-
May 7th, 2009UncategorizedAs detailed in this AP article, a big celebrity love story has officially become a crime and punishment story:
Chris Brown has been charged with two felonies stemming from an argument with his girlfriend, Rihanna, court documents show.
Brown is expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges of assault likely to cause great bodily injury and making criminal threats. The 19-year-old R&B singer remains free on $50,000 bail.
The felony complaint handed down in court Thursday morning identifies Brown's alleged victim only as "Robyn F." Rihanna's real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. If convicted, the possible sentence ranges anywhere from probation to four years and eight months in state prison, said district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.
-
May 6th, 2009Uncategorized
I am pleased to see that The Sentencing Project has posted here a report on the "crime summit" that took place earlier this week in DC. The item is titled "Capitol Hill Crime Summit Attracts Standing-Room Only Crowd," and here is how the report starts:
Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, moderated a panel of experts for “Smart on Crime Policies: Increase Public Safety, Reduce Costs, and Improve Lives,” a Capitol Hill Crime Summit held on March 3rd. Representative Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, convened the standing room only briefing, which also included panels on Prevention and Intervention, and Reentry and Collateral Consequences.
Mauer opened the “Sentencing and Alternatives” discussion with a question for United States District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, asking about the effect of mandatory minimum sentences imposed by Congress, in taking discretion away from judges. “I don't know if anyone can understand what it's like to sentence a defendant to a sentence to which you know to be manifestly unfair,” said Gertner. “We've stopped making meaningful distinctions between offenders.”
-
May 5th, 2009Uncategorized
On Monday, a large protest has been called at a coal-fired plant in Washington, D.C. in what organizers say will be largest act of civil disobedience against global warming in this country. In the days leading up to the protest, youth climate activists are organizing a conference called Power Shift ’09. Thousands of student activists plan to lobby lawmakers on Capitol Hill, urging them to rebuild the economy through bold climate and clean energy policy.
-
May 4th, 2009Uncategorized
President Barack Obama is heading to Canada today for his first foreign trip as president. A coalition of environmental groups are urging Obama to cut back on America’s dependence on oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Greenpeace says the tar sands generate three to five times as much greenhouse gas pollution as the production of conventional oil.
-
May 3rd, 2009Uncategorized
President Obama has unveiled his first concrete plan to address the country’s dire housing crisis, a $275 billion measure that could help as many as nine million homeowners avoid foreclosure and reduce mortgage payments. Will it help those who need it? We speak to Josh Zinner of the New York-based Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.
-
May 2nd, 2009Uncategorized
As Israeli leaders continue talks on assembling a coalition, we’re joined now by a former Israeli politician who’s emerged as one of his government’s biggest critics. Avraham Burg is a former Speaker of the Israeli Parliament and former Chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. His new book is called The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from its Ashes.
-
May 1st, 2009Uncategorized
On March 4, the Maryland Senate reached a compromise on a death penalty repeal bill by amending the bill so as to restrict capital prosecutions. The proposed revision to the state’s death penalty statute would preclude murder cases where the only evidence is eyewitness testimony and, in turn, require DNA evidence, videotaped evidence, or a voluntary videotaped confession. Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat and proponent of death penalty repeal, said his support of the Senate compromise came with mixed emotions. Raskin said senators did not pay enough attention to the work of a governor-appointed bipartisan commission that carefully studied the state's death penalty. That commission, headed by former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, recommended abolishing the death penalty because of its racial and geographical disparities, the risk of executing an innocent person, and its high costs.
