Jun 042010
 

American incarcerates more citizens per capita than any other nation in the world.  Why?  Our criminal justice system is broken.

crimjustice In late April, after 19 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Frank Sterling became the 253rd person in this country to be exonerated by DNA testing. The former trucker had confessed to police after a marathon interrogation — 12 hours of questioning that followed his 36-hour driving shift. He later recanted, to no avail.

In early May, after 29 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, Raymond Towler became the 254th to be exonerated.

Although wrongful convictions and incarcerations are the most heart-wrenching manifestations of a deeply flawed criminal justice system, the truth is that mistakes, inequities and injustices abound. Standards and methodology for everything from suspect interviews to analysis of evidence vary from state to state and even county to county. But regardless of now glaring patterns of error, the relentless machinery of incarceration continues. With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States has 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.

So it is encouraging that a blue-ribbon panel charged with scrutinizing every aspect of the criminal justice system may soon be a reality. For two years, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has championed the idea of a National Criminal Justice Commission, which would examine and then propose comprehensive changes to the $68-billion system. Legislation to create the commission is pending in both chambers, and Congress should hasten to pass it.

Of course, some answers to why the system is overcrowded, expensive and inefficient are obvious. In an effort to incarcerate our way out of a public health problem, the nation has locked up drug users in record numbers – up 1,200 percent since 1980. And prisons have become the nation’s mental health wards. The Department of Justice estimates that 16 percent of the adult inmate population is mentally ill, which means, according to Webb, that four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons as are in mental health facilities.

Once formed, the commission would not only seek to expose flaws in the system but to assemble the wealth of information that is already available. For example, erroneous eyewitness identification is known to be the leading cause of false convictions. In Towler’s case, the 11-year-old victim and witnesses misidentified him from a photograph. Sterling’s case also fits a known pattern: Confessions elicited under intense pressure are the second most common cause of false convictions. And junk science comes in third: Flawed analyses of hair, carpet fibers and bite marks have sent numerous innocent people to prison… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <McClatchy DC>

I fully support implementing Webb’s commission, and hope it will also look into implementing more restorative programs to help rehabilitate prisoners, because retributive justice does nothing to reform prisoners.

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  4 Responses to “Reform Our Criminal Justice System”

  1. I go back and forth on Webb – he seemed like a centrist when elected (you’re not going to get a progressive in VA), but some of the crap he has supported has really pissed me off. This on the other hand, I truly support. Prosecuting (and executing) mentally ill people is 3rd world at best. People who are poor and can’t afford adequate representation are a whole other group. Locking up drug offenders is not productive at all – and most prison systems do not have rehab facilities that would help these people lead normal, productive lives. That’s why I love the work that you do as a former prisoner yourself with your volunteer work. I think this is a fabulous idea and I hope it gets past the party of No. Tell them it’ll save money (and it will). To have even one person falsely accused is one too many.

    • Like many Blue Dogs, Webb has aspects I like and aspects I can’t stand. Rehabilitative services is not as bad in Oregon as it was when I was down. We shamed them into more in Oregon when the press started covering the programs by prisoners for prisoners. The press wanted to know why OSP’s Transition Counselor refused my invitation to attend the Transition Fair we organized.

      Republicans are not interested in saving money. That’s just an excuse for cutting services to all but the rich.

  2. Webb’s Commission is long overdue. Wrongful arrest, conviction, and imprisonment have become de facto in American life–along with illiteracy, poverty, homelessness, lack of healthcare, state-sanctioned torture, robber barons, environmental recklessness, diminishing personal rights, illegal searches, cronyism, religious hysteria, etc. Now, remind me again, how is the Third World different?

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