by Derek Gilna

In a June 22, 2017 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to punish prosecutors for withholding potentially exculpatory discovery information from defense attorneys at the time of trial. In a case that was widely expected to extend the Brady v. Maryland doctrine, the justices refused to grant ...

by Derek Gilna

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has held the state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in contempt in a class-action lawsuit. The contempt order was entered after the court determined, following extensive fact-finding, that DSHS had failed to follow the recommendations ...

by Derek Gilna

As noted in this issue's cover story, due to past abuses, restrictions were placed on the federal equitable sharing program in which state and local law enforcement agencies could partner with federal officials and share the spoils of civil asset forfeitures. The restrictions, implemented in January 2015, ...

by Derek Gilna

Citing a system that appears to be based upon "maintaining structures of power based on race, poverty, ability and place," the LGBT organization Center for American Progress (CAP), takes American law enforcement to task.  CAP's Movement Advance Project, an independent think tank, provides a new look at "a growing body of work documenting and analyzing the experiences of LGBTQ in the criminal legal system," and doesn't like what it sees.

The report states: "in 2011-2012, 7.9% of individuals in state and federal prisons identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, as did 7.1% of individuals in city and county jails."  This is approximately double the percentage of LGBT adults in the U.S. This same percentage also applies to juvenile detainees, with 40% of girls and 14% of boys identifying as LGBT, as opposed to 7 to 9 percent of the general population.

These statistics show that there are three major factors increasing the chance that LGBT individuals will be incarcerated.  The first is that LGBT individuals are often stigmatized not only in society, but in their own homes.  They may have trouble obtaining and maintaining employment because of discrimination against their status. This, the report says, often increases ...

by Derek Gilna

"We ignore flaws with the system at our own peril." Thus do the authors of "Criminal (In)justice: A Cost Analysis of Wrongful Convictions, Errors, and Failed Prosecutions in California's Criminal Justice System," summarize the incalculable financial and human cost of flawed California state criminal prosecutions.

That organization's report, "examines 692 adult felony criminal cases where California missed the mark in public safety by failing to prosecute the right person or by pursuing a flawed or unsustainable conviction. (The wronged individuals)...served more than two thousand years in prison and jail, at a total cost to California taxpayers of more than $282 million." Covering convictions from 1989 to 2012,  the study noted that these flawed prosecutions "burdened the system with 483 jury trials, 26 mistrials, 16 hung juries, 168 plea bargains, and over 700 appeals and habeas petitions."

First, the report covers "Characteristics of Injustice," discusses the fact most prosecutorial errors were related to violent crimes, rather than drug or property crimes.   That category accounted for "a greater percentage of the wasted $221 million than failed prosecutions for other crimes," with "flawed homicide convictions alone account for 52% of the $221 million."  The report found that these prosecutions took ...

by Derek Gilna

Since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, deportations of undocumented immigrants have climbed every year, and 2013 was no exception. In fiscal year 2013, 438,421 individuals were deported from the United States, according to newly released DHS statistics.

This occurred even while the Obama Administration sought comprehensive immigration reform legislation, and despite issuance of an executive order granting relief from deportation and work permits to 580,946 young undocumented students. In the past 6 years, the number of people removed from the country against their well far surpassed the totals of the previous administration of George W. Bush, reaching 2 million people. According to some immigrant-rights advocates, President Obama has become the “deporter in chief,” having surpassed in five years more individuals than Bush did in his eights years in office.

The non-partisan Pew Research Center has conducted surveys which disclose that Americans of Hispanic descent disapprove of the large number of deportation, most of whom are Hispanics. According to Pew, 89% of Hispanics support a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, but feel that deportation relief should be an even higher priority.

Part of the increase in ...

by Derek Gilna

Various misdemeanor probationers in Rutherford County, Tennessee have filed a federal lawsuit against Rutherford County, Pathways Community Corrections (PCC), previously known as Providence Community Corrections, and various probation officers, seeking injunctive relief and class action status to terminate what they term abusive practices in the administration of the county's probation program. At issue was the alleged practice of PCC of extoringt money from indigent defendants by threatening them with jail for non-payment.

PCC contracts with Rutherford County to handle supervisory tasks for people who are on probation for misdemeanor and traffic cases, charging an additional $45 to individuals per month of supervision. It also charges $20 per drug tests. People who are unable to pay these costs and fees often found their probation revoked when they were unable to pay what plaintiffs termed a "secured money bond."

Plaintiffs alleged that PCC applied most monies received from probationers to its inflated fees rather than the court costs that were the subject of the original proceedings, perpetuating the cycle of indebtedness.

According to the district court judge, "Plaintiffs argue that when Defendants determine a secured money bond would be the best method to ensure the probationer's attendance at his ...

by Derek Gilna

In July 2016, Pathways community Corrections, a private probation company, announced that it had voluntarily ceased operations in Tennessee following a series of complaints, a federal lawsuit and an investigation by state officials that uncovered evidence the company had unfairly extracted money from poor probationers. According to ...

by Derek Gilna

Kevin A. Williams, a state prisoner at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois, was serving a 65-year sentence for murder. While at Pontiac he ordered a copy of his victim’s death certificate, but prison staff blocked his receipt of that document and an accompanying unsigned note from ...

by Derek Gilna

Last year the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), part of the Court Administration and Case Management Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, published a study that found criminal defendants who cooperated with the government were often harmed or threatened with harm. However, a recent federal ...