Civil Rights | Incarceration Trends

2010-03-16: Headlines

  • The Guardian: Punitive cuts 2010-03-16
    Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, feels any cutbacks are short-sighted amid reoffending rates of around two-thirds.
  • Irish Independent: John Cooney: Cardinal must answer series of key questions 2010-03-16
    Would His Eminence explain to reform Catholics such as Sean O'Conaill of the Voice of the Faithful in Ireland why he believes he can now provide ...
  • Scoop.co.nz: The Right to Choose: Zapata Tamayo 2010-03-16
    As Roger Houchin, resident expert for prison management in the Sarajevo Office of the Council of Europe wrote in 2007, these two parties must reconcile “ ...
  • Children & Young People Now: Interview: Maria Eagle MP, justice minister 2010-03-16
    Despite her desire to reduce custody, Eagle does not entertain other goals shared by pressure groups such as the Prison Reform Trust and the Howard League ...
  • Boston Globe: Border security ex-official's trial starts 2010-03-16
    That is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison unless it was done for financial gain, and then the maximum sentence is 10 years.
  • Atlanta Journal Constitution: The Vent / Metro 2010-03-16
    Less than a year to serve in jail - not prison - for a remorseless, sledgehammer-wielding monster? Shame on the judge, and hopefully Mr. Waters will be very ...
  • TIME: Is AIPAC Putting Israel First? 2010-03-16
    BTW, GW's version of "war on terror" does not want to treat terrorists as criminals, but as soldiers or "enemy combatants". Should'nt Israel and you tre ...
  • News & Observer: An attack on American law 2010-03-16
    Keep America Safe would distinguish between accused defendants in US courts and enemy combatants. But if we're going to try them in any legal tribunal ...
  • KGET 17: No parole for many leaving prison 2010-03-16
    Nearly a quarter of all California felons released from prison no longer will have any type of parole supervision. Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he expect ...
  • Berkeley Daily Planet: The Iranian Tsunami 2010-03-16
    Men like Osanioo, bus driver union vice-president Ebrahim Madadi, and Reza Rakhshan, a leader of the sugar cane workers union, are either in prison ...
  • MercatorNet: Lessons from the twilight days of the liberal consensus 2010-03-16
    The signal of this commitment was a promise to close the Guantánamo prison-camp within a year. But the camp remains open, the administration's declared ...
  • Socialist Worker Online: Maximum sentence for the minimum crime 2010-03-16
    ROBERT FERGUSON'S nearly eight-year prison sentence in early March for shoplifting a bag of shredded cheese from a California convenience store made ...
  • Kansas Watchdog: Sunny Awards: Kansas Government Websites Don't Make the Cut 2010-03-16
    “It's a cry for reform of FOI laws nationwide.” From January 2007 to June 2008 there were 62 complaints filed at the county level according to report ...
  • Dallas Morning News: Area census workers out for the count of minorities, immigrants 2010-03-16
    Penalties for census workers disclosing confidential information to other agencies or individuals are high: a violator faces a federal prison sentence of up ...
  • Irish Times: Fines Bill 2010-03-16
    At a time when the prison system is under intense pressure because of overcrowding, drug taking and an emerging gang culture, any reduction in numbers would ...
  • The Brown Daily Herald: Bill would counteract skewed census figures 2010-03-16
    While Rhode Island currently uses federal census data to draw district lines, the census lists prisoners as residents of their prison, even though prisoner ...
  • Media Update: WAN-IFRA condemns detention of Iranian journalists 2010-03-16
    He has already spent several years in prison over the past decade for campaigning against the death penalty and, along with his family, has been subjected ...
  • Victorville Daily Press: 643 inmates released from local facilities 2010-03-16
    But following a legislative move by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reduce overcrowding and trim a tight budget, lower-level ...

2010-03-15: Headlines

Background Briefing: Sentancing and Drug Laws

Human Rights Watch: California: Repeal Law Jailing Children for Life 2008-01-14

Senate Should End Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders | Californias State Senate should pass a law this month to end the sentencing of children to prison for life with no possibility of parole, Human Rights Watch said today in a report on a practice outlawed in most of the world.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Girls Abused in New Yorks Juvenile Prisons 2006-09-25

Violent Restraints, Sexual Abuse Must Stop | Girls in New Yorks juvenile prisons are being abused and neglected by state authorities, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a report released today.

 

Human Rights Watch: Human Rights Watch Submission to the Human Rights Committee 2006-07-12

Human Rights Watch Supplemental Submission to the Human Rights Committee During its Consideration of the Second and Third Periodic Reports of the United States | In January 2006, Human Rights Watch submitted a list of issues for the Human Rights Committees reference while posing questions to the United States about its adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR). Since that submission, the United States has enacted or begun to undertake new laws, policies, and practices that reflect the continuing failure of the U.S. to fulfill its obligations under the ICCPR. Oulined here are some of those developments, as well as some additional issues that HRW believes are central to the Committees work.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: House Amendment Tilts Playing Field for Death Penalty 2005-10-27

Radical Changes to the Federal Death Penalty May Soon Be Law | The House has slipped an amendment into the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act that would dramatically skew federal death penalty cases in favor of the prosecution.

 

Human Rights Watch: United States: Thousands of Children Sentenced to Life without Parole 2005-10-12

National Study by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Finds Majority Face Life for First Offense | There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes committed before they were age 18, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a new joint report published today.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Supreme Court Ends Child Executions 2005-03-01

With the Roper v. Simmons Supreme Court ruling abolishing the execution of child offenders, the United States joins the international consensus rejecting this cruel and inhuman punishment.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Children Are Collateral Casualties of N.Y. Drug Laws 2002-06-18

Excessively severe drug laws have deprived thousands of children of their parents, Human Rights Watch said today. Governor Pataki and New York politicians in Albany are now debating legislation to reform these drug laws

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Pataki Drug Reform No Improvement 2001-07-16

New York Governor George Pataki's proposed drug law reforms would leave drug offenders vulnerable to excessive prison sentences and maintain prosecutors' undue power over sentencing decisions, Human Rights Watch charged today.

 

Human Rights Watch: US: A Human Rights Agenda for the Justice Department 2001-03-29

In a letter released today, Human Rights Watch called on the Bush Administration's Justice Department to promote and protect human rights in the United States. The letter outlines a human rights agenda for the new U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on such issues as prisoner abuses, police brutality, sentencing, the mistreatment of immigrants, the federal death penalty, and the poor U.S. record on ratifying international human rights treaties.

Background Briefing: Prison Conditions in the United States

Human Rights Watch: Scores of Muslim Men Jailed Without Charge 2005-06-27

Justice Department Misused Material Witness Law in Counterterrorism Efforts | Operating behind a wall of secrecy, the U.S. Department of Justice thrust scores of Muslim men living in the United States into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention without charge and baseless accusations of terrorist links, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Maryland Death Penalty Moratorium Applauded 2002-05-09

Human Rights Watch applauded Maryland Governor Paris N. Glendening's decision today to impose a moratorium on executions in Maryland. Citing the need "to be absolutely sure of the integrity" of the death penalty process, Governor Glendening announced the moratorium would continue until an ongoing University of Maryland study on racial bias and the death penalty is completed and reviewed and acted upon by the state legislature.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Illinois Commission Highlights Death Penalty's Inherent Flaws 2002-04-17

Human Rights Watch welcomed the unanimous conclusion of the bi-partisan commission, appointed by Governor George H. Ryan to examine the administration of the death penalty in Illinois, that no system of criminal justice can guarantee absolutely that innocent persons will not be sentenced to death.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Bush Urged to Stop Federal Execution 2001-06-18

Human Rights Watch urged President Bush to halt Tuesday's scheduled federal execution of Juan Raul Garza. Citing continuing concerns over racial and geographic disparities in the application of the federal death penalty, HRW called for a stay of execution until the government can guarantee that race plays no role in the federal death penalty.

 

Human Rights Watch: US: Clinton Urged to Impose Moratorium on Executions 2000-12-12

Human Rights Watch commended President Clinton for staying the execution of Juan Raul Garza. The group urged the president to impose a moratorium on federal executions.

 

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Florida Ex-Offenders Barred from Vote 2000-11-08

31% of State's African American Men Denied Vote | The permanent disenfranchisement of over 400,000 ex-offenders in Florida is likely to have determined the outcome of the presidential election, two non-partisan research and advocacy groups said.

 

Human Rights Watch: United States: Stark Race Disparities in Drug Incarceration 2000-06-08

Some states send black men to prison at rates 27 to 57 times greater than whites | The U.S. war on drugs has been waged overwhelmingly against black Americans, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released "Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs".

 

Human Rights Watch: Felon Laws Bar 3.9 Million Americans from Voting 1998-10-22

A stunning proportion of black men in the United States will not be able to vote in the November elections because they have been convicted of a felony, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In seven states, a staggering one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised. In two states, Alabama and Florida, the ratio is one in three
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