Keeping with our theme of how we are failing our youth a little longer, a new report on the California Youth Authority says the state is failing to provide adequate mental health care in the juvenile penal system:

Juvenile convicts suffering mental illnesses are often over-medicated and improperly punished and cared for by inadequately trained clinicians who tend to intervene only when crisis strikes, a state-funded report on the California Youth Authority concludes.

The report, obtained by The Times on Tuesday, described a patchwork state system of care that is inconsistent from facility to facility. It cited a failure to track the effects of mind-altering drugs and an over-reliance on punishment — segregation in a wire-mesh cage, for example — for youths who need therapy instead.

The report was conducted as part of a class-action lawsuit filed by wards, as young convicts are called, alleging unconstitutional conditions within the Youth Authority, once a national model for rehabilitation of wayward juveniles. Its authors, experts on psychiatry and corrections, were jointly approved by lawyers for the wards and the state, which paid for the review.

Two teens who shared a cell hung themselves with sheets last week at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility near Sacramento.

These suicides put a human face on the tragedy of what happens when we do not pay attention to the mental health needs of incarcerated teenagers," said Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of an oversight committee on corrections. "The Youth Authority has a crisis in its health-care delivery, especially when it comes to meeting mental health needs."

Update: The AP has this report.

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Arizona is coming under fire as a result of new report by the Justice Department faulting juvenile facilities over suicides:

In an investigation spurred by three suicides at Arizona juvenile corrections facilities, the U.S. Department of Justice has found numerous civil rights violations that affect the well-being of youths in the state's care.

A lack of suicide prevention, inadequate mental health care, medical care and special education services and instances of sexual and physical abuse are among the findings in the 39-page report expected to be released by the federal agency today.

The report documents widespread mismanagement and communication failures in the department, which may have contributed to the suicides. It also points to abuse by juveniles or staff members in which appropriate investigations and disciplinary actions were not taken.

Disappointing news....Gary Hart is unlikely to run for the Senate. The only reason given is financial. This isn't official as Hart himself has not commented.

Run, Gary, Run.

At their judicial conference Tuesday, 9th Circuit Judges blasted the Feeney Amendment included in the PROTECT Act that limits judicial discretion in sentencing:

The opposition was voiced during a two-day meeting of the 15 chief district judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit that concluded here Tuesday. Judge John Coughenour of Seattle said the group had ``virtual unanimity'' in its disdain for the law, which compels judges to strictly follow sentencing guidelines and orders that reports be sent to Congress on anyone who deviates from them.

The change, which was supported by Attorney General John Ashcroft, was part of an anti-crime bill signed by President Bush last year. The Justice Department made no attempt to consult with judges, Coughenour said, and ignored a commission created by Congress to make sentencing recommendations.

....The 9th Circuit includes federal courts in Hawaii, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, as well as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The PROTECT act is bad and needs to be repealed. Ashcroft needs to go. Boot Bush.

Professor and blogger Mark A.R. Kleiman sees this as a negative, but we applaud it.

The Justice Department has decided to stop testing new jail inmates for drug use.

It was a social science project begun by former Attorney General Edwin Meese under President Reagan.

The program, the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program, or ADAM, tests newly arrested criminals entering jail for narcotics violations in 35 cities. Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, in the Reagan administration, started it in 1986.

Cops and "criminal justice experts" (we put that in quotes because in our experience the term means one with a law enforcement leaning-- for some reason we rarely if ever hear criminal defense lawyers referred to as "justice experts") want to keep the program and argue that it's a useful tool in the drug war.

"This is a real loss," said Mark A. R. Kleiman, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is editor of The Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin. "Closing down ADAM indicates a complete lack of seriousness about getting a handle on the drug abuse problem in this country."

We think it's a privacy invasion to the inmates. They committed a crime, they go in to do their time. Why should the Government be entitled to their bodily fluids? Sorry, but we don't think a social studies project is a good enough reason.

Law enforcement officials and criminal justice experts criticized ending the program, saying it was ....widely credited for tracking the rise and fall of the crack epidemic and detecting the beginning of the methamphetamine epidemic on the West Coast.

The Justice Department cites a lack of funding for cutting the program. The "criminal justice experts" think the Office of National Drug Control Policy should have lobbied Congress harder for more money.

Why is the Government spending so much money --$23 million--on social science projects and surveys instead of on providing treatment and alternatives to prison for drug users? Why are inmates being forced to be statistical guinea pigs?

And if you believe this, we have a bridge to sell you.

In a "rousing defense" Tuesday during opening arguments, Robert Morvillo, Martha Stewart's defense attorney lashed out at the Government charging they were overzealous prosecutors who made the erroneous assumption that Martha lied when she had intended to get rid of her shares all along.

Attorney Robert Morvillo offered a rousing defense of Martha Stewart Tuesday, telling a jury she had no motive to lie to investigators probing the reasons why she sold her stock in ImClone Systems Inc.

In an opening statement that sounded like a closing argument, Morvillo said his client was the victim of overzealous prosecutors who assumed Stewart lied when she said she planned to sell the shares all along. Intent on making a case against Stewart, he said, prosecutors chose to believe only that she sold the stock because she knew ImClone founder and family friend Samuel Waksal was unloading millions of his own family's shares in the company.

"This case is brought to you by the U.S. Department of Justice, headed by John Ashcroft," Morvillo said as he prowled in front of the jury box and ridiculed Congress for leaking erroneous information about Stewart and her co-defendant and former broker, Peter Bacanovic.

"Same government," Morvillo said, who at points slammed his open palm on the bar in front of the jury box for emphasis. "Leak it on one side, prosecute on the other. Same system. I think George Orwell was 20 years too early."

While other news stories are leading today with "Proseuction Says Martha Lied", we're rooting for Martha so don't expect to see those articles here, unless we decide to deride them. We'll be concentrating on the defense.

The ACLU has filed its first complaint with the UN alleging that 9/11 suspects have been mistreated:

In the complaint, filed on behalf of 13 people arrested under federal authority shortly after the attacks, the ACLU asked the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to declare the treatment towards the immigrants to be "arbitrary" and the U.S. policies to be a violation of international law.

.....The ACLU is alleging that of the more than 750 immigrants detained mainly on immigration law violations within the first year after the attacks, many were not immediately told of the charges they faced, were denied access to attorneys and were not given "meaningful judicial review of their confinement."

From the ACLU press release:

We are filing this complaint before the United Nations to ensure that U.S. policies and practices reflect not just domestic constitutional standards, but accepted international human rights principles regarding liberty and its deprivations," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU, at the Geneva press briefing.

"With today's action, we are sending a strong message of solidarity to advocates in other countries who have decried the impact of U.S. policies on the human rights of their citizens," Romero added. "The ACLU will go where it must to seek justice for the men who were unfairly detained and deported by the U.S. government after September 11."

You can read the complaint here.

8:45 pm ET--if you're by a tv, Kerry is about to come on and claim victory. We're watching CNN tonight.

Kos of Daily Kos, who has been a Dean supporter, on the meaning of Kerry's win:

Dean has enough money to limp on, but by all indications, he's through. If there's something we should all take from this election cycle, it's that the unexpected can and does happen. But for now, Dean would have to pull a miracle to survive.

As I wrote way back when, Feb 3 will determine the anti-Kerry. And I stand by that analysis. Lieberman and Clark are on life support.

So if anyone will stop Kerry, it's up to Edwards. Watch the establishment rally around Kerry to end this thing as quickly as possible.

Edwards is on Larry King now, following Howard Dean. Edwards says he's very pleased and optimistic. He's off to South Carolina tonight. He agrees he has to win South Carolina, but refuses to answer the question about whether he'd run as VP to Kerry. He repeats South Carolina is a "must win" for him. In the next round of questions, Edwards says he's not interested in being VP and he's going to be the nominee.

Update: Kerry was terrific in his victory speech. He hit all the right target groups, particularly the veterans. Smart move to discuss the issues, not just his win or the primaries.

Update: Edwards is really good too--and he has such a winsome personality. Looks like a Kerry-Edwards race. We wish they'd end up together on the ticket. One wants to help the vets, the other wants to help the poor. They really could beat Bush.

Clark is talking about Al Qaeda and Osama. He's giving a passionate speech. We like him too. Maybe it will be a Kerry-Clark ticket. That could be a winning combo too.

Bush may really be in trouble here.

Update: Dave Cullen has a rant on behalf of Howard Dean.

CNN projects John Kerry the winner at 8:22 pm. He has 38% right now to Dean's 24%.

8:00 pm Polls closed. CNN says exit polls show it's Kerry in the lead, followed by Dean, and Edwards and Clark almost tied. First returns at 8pm are in line with the exit polls. Dean is very much still in the game.

Updates on results here. These are updated every 15 minutes. CNN seems to be reporting faster here.

Oliver Willis is blogging live. Go on over.

The Detroit terror convictions that Attorney General Ashcroft was so proud of are spriraling further into treacherous waters. Background here.

The news today is that the government's confidential informant in the case, Marwan Farhat, says that the FBI told him to break the law during the investigation.

In a Jan. 21 letter, written at the airport as he left for an undisclosed foreign country, informant Marwan Farhat said he was asked by FBI Special Agent Robert Pertuso to steal mail from Arab Muslims whom the federal government had identified as terror suspects.

Farhat, of Dearborn, claimed in a six-page letter to Pertuso that the FBI failed to deliver on a promise to give Farhat 25 percent of any money confiscated from the terror suspects. In his letter, Farhat said he received nothing.

“I worked around the clock helping and assisting the government of the United States to put Muslims in jail,” wrote Farhat, who said he assisted the FBI in giving information on scores of Arabs. “My life has been destroyed, abused and used to benefit your interests.”

He handed the letter, which was obtained by The Detroit News, to a U.S. immigration agent as he caught a flight from Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Wednesday. Fearful for his safety, and with the government’s approval, Farhat left the United States days after his identity was publicly revealed.

Diane Sawyer gets very low marks from this LA Times journalist for the The Punch and Judy Dean Show that aired last night:

Out of the 96 questions that Sawyer asked, 90 were about personality and temperament and only six were even vaguely about issues; virtually all 96 were hostile and negative.

When Dean tried to move the discussion to matters of substance, Sawyer inevitably pushed it back to negative fluff. ("I just want to make sure that I come back on a couple of things --” one thing, you said that --” that you decided that you've got to be yourself. That you've got to return to being what you really aren't. What were you that was not who you really were?")

Dean's natural response should have been, at some point, to have cut Sawyer off: "Excuse me, I'm tired of answering these superficial questions. Can't we talk about issues that matter to the American people?" Had he done so, however, it would have appeared to confirm the rap on him as a hothead. So the Deans were forced into the frame supplied by Sawyer -- as a father who gets excited at his son's hockey game can't be trusted; a woman doctor who doesn't watch much TV isn't really a normal American.

[link via Atrios.]

In better news for Dean, a government employees' union is spending $1.6 million to help him get the nomination.