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
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Neighbor Cleared in Murder of Two Burglary Suspects
A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.Read more....First, let's remember that this is Texas, a state…
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The Insidious Nature of Capital Punishment
Two recent news articles bring attention to the insidious nature of the death penalty. The first article reports that a Louisiana prosecutor wanted the jury in a capital case to know that the defendant had…
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Our National Shame - One Out Of Many
"Alas, we don’t treat our own inmates in Guantánamo with even that much respect for law. On Thursday, America released Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al Jazeera who had been held without charges for more…
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Exonerated Inmates Struggle to Live Normal Lives
Tabitha Pollock was asleep when her boyfriend killed her 3-year-old daughter. Charged with first-degree murder because prosecutors believed she should have known of the danger, Pollock spent more than six years in prison before the…
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Death Penalty is Cruel & Unusual
THE Supreme Court concluded last week, in a 7-2 ruling, that Kentucky’s three-drug method of execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In his majority opinion,…
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Former Bexar County DA lost faith in capital punishment system
SAN ANTONIO – Sam Millsap is embarrassed to admit he doesn't remember how many people his office sent to death row when he was district attorney here in the 1980s.Read more...Interesting how many people who…
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Problems for Lethal Injection Remain
New York Times - Executions in Texas, Alabama and other Southern states with large death rows are likely to resume shortly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday upholding Kentucky’s method of putting…
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U.S. Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injections
The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection executions Wednesday, likely clearing the way to resume executions that have been on hold for nearly 8 months.The justices, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a…
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Limits of the Death Penalty
In recent decades, the Supreme Court has looked for ways to limit the death penalty, but it hears arguments today in a case that could reverse that trend — and extend capital punishment to additional…
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Orange County Sheriff's Duputies Lied Under Oath
They lied, they changed their stories and they compared notes even after being ordered not to by a special Orange County grand jury investigating a deadly beating at Theo Lacy Jail, the testimony shows.During 45…