President Orders a Review of Executions in USA

The New York Times reported on May 2, 2014, that the president declared [the] botched execution [of Clayton Lockett] in Oklahoma “deeply disturbing” and directed the attorney general . . . to review how the death penalty is applied in the United States at a time when it has become increasingly debated.

“In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems — racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, you know, situations in which there were individuals on death row who later on were discovered to have been innocent because of exculpatory evidence,” Mr. Obama told reporters. “And all these, I think, do raise significant questions about how the death penalty is being applied.”

Especially with mystery drugs being used to execute Americans, many abolitionists are encouraged by the president's directive to review executions in the United States. The United Nations News Centre published an article regarding Oklahoma's botched execution. An excerpt is below:

UN rights office calls on US to impose death penalty moratorium after botched execution.

2 May 2014 – The suffering of United States inmate Clayton Lockett during his execution in Oklahoma on 29 April could amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment according to international human rights law, the United Nations said today, calling on the US authorities to impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The prolonged death of Mr. Lockett – who reportedly died of a heart attack after an execution that went wrong – is the second case of apparent extreme suffering caused by malfunctioning lethal injections reported in 2014 in the US, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The other case was that of Dennis McGuire, executed by the state of Ohio on 16 January 2014 with an allegedly untested combination of drugs.

“The apparent cruelty involved in these recent executions simply reinforces the argument that authorities across the United States should impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and work for abolition of this cruel and inhuman practice,” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.

The Death Penalty Information Center featured a book by Austin Sarat that regards botched executions. An excerpt is below:

A new book, "Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty," describes the history of flawed executions in the U.S. from 1890 to 2010. During that period, 8,776 people were executed, and 276 of those executions went wrong in some way. Of all the methods used, lethal injection had the highest rate of botched executions--about 7%. Austin Sarat, the author of the book and a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, described the evolution of new methods of execution: "With each development in the technology of execution, the same promises have been made, that each new technology was safe, reliable, effective and humane. Those claims have not generally been fulfilled."

*****

IT IS A LEGAL VICTORY for the president to order a review of executions by the Justice Department. In addition to the obvious human rights issues, eliminating capital punishment would save significant financial resources that should be applied to improving life rather than taking lives.

Three(3) References:

NY Times: President Obama Orders Policy Review on Executions
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/us/flawed-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling-obama-says.html

U.N. Calls for a Moratorium on Executions in USA
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47706

Death Penalty Information Center
BOOKS: "Gruesome Spectacles" Reveals the History of Botched Executions
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/5772

This writer considers it extremely unfortunate that most executions in America happen in the Bible Belt states where churches stand on nearly every corner. For that reason, a recording giving a Christian perspective against capital punishment was published: MaryLovesJustice Show Tape 1 "End DP in Bible Belt States" at this TalkShoe link http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=621240&cmd=apop After the first 45 minutes, there is a two-minute pause, then the tape continues for another hour.

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Legal Victories Expected re Clemency and Pardons

On the day before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's right to ban affirmative action in its colleges and universities, Attorney General Eric Holder announced an expansive clemency review that could release thousands of prisoners. Below is an excerpt from the Daily Kos:

Attorney General Eric Holder announced in a video Monday, April 21, 2014, that the Department of Justice on Wednesday will lay out the details of expanded criteria for clemency recommendations it makes to the president for his review. The changes might mean thousands of prisoners could be granted clemency.

Holder did not say which prisoners might benefit from the coming changes. But he took note of the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010. That significantly but not wholly reduced the vast sentencing difference between convictions for crack and powder cocaine, a factor in the previous law that had had a tremendously disparate impact on African Americans. But the 2010 law did nothing for drug offenders sentenced before it took effect.

Holder said, "There are still too many people in federal prison who were sentenced under the old regime —and who, as a result, will have to spend far more time in prison than they would if sentenced today for exactly the same crime,” Holder said. “This is simply not right.”

We may owe this legal victory in part to the United Nations, which criticized the United States on mass incarceration and disparate racial sentencing in its report that was released in March 2014, saying:

“[The] committee continues to be concerned about racial disparities at different stages in the criminal justice system, sentencing disparities and the over-representation of individuals belonging to racial and ethnic minorities in prisons and jails.”

Al Jazeera reported, "The U.N. body calls on the U.S. to retroactively implement the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act and close a loophole that allows thousands of nonviolent offenders to languish in federal prisons as a result of draconian drug laws. The report also demands measures to end to racial profiling and praises steps to end New York City’s stop-and-frisk program."

CONGRATULATIONS, AMERICA. Reducing mass incarceration is a step toward justice - a legal victory for overly-sentenced inmates and for the nation.

Three References:

Attorney General Holder's announcement: Possible release for thousands of prisoners

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/21/1293568/-Eric-Holder-announces-expansive-clemency-review-that-could-release-thousands-of-prisoners

Al Jazeera Report re United Nations' Assessment of Human Rights in the USA

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/27/us-human-rights-reportun.html

Black, Get Back; Affirmative Action Banned

http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/black-get-back-affirmative-action-banned.html

Paragraphs 1 and 2 repeated: On the day before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's right to ban affirmative action in its colleges and universities, Attorney General Eric Holder announced an expansive clemency review that could release thousands of prisoners. Below is an excerpt from the Daily Kos:

Attorney General Eric Holder announced in a video Monday, April 21, 2014, that the Department of Justice on Wednesday will lay out the details of expanded criteria for clemency recommendations it makes to the president for his review. The changes might mean thousands of prisoners could be granted clemency.

Call or write with information about legal victories you wish to highlight.
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com or (678) 531.0262.
Messages will be responded to within 24 hours, or please call/write again. 

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U.S. Justice Department vs. Mass Incarceration

ELIMINATE MASS INCARCERATION

On August 12, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced federal policy changes that will have profound effects on mass incarceration of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders when implemented. The Justice Department will eliminate federal minimum sentences on certain types of crimes and apply other remedies to combat America's high rate of imprisonment. See the speech at the embedded video below and online at
http://youtu.be/We1kiNBzhtk . He said it is "time to apply bold steps to reform and strengthen America's criminal justice system in concrete and fundamental ways . . . It is past time to address the system's needs and unwanted disparities by considering a fundamentally new approach."

Attorney General Holder received resounding applause when he said, "Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no truly good law enforcement reason." Indeed, the United States incarcerates 2.5 million people, making America the world leader in incarceration of its citizens. Many activists and civil and human rights organizations have long advocated for prison reform to reduce mass incarceration. Numerous states have already applied changes in prosecution regarding low-level drug offenders (marijuana) and applied more drug and mental health courts. ACLU published a guide to assist in interpretation of the Attorney General's speech. ACLU stated:

Many of the reforms that ACLU long championed made it into the Attorney General’s speech, including:

• Developing guidelines to file fewer cases
• Directing a group of U.S. Attorneys to examine sentencing disparities and develop recommendations to address them
• Directing every U.S. Attorney to designate a Prevention and Reentry Coordinator
• Directing every DOJ component to consider whether regulations have collateral consequences that impair reentry
• Reducing mandatory minimum charging for low-level drug offenses
• Expanding eligibility for compassionate release; and
• Identifying and sharing best practices for diversion programs
• Calling into question zero tolerance policies and other policies that lead to the school to prison pipeline
• Challenging the legal community to make the promise of Gideon (right to counsel) more of a reality

The Attorney General has assured us that this is just the beginning, and he is taking on the bipartisan spirit that has produced state level reforms and has fueled the reduction in state prison populations. These changes are long overdue because the federal prison population continues to grow and is 40% overcapacity. What’s worse, as a soon to be released ACLU report will show, a stunning 2,074 federal inmates are serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for nonviolent crimes.

Attorney General Holder acknowledged that people of color face harsher punishment than their peers and that this is unworthy of our great country. 

Continue to read ACLU's interpretation of Attorney General's speech at this link
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/how-process-eric-holders-major-criminal-law-reform-speech

CONGRATULATIONS TO ADVOCATES AGAINST 

MASS INCARCERATION!

Please send legal victories you won or exalt to Mary Neal at

MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com