Comic Book Explains Arrests and Lawyers to Teenage Children

In New York City, anyone arrested under the age of 16 is now provided an informational pamphlet (four pages) explaining the criminal process from the booking stage right through sentencing.

Is it me, or do others find this one of the latest signs of the apocalypse?  This is a sad commentary.

This comic book does not mention the presumption of innocence or the specific charges facing the youth (although it has the feel of a possession rap).  There is an assumption that the arrest was valid.  Defenses are not referenced.

In the end, the judge finds the urban youth guilty.  Sad but realistic. [This link will download a PDF of the entire comic.]

The concept of this instructional graphic pamphlet was hatched by the Youth Justice Board of the non-profit Center for Court Innovation whose mission is to teach high school students about public policy,  leadership and public speaking.

Khaair, a Justice Board member who did not want his last name published, said they decided on the comic book as their project because, "the youth of New York don't have representation and we really need a voice -especially for the stuff that involves us."

This "stuff" apparently involves cops, arrests, criminal charges, drugs, and lawyers.  All in a day's work over in Queens at the Francis Lewis High School where Khaair is a senior.  BTW: he wants to be the Mayor of Gotham and in our opinion, he's off to a great start.

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SCOTUS Grills California's Hired Appellate Counsel in Landmark Prison Case

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Ok, we've seen this one coming down the tracks.  The ABA Journal is reporting that Justice Sonia Sotomayor told the managing partner of Sydney Austin's Washington, D.C. office, Carter Phillips, to "slow down from the rhetoric", as Phillips began his argument before the High Court on behalf of the State of California in the Schwarznegger -v- Plata  prison overcrowding case.

Justice Sotomayor also had a series of hard questions for California's appellate attorney such as how his client could possibly explain recent prison deaths and why these prisons are choking with dazed, deranged inmates sitting in their own feces.  She wanted to know what California's plan will be.

 As you can imagine, the present Justice-mix soon erupted and the debate was carried on, heatedly, among the jurists themselves.  The high-powered lawyers were rendered oddly silent, as the intra-jurist discussion was occasionally refereed by Chief Justice John Roberts.

According to eye-witness accounts from among the professional-stocked galleries, Justice Samuel Alito was visibly agitated pondering the prospect of newly released inmates cruising the streets of California and, eventually, the nation.

Court watchers once again believe that the Court will line-up along their classic "ideological" lines, neutralizing each other, 4 votes to 4; and setting up Justice Anthony Kennedy to write the tie-breaking concurring opinion.

Even if the Court's opinion amounts to a mere plurality (less binding on subsequent couts), a landmark prisoner's rights opinion is heralded.  We will, of course, update you on the SCOTUS opinion.  You'll know when this decision hits (March/April?) as it will be all over your evening news.

Meanwhile, the SCOTUSblog has posted two fascinating segments from yesterday's oral arguments. 

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Prison Overcrowding Case to Get Extended Argument at SCOTUS

Did you know that at any given moment, up to 2.3 million citizens are confined in our prisons in the United States?  Unfortunately, we lead the world in the incarceration industry.

This week, the Supreme Court will hear extended oral argument (80-minutes) in the case of Schwarzenegger v Plata.  You may recall that the governor of our largest state, Arnold Schwarzenegger, declared in 2006 that acute prison overcrowding had reached a crisis stage, "that gets worse with each passing day."

In California, there are approximately 160,000 men and women behind bars.  The prisons in that state are operating at 195% capacity meaning that two inmates occupy a space designed for one.

If petitioners are successful, a favorable ruling from the SCOTUS could release up to 40,000 inmates in California alone.

So far, the Prison Law Offices in Berkley, a non-profit organization specializing in prisoners' rights cases, sucessfully petitioned for convening a special three-judge District Court panel to assess the prisoners' claim under the Prisoner Litigation Relief Act.  Once convened, the prisoners' lawyers next convinced that panel to find that all conditions for a prisoner release order had been met.

The three-judge panel (not an appellate court, mind you) then ruled that the prison population must be reduced (significantly) over a two-year period.  This order, along with some complex jurisdictional issues, will be argued at SCOTUS this week.

One of the core issues is whether the admittedly overcrowded conditions in the California prisons affect the inmates' constitutional rights.  This approach is distinct from your basic habeas corpus petition and could result in a landmark prisoners' rights case.   

Among several other arguments, California asserts that it is simply not equipped to cut loose tens of thousands of convicted felons into its collapsing economy.  It does appear there is no good solution to this knotty problem.

Our laws become meaningless unless enforced.  Violent offenders must be punished to deter other violent crimes.  At what point, however, do we become a nation behind bars?

Michigan Connection:  Attorney General Mike Cox has joined several other states in filing an amicus brief in favor of rescinding the prisoner release order.

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