The Crime in Criminal Justice

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The Crime in Criminal Justice

• Lawyering for Social Change

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100 Year Rule
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What was legal but unjust 100 years ago?
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Women won right to vote in 1920
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Child labor was outlawed in 1938 with Fair Labor
Standards Act
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1935 Right of Workers to Organize Protected by
Wagner Act
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1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Segregation legal in US until 1960s
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Voting Rights Act1965
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1965 Medicare and Medicaid
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1970 Clean Air Act
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1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
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Analyze Criminal Justice System
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Key QuestionAre these facts mistakes of an
otherwise good system orIs the system working
exactly as intended?
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Last Several Decades Explosion in Criminal
Justice System
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One in every 31 adults(more than 7 million
people)were behind barson probationor on
parole. Pew Center on States
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In Pennsylvania1 in 28 adults is
under correctional control.PA ranks 13th in
adults in probation and parole 258,000PA
ranks 31st in adults in prison and jails
87,000 pew
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U.S. Criminal Justice in International Context
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What is going on?
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Violent crime going up?
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Gun crimes from 1973-2006 USDOJ key facts
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Is this race neutral crime?
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Process for Putting People into Criminal
Justice System
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Review the systemUse of DrugsPolice
StopsArrestBail BondRepresentationTrialSenten
cingPrisonParoleFreedom
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Drug Use
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blacks and whites engage in drug
offenses-possession and sales-at roughly
comparable rates May 2008 Targetting Blacks
Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the US - HRW
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Police Stops
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Driving while black?California ACLU found blacks
three times more likely to be stopped than
whites. Ian ayres, aclu s cal LA stops july
2003-june 2004
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DOJ reports similar percentages stopped. But
percentage of drivers stopped whose vehicles
were searchedHispanic 10 Black 7 White 1
2005 April US DOJ Bureau of Justice statistics
report
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From 2005 to 2008, 80 of NYPDStop and Frisk
actionswere of Blacks and Latinos(who make up
53 of population).Once stopped85 of Blacks
and Latinos were frisked compared to 8 of
whites.
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Results of Stop Frisk?
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Arrest
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State-by-state data from 2006 show that blacks
were arrested for drug offenses at rates in
individual states that were 2 to 11.3 times
greater than the rate for whites March 2,
2009 Decades of Disparity HRW
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African Americans comprise 13 of population and
14 of monthly drug users but 37 of persons
arrested for drug offenses. May 21 2009
testimony before Congress of Marc Mauer The
Sentencing Project
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So blacks, who use drugs at same rate as whites,
are arrested 200 to 1110 more.
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Result?
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Bail Bond
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Blacks are 33 more likely to be detained
awaiting felony trials than whites facing felony
trials in some parts of NY state.NYState division
of criminal justice services, 1995 study in
disparities in processing felony arrests.
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Representation
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Once arrested, 80 get
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All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if
they are innocent, without really understanding
their legal rights or what is occurringThe
fundamental right to a lawyer that America
assumes applies to everyone accused of criminal
conduct effectively does not exist in practice
for countless people across the United States.
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American Bar Association 2004Gideons Broken
Promise
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Trial
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Only 3-5 of criminal cases go to trial rest
are plea bargained.
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Who wouldnt rather do three years for a crime
they didnt do than risk 25 years for a crime
they didnt do?
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Sentencing?Since 2005 (US v Booker)Black and
Latino men receive federal sentences10-23
longer than whites.Report - March 2010
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African Americans are 21 more likely to
receive mandatory minimum than white defendants
and20 more likely to be sentenced to prison
than white drug defendants. May 21, 2009
testimony to congress of Marc Maurer on
unfairness of federal cocaine senetencing.
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Two-thirds of crack cocaine users are white or
Latino. But 80 of the people sentenced for
crack cocaine in US federal system are African
American.may 21, 2009 testimony of Mar Maurer to
Congress on unfairness of federal cocaine
sentencing. Sentencing project.
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? 100-1 Disparity between sentencing for crack
cocaine and powder cocaine reduced to 18-1
ratio. March 2010. ?
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Two-thirds of people in US with life sentences
are non-white. In NY, it is 83.sentencing
project july 2009 no exit
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Result?
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Prison
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African Americans comprise 13 of population and
14 of monthly drug users but 37 of persons
arrested for drug offenses, and 56 of people in
state prisons for drug offenses. May 21 2009
testimony before Congress of Marc Mauer The
Sentencing Project
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Two-thirds of people in state prisons for drug
offenses are African American or Latino. 2009
April Sentencing Project changing racial
dynamics of the war on drugs
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Mental illness is 200 to 600 higher among
prisoners than outside.National reentry resource
center facts
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Chance of Black male born in 2001 of going to
prison 32 Hispanic male has a 17 white
male has 6 chance.bonczar, T.P. (2003) Bureua of
Justice Statistics, Prevalence of Imprisonment in
US population 1974-2001.
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Impact of Mass Incarceration
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Exempted from the prohibition on slavery,
prisoners are on way to being non-human objects
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Rights of Prisoners?
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?Private for profit prisons?
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?Impact of increased costs for Incarceration?
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Parole
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5,095,200people were on Probation or Parole in
2008.38 African American19 Hispanic41
white. Glaze and Bonczar Probation and Parole
in the US 2008, US DOJ, BJS, 12-09
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Nearly one in three young black malesis under
correctional supervision. 2009 Criminal justice
primer Sentencing Project
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YOUTHBlack youth are 16 of population, 28 of
juvenile arrests, 37 of youth in juv jail, and
58 of youth sent to adult prisons.Sentencing
project, criminal justice primer 2009
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The US Department of Justice reported that in
20087.3 million peoplewere under correctional
supervisionjail or prison, parole or probation.
http//bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus08.pd
f
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African Americans are nearly three times as
likely to get their probation revoked as whites,
especially for drug offenses. http//www.wi-doc.c
om/PDF_Files/Revocation20Study_Exec202-Pg20-20
FINAL.pdf
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Freedom
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Even after release,Prisonersnever regain full
human and civil rights
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Ex-offender employment?Among applicants with
criminal records, employers called back17 of
white applicants and5 of black applicants.
Devah Pager Study 2002
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Consequences for Drug Felons

• No public housing
• OK to discriminate against in private housing
• OK to yank right to vote
• OK to discriminate in employment
• No food stamp assistance
• No jury service
• Prohibitions on associating with others

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?IMPACT ON DRUG USE?More than two decades of
incarcerating drug offenders has apparently had
little impact on the demand for illicit drugs. In
surveys carried out during the years 1991-1993,
an average of 5.8 percent of persons surveyed
reported using an illicit drug during the
previous month. In the same survey carried out in
2006, 8.3 percent of persons said they had used
an illicit drug in the previous month.HRW
Targetting Blacks 2008
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What will people think100 years from nowabout
ourcriminal justice system?
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Analysis of System
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Key QuestionAre these facts mistakes of an
otherwise good system orIs the system working
exactly as intended?
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1700s - Birth of Slavery1863 - Death of
Slavery1877 - Birth of Jim Crow withdrawl of
federal troops1950s-60s - Death of Jim
Crow1980s - Birth of Mass Incarceration
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From 1981 to 1991 War on DrugsFBI Antidrug
increased from 38 m to 181 mDOD Antidrug
increased from33m to 1042mDEA anti-drug
spending increased from86m to 1026msource p
49 The New Jim Crow
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Criminal Justice is Racialized System of
Social Control
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Stigma of criminality functions in much the same
way as Jim Crow

• Legal boundaries between them and us
• Social and economic boundaries between them and
  us
• Cannot vote
• Can legally discriminate in jobs and housing
• Warehouse a disposable population

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Poor whites and people of other ethnicity are
also subjected to this system of social control
because if they are out of line they are
treated just like poor blacks the worst
possible treatment
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Criminal Justice System is Integral Part of the
Domestic War on Marginalized
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Because of globalization there is an excess of
people.Those people are not productive, not
needed, not wanted, and are not human beings
entitled to the same rights as us. Essentially,
the must be controlled and dominated. They must
be either intimidated into compliance with their
inferior status or removed.
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Criminal Justice System is Part of the White
Supremacist Domestic War on Marginalized
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Domestic War relies onTechnology of Domination
(Criminal Justice System)forCaptureImmobiliza
tionPunishmentLiquidation
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Criminal Justice System is working just fine
doing its part in theDomestic Racist State
Violence or War at Home
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Thus Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, US jails
prisonsare all the same domestic
international versions of domination
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So, what to do?
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Adopt a 100 year perspective on law and justice
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A radical approach to injustice means to go to
the root of the problemnot trimming the
leavesnot pruning the branchesbut ripping up by
the roots the injustice.
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First, open our hearts and liberate our minds
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We are all entitled to be safebut is that what
this criminal justice system is?Find and
support alternatives.
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Nothing short of a major social movement can
dismantle this new caste system.
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What about President Obama?
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If the system is broken perhaps the
administration can help fix small parts of
it.But is there evidence that this
administration intends to reverse the explosion
of the criminal justice system?
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Join the Movement
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Restorative Justice
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Study Prisons in Criminal Law?
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Support Prisoner Organizing and Resistance
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Resist in Place Prosecutors, Defenders, Judges
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If there is no struggle,there is no progress.
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Seek Out Hope Joy Love
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Wherever you find tragedy and injusticeYou will
also find resistance and inspiration
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Liberation is up to us.
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bquigley_at_ccrjustice.org