In a report released today, the Inspector General of the Justice Department reveals that the FBI, INS, Other Agencies Report 775 Missing Weapons over the past two years.

Not only that, but 400 computers are missing or have been stolen. According to investigators, "some of the computers could have been used to store sensitive law enforcement information that could have jeopardized investigations if divulged. "

The Inspector General's report chalks it up to lax "management control" problems and calls on the Department of Justice for more oversight.

Sounds to us like a bureaucratic response to a far more systemic problem.

Ruling that the Florida state consitution provides more stringent standards than its federal counterpart, a Florida judge today struck down the states' voucher law.

The Judge held that the Florida Constitution is "clear and unambiguous" in preventing public money from going to churches or other "sectarian institutions."

Salon has a long feature news article today on the Rockefeller drug laws by Michelle Goldberg. See, Noelle Bush gets rehab, the poor and black get hard time.

"There are roughly 21,000 people now serving drug sentences in New York state prisons, constituting about a third of the state's inmate population. Though studies show that most drug users and drug sellers are white, 94 percent of New York's drug inmates are black and Latino."

"Fed up with draconian drug penalties, a coalition led by angry mothers is threatening to overturn some of the country's harshest laws."

The Group is Mothers for the Disappeared. They are making progress, but need more support and have a ways to go, thanks to the opposition from the District Attorneys' Association.

The DA's admit they oppose reform because "the threat of long sentences helps them extract plea bargains and recruit informants. "

The Drug Policy Alliance fears that if the laws aren't changed this November, they won't change at all.

And back to Noelle Bush, "Noelle Bush forges a prescription and goes to rehab," says Teresa Aviles, a 54-year-old Bronx police clerk whose son, Isidro, died of an untreated, undiagnosed illness after serving eight years of a 27-year federal prison term. "If that was my daughter, she would have gotten a mandatory five-year sentence."

Check out the site and help these folks convince the NY legislature to do the right thing.

Daniel Macallair, the executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice has some harsh words for Gov. Gray Davis's ill-conceived and implemented Turning Point Academy in Boot Camp Blunder.

The program was initiated as a response to the Columbine shootings. Politicians saw it as a quick fix and a means of showing the public they were not being soft on juvenile crime.

Turning Point was initially funded with $19 million. It was designed to hold 320 teens. The eligibility requirements were so strict that the first year, only one teen qualified. By the time it finally closed, only 34 teens had passed through, at a cost of over 12 million.

According to Macallair, "Political operatives instituted the policy without input from officials in public health, child welfare, or juvenile justice. "

"The Turning Point Academy represents the folly of instituting policies for political symbolism rather than public good. With the state's child-welfare systems overloaded and juvenile-justice services insufficient and ineffective, a responsible use for these public dollars could have been found."

Military training is not a quick fix. As Macallair aptly points out, "Decisions affecting the state's children should be based on concern for solving social needs -- and not on political calculations."

A new jail program in Thailand is providing a vegetarian diet and meditation to reform drug offenders. And it's working.

Those in the program practiced meditation at 4:30 a.m., ate vegetarian meals and listened to tapes of chanting.

We'd like to see it offered here.

Sunday's Chicago Tribune has a feature article, School Drug Prevention Questioned

"The top three programs used by schools to keep students away from drugs are either ineffective or haven't been sufficiently tested, new research suggests.

In a study being published Saturday in Health Education Research, a journal for educators, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say many schools are using popular programs such as D.A.R.E., Here's Looking at You 2000 and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection, which haven't shown the kind of results that schools should expect, despite years of use. "

Thanks to How Appealing for pointing out Dahlia Lithwick's op-ed on the apparent failure of the Government's case against Moussoui:

What Was Moussaoui's Crime?

"...our legal system must reflect the principles by which we live: no one should be found guilty of a crime he did not commit. Unless we intend to try every Qaeda member we can find with capital conspiracy for Sept. 11, we must try Mr. Moussaoui for whatever crimes he committed, and not for the crimes we wish we could avenge."

European women marry U.S. death row inmates

From CNN....Although there are no statistics, authorities in several states said it was not unusual for men on death row to marry, often to women from Europe.

According to Death Penalty News, a newsletter published by death penalty foes, 10 women have wed men on Florida's death row alone since 1997. Hester Patrick knows of three other women married to inmates on Texas death row, all of them Europeans.

Marriages between condemned men in America and women from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, where opposition to the U.S. death penalty is strong, seem to be particularly common.

Sen. Joseph Biden's daughter arrested on obstruction charge in Chicago, sticking up for a pal.

The FBI is investigating leaks of classified information pertaining to September 11. Among those being investigated are members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The FBI has asked many of the lawmakers to take polygraphs. Most have refused.

Their reasons: "Most of the lawmakers have told the FBI they would refuse a polygraph, citing the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government and the unreliability of the exam."

Ernie the Attorney asks when is it okay to record phone calls?

Here's a state by state guide as to who can consent.

Remember, if you are a lawyer, some states' ethical rules prohibit you from taping conversations at all.

In a major victory for the more than 20 civil rights, human rights and civil liberties groups that have challenged the government's policy of secret arrests in connection with the September 11 attacks, a Federal Judge has ordered the release of the names of the Sept. 11 arrestees

Here is the text of the 45 page decision.