Recording of Trayvon Martin’s 911 Call Exists
From ABC7 Chicago: See also: Lead investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with Manslaughter (13)
The 10 Most Disturbing Facts About Racial Inequality in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
From Anticapitalist: 4. According to recent data by the Department of Education, African American students are arrested far more often than their white classmates. The data showed that 96,000 students were arrested and 242,000 referred to law enforcement by schools during the 2009-10 school year. Of those students, black and…
Black Youth React to the Murder of Trayvon Martin
From TheGrio: “I kinda feel threatened too. Like what if this happens to me?,” said Kenneth Herrera, a 17-year-old student at the Bronx Academy of Letters in New York. Kenneth explained how Trayvon’s death struck him as “pure racism.” “You can’t make a law that changes how people think and…
Florida Governor Refuses to Suspend Zimmerman’s Gun Permit
From ThinkProgress: George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin on February 26, hasn’t just avoided arrest — he is still licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the State of Florida. This morning, local civil rights leaders called on Gov. Rick Scott (R) to suspend Zimmerman’s concealed carry permit…
Supreme Court: Defendants Have Right to Good Lawyers
From NYT: Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective lawyers during plea negotiations, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a pair of 5-to-4 decisions. Because about 95 percent of criminal convictions arise from guilty pleas, the decisions represent a vast expansion of judicial supervision of the criminal justice…
State Bill Would Bar Condoms as Prostitution Evidence
From NYT: When she worked the streets, Yvette Gonzales said, she frequently saw other prostitutes working without condoms. But they were not having unprotected sex at the request of their customers. Often, Ms. Gonzales said, the police would confiscate condoms when making a prostitution arrest so they could be used…
Before Washington’s high court: role of race in identifying a face
From Seattle Times: In State of Washington v. Bryan Edward Allen, two issues intersect that could hardly be of greater importance to the functioning of the criminal-justice system: the role of race, and the reliability of eyewitnesses. … On an August evening in 2009, in Seattle’s University District, Gerald Marcus…
Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
In an engaging and personal talk — with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks — human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America’s justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a third of the country’s black male population has been incarcerated at…