Chicago Police Address Gang Violence: CBS Chicago reports after a particularly violent weekend, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says they are revising their gang strategy and building gang intelligence. He said the information needs to be better relayed to beat officers so they can anticipate retaliatory gang shootings. "We can, and must, do more," McCarthy said Monday. Last weekend in Chicago there were 37 shootings, 46 victims, and 9 murders, including that of a 6-year-old girl. McCarthy says almost all of the incidents from the weekend were gang related.
California Inmates Petition the United Nations: Gillian Flaccus of the Associated Press reports an attorney representing hundreds of inmates held in solitary confinement in California prisons because of their gang ties said he will petition the United Nations to stop the practice and launch an investigation into the living conditions and medical care of the inmates. According to data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, about 2,300 of the 4,200 inmates assigned to segregated housing units in the state are kept there because they are gang members or gang associates. Jeffrey Callison, a department spokesman, said the petition is unnecessary because prison officials have already proposed changes to make it easier and quicker for inmates with gang ties to earn their way out of isolation that could go into effect by the end of the year, depending on a review process that includes public input. But Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, says the proposed changes do not go far enough. "It's our position that they need to abolish this policy," he said.
Assemblywoman Drafts Bill After Woman Ordered to Pay Her Rapist: Jim Sanders of The Sacramento Bee reports California Assemblywoman Toni Adkins (D-San Diego) crafted AB 1522 after a Carlsbad woman was ordered to pay her husband $1,000 a month in spousal support and pay his $47,000 in family court legal fees even though he was convicted of raping her and sentenced to six years in prison. AB 1522 would bar a spouse convicted of a specified violent sexual felony against the other spouse from collecting spousal support, attorney fees, insurance benefits, or other payments from the victim. State law currently has a similar exception to spousal payments in cases of attempted murder or solicitation for murder. The proposed bill is scheduled to be heard today by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
Supreme Court Hears Juvenile LWOP Arguments: Mark Sherman of the Associated Press reports the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday debated whether juveniles convicted of murder should be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. The justices are looking at two cases of juveniles sentenced to life in prison. In Alabama, 14-year-old Evan Miller beat a man and set his house on fire. In Arkansas, 14-year-old Kuntrell Jackson was involved in an attempted robbery in which another boy shot and killed a store clerk. Of the 2,300 inmates sentenced to life in prison as juveniles, only 79 are in prison for crimes that took place when they were 14 or younger. Alabama Solicitor General John Neiman Jr. said the court should respect the decisions of the states that allow juveniles to be tried and punished as adults. A decision in the cases is expected by early summer.
California Inmates Petition the United Nations: Gillian Flaccus of the Associated Press reports an attorney representing hundreds of inmates held in solitary confinement in California prisons because of their gang ties said he will petition the United Nations to stop the practice and launch an investigation into the living conditions and medical care of the inmates. According to data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, about 2,300 of the 4,200 inmates assigned to segregated housing units in the state are kept there because they are gang members or gang associates. Jeffrey Callison, a department spokesman, said the petition is unnecessary because prison officials have already proposed changes to make it easier and quicker for inmates with gang ties to earn their way out of isolation that could go into effect by the end of the year, depending on a review process that includes public input. But Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, says the proposed changes do not go far enough. "It's our position that they need to abolish this policy," he said.
Assemblywoman Drafts Bill After Woman Ordered to Pay Her Rapist: Jim Sanders of The Sacramento Bee reports California Assemblywoman Toni Adkins (D-San Diego) crafted AB 1522 after a Carlsbad woman was ordered to pay her husband $1,000 a month in spousal support and pay his $47,000 in family court legal fees even though he was convicted of raping her and sentenced to six years in prison. AB 1522 would bar a spouse convicted of a specified violent sexual felony against the other spouse from collecting spousal support, attorney fees, insurance benefits, or other payments from the victim. State law currently has a similar exception to spousal payments in cases of attempted murder or solicitation for murder. The proposed bill is scheduled to be heard today by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
Supreme Court Hears Juvenile LWOP Arguments: Mark Sherman of the Associated Press reports the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday debated whether juveniles convicted of murder should be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. The justices are looking at two cases of juveniles sentenced to life in prison. In Alabama, 14-year-old Evan Miller beat a man and set his house on fire. In Arkansas, 14-year-old Kuntrell Jackson was involved in an attempted robbery in which another boy shot and killed a store clerk. Of the 2,300 inmates sentenced to life in prison as juveniles, only 79 are in prison for crimes that took place when they were 14 or younger. Alabama Solicitor General John Neiman Jr. said the court should respect the decisions of the states that allow juveniles to be tried and punished as adults. A decision in the cases is expected by early summer.
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