When California taxes and regulates marijuana, how will other state policies be affected? JOIN US 12p-1p Monday 2/22/10 at UC-Hastings Room A (198 McAllister St.) for a panel discussion featuring:
Prof. Hadar Aviram, UC-Hastings College of the Law
Prof. Alex Kreit, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Quintin Mecke, Communications Director, AB390 sponsor Assm. Tom Ammiano
Sure enough, not just CA
Check out this ambitious program: PRIOR, Policy Research Institute for the Region, at Princeton will host “Reforming the Corrections Environment: We Can’t Keep Paying these Costs–Can We?” on 3/5/10.
princeton.edu/prior/events/conferences/reforming-the-corrections-2/index.xml
Michael Jacobson for Vera Institute of Justice… Marc Mauer for The Sentencing Project… Secretary James Beard for the PA Dept of Corrections… anyway I wish I could go!
CCC talk on Feb. 25: Invitation
On Thu Feb 25, I’ll be giving a talk (and hopefully have a conversation with the audience) about the California correctional crisis. The details are here. The talk is at (and courtesy of) Reed Smith, at 6pm, and attendance requires RSVP-ing through the UC Hastings alumni center. I’ll be delighted to see old and new friends in the audience and hopefully meet blog readers.
Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal Special Issue on CCC is out
Today I got my copies of the newest issue of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, devoted to the California correctional Crisis. The issue features several articles and notes regarding different aspects of the crisis, as well as a series of shorter informational pieces highlighting issues such as sentencing, alternative adjudication, parole, risk and release, reentry, and, of course, the medical crisis. The issue builds on the conference we held in March 2009.
My own piece, Humonetarianism: The New Correctional Discourse of Scarcity, builds on insights developed during my writing for this blog, for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and for the Daily Journal. I welcome comments and thoughts on it.
Valdivia v. Schwarzenegger: 9th Circuit Hearing This Monday
This Monday, at 11am, in Courtroom 3, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear oral arguments in Valdivia v. Schwarzenegger, regarding the applicability of certain provisions approved by voters last November as part of Prop 9.
Fair disclosure: I’m somewhat involved in this case (as are several of my colleagues in CA universities) as a party to an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs. Therefore, what follows is (as always) my own analysis, rather than any neutral introduction to the case.
The story behind Valdivia is this: after lengthy litigation between parolees and the state regarding parolees’ rights in parole revocation hearings, federal courts issued a consent decree, according to which the state consented to reform its procedures so as to grant parolees the right to a fair hearing, requiring probable cause, a speedy hearing within 35 days, the right to representation, and a larger array of intermediate sanctions.
Prop 9, adopted in 2008 under a title of victim rights, included some provisions that violate this consent decree. As you may recall, the proposition limited the cases in which legal counsel would be awarded to the indigent, as well as allowed for participation of more parties and relaxed evidentiary requirements for parole violations. Judge Karlton refused to implement these changes, arguing that they violate the prior consent decree, which was consistent with constitutional requirements. As a result, the victim-rights part was severed from the parole hearing limitations part, and Prop 9 came to life only partially.
The argument on behalf of the plaintiffs is, basically, that upholding Prop 9 in its entirety violates the minimum constitutional requirements for due process, the standards of which were the cornerstone for the consent decree. In addition, upholding Prop 9 will mean a disastrous return to the state’s abysmal parole proceedings, generating more “revolving door” situations and exacerbating our severe overcrowding problem. Since the parole system has proven immune to every effort at reform save for compliance with court orders, rolling back these reforms will have terrible consequences.
Here is our brief. To keep things fair, here is the opposing amicus brief, arguing, in a nutshell, for upholding what is now state law. You can read and form your own opinion.
Progressive Lawyering Day 2009
Following up on this week’s posts on minors in California’s criminal justice system, this Saturday there will be a panel on the San Francisco police’s interrogation of immigrant youth, featuring Supervisor David Campos. The panel is part of Progressive Lawyering Day 2009, hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The day also features a keynote lecture from civil rights attorney John Burris.
Here’s the full schedule for the event, 10a-6p Sat 10/3 at UC-Hastings, 198 McAllister St., SF:
10:00am Registration/Free Breakfast
10:30-12:00 2 Panels: Transgender Advocacy & SF Police Interrogation of Immigrant Youth feat. SF Supervisor David Campos
12:00-1:00 Free Lunch
1:00-2:30 2 Panels: Alien Tort Claims Act & Everything You Wanted to Know About Fellowships
3:00-4:30 Key Note Speaker John Burris (attorney for the family of Oscar Grant)
4:30-6:00 Reception with free food/drinks
Facebook invite here. Note that CLE credits are available for both afternoon panels.
Forum to Discuss Drug Dealing in the SF Tenderloin
In lieu of a September Town Hall, [held periodically by the CJC personnel – H.A.], there will be a forum discussing the drug dealing problem in the Tenderloin and how the Criminal Justice System is handling this situation. Judge Ron Albers from the Community Justice Center and Assistant DA Sharon Woo, who heads the District Attorney’s Narcotics Unit, both will be speaking on how the courts and DA’s office are addressing this plague on our community.
Meeting: September 29th Tuesday 6:00pm Tenderloin Police Station Community Room, 301 Eddy St .
This will surely be a fascinating evening, especially in light of the new agressive police tactics in the tenderloin, propagated by new police chief Gascon but met with skepticism by the neighbors.
Event: Day of Action to End the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Focus is organizing a Day of Action to end the death penalty on June 30, 2009. The date is scheduled to coincide with the public hearing regarding the reformed execution proceedings using lethal injection, which we reported about here.
In keeping with the financial crisis and humonetarianism themes, here’s the ACLU of Northern California report on the costs of the death penalty and the potential savings that might result from its abolition, which we discussed here, here and here.
“A Conversation on Reentry”, Tue, April 7, at UC Hastings
This is a bit last-minute, but for those of you in San Francisco or the Bay Area, it seems very worth attending: CitizenHope, with a host of Hastings student organizations, is offering “A Conversation on Reentry”: Making Rehabilitation an Essential Part of Public Safety Policy, featuring Kamala Harris, Jakada Imani, Jessica Flintoft, and Lateefah Simon.
Where: UC Hastings, 200 McAllister (2nd floor); a one-block walk from the Civic Center BART station
When: Tuesday, April 7 (tomorrow!), 6-8pm
The event will be followed by a reception at the nearby Soluna Cafe.
Goro Toshima’s Documentary A Hard Straight
Several people who couldn’t make it to the conference have asked for more information on Goro Toshima’s film we showed on Thursday, A Hard Straight: A Documentary About Doing Time on the Outside. The film is absolutely phenomenal. It provides an intimate peek into the life of three people – a tattoo artist with a poetic soul and strong gang affiliations, a drug dealer trapped in the Tenderloin, and a mother of three working on repairing her relationship with her children – who, upon release from prison, are trying to rebuild their lives.
For more information on the film director, and to contact him regarding the film, visit his website.