Criminal Justice (Also see Death Penalty)

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Do not let assumptions about “human nature” interfere with the bold social and political reforms we are working toward.

April 25, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Sometimes when we work to significantly improve our society or our politics, people will try to inhibit our efforts by saying, “You can’t change human nature.” They assume that “human nature” is fixed and impervious to improvement. Actually, history has proven otherwise. People have indeed made radical progressive changes, and we can accomplish more. We do not need to “change human nature.” If we change our society so it will function better, people will change for the better too. So, for example, instead of assuming that “human nature” causes people to be greedy, let’s change our economic system and our […]

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Death penalty cases at U.S. Supreme Court: Information and insights

April 22, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The death penalty is wrong in so many ways, but the conservative Republicans who dominate the U.S. Supreme Court have trouble recognizing the problems.  Although they claim to be “pro-life,” they keep supporting death. This article provides interesting information and insights: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/04/13/1850008/-Death-At-The-Court?detail=emaildkcs        

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The Sentencing Project performs excellent research and advocacy. Here is their 2018 Annual Report.

April 13, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

For a long number of years I have been impressed by the very high quality of research and advocacy conducted by The Sentencing Project (www.sentencingproject.org).  I have been donating financial support too. In March 2019 The Sentencing Project released its 2018 Annual Report.  Among other things it shows how this great non-profit organization has been intelligently and vigorously been supporting what it calls “a rapidly growing consensus that we must reduce the country’s misguided reliance on mass incarceration.” Read their 2018 Annual Report at this link: https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Annual-Report-2018.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3c52607d-63f7-47e6-b14c-7e3ac7965612            

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The media keep failing to hold Trump accountable. Sign this petition.

March 29, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

During 2015-2016 mainstream news media gave Trump billions of dollars of free publicity.  They treated his campaign as entertainment and utterly failed to hold him accountable. Except for some fact-checking, they still let Trump dictate what issues they will cover, and his statements always are in the lead paragraphs. Now that the Mueller Report has been completed, mainstream news media are obediently repeating the deceptive propaganda voiced by Trump’s Attorney General William Barr.  Barr has a LONG HISTORY OF COVERING UP REPUBLICAN CRIMES, going back to the Reagan era.  That’s why Trump appointed him to be A.G. Barr “summarized” more […]

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Fascinating info: How UW research convinced our state’s highest court to toss out the death penalty

March 28, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Some of my previous posts to my blog have provided information about the Washington State Supreme Court’s UNANIMOUS decision in October 2018 that the death penalty is UNCONSTITUTIONAL because of its long pattern of racial bias. I followed this case after having heard the main defense lawyer speak to an audience in Tacoma in May 2016. We expected a decision that autumn, but the prosecution delayed the case by getting their own “expert witness.” In the end, the U.W. professors’ research convinced the Washington State Supreme Court to rule our state’s death penalty unconstitutional based on their research proving a […]

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In December 2018 Congress passed the “FIRST STEP ACT” to reform prison sentencing.

March 24, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

For several decades the U.S.’s criminal “justice” system — at federal, state and local levels — was dominated by harsh, vindictive laws and policies.  Politicians were elected on platforms promising to “lock them up and throw away the key.”  Of course, those cruelties were especially biased against people who were already victimized by political and cultural systems.  People of color, people with mental disabilities, people suffering from poverty and substance abuse were especially victimized.  They were “collateral damage” in this “war on crime” and “war on drugs.” Science has always refuted that cruelty.  Bit by bit the reality has been […]

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U.S. gov’t punishes immigrant workers but lets nasty employers break labor laws

March 22, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. government and conservatives make a big deal about clamping down on undocumented immigrants who get jobs in the U.S., but the U.S. government and conservatives fail to enforce the laws that should be holding unscrupulous employers accountable for breaking the law. Page 28 of an article in the April 2019 issue of “In These Times” magazine reports: “ICE’s 2018 budget for its enforcement and removal department was $4.8 billion, while the Department of Labor’s 2018 budget for its wage and hour department was $280 million.  We spent 20 times the amount chasing unauthorized immigrants than we did chasing […]

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California’s governor imposes moratorium on executions

March 16, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

California has by far the most people on death row (737) of any state in the U.S.  Legal problems with lethal injection have prevented executions for a while.  Unfortunately, California’s voters recently passed an initiative that intends to move ahead with more executions. But on March 13, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium that will prevent any executions from occurring while he is California’s Governor.  The death penalty law remains in place — and prosecutors may continue to bring more death penalty cases forward — but executions will be prevented during his term of office. He said, “Our death […]

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Remove Washington State’s death penalty law altogether.

January 31, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

In October 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled our state’s death penalty unconstitutional because of pervasive, systemic racial bias.  Now in February 2019 the State Senate is considering Senate Bill 5339 to remove the law altogether. I will testify to the State Senate’s Committee on Law and Justice at 10:00 a.m. February 5, 2019. Here is a longer version of what I will say.  The time for each person’s testimony is short, so I will mention only the main points, but the document at this link includes supporting information.  I hope you will find it useful. TESTIMONY 2019.02.05   […]

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Why the U.S. House must push for VERY BOLD changes, not merely bi-partisan deals

January 25, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Moderates want House Democrats to settle for bi-partisan deals with the Republican-dominated Senate. If the House Democrats do that, they will be rebuffing the voters who gave them a mandate for VERY BOLD changes. They also will FAIL TO IDENTIFY how progressive Democrats are much better than conservative Republicans. Even if the Senate fails to pass VERY BOLD House legislation, the points will be made, and 2020’s voters will see who is really on their side, vs. who is on the side of the oppressors. https://www.thenation.com/article/democrats-congress-fundamental-reforms/?link_id=7&can_id=1d662460c0abb8939c5044c82927552b&source=email-pledge-update-for-bold-reforms-naacp-protest-yemen-vote-populism-wins-roma&email_referrer=email_468235&email_subject=pledge-update-for-bold-reforms-naacp-protest-yemen-vote-populism-wins-roma

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Our systems are not “broken.” They’re working as intended. They are DELIBERATELY UNFAIR.

January 3, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

People keep saying that our nation’s systems are “broken.”  That is misleading.  They are NOT “broken.”  They are WORKING AS INTENDED!  They are DELIBERATELY UNFAIR! On issue after issue, politicians, mainstream media, and the general public keep saying that our systems are “broken.”  But if you look at how they are actually functioning — WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO — and WHAT THEY ARE PREVENTING — and WHO HAS THE POWER and WHO BENEFITS from the status quo — you’ll see that these systems are NOT really “broken.”  They are serving the rich and the powerful and preventing the changes that […]

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In January, urge Congress to pass HR 1 to get Big Money out of politics.

December 20, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

You have probably read information supporting HR 1, legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would push Big Money out of politics.  Many non-profit organizations that support democracy and other good things (environment, energy, peace, nuclear weapons, workers’ rights, human rights, the gun lobby, etc.) recognize that BIG MONEY CORRUPTION PREVENTS CONGRESS FROM ACCOMPLISHING WHAT WE WANT IT TO DO. HR 1 is a tremendously positive step forward for ALL of the issues we care about! Public Citizen (www.citizen.org), the non-profit org that Ralph Nader started in 1971, says the following in support of HR 1, and urges people […]