The Justice Gambit


"Commentary on events in the U.S. system of justice from a social science perspective."

Author: Michael Blankenship is a professor of criminal justice at Boise State University.

Blawg Related Categories: Criminal Justice • Death Penalty • Sentencing/Post Conviction

Recent Posts from The Justice Gambit


  • Ohio executions back on with 1-drug method

    COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's death chamber is set to resume executions next month using a single drug that has been used in the U.S. to euthanize pets but never to put condemned prisoners to death.…

  • The Myth of Closure via Execution

    Of all the arguments in support of capital punishment, perhaps the most emotionally compelling is that it provides "closure" for the loved ones of murder victims. Prosecuting attorneys, politicians and journalists commonly refer to how…

  • The Permanent Underclass

    If you think it's tough getting a job during a recession, imagine what it's like for an ex-convict. Gregory Headley, 29, knows exactly what it's like. The Harlem resident was released from prison in July…

  • Needle Exchange Programs

    PROGRAMS THAT allow drug addicts to swap their dirty needles for sterile syringes are effective in reducing the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A 2008 report from the Centers for Disease Control…

  • The Cost of Killing in Idaho

    BOISE - Thomas Creech sits and waits on Idaho’s death row. Creech was already serving a life sentence for a double murder in 1981, when he was convicted of bludgeoning a fellow inmate to death…

  • No Constitutional Protection Against Being Framed

    "THERE IS NO Freestanding Constitutional 'Right Not To Be Framed.' " So states a brief filed by Iowa prosecutors hoping to persuade the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit against them for allegedly fabricating evidence…

  • Justices will scrutinize life sentences for youths

    It did not take long for the judge to determine that the convicted rapist in front of him was irredeemable. "He is beyond help," Judge Nicholas Geeker said of Joe Harris Sullivan. "I'm going to…

  • Like Giving Car Keys to A Drunken Teenager

    State officials will soon seek bids from private companies for 9 of the state’s 10 prison complexes that house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 here on death row. It is the first effort by…

  • The Death Penalty in Texas Looks Bad?

    Questions about whether Gov. Rick Perry allowed the execution of a man some arson experts say may have been innocent, and then hindered an investigation into the evidence, continue to reverberate across Texas, where issues…

  • An Example of Prosecutorial Misconduct

    After spending three years investigating the conviction of a Harvey man accused of killing a security guard with a shotgun blast in 1978, journalism students at Northwestern University say they have uncovered new evidence that…