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Lewis Beale
Lewis Beale is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Newsday and many other p...
‘A Film Unfinished’ Focuses on Nazi Documentary
“A Film Unfinished” shows the pains that Nazi documentarians took to ensure that their take on the “Jewish problem” came through.
It’s the End of the World as We Blow It
‘Countdown to Zero,’ a documentary history of nuclear weapons and possibility of radioactive terrorism, offers a cautionary tale for atomic powers.
Sebastian Junger Brings AfPak to Big Screen
Author and now documentary filmmaker Sebastian Junger brings AfPak to the big screen with polish and pathos in “Restrepo.”
U.S. Students Hurting in Foreign Languages
American public education continues to give short shrift to serious teaching of foreign languages, especially those harder tongues that promise to be prominent in the future.
Counting Wins and Losses on Earth Day
Three prominent environmental activists reflect on the state of the American green movement for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
‘Harlan’ Documentary Examines Nazi-Era Film Director
A documentary examining the life of Veit Harlan, a film director responsible for films favored by Nazis, provides back story for a new and controversial feature film.
Cloaking a No-No As a Win-Win
‘The Art of the Steal’ paints of picture of moneyed, but likely well-meaning, interests having their ways with a cloistered collection of art.
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The Rampant Growth of Life Without Parole
America’s crowded prisons are seeing a larger number of lifers cluttering their halls and cafeterias, according to a new report from an organization opposed to life-without-parole sentences.
A new study by The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform, notes that one out of every 11 prisoners in state and federal lockups is serving a life sentence, and of those, nearly one-third, more than 41,000 convicts, have been sentenced to life without parole. The report notes that life without parole judgments have tripled since 1992, and nearly two-thirds of prisoners serving these sentences are ethnic and racial minorities.
As noted in my recent Miller-McCune.com piece — “Should Minors Ever Face Life Without Parole?” — the U.S. already has more than 1,700 juveniles serving life without parole. The U.S., according to The Sentencing Project report, “No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences In America,” is the only country that hands out such judgments. The organization, as you might expect, opposes life without parole.
Major reasons for these harsh verdicts include “three strikes laws and other overly punitive sentences,” says The Sentencing Project’s Ashley Nellis. “California has 24 percent of all the nation’s lifers, and they have this excessively punitive three strikes law in place. Also, the abandonment of parole has had a huge impact, as has the limiting of judicial discretion in sentencing and the expansion of prosecutorial discretion.”
The excessive number of life sentences is a major contributing factor to prison overcrowding, and as prisoners age, they can become an expensive state burden. Geriatric cons, Nellis says, “are a more difficult population to manage; they have more health care requirements. As states deal with their budget crises, they need to look at these sentences and revisit whether these are really the biggest threats to public safety.”
There may be some light on the horizon. The constitutionality of life without parole punishments for juveniles is being challenged in two cases — Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida — that will be heard by the Supreme Court during its fall term.
And the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences, which has led to longer jail terms, especially for minorities, is under review by the Obama administration and has even attracted the support of some conservative legislators — Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions’ recent malapropism that he and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, were “going to do that crack cocaine thing,” actually spoke to his desire to hold hearings on the crack-powder disparity.
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from the source
Gas Mileage Labels Get Sophisticated
The federal government has unveiled updated designs for those informational stickers on new cars. The hope is to nudge buyers into choosing more fuel-efficient models.
California Rejects Ban on Plastic Bags
Lawmakers struck down a bill that would have made California the first state in the union to ban plastic shopping bags.
The Scientist and the Journalist Can Be Friends
Nancy Baron’s new book is an excellent guide for academic researchers on how to effectively communicate with the press, public and policymakers.
Do School Lunches Plump Up Poor Kids?
A program to ensure all American children get at least one good meal a day may lie behind their expanding waistlines. Oddly, a breakfast program does not.
An Emotional Timeline of Sept. 11, 2001
German researchers, analyzing the content of text messages sent on 9/11/01, report that while sadness and anxiety levels remained stable through the day, anger steadily increased.
Lisa Connelly is serving a 25 year to life sentence under California’s Three Strikes Law. Her prior convictions came out of one case. 10 year later she was found to have less than a gram of meth, yet that earned her a life sentence. The DA used her 3 prior convictions that came out of one case to portray her as a habitual offender; Truth is she had a drug problem. Not a criminality problem. California treats all prior convictions the same which produces an unconstitutionally arbitrary system. How is it we can compare the same sentence we met out for 1st degree murder with a drug user? Fortunately there was great public outcry and those types of egregious convictions are rare today. But what about Lisa? Well the law has not changed so she and about 4,000 others remain in prison for life. Not one will even be eligible until 2019. Cost to the taxpayers about $ 49,000 each every year!
I was wondering when someone was going to catch on that the penal system is draining the state of all its assets. Why are residents allowing politicians to manipulate them into paying for their campaign promises? The three strikes law that we have now was originally brought before the senate and rejected as it was written. When recommendations for changes were brought to the attention of Bill Jones he pulled it off the floor because he did not want it changed. Michael Reynolds used Polly Klaas to feed his own personal agenda when no one paid attention to his daughter Kimber Reynolds death. He appealed to the residents fear and emotions in order to get this law passed. We now have inmates serving unwarranted life sentences for non-serious, non-violent crimes. We should not be resentencing an individual for a felony crime which they have already served time for just because that individual does something menial offenses. A drug offense by a substance abuser should not warrant the state to have to pay the prisons in excess of $80,000 per year. Third strikers are placed in maximum security prisons with special supervision which cost more than the average $40-$60,000 per annually per inmate. Remember wome of these inmates are serving time for a victimless crime. The state is saying that they are the victims for someone being under the influence of a control substance. But I guess they are correct…we are the victims. But the criminal is the judicial system.