctional facility by age 34. (WUWM)
As governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker announced in December 2013 he would not issue pardons because 1,000s of Wisconsin deserve pardons; yes, Scott Walker said that.
As Walker coyly plays I'm-the-gonna-run-for-president game, the real POTUS released the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Includes Recommendations to Protect the Innocent. See also Remarks by the President after Meeting with Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
In December, the Center for Prosecutor Integrity issued a white paper, Conviction Integrity Units: Vanguard of Criminal Justice Reform. Other white papers include: An Epidemic of Prosecutor Misconduct.
As Texas drools over killing another innocent man, Rodney Reed, and a rare stay of [cold-blooded] execution was granted, the All In with Chris Hayes Show featured a spectacular segment last night on Mr. Reed's story.
In Wisconsin, we also have the spectacle of a volatile District Attorney, Martin Lipske, of Iron County running interference for sex trafficking of minors, and often using the Felony Bailjumping charge indiscriminately and maliciously in revoking bail and in one recent case quite possibly driving another innocent man to death with unsubstantiated charges, literally killing him with stress and betrayal.
We need a Conviction Integrity Unit in several Wisconsin counties including Iron, Milwaukee, and Dane Counties.
Every case involving former Dane County Sheriff's deputy's Andrew Steele should be reexamined, for example.
If misconduct or an inadequate basis for conviction is found, the wrongfully convicted should be ordered released. Just ask Penny Brummer, an innocent woman still behind bars.
All In America: The 11th Hour
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)