the crime report

The Vera Institute of Justice says early results of a five-year project to help prosecutors “monitor and guard agianst racial bias in prosecutorial decision making” are showing “tremendous promise.” In a briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill, Vera reported on its work in three places: San Diego, Charlotte, N.C., and Milwaukee. The project involves a detailed analysis of defendants’ race in a variety of case types, producing data that surprised even some prosecutors. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm said that under the project, his office has been able to cut the number of defendants in minor cases who are sent to prison, while maintaining public safety. (more…)

Something is afoot in America’s most “law-and-order” state.  The number of people sent to death row is declining.

On Sept. 21, 2006, Juan Quintero, an undocumented Mexican national, was arrested after a routine traffic stop in Houston. The arresting officer, Rodney Johnson, frisked and cuffed Quintero, who was driving without a license, before placing him in the back seat of his patrol car.  But Johnson missed the gun that Quintero had hidden on him. Moments later, as Johnson sat in the front seat writing up a report, Quintero fired seven times, killing the officer.

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A reporter looks at day-to-day practices in American courtrooms, and finds them wanting.

Last year in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., two juvenile judges were indicted on charges of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for sending children to a private prison. But this shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone who had studied the daily procedures in their courtrooms.

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