Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My Life Saved by Reprieve of 24-year Sentence for Crack

By Kemba Smith Pradia (CNN)

Ten years ago, days before Christmas, President Bill Clinton changed my life forever. I was in federal prison, serving the seventh year of a 24-year sentence for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense.

Clinton's mercy and acknowledgement that my sentence was unjust led him to grant me a commutation. Had he not done so, I would be in prison until 2016. On December 22, the anniversary of my release, I will join others in a fast for justice to honor those in prison who deserve the same relief from their long sentences for low-level drug offenses.

Many things have changed in the last decade. I graduated from college, attended law school, got married, raised my son who was born while I was incarcerated and gave birth to a daughter. I also established my own foundation to give hope to children of incarcerated parents.

At the same time, the sentencing law that I was convicted under came under intense scrutiny. This year, President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act to limit the harsh mandatory minimum sentences associated with low-level crack cocaine offenses. Progress has been made.

But also since my release, an estimated 5,000 men and women have gone to federal prison each year for a crack cocaine offense. They have been subject to a sentencing structure that the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent judicial body, said applied "most often to offenders who perform low-level trafficking functions, wield little decision-making authority, and have limited responsibility."

Indeed, I went to prison for being complicit in my abusive boyfriend's crack cocaine trafficking operation. Prosecutors in the case acknowledged that I never sold, handled or used any drugs. Just as Clinton did 10 years ago, Obama should commute the sentences of many people serving egregiously long sentences for crack cocaine offenses.

When Congress created the crack cocaine sentencing law, it set very low quantities: 5 grams, the weight of two sugar packets; and 50 grams, the weight of a candy bar, to trigger five- and 10-year mandatory minimum sentences. A defendant charged with a powder cocaine offense would require 100 times the quantity of crack cocaine to receive the same mandatory minimum sentence.

Fortunately, this year Congress recognized that the 1986 law had failed to target drug kingpins and traffickers. More than 60% of crack cocaine defendants have been low-level offenders, such as street-level sellers, lookouts or couriers. Many of them have stories similar to mine and have the potential to contribute great things to their families and communities.

One example of the thousands serving an unjust sentence is Hamedah Hasan. She is a mother and grandmother, now serving the 17th year of a 27-year sentence for a nonviolent and low-level crack cocaine offense.

She had fled a physically abusive relationship to live with her cousin in Nebraska. Once she arrived, she realized that he was involved in a major drug operation. She ran minor errands for her cousin in exchange for having a roof over her head and the chance to escape her violent boyfriend.

Her sentencing judge is among her most ardent supporters. In a letter to the president, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf said, "I can say, without equivocation, that Ms. Hasan is deserving of the president's mercy." Hasan filed a commutation petition on Presidents Day.

That there was bipartisan support for crack cocaine sentencing reform this year, a time of heightened political discontent, is a testament to the intolerable nature of these excessive sentences. But the Fair Sentencing Act is not retroactive, and so it does not help anyone serving time today under the law that both Congress and the president agree is unfair. This cruel treatment should not be allowed to continue, and my experience should serve as an example.

Through the power of commutation, Obama can provide relief to prisoners serving excessive sentences. While the president's clemency track record is bleak -- he has yet to issue any commutations since taking office -- I am hopeful he will see that justice requires his attention and that changing the lives of men and women in prison deserves his action.

Full article can be found here.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Email Seizure Requires Warrant


For the first time, a federal appeals court ruled that law enforcement must seek a search warrant to search and seize email stored by an Internet Service Provider. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers issued a press release, excerpted below:

In United States v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that government agents violated the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights when they seized his stored email without a warrant, pursuant to an outdated law, the Stored Communications Act of 1986 (SCA). “An Internet subscriber enjoys a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of emails that are stored with, or sent or received through, a commercial ISP,” the court said. “Moreover, to the extent that the SCA purports to permit the government to obtain such emails warrantlessly, the SCA is unconstitutional.”

More personal and business communications go by email than letter or fax today. The Stored Communications Act was written almost a quarter-century ago when electronic communications were a novelty, and very few people – including Congress itself – were familiar with electronic mail or even voicemail. Citizens today would find the archaic assumption that if an email stayed on a computer server for more than six month it was essentially “abandoned” as absurd.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Need to Get Lost? DeleteMe

Find yourself with old accounts you need to clean up, like the hotmail account that fills up with all the junk email you don't have time to read? Want to get rid of an old myspace or facebook? Delete Me can help...they charge for the service, but save you the hassle of finding old accounts and the hidden steps it sometimes takes to delete an account. They can also help with getting numbers on "do not call" lists and the like.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Leader of Mexican La Familia Cartel "El Chayo" Dead

Bloomberg Business Week
Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, the leader of Mexico’s La Familia drug cartel, was shot and killed December 8, 2010 by authorities in the western state of Michoacan, government security spokesman Alejandro Poire said today.

Moreno, known as “El Chayo,” was a founder of what the U.S. government calls “one of Mexico’s newest and most violent drug cartels.” The Mexican government had Moreno on its most- wanted list, offering 30 million pesos ($2.4 million) for information that could lead to his arrest.

Moreno was killed amid battles between security officials and gunmen that began Dec. 8 when cartel members traded fire with police in the city of Apatzingan. Gunmen then burned vehicles and blocked roads leading to the state capital of Morelia. The violence this week killed five federal policemen, three civilians and three gang members, Poire said.

“In recent days we’ve seen a criminal organization repudiated by the population and debilitated in a significant manner,” Poire said at a Mexico City news conference. “It’s the moment to intensify pressure on this organization.”

The government will increase the number of air and ground troops deployed in Michoacan, Poire said.

La Familia has operated in Michoacan since 2000, trafficking and producing drugs and committing acts of extortion, kidnapping and homicide, Poire said.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

New Report by National Institute of Justice: Crime and Victimization of Hispanic Adolescents

The National Institute of Justice has published a study that is an interesting read for those that work with Hispanic clients, especially youth in criminal justice. The report, entitled "Crime and Victimization Among Hispanic Adolescents: A Multilevel Longitudinal Study of Acculturation and Segmented Assimilation",is a study that illustrates the vast differences in the immigrant experience and how those differences affect Hispanic youth involvement in crime, both as victims and offenders. As it turns out, environment is a big factor: youth that live in inner-city poor neighborhoods tend to experience downward "cultural assimilation" and become involved in higher numbers in the criminal justice system. Here is an excerpt from the introduction. The report is free (available here):

This study represents a comprehensive effort to illustrate the divergent experiences of first-, second-, and third-generation Hispanic child and adolescent immigrants with respect to their self-reported violent victimization and involvement in criminal offending. This project is unique in that it synthesizes a vast amount of research toward the goal of understanding the complex linkages between immigration, culture, social structure, and criminological outcomes. Utilizing segmented assimilation to inform our study, we explore how neighborhood context, individual propensities, and situational factors impact crime and victimization among Latino youth. From a neighborhood perspective, segmented assimilation theory suggests that immigrant youth acculturate differentially depending on community context. Those who acculturate within disadvantaged, inner-city contexts, without strong family ties and support from other co-ethnics are likely to experience downward assimilation, resulting in more involvement in crime and other forms of deviance. We also examine how individual and situational factors impact the relationships between acculturation and crime and violent victimization. Using three well researched predictors of crime and victimization (i.e., delinquent peers, self-control, and parenting) we investigate how these influence the associations among assimilation status, acculturation context, and crime and victimization.

GSA First Federal Agency to Move to Cloud Email

The United States General Services Administration, the agency charged with running the United States Government, has announced that it will switch over to cloud-based email and collaboration tools in order to reduce inefficiencies and reduce costs. It is anticipated that the savings of switching to cloud based systems will be 50% over the next five years.

“Cloud computing has a demonstrated track record of cost savings and efficiencies,” said Casey Coleman, GSA Chief Information Officer. “With this award, GSA employees will have a modern, robust email and collaboration platform that better supports our mission and our mobile work force, and costs half as much.”

The contract provides for an easily accessible suite of services, including email and collaboration tools, to facilitate a more mobile work force. While agencies have moved sub-entities’ emails to the cloud, GSA is the first to utilize a cloud-based system for email agencywide. The migration will result in a 50 percent savings over the next five years when compared to current staff, infrastructure, and contract support costs.

“GSA’s cloud email award is in step with the Administration’s ‘cloud first’ strategy and demonstrates that agile, secure, reliable, and cost effective cloud options exist to rapidly improve agency operations and services,” said Dave McClure, GSA Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.

GSA awarded the $6.7 million, five-year task order to Unisys Corp. under the Alliant Governmentwide Acquisition Contract. Unisys has partnered with Google, Tempus Nova, and Acumen Solutions.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

FBI Facts and Figures

The FBI has released its 2010-2011 "Facts and Figures", a downloadable PDF that includes information on a wide variety of topics including: intelligence, investigative programs, law enforcement training, working with the private sector, and ensuring accountability and compliance. It has many statistics including the make-up of agents, the budget, and a list of field offices as well as lab facilities. It is worth perusing if for no other reason than to see what the FBI has for training as well as the priority for investigation.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Law and Technology Workshop Series: Electronic Courtroom Presentation

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JANUARY 20-22, 2011

The Law and Technology Electronic Courtroom Presentation Workshop focuses on the use of modern technology to improve the persuasiveness of courtroom presentations. This workshop is an intensive program where participants will learn to use TrialDirector and PowerPoint products to sharpen their courtroom skills. Attendees will enhance their direct-examination, cross-examination, and opening/closing argument abilities with detailed application and use of these litigation tools. Today, many federal courtrooms are "wired" to accommodate the latest computer programs, and this technology has proven to be an effective and persuasive addition to lawyers' arsenals. Participation in the Law and Technology Workshop is particularly valuable for federal criminal defense attorneys.

General presentations and demonstrations are supplemented by concentrated small group workshops. In the smaller breakout groups, attendees receive hands-on guidance to apply the information presented in the plenary sessions using facts from a mock case file. Each participant will practice direct and cross-examination, and opening/closing arguments, using Trial Director and PowerPoint software.

In order to take full advantage of the hands-on learning opportunities provided at this program, we strongly recommend that you bring a Windows laptop (not a Macintosh). NOTE: If you solely use a Macintosh, you must have a "virtual Windows" program installed and ready for use (virtual Windows programs can run a copy of MS Windows on a Macintosh).





Friday, December 3, 2010

Journalists on Drugs - A free pamphlet about illicit pharmaceuticals that every reporter should download.

By Jack Shafer

Where do most people get their information about drugs? From the press. And where does the press get its information? Primarily from other misinformed journalists, lazy cops, grieving parents, clueless drug counselors, spurious Web sites, and gibbering druggies. By indulging their worst class biases, by following their newsman instincts to hype the sensational or dramatic aspects of the story, by giving in to fear and ignorance, journalists keep their readers in the dark about drugs.

It doesn't have to be that way. Newspapers could establish drug beats and fill them with reporters as eager to learn about Mexican tar as budding financial reporters are to understand the workings of the Fed. Press organizations that say they can't afford a drug-beat reporter could at least invest in a few reference works to help their staff cover illicit drug use. One of my favorites, Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs From Alcohol to Ecstasy, is now in its third edition. Thanks to the work of one enterprising soul, the entire text of the 1972 classic Licit and Illicit Drugs is on the Web. Although dated in spots, it's still a solid and valuable overview of the drug universe.

For news desks pleading complete poverty, the U.K. charity DrugScope has produced a free pamphlet (PDF) titled The Media Guide to Drugs: Key Facts and Figures for Journalists, which serves up 140-pages of basic, nonhysterical information about drugs and drug law. Although U.K.-centric, especially in its legal references, the pamphlet's contents are easily translatable to the American scene.

Guardian media blogger Roy Greenslade, who hypes the pamphlet today, also contributed a blurb for its cover that's worth reproducing in full. He writes:

I have despaired over the years about the hysterical and ill informed way in which the media, most especially the largest-selling popular newspapers, report on the subject of drugs. Journalists are too ready to accept myths and, by passing them on, contribute to yet further myth-making by their readers.

By reacting emotionally rather than rationally to the topic, and by denying reality, newspapers do a disservice to society.

This guide will surely help the next generation of journalists because it deals with facts that counter ignorance and prejudice. I believe it will prove invaluable.
The Media Guide to Drugs doesn't pretend to be the final authority on drugs like, say, The Physicians' Desk Reference, but as a place to launch an open-minded journalistic inquiry into drugs, their effects, and the drug laws. The pamphlet's A-Z guide to the most prevalent drugs eschews hysteria in favor of cold facts and presents accurate timelines for each drug discussed

I'm not as enthusiastic about the pamphlet's pointers on how journalists should cover drug stories as I'd like to be. In my experience, most drug journalism falters because the reporters and editors behind the stories don't ask the skeptical and probing questions they would if they were covering a business or political story. They don't question the numbers the drug warriors give them or the anecdotal accounts of users. They don't look for authoritative information in the medical literature or in academia. They don't even bother to consult Nexis, which contains brilliant articles (not just mine!) that tell the truth about drug-related death, meth-mouth, pot potency, glue sniffing, and more.

But those are quibbles. In a Q&A section, The Media Guide to Drugs smartly implores reporters to ask the essential questions when writing their stories, such as, "What happens when someone takes more than one drug at a time?" and "Why do some people respond so differently to the same drug?" and "Can you become instantly dependent on a drug?" It counsels journalists to seek drug statistics from reliable sources, but even then to be skeptical of data that are under-reported or make unsupportable claims. The sources the pamphlet points to are all British, of course, but any reporter with a Web browser can find their U.S. equivalents with the help of Google.

Those who cover the police, the courts, popular culture, or the legislative and administrative machines should keep a copy of The Media Guide to Drugs for quick reference. It presents more debunking of facts, encourages more sensible doubt, and kills more dangerous preconceptions than any sized volume. Download it. Now.

Huge Growth in People With Criminal Records creates $57-$65 Billion in Lost Output a Year


Growth of Ex-Offender Population in United States Is a Dramatic Drag on Economy

Three decades of harsh criminal justice policies have created a large population of ex-offenders that struggle in the labor market long after they have paid their debts to society, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). Because prison records and felony convictions greatly lower ex-offenders' chances of finding work, the United States loses between $57 billion and $65 billion a year in lost output.

"It isn't just that we have the highest incarceration rate in the world, we have created a situation over the last 30 years where about one in eight men is an ex-offender," said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and a co-author of the report.

The new report, "Ex-offenders and the Labor Market," found that in 2008 there were between 5.4 million and 6.1 million ex-prisoners and between 12.3 million and 13.9 million ex-felons in the United States. Over 90 percent were men.

In 2008, about one in 33 working-age adults was an ex-prisoner, and about one in 15 working-age adults was an ex-felon. Among working-age men in that same year, about one in 17 was an ex-prisoner and one in eight was an ex-felon.

Because ex-offenders face substantial barriers to employment, the authors estimate that the large ex-offender population in 2008 lowered employment that year by the equivalent of 1.5 million to 1.7 million workers.

"The rise in the ex-offender population overwhelmingly reflects changes in the U.S. criminal Justice system, not changes in underlying criminal activity," says Schmitt. "We incarcerate an astonishing share of non-violent offenders, particularly for drug-related offenses. We have far better ways to handle these kinds of offenses, but so far common sense has not prevailed."

The report warns that in the absence of reforms to the criminal justice system, the share of ex-offenders in the working-age population will rise substantially in coming years, increasing the magnitude of employment and output losses estimated for 2008. ..Source.. by The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Mexican Vital Records

Need birth certificates or other vital records from Mexico? If you are in a hurry and can pay (or need to do business in English), try ActaExpress. They can get birth, death, marriage and divorce records from all over Mexico. If you can conduct your search in Spanish, all states in Mexico have the same structure to their website and many have vital records contacts. For example, for the state of Jalisco, you would enter http://www.jalisco.gob.mx/index.html

Melissa Kupferberg NDIA Scholarship

Melissa Kupferberg was a nationally recognized investigator with the Tampa, Florida Federal Public Defender office when she passed away. Only 32 years old, she was a skilled investigator, capital mitigation specialist, and sentencing advocate who had a wonderful ability to relate to and work on behalf of clients. Her Master’s Degree in Social Work and considerable experience in both capital and non-capital cases gave her great expertise in understanding and addressing mental health issues. This expertise helped her to develop a rapport with all types of clients, even those with significant mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities.

First and foremost, Melissa was dedicated to her clients. She was a fierce advocate, always seeking the most persuasive way to demonstrate a client’s humanity to judge or jury, from the mentally ill death row prisoner to a defendant facing child pornography charges. Melissa worked tirelessly to ensure thorough investigation of her clients’ cases. Innocent or guilty, Melissa helped clients open up about their pasts, including painful details they would not reveal to others, so that information could be developed that might eventually persuade a judge or jury to give a lighter sentence than they would otherwise receive. Most importantly, she respected them and appreciated their humanity.

To honor Melissa, her family has created the Melissa Kupferberg NDIA Scholarship. The goal of the scholarship is to recognize those NDIA members who have followed in Melissa’s footsteps, through their client-centered approach to indigent criminal defense, by providing them with funding to attend an NDIA National Conference.

If you are interested in applying for the scholarship, please fill out the following form by clicking here.
The form may be filled out online and emailed via an email button on the form to Beverly Davidson at ndia@cox.net, or the form may be printed and submitted by mail. The address is:


Beverly Davidson, Executive Secretary
460 Smith Street, Suite K
Middletown, CT 06457

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Investigating Attention-Motivated Fabricated Crimes


Every year there are a dozen or so incidents involving fabricated crimes that make national headlines because the motive behind the reported crime fascinates the general public. Recently a woman in Vancouver, Washington reported that she was the victim of an acid attack, where a black woman threw acid onto her face. After an extensive investigation which first focused on trying to find the perpetrator and then explored the possibility that the claim was falsified, the woman was eventually confronted and confessed to staging the attack herself. Her reported motive for doing so was because she was unhappy with her appearance.

There are a number of possible motives for making a false claim of being a crime victim. The most common is to conceal another crime such as a homicide, theft, or infidelity. However, when the "victim" receives psychological gain as a result of reporting the crime, it falls into the category of an attention-motivated crime.

The Investigation - While all reported crimes must be initially approached as legitimate, many false reports are considered suspicious at the start. Perhaps something does not make sense within the victim's account, or physical evidence does not support the description of the crime. In the previously mentioned case, for example, it was considered suspicious that there were chemical burns only on the woman's face, and none on her clothing. In addition, the woman's eyes were supposedly protected by sunglasses which were miraculously purchased shortly before the attack, even though the woman was not in the habit of wearing sunglasses.


What are possible indications of a fabricated claim?
What is the significance of crisscross scratch marks on a victim?
What are the common characteristics of individuals who fabricate a claim for attention?