Year: 2011

Five Year, or Ten Lashes?

Josh Rothman writes in the Boston Globe: His book is, as promised, a well-reasoned defense of flogging. It’s also an attack upon the penal system. … It’s hard to say how serious Moskos is being (though my money is on “pretty serious”). Even if you aren’t convinced that flogging is the future, though, Moskos’ deeper…
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India Seeks a Good Hangman

There’s a story about this in the New York Times. But what struck me was this: Today, even prison officials encourage death row inmates to draft appeals. “At times, we also help the person draft the petition,” said K.V. Reddy, president of the All-India Prison Officers Association, who opposes capital punishment. “Normally, everybody sympathizes with…
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Oh, Canada

Macleans, the Canadian news magazine, has a great article and Q&A with me. There’s some very good new material here, even if you think you’re heard everything I have to say about In Defense of Flogging. What is it about the Canadians? Why are their articles smarter and more insightful than ours? And they are…
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A Sixth Season of The Wire…

…As soon as the Department of Justice is “ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.”

Irrelevant academic research

By journalist Mara Hvistendahl in the Chronicle of Higher Education: I turned to academic papers because I wanted to do more than throw back a fleeting image. But scholars are haunted by their own demons. I recently polled a few journalist friends, asking them how often they rely on academic research, and how useful and…
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“Honestly, but unreasonably”

Officer Gahiji Tshamba was found guilty of manslaughter. From the Sun: “He drew his gun when it was not at all necessary,” [Circuit Judge Edward R.K.] Hargadon said in court, finding that Tshamba lied about the incident and never identified himself as an officer. “The defendant grossly overreacted and in fact exacerbated this whole tragic…
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Street Justice

Justin Fenton has a good article describing a killing and a revenge killing in Baltimore. It doesn’t provide the answers, but it does help clarify the picture as to why things are so damn F-ed up.

U.S. can’t justify its drug war spending, reports say

Duh. But what gives this report a little twist is that it comes from the U.S. Government. Despite the obvious, “Obama administration officials strongly deny that U.S. efforts have failed to reduce drug production or smuggling in Latin America.” What is it about being President that makes one keep fighting a failed drug war? From…
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A step toward crack/power cocaine sentencing parity…

…but not is the way I wanted. From the Washington Post: The Supreme Court has unanimously upheld a 10-year prison sentence for cocaine possession, rejecting a claim that harsh penalties in federal law apply only to crack cocaine.

Don’t bash the ‘stache

It’s weird there is such a thing as a “cop mustache.” Most cops don’t have them. But some do. From 10-66, Unusual Incident.