The Third Circuit has ruled that requiring sex offenders to submit to random lie-detector tests during the probationary period after release from prison is not unconstitutional, but forbidding them from owning a computer may be going too far.

Atrios is a tad angry about the FBI Canadian Alert Hoax.

Seriously, there are times when little partisan me just doesn't get it. I really really can't comprehend why at least a couple of people other than some idiots with websites like me aren't just a wee bit pissed off at this latest fake terror alert. Some guy in custody in Canada says some obvious nonsense about 5, or was it 19, guys sneaking across the border. The Canadian authorities, just to be prudent, hand it off to the FBI. We get a full media press - including a statement from the president - about these guys. We get word that the president has mobilized law enforcement to look for them, presumably diverting them away from other more productive terror-fighting activities. The media can't keep straight if these guys are Arabs or Pakistanis, or who the hell cares what's the difference anyway... Some members of our fine citizenry start calling the cops on randon brown people they spot on the bus. The FBI posts up pictures of who the hell knows who which are still up on their web site. Then, to top it all off they throw in a bit of Indian bashing just for good measure. This one can't even charitably be called a bungle. This is an outrage.

A mainstream media account is here.

We just did a live radio interview on Dan Viets' program in Missouri on the Patriot Act and abuses. For those listeners checking in here, and anyone else who's interested, we are reprinting a list of the changes that we published back in September.

The list comes from the Des Moines Sunday Register (September 1, 2002 edition). It was in the print (but not online) edition of the paper accompanying the opinion article "Lessons in Freedoms, Rights" by Rekha Basu.

Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks are:

Freedom of Association: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.

Freedom of Information: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public-records requests.

Freedom of Speech: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation. The FBI won't say how many public libraries it has checked in order to determine who is getting particular books or looking up certain information on computers. A University of Illinois survey of nearly 2,000 libraries in December and January determined that the agency searched one of every nine of the nations largest libraries.
Right to Legal Representation: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.

Freedom from Unreasonable Searches: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.

Trial: Government may jail Americans without a trial.

Right to Liberty: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.

Other Changes: Government may listen to suspects on any telephones they might use, not just on a specific phone. The FBI and intelligence agents may share information, an unprecedented shift away from a 24-year-old policy that placed a high wall between domestic law enforcement officials and the CIA. The Treasury Department may target banks and foreign countries deemed havens for money-laundering. The Immigration and Naturalization Service may hold noncitizens up to seven days without charges and detain them indefinitely if they are considered a threat to national security.

[comments now closed]

TAPPED likes our response to its criticism yesterday of our earlier post on Rep. Rangel calling for the draft. Tapped also likes the reply to its post by Liquid List. We do too, in the context of the war against Iraq, which at this point seems inevitable.

We're putting the issue of a future policy for a military draft and compulsory national service on our list of issues to come back to in the near future. When we've thought it through and done some more research, we'll let you know where we stand.

If you are not already reading Tapped on a daily basis, you should be.

From a press release just received from People For the American Way:

"President Bush today sent the Senate 30 nominations for lifetime positions on the federal district and circuit courts, including 14 candidates for crucial appeals court judgeships, as well as several other judicial nominations."

"Among the nominees are Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen - both rejected last year by the Senate Judiciary Committee - and a number of other judges with troubling records on civil rights and other issues, some of whom are opposed by local, state and national civil rights, women's rights, and other organizations. Today's district and circuit court nominees had all been nominated for judgeships in the last Congress; new nominees are expected in the near future."

" "President Bush is choosing confrontation over consultation and cooperation when it comes to federal judges," said People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas. "For two years, he has steadfastly refused to engage in bipartisan dialogue about judicial nominees. Now that he has Republicans in control of the Senate, he's counting on a rubber stamp for his far-right nominees, even judges like Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen, who were defeated after open hearings on their troubling public records."

Don't miss PFAW's editorial by Ralph Nees on the approaching Judicial Armageddon.

A battle is brewing between outgoing Illinois Governor George Ryan and Governor-Elect Rod Blagojevich over Ryan's continuing to grant state jobs to people even though he's leaving office next week. Today, the Illinois Senate approved Ryan's appointments.

"Gov. George Ryan's last-minute appointments to various state jobs were approved Tuesday by the Illinois Senate despite objections from the man who will take over as governor in less than a week. Gov.-elect Rod Blagojevich is exploring ways to reverse the appointments, and a lawsuit is one possibility, an aide said."

The Senate approved the three most major appointments by a vote of 47-2. Other, lower-profile appointments — many of them unpaid — were approved by similar margins.

"Ryan argues that so long as he is governor, it's his job to fill vacancies on important boards and commissions. He rejects the argument that it is wrong to saddle the new governor with people who will be making policy for years to come. In addition to making appointments that need Senate approval, Ryan has given long-term state jobs to a variety of aides and political allies."

Free today only (actually you make $50.00) on Amazon, the Motorola V-70, a savings of $350.00, but requires new service activation. (T-Mobile)

Today Only on Amazon

We bought this Motorola V-60i Cell Phone (AT&T) last week for $199.00. You can get it on Amazon today only for $49.00, with new service activation.

Today Only on Amazon

(Found via Gizmodo and Instapundit)

This is the text of the memorandum that went out December 20, 2002, to all federal judges from Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director of the Bureau of Prisons:

This memorandum informs you that the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) is implementing a significant procedure change regarding inmate designations to community corrections centers (CCC) (also known as "halfway-houses"). The Bureau has had a practice of honoring some judicial recommendations to place inmates in CCCs for the imprisonment portions of their sentences. Effective immediately, this practice will no longer be followed. The Bureau will not use CCCs as a substitute for imprisonment.

This procedure change follows recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), finding that the term "community confinement" is not synonymous with "imprisonment." OLC has determined that the Bureau's practice of using CCCs as a substitute for imprisonment contravenes well-established case law, and is inconsistent with U.S.S.G. 5C1.1.

This procedure change will be implemented prospectively, with the following exception. Inmates designated to CCCs who, as of December 16, 2002, had more than 150 days remaining to serve on their prison terms, will be re-designated by the Bureau to prison institutions.

(Received from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, courtesy of Howard O. Kieffer, Executive Director, Federal Defense Associates )

A new death penalty study finds that in Maryland, blacks are more likely to be sentenced to death if their victims are white. The study was commissioned in 2000 by outgoing Governor Parris Glendening. "Criminologist Ray Paternoster found that the race of the defendant was not significant in death penalty-eligible cases, but wrote that the race of the victim proved a major factor in determining whether prosecutors sought the death penalty."

From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty ( NCADP):

The study, conducted by the University of Maryland criminologist Ray Pateroster, found that black offenders who kill white victims are most likely to receive the death penalty. Of the 12 people currently on Maryland's death row, eight are black and four are white, and every person on death row was convicted in connection with the murder of a white victim. This is despite the fact that in recent years, about 80 percent of homicides in the state of Maryland involve black victims.
"Race plays a key role in who is sentenced to death across the United States in general and in Maryland in particular," said Steven W. Hawkins, NCADP executive director. "Our criminal justice system is supposed to be colorblind, but as this study shows, it is the exact opposite. Somehow, our system seems
to value the lives of white victims more than it does black victims."

The study also found tremendous geographic bias in how prosecutors seek the death penalty. About three-fourths of the people on Maryland's death row were prosecuted in Baltimore County, a largely suburban area that surrounds the city of Baltimore. Yet Baltimore County accounts for only 7 percent of Maryland's homicides. Prosecutors in most Maryland counties do not even seek death sentences, perhaps over concerns over cost and perhaps over concerns about
prevailing community sentiment.

"We know that geographic bias plays a role in the death penalty nationwide," Hawkins said. "In 2002, for example, only 13 states carried out executions -- a modern day low. This geographic bias seems even more pronounced in Maryland, where people prosecuted in Baltimore County are many times more likely to face a possible death sentence than people prosecuted in Montgomery or Prince George's County, or in the city of Baltimore."

Let's hope this bodes well for Maryland retaining its moratorium on the death penalty.

Update: The 79 page Executive Summary of the report is here. An e-mail from the Justice Project advises that "the report will be used to call for the state's General Assembly to pass a legislative moratorium on the death penalty. Gov.-elect Ehrlich has stated previous to the report's release he will terminate the moratorium upon his upcoming inauguration."

Here is the University of Maryland's press release on the study.

This new progressive weblog, Political Strategy, which its authors refer to as the "Sun Tzu Files" looks very good to us. They are looking for feedback, so go over and read and then give them some.

We think this news, which came out just before Christmas got buried. We wrote about it on December 26, having found out about it on one of our legal discussion list-servs, when lawyers started hearing from their clients they had received a notice they were going to be moved from a halfway house to prison. Since the Washington Post has revived it with this informative article in today's paper, we are reprinting our prior post:

The business section of today's New York Times has an article on Ashcroft's directive to the Bureau of Prisons that white collar offenders with short sentences must serve their time in federal prison, not half-way houses. For the past decade, the BOP has been allowing such offenders to go directly to a halfway house.

"In a memorandum last week to Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, Mr. Ashcroft said that the practice violated federal sentencing laws that require imprisonment and that it offered favorable treatment to white-collar criminals. The directive from the attorney general was first reported by Newsweek."

Because of Ashcroft's new policy, about 125 white collar offenders now in halfway houses will return to federal prisons.

The New York Times article also addresses in detail the proposed sentencing guideline changes for white collar offenders under the newly enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act --changes with which the Justice Department is not happy.

When a law is enacted that increases penalties, the U.S. Sentencing Commission is directed to draw up new sentencing guidelines. They send them out for public comment. Then they vote on them. After that, unless Congress affirmatively takes action, the new guidelines automatically become law.

The Commission promulgated new guidelines on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and sent them out for comment. In two weeks, the Commission will vote on them. The Justice Department strongly objects to the proposed guidelines because they are not tough enough for low level fraud offenders. The two agencies have been feuding for months over this issue.

"Justice Department officials said in recent interviews that they plan to broaden their corporate investigations to focus more intensely on the professional "gatekeepers" - lawyers, accountants and others - who may have facilitated frauds."

Maybe now that Aschroft's actions are going to affect some prospersous people, some of whom undoubtedly must have "connections", we'll hear louder protests of Ashcroft and his brand of non-compassionate conservatism.

NCADP UNVEILS NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO END JUVENILE EXECUTIONS

"Jan. 7, 2003 - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty today launched a campaign to end juvenile executions at a time when the United States is one of only two countries actively engaged in the barbaric practice of executing people for crimes committed before they turn 18 years old.

NCADP said it will focus its campaign on state legislatures in the 22 states that still allow people who commit crimes before they turn 18 to be sentenced to death. Approximately 80 juvenile offenders are on death row, primarily in Texas and in the Deep South.

"No civilized society executes juvenile offenders," said Steven W. Hawkins, NCADP executive director. "We do not let juveniles sign contracts, serve in the military, marry, purchase alcohol or cigarettes or even vote. Yet we somehow deem them eligible for the death penalty. The double standard is appalling."

Announcement of the campaign comes one day after Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove announced he is granting a stay of execution to Ron Chris Foster, a juvenile offender. Foster's execution, which had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Central Standard Time Wednesday, has been indefinitely delayed, pending review of Foster's case before the Mississippi Supreme Court and review of another case before the U.S. Supreme Court."