The non-partisan Justice Project has a new policy paper (pdf) on jailhouse snitch testimony, one of the top causes of wrongful convictions. From the press release:

The use of jailhouse snitch testimony has been widely used throughout the American criminal justice system. Unfortunately jailhouse snitches are often utilized by prosecutors despite their testimony being widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system. A 2005 study of 111 death row exonerees found that 51 were wrongly sentenced to death in part due to testimony of witnesses with incentive to lie.

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Sixty percent of all executions in 2007 were performed in Texas. Elsewhere, the number of executions dropped.

Of the 42 executions in the last year, 26 were in Texas. The remaining 16 were spread across nine other states, none of which executed more than three people. Many legal experts say the trend will probably continue.

One law professor predicts in the not too distant future, all executions will be Texecutions. Perhaps he's right as New Jersey and other states are beginning to see the light.

There do seem to be slight stirrings suggesting that other states might follow New Jersey. Two state legislative bodies — the House in New Mexico and the Senate in Montana — passed bills to abolish capital punishment, and in Nebraska, the unicameral legislature came within one vote of doing so.

If you haven't checked out the Texas Department of Criminal Justice death page recently, it's here. Last meals are no longer listed -- instead you can read the last statements of those put to death.

The NYTimes today runs a curious story that seems intended to debunk Hillary Clinton's claim of experience based on her time as First Lady. The gist is:

In seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton lays claim to two traits nearly every day: strength and experience. . . . She has cast herself, instead, as a first lady like no other: a full partner to her husband in his administration, and, she says, all the stronger and more experienced for her “eight years with a front-row seat on history.” Her rivals scoff at the idea that her background gives her any special qualifications for the presidency. Senator Barack Obama has especially questioned “what experiences she’s claiming” as first lady, noting that the job is not the same as being a cabinet member, much less president.

Obama's claim seems strange to me. As I understand it, Hillary's claim is that she was the principal, and importantly, final advisor to Bill Clinton on all his major decisions. The story seems to confirm the claim, and certainly Bill Clinton has as well:

. . . [S]he was more of a sounding board than a policy maker, who learned through osmosis rather than decision-making, and who grew gradually more comfortable with the use of military power. . . . [S]he acted as adviser, analyst, devil’s advocate, problem-solver and gut check for her husband, and that she has an intuitive sense of how brutal the job can be. What is clear, she and others say, is that Mr. Clinton often consulted her, and that Mrs. Clinton gained experience that Mr. Obama, John Edwards and every other candidate lack — indeed, that most incoming presidents did not have. “In the end, she was the last court of appeal for him when he was making a decision,” said Mickey Kantor, a close Clinton friend who served as trade representative and commerce secretary. “I would be surprised if there was any major decision he made that she didn’t weigh in on.”

This sounds right to me and it is what I understand Hillary's claim of experience as First Lady entails. It makes this type of comment perplexing to me:

I watched the documentary Giuliani Time last night. It chronicles Rudy's years as Mayor of New York.

The film nicely debunks the perception that he was responsible for the drop in New York City's crime rate and adequately establishes that "Broken Windows" policing has never been shown to reduce serious crime.

It does a great job of explaining his misguided welfare policy. He called it a work for jobs program but it failed to train people for real jobs and instead made them work for their welfare payment at menial jobs without wages and with no hope of a job or advancement or skills at the end of the term. His policy ended up increasing the number of homeless (he shuttled them into shelters or the outlying boroughs to make it appear to tourists and Manhattan residents they had decreased in number)and it forced some who were attending school to drop out and sweep streets in order not to lose their financial assistance. At the same time his administration doled out corporate welfare by the millions.

The film also adeptly and accurately, in my view, portrays Rudy's atrocious record on civil liberties, from busting the homeless, squeegee men and turnstile jumpers to authorizing massive stop and frisk policies that targeted minorities on the flimsy justification they were going to confiscate weapons, to his frequently overturned first amendment crackdowns.

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Merry Christmas everyone. It's been snowing all night in Denver -- we've got 4 to 8 inches on tap by evening with treacherous driving conditions -- a good day to stay home and keep a fire going while Christmas dinner is in the oven. And, of course, check the blogs and news.

Here's a cheery Christmas video for you, Darlene Love on David Letterman, Christmas, Baby Please Come Home (hat tip to Dan at 5280.com.)

How's your day going so far?

Things are looking up at a juvenile detention center in Chicago, thanks to an order transfering authority from Cook County to the court.

The... children and teenagers, most of whom are awaiting trial, will have the chance to spend 12 hours a day, for 12 days, playing games: chess, basketball, even competing in a spelling bee, instead of watching endless hours of daytime television and missing home.

In addition to gifts outside their cell doors,

Today, teens hang blinking lights, sparkly garland and ornaments as they compete for best window display and a pizza party reward. Staff members try to make sure that every child gets a call from family on Christmas Eve. In turn, kids are given cards to send home. And good behavior is rewarded with microwaveable White Castle hamburgers.

The changes are the work of court-appointed national juvenile expert, Earl Dunlap:

The power of the key has turned into the power of due process," he said.

Time Magazine has a list of the top ten crime stories of 2007. Maybe it was a last minute thing, but it's woefully inadequate. Missing from the list:

• Scooter Libby's trial and conviction in the Valerie Plame Leak Case
• Jose Padilla's trial and conviction
• Bernie Kerik's Indictment
• Crack Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines Reduction
• The 200th DNA exoneration
• The failed Duke Lacrosse Player's alleged sexual assault case
• Norman Hsu
• Larry Craig Guilty Plea
• Michael Vick Guilty Plea
• Phil Spector Trial
• Joseph Nacchio Trial
• Paris Hilton
• The Liberty City terror case acquittals
• The convictions and sentences of U.S. troops in the Mahmoudiya rape and killings

And crime stories that as yet have produced no indictments:

• the NSA warrantless wiretaps
• The U.S. Attorney Firing scandal

What else did Time leave out?

From all of us at TalkLeft to everyone in the Blogosphere and Blogtopia (yes, Skippy coined that phrase)and to all our readers, we wish you a very happy holiday.

I'm not sure about Big Tent or TChris, but I'll be blogging lightly tonight through Christmas, so if you're online, please stop by and say hello.

And yes, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

ARG's latest:

Iowa Likely Democratic Caucus Goers Dec 16-19 Dec 20-23
Clinton 29% 34%
Edwards 18% 20%
Obama 25% 19%

All polls stink imo, especially Iowa polls. But if Hillary supporters were looking for something encouraging, they have this poll.

The House Intelligence Committee has scheduled a hearing on January 16 (pdf) regarding the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes of two al Qaeda suspects held in secret overseas prisons, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The order to destroy the tapes allegedly was given by Jose Rodriguez who at that time was head of the CIA’s clandestine service. Rodriguez, who has hired lawyer Robert Bennett to represent him, has no intention of being the scapegoat.

The TimesonLine reports Rodgriguez is seeking immunity for his testimony. Who might he give up?

Four names in the White House have surfaced so far. My money is on Cheney lawyer (now his Chief of Staff) David Addington.

Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the CIA’s use of torture, according to intelligence sources.

It has emerged that at least four White House staff were approached for advice about the tapes, including David Addington, a senior aide to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, but none has admitted to recommending their destruction.

Former CIA agent Larry Johnson writes the real issue isn't who ordered the tape destruction, but who lied to the Judge in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. That was my first thought when I read that one of the taped suspects was Abu Zubaydah.

Larry points out: [More...]

J. Edgar Hoover sent a memo to the White House in 1950, where it evidently languished until the Bush administration decided that Hoover had a good plan.

A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

The irony, we hope, is obvious: to protect the country from "disloyalty," Hoover urged a betrayal of the Constitution. What kind of loyal American believes that individuals should be deprived of their freedom on suspicion alone, without due process and with no right to challenge the confinement in court?

Oh, right. This kind:

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush issued an order that effectively allowed the United States to hold suspects indefinitely without a hearing, a lawyer, or formal charges.