Politics Plus

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

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.

Obama went into campaign mode yesterday in Pittsburgh.  He effectively enumerated Democratic accomplishments during his administration, and he effectively defined the character of the GOP opposition he has faced.  He tore them a new back-passage.

You all know that when I disagree with Obama, I say so, but in this speech, he was spot-on.

There are so many assorted clips of Obama from which to chose, I decided to give you the entre speech.  It’s worth the 40 minutes to see it.

If you prefer, you can read the transcript here.

In summery, it’s about time!

Watching the MSM Media yesterday, I observed that the coverage presented Israel’s position almost exclusively.

Former Ambassador, Edward Peck, was on a smaller ship.

A former US ambassador who was on the flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces at it attempted to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip says "the people on the ship were defending" themselves when they attempted to fight off Israeli soldiers.

Edward Peck told the hosts of CNN’s American Morning on Wednesday, "The purpose was humanitarian. We posed no threat to anybody. We were unarmed."…

Inserted from <Raw Story>

The account of a member of the Israeli Parliament is more revealing.

An Arab member of the Israeli parliament who was on board the international flotilla that was attacked on Monday as it tried to take humanitarian aid to Gaza accused Israel yesterday of intending to kill peace activists as a way to deter future convoys.

Haneen Zoubi said Israeli naval vessels had surrounded the flotilla’s flagship, the Mavi Marmara, and fired on it a few minutes before commandos abseiled from a helicopter directly above them.

Terrified passengers had been forced off the deck when water was sprayed at them. She said she was not aware of any provocation or resistance by the passengers, who were all unarmed.

She added that within minutes of the raid beginning, three bodies had been brought to the main room on the upper deck in which she and most other passengers were confined. Two had gunshot wounds to the head, in what she suggested had been executions.

Two other passengers slowly bled to death in the room after Israeli soldiers ignored messages in Hebrew she had held up at the window calling for medical help to save them. She said she saw seven other passengers seriously wounded.

"Israel had days to plan this military operation," she told a press conference in Nazareth. "They wanted many deaths to terrorise [sic] us and to send a message that no future aid convoys should try to break the siege of Gaza."

Released early yesterday by police, apparently because of her parliamentary immunity, she said she was speaking out while most of the hundreds of other peace activists were either being held by Israel for deportation or were under arrest.

Three other leaders of Israel’s large Palestinian Arab minority, including Sheikh Raed Salah, a spiritual leader, were arrested as their ships docked in the southern port of Ashdod. Lawyers said that under Israeli law they could be held and questioned for up to 30 days without being charged.

Contradicting Israeli claims, Ms Zoubi said a search by the soldiers after they took control of the Marmara discovered no arms or other weapons.

It was vital, she added, that the world demand an independent UN inquiry to find out what had happened on the ship rather than allow Israel to carry out a "whitewash" with its own military investigation… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

I consider Peck’s report to be completely credible.  Zoubi’s is, at worst, no more biased that the official Israeli line.  Given Israel’s track record of confirmed atrocities against Palestinians, I suspect the truth is closer to Zoubi’s version of the events.  I certainly support her call for a UN inquiry.  The UN Security Council has voted to conduct an investigation.  Israel refuses to cooperate.