The news reporters were invited there to show that Gov. Kathleen Blanco has moved revamping Louisiana's juvenile justice system to the forefront of her administration's initiatives.
After months of waiting, the governor last week announced a specific strategy -- focusing more on treatment than incarceration.
She called in the expert, Mark Steward, to assess the state's prison system for young criminals.
As director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services, Steward has received accolades for a juvenile prison system that boast low rates of violence and repeat offenses -- two traits that plague Louisiana.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Battle over lethal injection playing out in courts
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Carol Weihrer knows firsthand how painful it can be when anesthesia doesn't kick in during a medical procedure.
The Reston, Va., resident felt every moment of a two-hour eye surgery, but she was paralyzed by another drug and could not alert doctors.
"It looked pretty boring," Weihrer said about a video of her surgery. "It was quite painful."
Weihrer's experience highlights the central argument in the latest debate over capital punishment.
Attorneys in at least a dozen of the 37 states that use lethal injection have pursued lawsuits claiming the procedure is unconstitutionally cruel because the anesthetic doesn't last through the entire procedure. They argue that inmates are exposed to excruciating pain when other drugs are injected into their systems.
The Reston, Va., resident felt every moment of a two-hour eye surgery, but she was paralyzed by another drug and could not alert doctors.
"It looked pretty boring," Weihrer said about a video of her surgery. "It was quite painful."
Weihrer's experience highlights the central argument in the latest debate over capital punishment.
Attorneys in at least a dozen of the 37 states that use lethal injection have pursued lawsuits claiming the procedure is unconstitutionally cruel because the anesthetic doesn't last through the entire procedure. They argue that inmates are exposed to excruciating pain when other drugs are injected into their systems.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
David Feige Slate Article: Public Offenders - Why criminals in Massachusetts are getting out of jail free.
David Feige presented at last year's DPA Annual Seminar and is on the faculty for this fall's Litigation Practice Institute.
"The Romney administration should consider adopting a public defender system. Salaried public defenders are usually paid far less than the private lawyers who take cases by the hour; in Massachusetts, public defenders earn a starting salary of just over $15 an hour plus benefits. And though it's true that public defenders usually insist on carrying a smaller caseload than assigned counsel, a downside from the state's point of view, there is a good reason. Public defenders—most of whom represent the indigent for ideological reasons—care about caseload as well as cash. Ardent, committed public defenders like this are precisely who the state should be recruiting. And given that the single biggest predictor of the quality of a public defender's work is caseload, manageable caseloads are in the interest of any state looking to provide good, rather than constitutionally adequate, representation.
"Public defender offices provide additional benefits. Most offer ancillary services indigent defendants need including investigators, social workers, and lawyering that addresses homelessness, drug addiction, mental illness, and other problems that often bring defendants into contact with the criminal system in the first place."
"The Romney administration should consider adopting a public defender system. Salaried public defenders are usually paid far less than the private lawyers who take cases by the hour; in Massachusetts, public defenders earn a starting salary of just over $15 an hour plus benefits. And though it's true that public defenders usually insist on carrying a smaller caseload than assigned counsel, a downside from the state's point of view, there is a good reason. Public defenders—most of whom represent the indigent for ideological reasons—care about caseload as well as cash. Ardent, committed public defenders like this are precisely who the state should be recruiting. And given that the single biggest predictor of the quality of a public defender's work is caseload, manageable caseloads are in the interest of any state looking to provide good, rather than constitutionally adequate, representation.
"Public defender offices provide additional benefits. Most offer ancillary services indigent defendants need including investigators, social workers, and lawyering that addresses homelessness, drug addiction, mental illness, and other problems that often bring defendants into contact with the criminal system in the first place."
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