The Crime in Criminal Justice: Lawyering for Social Change

8/9/2019 The Crime in Criminal Justice: Lawyering for Social Change

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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 legalbut unjust

100 years ago?


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Women won

right to votein 1920


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Child labor was outlawed in 1938with Fair Labor Standards Act


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1935 Right of Workers to OrganizeProtected by Wagner Act


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1948 Universal Declaration ofHuman 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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1990Americans with Disabilities Act


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Analyze

Criminal Justice

System


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Key Question:

Are these facts mistakes of anotherwise good system

orIs the system workingexactly as intended?


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Last Several DecadesExplosion in

Criminal Justice System


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One in every 31 adults

(more than 7 million people)were behind bars

on probationor on parole.

Pew Center onStates


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In Pennsylvania1 in 28 adults

is under correctional control.

PA ranks 13th in adults in probation

and parole 258,000

PA ranks 31st in adults in

prison and jails 87,000pew


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U.S. Criminal Justice inInternational 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 forPutting People

intoCriminal Justice System


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Review the system:Use of Drugs

Police StopsArrest

Bail Bond

RepresentationTrial

Sentencing

PrisonParole

Freedom


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Drug Use


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blacks and

whites engagein drugoffenses-

possession andsales-

at roughlycomparablerates

May 2008 Targetting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the US - HRW


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Police Stops

Driving while black?


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Driving while black?California ACLU found blacks three

times more likely to be stopped thanwhites. Ian ayres, aclu s cal LA stops july 2003-june 2004


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DOJ reports similar percentages

stopped. But percentage of driversstopped whose vehicles

were searched:

Hispanic 10%; Black 7%; White 1%2005 April US DOJ Bureau of Justice statistics report


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From 2005 to 2008, 80% of NYPD

Stop 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 thatblacks were arrestedfor drug offenses at

rates in individualstates that were2 to 11.3 times

greater than

the rate for whitesMarch 2, 2009 Decades of Disparity HRW

Af i A i i


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African Americans comprise13% of population and

14% of monthly drug users but37% of persons arrested for drug

offenses.May 21 2009 testimony before Congress of Marc Mauer The Sentencing Project


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S bl k h d t


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So blacks, who use drugs at samerate as whites, are arrested

200% to 1110% more.


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Result?


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Bail Bond

Blacks are 33% more likely to be


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Blacks are 33% more likely to bedetained awaiting felony trials than

whites facing felony trials in someparts 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 reallyunderstanding their legal rights or whatis occurring

The fundamental right to a lawyer thatAmerica assumes applies to everyoneaccused of criminal conduct

effectively does not exist in practicefor countless peopleacross the United States.

A i B A i ti 2004


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American Bar Association 2004Gideons Broken Promise


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Trial

O l 3 5% f i i l t


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Only 3-5% of criminal cases go totrial rest are plea bargained.


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Who wouldnt rather do three

years for a crime they didnt dothan risk 25 years for a crime

they didnt do?


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S t i ?


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Sentencing?

Since 2005(US v Booker)

Black and Latinomen receive

federal sentences

10-23% longerthan whites.

Report - March 2010

African Americans are:


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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 tocongress of Marc Maurer on unfairness of federal cocaine senetencing.

T thi d f k i


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Two-thirds of crack cocaine usersare white or Latino.

But 80% of the people sentencedfor 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.

? 100 1 Di it b t


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? 100-1 Disparity betweensentencing for crack cocaine and

powder cocaine reducedto 18-1 ratio. March 2010. ?


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Two-thirds of people in US with lifesentences 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 and14% of monthly drug users but

37% of persons arrested fordrug offenses, and 56% ofpeople 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 stateprisons for drug offenses are

African American or Latino. 2009 April SentencingProject changing racial dynamics of the war on drugs

Mental illness is


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Mental illness is200% to 600% higher

among prisonersthan 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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Impactof

Mass

Incarceration


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Exempted from the prohibition on

slavery, prisoners are on way tobeing non-human objects


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Rights of Prisoners?


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?Private for profit prisons?

?Impact of increased costs for


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?Impact of increased costs forIncarceration?


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Parole

5 095 200


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5,095,200

people were onProbation or Parole in 2008.

38% African American19% Hispanic

41% white.Glaze and Bonczar Probation and Parole in the US 2008, US DOJ, BJS, 12-09

Nearly one in three


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Nearly one in threeyoung black males

is under correctional supervision.2009 Criminal justice primer Sentencing Project


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YOUTH


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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

The US Department of Justice


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The US Department of Justicereported that in 2008

7.3 million peoplewere under correctional

supervisionjail or prison, parole or probation.

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus08.pdf

African Americans are nearly three
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus08.pdfhttp://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus08.pdf


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African Americans are nearly threetimes as likely to get their probation

revoked as whites, especially fordrug offenses.

http://www.wi-doc.com/PDF_Files/Revocation%20Study_Exec%202-Pg%20-%20FINAL.pdf
http://www.wi-doc.com/PDF_Files/Revocation%20Study_Exec%202-Pg%20-%20FINAL.pdfhttp://www.wi-doc.com/PDF_Files/Revocation%20Study_Exec%202-Pg%20-%20FINAL.pdf


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Freedom


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Even afterrelease,

Prisonersnever regain

full human andcivil rights

Ex-offender employment?


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Ex-offender employment?

Among applicants with criminalrecords, employers called back

17% of white applicants and5% of black applicants. Devah Pager Study 2002

C f D F l


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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

?IMPACT ON DRUG USE?


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More than two decades of incarcerating drug

offenders has apparently had little impact on thedemand for illicit drugs. In surveys carried outduring the years 1991-1993, an average of 5.8percent of persons surveyed reported using an

illicit drug during the previous month. In the samesurvey carried out in 2006, 8.3 percent of

persons said they had used an illicit drug in the

previous month.HRW Targetting Blacks 2008

What will people think


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100 years from now

about ourcriminal justice system?


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Analysis of System


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Key Question:

Are these facts mistakes of anotherwise good systemor

Is the system workingexactly as intended?


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1700s - Birth of Slavery

1863 - Death of Slavery

1877 - Birth of Jim Crowwithdrawl of federal troops

1950s-60s - Death of Jim Crow

1980s - Birth of MassIncarceration


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From 1981 to 1991 War on Drugs

FBI Antidrug $ increased from$38 m to $181 m

DOD Antidrug $ increased from$33m to $1042m

DEA anti-drug spending increased from$86m to $1026m

source: p 49 The New Jim Crow


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Criminal Justice is:

RacializedSystem of

Social Control


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Stigma of criminality functions in


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g ymuch the same way as Jim Crow:

Legal boundaries between them and us;

Social and economic boundaries betweenthem and us;

Cannot vote;

Can legally discriminate in jobs andhousing;

Warehouse a disposable population;

P hit d l f th


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Poor whites and people of other

ethnicity are also subjected tothis system of social controlbecause if they are out of line

they are treated just like poorblacks

the worst possible treatment


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Criminal Justice System is


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Criminal Justice System isIntegral Part of the

Domestic War on Marginalized

Because of globalizationth i f l


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there is an excess of people.

Those people are not productive, notneeded, not wanted, and are not human

beings entitled to the same rights as us.Essentially, the must be controlled and

dominated. They must be eitherintimidated into compliance with theirinferior status or removed.


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Criminal Justice System is Part ofthe White Supremacist

Domestic War on Marginalized

Domestic War relies on


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Domestic War relies onTechnology of Domination(Criminal Justice System)

for

Capture

ImmobilizationPunishmentLiquidation

Criminal Justice System


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is working just fine

doing its part in theDomestic Racist State Violence or

War at Home

Thus Abu Ghraib,Guantanamo US jails &


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Guantanamo, US jails &prisons

are all the same domestic& international versionsof domination


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So,

what to do?


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Adopt a100 year

perspective on

law and justice


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A radical approach to injusticemeans to go to theroot of the problem

not trimming the leavesnot pruning the branches

but ripping up by the rootsthe injustice.

First, open our hearts and


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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 majorsocial

movement candismantle thisnew caste

system.


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What about President Obama?


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If th t i b k h th


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If the system is broken perhaps the

administration can help fixsmall parts of it.

But is there evidence thatthis administration intends to

reverse the explosion of thecriminal justice system?

Join the Movement


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Join the Movement


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Restorative Justice


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Restorative Justice


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Study Prisons in Criminal Law?


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Study Prisons in Criminal Law?

Support PrisonerO i i d R i t


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Organizing and Resistance

Resist in Place:


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Resist in Place:

Prosecutors, Defenders, Judges


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If th i


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If there is

nostruggle,

there is noprogress.


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Seek Out

HopeJoy

Love

Wherever you


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yfind tragedyand injustice

You will alsofindresistance

andinspiration


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Liberationis up to us.


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The Crime in Criminal Justice: Lawyering for Social Change

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