Category: American Injustice System,

Hundreds of Oklahoma inmates being released Monday in largest commutation in U.S. history

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

Oklahoma voters approved a state question in 2016 that changed simple drug possession and low-level property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Stitt signed a bill this year that retroactively adjusted those sentences, approving a fast-track commutation docket for those who met the criteria.

…The state is also making sure that the released inmates receive a state-issued driver’s license or state-issued identification card — items that are key as those inmates begin to reenter society, apply for jobs and seek housing.

Hundreds of Oklahoma inmates being released Monday in largest commutation in U.S. history

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When is it legal for a police officer to kill

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

The key to both of the legal standards — defense of life and fleeing a violent felony — is that it doesn’t matter whether there is an actual threat when force is used. Instead, what matters is the officer’s “objectively reasonable” belief  that there is a threat.

…There are plenty of cases in which an officer might be legally justified in using deadly force because he feels threatened, even though there’s no actual threat there.

…That puts a lot of weight on an officer’s immediate instincts in judging who’s dangerous. And those immediate instincts are where implicit bias could creep in — believing that a young black man is a threat, for example, even if he is unarmed.

When is it legal for a cop to kill you? – Vox

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Newsom signs ‘Stephon Clark Law’ AB 392, covering police use of force

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

After an emotional fight that laid bare the chasm between California’s communities of color and police, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed Assembly Bill 392, creating what some have described as one of the toughest standards in the nation for when law enforcement officers can kill.

…Language requiring deescalation and a definition of what “necessary” force means were removed, along with passages about potential “criminal negligence” of officers involved in lethal incidents.

…Though the final bill doesn’t go as far as some wanted, supporters say it’s a first step in changing the culture of policing in California.

“The bill is watered down, everybody knows that,” said Stevante Clark, brother of Stephon Clark, who was shot by Sacramento police in March 2018. “But at least we are getting something done. At least we are having the conversation now.”

…[Newsom] acknowledged the bill’s intent to change police culture would be determined by how it’s implemented.

…The new language will require that law enforcement use deadly force only when “necessary,” instead of the current wording of when it is “reasonable.” In large urban law enforcement departments that already train for deescalation and crisis intervention, day-to-day policing will probably not noticeably change.

The law also prohibits police from firing on fleeing felons who don’t pose an immediate danger.

…Nationwide, a recent study found that about 1 in 1,000 black men and boys can expect to die at the hands of law enforcement, and that people of color regardless of gender are killed by police at higher rates than their white counterparts.

…Racial bias in policing is not directly addressed by AB 392, but implicit-bias training will probably be a part of new training standards.

Supporters argue that more emphasis on nonlethal practices will reduce lethal use-of-force incidents overall.

Newsom signs ‘Stephon Clark Law’ AB 392, covering police use of force – Los Angeles Times

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Police shootings: California could limit when officers shoot to kill

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

At issue is Assembly Bill 392, known as the California Act to Save Lives, which would put the onus on officers to justify discharging their weapon, shifting the standard from “reasonable” – as defined by the Supreme Court’s Graham v Connor ruling in 1989 – to “necessary.” That means that, under the proposed bill, police must feel confident it is necessary to shoot to protect themselves or others from danger, or they could be prosecuted for killing a person. 

Instead of reaching for their guns, officers would be pressed to engage in de-escalation tactics that aim to reduce tension between officer and suspect. Experts said these include listening to the suspect’s story, explaining the actions an officer is about to take and ensuring that the suspect’s dignity is preserved throughout the interaction.

Police shootings: California could limit when officers shoot to kill

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Police can use deadly force if they merely perceive a threat

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

The key to both the legal standards — defense of life and fleeing a violent felony — is that it doesn’t matter whether there is an actual threat when force is used. Instead, what matters is the officer’s “objectively reasonable” belief that there is a threat.

,,,Officers couldn’t justify their conduct just based on whether their intentions were good. They had to demonstrate that their actions were “objectively reasonable,” given the circumstances and compared with what other police officers might do.

And what’s “objectively reasonable” changes as the circumstances change.

Police can use deadly force if they merely perceive a threat – Vox

This.

Cops are almost never prosecuted and convicted for use of force

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The low conviction and incarceration rates have fed into the idea among critics of law enforcement that police can get away with using deadly force even in situations that don’t call for it. This poses concerns for those who want to hold police accountable, but critics also worry it has fostered a police culture that’s too lenient in using force because cops believe there most likely won’t be legal consequences even if they make a bad call.

Cops are almost never prosecuted and convicted for use of force – Vox

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The federal government has helped the militarization of police

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Military,Leave a comment

The 1033 program …transferred surplus military-grade equipment from the Pentagon to police, [and] didn’t require any training or oversight for the equipment’s use. …Police had to deploy the equipment at least once within a year to keep it, [providing the motivation] to use the gear when it wasn’t necessary.

Police often deployed military-grade equipment …sometimes agitating the situation and causing demonstrations to unnecessarily escalate into tense and even violent conflicts.

The federal government has helped the militarization of police – Vox

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Boulder County Sheriff’s Office sued after video shows inmate being tasered while strapped down

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Sgt. Chris Reiss can be heard on body cam footage telling Gotthelf, “Based on your suicide statements, you’re going on suicide watch.”

Gotthelf is heard denying she made any suicidal statements but there is no body cam that recorded what she may have said [earlier.]

…”You guys are nuts,” is what Gotthelf is heard saying to deputies when told she has to strip and put on a suicide smock.

…Deputies determined Gotthelf was not cooperating even though she can be seen on body cam following orders to place her hands behind her back.

According to the lawsuit, multiple deputies strapped “her into a restraint chair, and inflicting multiple pressure point pain compliance techniques, and culminating in Sergeant Reiss tasing her despite the fact she was fully retrained and could not move.”

…”That’s just sadistic,” said attorney Mari Newman, who represents Gotthelf and filed the lawsuit claiming excessive force and disability discrimination.

…”She was fully restrained, handcuffed behind her back and strapped into a restraint chair with somebody’s hands around her neck. I mean, she could not move if she wanted to and yet, they tased her,” said Newman.

The lawsuit states after Gotthelf was tasered, she was forced to remain in the restraint chair for four more hours.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office sued after video shows inmate being tasered while strapped down | FOX31 Denver

Remorseless sadism.

Missouri tracked Planned Parenthood patients’ periods to control them.

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

According to the Star, the spreadsheet “was based on medical records the investigator had access to during the state’s annual inspection, also included medical identification numbers, dates of medical procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses.” It was created in an attempt to find so-called failed abortions, the reason state health officials are giving for refusing to renew the clinic’s license. State officials denied that the director of its health department requested the data, despite the spreadsheet being attached to an email entitled “Director’s request.”

…Missouri passed a law earlier this year forbidding abortions after the eight week of pregnancy, not even making an exception for rape or incest.

…The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for the health and safety of unaccompanied minors who enter the United States,  …was tracking pregnancies among the cohort, putting such details as the length of their pregnancy and whether they requested an abortion on a spreadsheet. The office’s former head Scott Lloyd — who is writing a book about his antiabortion beliefs — read the spreadsheet on a weekly basis.

Missouri didn’t track Planned Parenthood patients’ periods to protect women. It was to control them. – The Washington Post

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In Edward Snowden’s New Memoir, the Disclosures This Time Are Personal

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, International Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Military,, Privacy,Leave a comment

Snowden, of course, is the former intelligence contractor who, in 2013, leaked documents about the United States government’s surveillance programs, dispelling any notions that the National Security Agency and its allies were playing a quaint game of spy vs. spy, limiting their dragnet to specific persons of interest. 

…Sweeping up phone records of Americans citizens, eavesdropping on foreign leaders, harvesting data from internet activity: For revealing these secret programs and more, Snowden was deemed a traitor by the Obama administration, which charged him with violating the Espionage Act and revoked his passport, effectively stranding Snowden in Moscow, where he has been living ever since.

…The internet of the 1990s was a liberating space, he says, where adopting and discarding different avatars could open up possibilities for more authentic expression and connection.

…What does it mean to have the data of our lives collected and stored on file, ready to be accessed — not just now, by whatever administration happens to be in office at the moment, but potentially forever? Should such sensitive work be outsourced to private contractors? What entails effective “oversight” if the public is kept in the dark? When can concerns about “national security” slip into bids for unchecked power?

In Edward Snowden’s New Memoir, the Disclosures This Time Are Personal – The New York Times

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Edward Snowden: My Hope in Obama Was ‘Misplaced’

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, International Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Military,, Privacy,Leave a comment

Snowden also wrote that America had engaged in “self-destruction” after 9/11, “with the promulgation of secret policies, secret laws, secret courts and secret wars.”

…“I fully supported defensive and targeted surveillance,” Snowden writes, but he called the government’s “bulk collection” of data hypocritical. According to The New York Times, Snowden felt like Obama was doubling down on the Bush administration’s surveillance programs.

Edward Snowden: My Hope in Obama Was ‘Misplaced’

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He was undocumented. Now he’s exposing detention center abuse

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Roughly, 85% reported that immigration detention facilities failed to provide adequate food and water and that they were unable to sleep due to overcrowding, cold temperatures and other conditions. Only 20% reported being able to take care of basic hygiene, such as showering and brushing their teeth.

More than half said they faced verbal abuse inside detention, with some saying they also suffered physical abuse. Roughly 25% also had their property seized when taken into detention, including important documents and cash that was not returned to them, he said.

A majority said they were forced to return to Mexico without any further investigation of the violence they might face there, which Wong said was a direct violation of the policy.

While waiting in Mexico, one out of four said they were threatened with physical violence, and more said they ended up homeless.

…Individuals are getting instructions about critically important steps in languages that they don’t speak: often Central American asylum speakers who speak an indigenous language by default are given instructions in Spanish. In San Diego, there are a lot of different languages – Asian Indians seeking asylum who speak Hindi were given instructions in English or Spanish. I find it hard to believe that we as a country can’t find a Hindi speaker.

He was undocumented. Now he’s exposing detention center abuse | US news | The Guardian

sighh

“Whoa,” says Edward Snowden as Sanders vows to end prosecution of whistleblowers under Espionage Act

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Asked if the Espionage Act of 1917 should be used against those who raise the alarm about government wrongdoing, Sanders said, “Of course not.”

“The law is very clear: Whistleblowers have a very important role to play in the political process and I am very supportive of the courage of that whistleblower, whoever he or she may be,” Sanders said of the individual who filed the complaint about Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Grim pointed out that the 1917 law “had largely gone out of fashion until it was deployed heavily by the Obama administration, which prosecuted eight people accused of leaking to the media under the Espionage Act, more than all previous presidents combined.”

“Whoa,” says Edward Snowden as Sanders vows to end prosecution of whistleblowers under Espionage Act | Salon.com

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Leo Lech not entitled to money after police blew up his Colorado home, court rules

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Robert Jonathan Seacat, had stolen a shirt and a couple of belts from a Walmart in neighboring Aurora. …A police officer pursued him in a high-speed chase until Seacat parked his car. …He climbed the fence on the other side — and then, shortly thereafter, came upon the Lech residence.

A 9-year-old boy, John Lech’s girlfriend’s son, was home alone at the time. …“He said, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to get away,’ ” Lech said. Minutes later, the boy walked out of the house unharmed.

…Police had pulled into the driveway. Seacat fired a shot at them through the garage.

…Thus began the 19-hour standoff.

“They proceed to destroy the house — room by room, by room, by room,” Lech said. “This is one guy with a handgun. This guy was sleeping. This guy was eating. This guy was just hanging out in this house. I mean, they proceeded to blow up the entire house.”

…[the victim’s] expenses to rebuild the house and replace all its contents cost him nearly $400,000, he said. While insurance did cover structural damage initially, his son did not have renter’s insurance and so insurance did not cover replacement of the home’s contents, and he says he is still in debt today from loans he took out.

“This has ruined our lives,” he said.

…On Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously ruled that the city is not required to compensate the Lech family for their lost home because it was destroyed by police while they were trying to enforce the law, rather than taken by eminent domain.

…The court said that Greenwood Village was acting within its “police power” when it damaged the house, which the court said doesn’t qualify as a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment. The court acknowledged that this may seem “unfair,” but when police have to protect the public, they can’t be “burdened with the condition” that they compensate whomever is damaged by their actions along the way.

…Police must be forced to draw the line at some point, [the victim] said — preferably before a house is gutted — and be held accountable if innocent bystanders lose everything as a result of the actions of law enforcement.

…“This can’t go on in this country,” he said. “There has to be a limit. There has to be accountability.”

Leo Lech not entitled to money after police blew up his Colorado home, court rules – The Washington Post

Over a shirt and some belts from WalMart???! That’s beyond unnecessary escalation all the way to egregiously irresponsible to start with and then the city refuses to pay more than $5000? Criminal.

 

ICE withdraws big fines for immigrants taking sanctuary in churches

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Religion,, The Americas,Leave a comment

“We knew that these exorbitant fines were illegal and were nothing more than a tool to scare our clients and retaliate against them for fighting back and standing up to this administration,” attorney Lizbeth Mateo, who represents a Mexican woman living at an Ohio church.”

…Immigrants who are free on bond but ordered to leave the country are typically given a date to report to immigration authorities for removal. Others are ordered to check in with authorities, which, under former President Barack Obama-era policies, generally didn’t result in deportation unless the person was convicted of a serious crime in the United States.

Trump lifted those restrictions almost immediately, causing people to get deported when they reported to ICE offices as instructed and discouraging others from coming.

ICE withdraws big fines for immigrants taking sanctuary in churches

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