A shocking new study by the American Civil Liberties Union has found that more than 3,200 people nationwide are serving life terms without parole for nonviolent offenses. Of those prisoners, 80 percent are behind bars for drug-related convictions. Sixty-five percent are African-American, 18 percent are white, and 16 percent are Latino — evidence of what the ACLU calls "extreme racial disparities." The crimes that led to life sentences include stealing gas from a truck, shoplifting, possessing a crack pipe, facilitating a $10 sale of marijuana, and attempting to cash a stolen check. We speak with Jennifer Turner, human rights researcher and author of the new ACLU report, "A Living Death: Life Without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses."
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AMY GOODMAN: That’s a clip from a video that accompanies the ACLU’s new report, "A Living Death: Life Without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses." For more, we’re joined by its author, Jennifer Turner, human rights researcher with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Welcome to Democracy Now! I mean, it is just astounding. A man—the story we just heard; another story, a man walks out of a store with a coat slung over his shoulder, $159, gets life in prison without parole.
JENNIFER TURNER: Absolutely. These sentences are grotesquely out of proportion of the crimes that they’re seeking to punish. And we found that 3,278 people are serving life without the possibility of parole for nonviolent crimes, but these numbers actually underrepresent the true state of extreme sentencing in this country. Those numbers don’t account for those who will die in prison because of sentences such as 350 years for a drug sale. It also doesn’t account for the many millions of lives ruined by excessive sentencing in this country, as well.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And especially the impact of federal mandatory minimum sentencings, could you talk about that and the efforts to try to roll back some of those—some of those laws?
JENNIFER TURNER: Yeah, what we found was that over 80 percent of these sentences were mandatory, both in the federal system and in the states. They’re the direct consequence of laws passed over the 40-year war on drugs and tough-on-crime policies that included mandatory minimum sentencing laws, habitual offender laws in the states.
And they tie judges’ hands. And in case after case after case that I reviewed, the judge said from the bench—outraged, would say, "I oppose this sentence as a citizen, as a taxpayer, as a judge. I disagree with the sentence in this case, but my hands are tied." And one judge said, when sentencing one man to life without parole for selling tiny quantities of crack over a period of just a couple of weeks, he said, "This is a travesty. It’s just silly. But I have no choice."
AMY GOODMAN: What if a judge said no?
JENNIFER TURNER: The judges can’t say no. In fact, I looked at cases where the judges tried to say no, where the judge tried to find a legal loophole, where prosecutors appealed, repeatedly. One man was sentenced to zero time in prison by a Louisiana judge for threatening a cop while handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. He was drunk, threatened him, was sentenced initially to no time. The prosecutor appealed; the sentence increased to 10 years. Prosecutor appealed again. On the third appeal, it was increased to life without parole as a mandatory sentence because of his priors dating back as much as 20 years earlier.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to another case. Another person profiled in your report, in the ACLUreport, is Sharanda Jones. She was sentenced to life for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine when she was a 32-year-old mother, with a nine-year-old daughter—no prior arrests. No drugs were found on her, but her supposed co-conspirators testified against her in exchange for reduced sentences. In this clip from the film, The War on Drugs, she talks about being separated from her daughter.
JENNIFER TURNER: Well, Sharanda was caught up in a massive drug sweep in a majority white town in Texas. Over a hundred people were arrested, all of whom were black. Chuck Norris participated in some of the arrests. Sharanda had no information to trade for a lenient—a more lenient sentence. And the judge was required to sentence her to life without parole, objected to the sentence, but he had not choice.
AMY GOODMAN: So, they had nothing on her, but—
JENNIFER TURNER: They had nothing but one wiretap. What happened was, a couple had been arrested on drug charges and began cooperating with the feds as confidential informants and, from there, started implicating others in the community. They called Sharanda and said, "Hey, do you know where we can get some drugs?" The wiretap caught Sharanda saying, "Let me see what I can do." That was the extent of the evidence against her, with the exception of testimony from these confidential informants and other co-conspirators. They never found any drugs on her. There were no even video surveillance of her with drugs. But she was sentenced to life without parole.
A single mother. Her daughter Clenesha has been separated her for many, many, many years. And Sharanda maintains a very close relationship with her daughter. She carefully apportions the 300 minutes she’s allowed to use per month for non-legal calls to call her daughter 10 minutes each day. When I talk to Sharanda on the phone, she’s like, "I’ve got to go! I can’t use up my minutes; I need to speak with my daughter."
And Sharanda, unfortunately, has no relief available. Her sentence is final, like those of everyone else we were profiling. They have really no chance of relief unless President Obama, in Sharanda’s case, because it’s a federal case, or, in the states, where the governors use their executive clemency powers to reduce their sentence.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Could you talk about the racial disparities that your report highlights? They’re really amazing. I mean, everyone knows that African Americans and Latinos are disproportionately incarcerated, but in terms of these life-without-parole sentences, the amazing percentage of African Americans, specifically, in states like Louisiana, 91 percent are African-American.
JENNIFER TURNER: The racial disparities are staggering. Obviously, as you said, that blacks are treated disparately throughout the criminal justice system, but what we found was that in life-without-parole sentencing for nonviolent crimes, those disparities are even more marked. Nationwide, 65 percent of people serving these sentences for nonviolent crimes are black; 18 percent are white. In the federal system, blacks are 20 times more likely to be sentenced to life without parole for nonviolent crime. In some states it’s even higher. In Louisiana, where 91 percent of the people serving these sentences are black, they’re 23 times more likely. In the federal system, Latinos are five times more likely to be sentenced to life for nonviolent crime than whites.
AMY GOODMAN: So, the avenue for this to be changed is legislation?
JENNIFER TURNER: There are very clear avenues for change. These sentences are really symptomatic of the larger problem of excessive sentencing in this country. Many, many, many more thousands of people are serving excessive sentences that are disproportionate to their crimes. And they’re all the result of the 40-year war on drugs and tough-on-crime policies, such as mandatory minimums and three-strikes laws. We simply need to repeal the laws that led to these sentences. And with growing national consensus across both sides of the political aisle that mandatory minimum sentences, for instance, are a travesty of justice, this is quite possible. There have been two bipartisan bills introduced in Congress that would somewhat reduce the reach of mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
But also, as I mentioned before, the—President Obama, who has the worst pardon record of any modern president—he has pardoned five turkeys and commuted the sentence of only one prisoner—he does have the power and authority to review the sentences of the over 2,000 people like Sharanda serving life without parole for a nonviolent crime, and he can reduce their sentence. Same with state governors.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And as you note, even if there were changes in the law, these more than 3,000 people that have already been sentenced would not necessarily be affected. It would have to take some executive action by governors or by the president to get some of them—to assure they don’t die in prison, essentially.
JENNIFER TURNER: Absolutely. Some sentencing reforms have been retroactive, and certainly future sentencing reforms could be retroactive, and that’s what we’re calling for. But for many of these people, their only chance at release is some form of clemency. And we have a petition online on our website where you can all take action to call on President Obama to review these sentences and impose a fairer and smarter sentence for these prisoners.
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White Teen Gets Off Easy!!
I’m not one who believes that someone underage should be tried as an adult.
Underage is underage and you shouldn’t bend the law to fit a horrific nature of a crime in my opinion.
But Ethan Couch, 16, who killed four people in a drunken driving accident, was sentenced to 10 years probation after his legal “dream team”, hired by his wealthy parents, claim that his parents never taught him right from wrong.
Maybe the PARENTS should do a couple of years!
Story Below:
A spoiled Texas teen who killed four in a drunken driving accident dodged prison and was sentenced to probation instead after defense lawyers argued his wealthy parents never taught him right from wrong.
Ethan Couch, 16, was facing 20 years behind bars for the horrific June wreck, but instead walked out of a Fort Worth courtroom Tuesday with 10 years’ probation.
The rich brat’s legal team said he needed counseling, not hard time, and proposed sending him to a posh Southern California treatment facility that would cost his family $500,000 a year.
For now, he was set to remain at a juvenile detention center until authorities determined his fate.
State District Judge Jean Boyd’s decision to let the teen walk had the victims’ families outraged.
“Money always seems to keep [Couch] out of trouble,” Eric Boyles, who lost his wife and daughter in the wreck, told the Star-Telegram newspaper.
“Ultimately today, I felt that money did prevail. If [he] had been any other youth, I feel like the circumstances would have been different.”
The fatal crash occurred on June 15 when Couch, loaded on booze and Valium, lost control of his speeding Ford F-350 pick-up and smashed into a broken-down car beside a road outside Burleson.
Breanna Mitchell, 24, the stranded car’s driver, was killed instantly, along with three Good Samaritans who were helping her: mother and daughter Hollie Boyles, 52, and Shelby Boyles, 21; and youth pastor Brian Jennings, 41.
Seven teens were riding in Couch’s car at the time. Two, who were sitting in the truck bed, were critically injured.
One of them, Sergio Molina, remains paralyzed and brain damaged after several months in a coma, and can only communicate by blinking his eye, the Star-Telegram reported.
Authorities said Couch was going 70 mph on the rural 40 mph stretch, and a breath test showed his blood-alcohol-content was .24 — triple the legal driving limit for someone over 21.
During the trial, prosecutors said Couch and his pals had been partying with beer they stole from Walmart, and were on another booze run when the crash occurred.
In all, 11 people were injured. Local authorities said the crash scene was the most horrific they’ve encountered.
A witness for the defense, psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller, blamed the boy’s parents.
Local authorities said the crash scene was among the most gruesome they’d ever seen. Miller testified that Couch was the troubled product of a broken home who got whatever he wanted from his wealthy parents and didn’t understand consequences.
Miller called the teen a victim of “affluenza,” a rich-kid syndrome that led him to believe money solved everything.
Couch was never disciplined, abused alcohol and had “freedoms no young person should have,” including being allowed to drive when he was 13, Miller said.
“The teen never learned to say that you’re sorry if you hurt someone,” Miller said, according to the Star-Telegram. “If you hurt someone, you sent him money.”
The families of his victims said money wouldn’t buy their loved ones back.
Breanna Mitchell’s mother, Marla Mitchel, wore some of her cremated daughter’s ashes in a locket around her neck during the trial, according to local reports.
She told the Star-Telegram, “[Couch] is not free. None of us knows what God’s plan is. He has not escaped judgment. That is in the hands of a higher power.”
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