Texas death penalty attorney David Dow reminds ACJP legal workers about the critical nature of early intervention on behalf of our community members entangled in the criminal justice system. Telling our clients narrative/mitigation can’t wait until sentencing, and as he points out — starts the day our case hits the system. Dow stresses our separate obligation to create nurturing families and communities to prevent entry into the criminal justice in the first instance. — Post Submission by Aram James.
Month: June 2012
Blocking Parts of Arizona Law, Justices Allow Its Centerpiece – New York Times
Seems like more conservative states are the ones to be watched, as they are the ones trying to get over on federal law. -Post Submission By: CFlo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday delivered a split decision on Arizona’s tough 2010 immigration law, upholding its most controversial provision but blocking the implementation of others.
The court unanimously sustained the law’s centerpiece, the one critics have called its “show me your papers” provision. It requires state law enforcement officials to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest if there is reason to suspect that the individual might be an illegal immigrant. Continue reading
Obama Adds More Dysfunction to Broken Immigration System – New America Media
Seems like Obama’s past actions speak louder than present ones. -Post Submission by Cesar Flores
New America Media, News Report, Behrouz Saba, Posted: Jun 19, 2012
A timid President Barack Obama faced a group of palpably hostile White House correspondents as he announced “deferred action” for young, undocumented immigrants who have waited for years to be offered a path to citizenship through the DREAM Act. In compliance with his executive order, the Department of Homeland Security will merely halt deportations for the next two years of non-criminal, undocumented immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 who were brought to the country as children. Beneficiaries will also receive H-1 visas to live and work legally on a temporary basis.
This election-year ploy to win Latino votes is a patently miserable substitute for the generous, comprehensive measures required to address the plight of the nearly 12 million undocumented. Putting 800,000 young, promising women and men in legal limbo adds just another layer of dysfunction to a fundamentally inoperative immigration system. Continue reading
The Danny Pina Story: How a De-Bug/ACJP Member Won A Federal Trial Against Police for Excessive Force
Danny Pina recounts his journey that started when he got is arm dislocated and nose cartilage broken by a San Jose Police officer in 2009, to the ultimate jury verdict win in federal court a couple years later. Pina, a member of Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project, recounts the reasons why he pursued the case, and the role of community in his victory. — Video by Marlo Custodio.
Two Realities, One Child
Just last April, ACJP’s youngest member was at immigration court fighting deportation charges. Yesterday, he graduated eighth grade. In the fall of this year, he came back from an ICE detention facility after being referred there by San Mateo County probation. It’s been one tough year for this young man, but he’s got the love of his family and community to pull him through. Check out the campaign to stop juvenile ICE holds that ACJP De-Bug is working on with our allies in San Mateo County at www.stopdeportingyouth.com — Submission Post by Charisse Domingo
Palo Alto Weekly: When Sentencing Young Lawbreakers, Race Matters, Study Funds
Thought provoking study by Stanford University’s Department of Psychology that found that when people were told that a juvenile defendant was Black, the consequences for the crime were harsher than if the juvenile defendant was White. More than just proving that racial prejudice exists, the authors of the study worry about the implications of these results on the actual protections for juveniles under a system that is supposed to be considered rehabilitative. At ACJP, we’ve seen this not just in the sentencing phase of a case but even at the charging stage. We hope that this leads to a broader discussion of racism and the juvenile justice system. To read the full report, click here. — Submission Post by Charisse Domingo
When sentencing young lawbreakers, race matters, study finds
Public favors harsher punishments when criminals are black, researchers say
by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly, 6/2/2012
People’s opinions on whether youth who break the law should be sentenced as adults vary significantly when a single word — black or white — is used to describe the defendant, a new study by Stanford University’s Department of Psychology has found.
Continue reading
Bay Area Legal Leaders Move on From Their Posts, While Leaving a Legacy of Community Collaborations
In one season, Bay Area families are seeing three prominent leaders of legal institutions that have fought for, and in some cases, created, protections for low-income and marginalized communities, leave their posts. Mary Greenwood, the Santa Clara County Public Defender, and Miguel Marquez, the Santa Clara County County Counsel, have been appointed by Governor Brown to move on judgeship. Michael Kresser, the Executive Director of the Sixth District Appellate Project, is retiring after helping start the non-profit in 1985. While the three led distinctively different agencies, each were able to advance the rights of indigent and marginalized communities through their willingness to listen to, and work with, the communities they served. Through their collective leadership, Santa Clara County expanded its indigent defense, held prosecutorial misconduct in check, and created nationally recognized policy protections for immigrants.
Certainly, as new leadership is developed at each respective legal agency, a continuance of this inclusive, community-partnering approach is vital to continue the legacy laid-down by Greenwood, Marquez, and Kresser. Continue reading
Man freed on bond but must write book reports// sfgate.com
Working with people within the criminal justice system, I have seen more and more made up sentences like the one depicted below. Sometimes for the better sometimes for the worst. But thats just my opinion. Please leave comments to let me know what you think. – Post submission by Cesar Flores
Richmond California
A man charged in an undercover sting operation in Northern California that ended in gunfire has been ordered released on bond on the condition that he read and write book reports.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers allowed 23-year-old Otis Mobley to be freed Monday, although she delayed an order to allow prosecutors to appeal her decision.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that under the bond order, Mobley would be required to spend an hour reading and a half hour writing each day as he awaits trial on robbery and assault charges.
Mobley and two others are accused of arranging to sell a grenade launcher for $1,000 to an undercover federal agent in Richmond, Calif. Hutcherson was shot and wounded by agents during the alleged meeting.
Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project 