Mark A. Ciavarella From Rolling Out: Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, 63, serves as an example of why the private prison industry can do more harm than good. Ciavarella worked alongside owners of private juvenile facilities to ensure that the prison remained occupied. The more prisoners equated to more profits for…
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From Chris Hedges/Truthdig.com: Poor people, especially those of color, are worth nothing to corporations and private contractors if they are on the street. In jails and prisons, however, they each can generate corporate revenues of $30,000 to $40,000 a year. This use of the bodies of the poor to make…
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Marisa Alexander, the thirty year-old mother of three sentenced to twenty years in prison for firing a warning shot to fend off an attack form her husband. From The Grio/Joy-Ann Reid: Marissa Alexander’s daughter turns three today but there is not plan for a birthday party. Instead, the 31-year-old remains…
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President Obama’s remarks on Trayvon Martin (full transcript) You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African- American…
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From Miami New Times: Tremaine McMillian, the 14-year-old boy who was forced the ground and head-locked by Miami-Dade police because, among other things, they claimed he was giving them “dehumanizing stares,” had his day in court this morning. McMillian was also facing two unrelated charges, but all charges have been…
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From I09: Last year, PBS Frontline published a fascinating analysis of how murder convictions have been affected by “Stand Your Ground” laws, which expand the reach of self-defense laws that protected Zimmerman. The study was conducted by John Roman, a senior analyst at Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center who had…
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From The Nation: When Zimmerman was acquitted [last night], it wasn’t because he’s a so-called white Hispanic. He’s not. It’s because he abides by the logic of white supremacy, and was supported by a defense team—and a swath of society—that supports the lingering idea that some black men must occasionally…
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