The Texas House will consider S. 60 this week, already passed the state Senate, to change Texas law so that juries would have the option of sentencing capital defendants to life without the possibility of parole. Currently, the only options for Texas juries in capital cases are death and life with parole after 40 years.

Life without parole is an option in every state except Texas and New Mexico. Houston County D.A. Chuck Rosenthal opposes the bill. The disadvantage of the bill is that it does away with the life with parole option in all cases. Particularly in juvenile cases, this should remain an option. However, TalkLeft supports the bill because jurors may be more likely to vote against death if they know the killer will never leave prison.

As we reported here, a recent report by the NAACP Legal Defense fund shows that death sentences continue to decline and are at the lowest level since 1976 - even in Texas. Except for Rosenthal's Harris County (Houston):

One place where the climate may have changed little, if at all, is Harris County. Local prosecutors and juries sent 10 men to death row in 2004 (two more than in 2003 and four more than in 2002), more than any state, save California and the rest of Texas. It remains the nation's capital of capital punishment. (emphasis supplied.)

Our prior post on the Texas bill is here. Editorials supporting the bill are here and here. If you really want to know what reforms are needed in Texas, check out the recent report by Texas Defender Services, Minimizing Risk: Blueprint for Death Penalty Reform in Texas. (pdf) The recommended reforms are on page 127 (of the pdf document, p. 145 of the report.)

by TChris

The fear of Big Brother watching our every move has often defeated government plans to install surveillance cameras. Creeping into the public consciousness, however, is the reality that government usually obtains access to the private cameras that have become ubiquitous in urban areas.

According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which tracked cameras from 1998 to 2004, publicly visible cameras in Chelsea have gone to 368 from 67; in Times Square, to 258 from 98; and on the Lower East Side, to 125 from 21.

Often the private camera in a building, store or restaurant might as well belong to the government, since private entities usually turn their videos over to police investigators after a crime.

The evidence provided by a clear picture is usually more reliable than eyewitness testimony, and can forestall accusations against innocent bystanders. Still, the realization that government has such easy access to cameras that chronicle the daily lives of many is unsettling.

Bruce Springsteen was on CBS Sunday Morning. DemBloggers has the video, including music and interview.

Newsweek continues to play the Administration's blame game over its mention of a Koran desecration incident and subsequent retraction. Kevin Drum gets it exactly right, calling Newsweek's blunder the equivalent of jaywalking, and concluding:

Newsweek and the rest of the media need to get up off their knees and start fighting back. They've done enough apologizing.

The L.A. Times today reports on the dozens who have alleged mishandling of the Koran. Our compilation on prior Koran abuse claims is here. Our point: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should appoint a special counsel to investigate the prisoner abuse claims.

Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy has a round-up of weekend law blog posts on sentencing issues. He also has a terrific roundup of mandatory minimum sentencing links including one to today's Journal Standard editorial slamming mandatory minimum sentences. It begins with a statement that the "GOP obsession with low-level offenders is unjust and costly."

Howard Dean was on Meet the Press today with Tim Russert. Russert brought up a Pew survey allegedly showing that Dean supporters went to church less than other Democrats. Via Suburban Guerilla:

Howard said the methodology was in question, because it was an internet survey. And then he started swinging: “I’m a committed Christian, and I’m not going to have other people tell me how I should or shouldn’t be a Christian. That’s my personal business, and I’m not going to have these Pharisees tell me what to do.” (He also referred to those who were pointing out the mote in his eye instead of taking it out of their own.)

The transcript is here. Crooks and Liars has a video clip. [hat tip Avedon at Atrios.]

Here's the exact exchange:

Sen. John McCain, chief architect of the nuclear option compromise, said on television this morning that the compromise is alive and kicking.

McCain said a deal would not block votes on any nominees, but would preserve for the minority party the tools to kill some nominations.

"There would be a commitment to let most of them go" to a vote, McCain said. "It's very possible that there would be a vote on all of them, it's also possible that one or more of them would not reach the Senate floor because of other difficulties that their nomination faces."

Sen. McCain echoed Colorado Senator Ken Salazar's remarks from the other day. What's holding up the compromise is not which judges to confirm of those previously rejected, but the definition of the limited "extreme circumstances" in which Dems could filibuster.

"We're having difficulty coming up with exact language which would portray that desire. It's tough," McCain told "Fox News Sunday."

So the nominations of extremists like Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown would go through, and the filibuster - in extreme circumstances which are as yet undefined - would be preserved only through the 109th Congress, until 2006. That's no compromise, that is capitulation.

Call your Senator, leave a voicemail today. Tell them to roll the dice. No retreat, no surrender.

by TChris

"Lock 'em up forever" legislation has been popular for a quarter century. The consequences of harsh sentencing laws -- predicted by participants in the criminal justice system but routinely ignored by politicians eager to seem tough on crime -- are painful today. Prisons overflow with aging inmates, and state budgets groan under the increasing weight of geriatric health care bills.

Feeling pressure to adhere to tight budgets, prison administrators and staff sometimes neglect their duty to provide adequate health care to inmates. A federal judge recently recognized that the problem in California is of constitutional magnitude.

Health care in the Department of Corrections has become so unconstitutionally shoddy, U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson found, that he is seriously considering the appointment of a receiver under his control to manage a system that he said is in "a blatant state of crisis."

As the Sacramento Bee reports, neglecting an inmate's health can be disastrous.

Playwright Seth Greenland writes over at the Huffington Post [Hat Tip: Daou Report]:

After the Koran-in-the-can story, and Friday’s photos of Saddam kicking back in his underwear, what’s next for the U.S. military? An all-out panty raid?

The whole world’s becoming a frat party and the President of the United States is manning the keg. With his prancing around a destroyer deck like a member of the Village People and his calls of “Bring ‘em on!”, the former cheerleader has certainly shown it’s still all right to have fun!

On a more serious note at the H.P., Stephen Elliott takes on the new Anti-Gang Act.

Members of the Houston Bar Association who have practiced before Priscilla Owen have rated her the worst justice of the six justices rated. Here are the rankings:

Judge (Respondents) Outstanding Acceptable Poor

Scott A. Brister (422) 36.9 20.7 42.4
Nathan L. Hecht (327) 40.3 17.4 42.3
Wallace B. Jefferson (270) 53.4 29.7 16.9
Harriet O'Neill (334) 55 30.5 14.5
Priscilla R. Owen (350) 39.5 15.2 45.3
Dale Wainwright (316) 48.7 25.7 25.7

Using "Outstanding" percentage minus "Poor" percentage, Owen is at minus 5.8%, i.e. 5.8% more rated her performance "Poor" than rated her "Outstanding." Owen's rating is a hair worse than Brister (-.5%); a little worse than Hecht (-2%); and much worse than O'Neill (+40.5%), Jefferson (+36.5%), and Wainwright (+23%).

Bump and Update: This story's gaining traction. Afghan President Karzai today demanded action against those repoonsible for the abuse. The Arab News Services also are giving it prominence. Armando at Daily Kos has more.

Update: Karzai is coming to the U.S. for a showdown. He's demanding control of all Afghan prisoners. The U.S., meanwhile, is blaming Karzqi for Afghanistan's soaring opium production. This should get interesting.

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original post

The days of quelling criticism of the Administration by labeling it "un-American" are coming to an end. As more and more Americans come to understand that this criminal treatment of detainees was systematic, and endemic to the Bush Administration, not only will our world image continue to plunge, but it may well result in Bush leaving office as the most disgraced President in history since Richard Nixon.

Blogger Michael Berube had an emergency appendectomy Friday. He could use your get well wishes, his wife said it was "hairy."

Update: Michael is home and resting comfortably. His sense of humor is intact as you can tell from his description of his "hairy" appendectomy.