Key things to pay attention to. It really makes sense

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57418495/the-cost-of-a-nation-of-incarceration/?tag=stack

Not spoken about much, why? Maybe this is becoming standard protocol

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhI1i2TT57

Day of destress

Horrible shooting in Vallejo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iglJZBMSNw

Pay attention, to what has become too comon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=XxlL0I5AWLI&feature=endscreen

 

 

New perspective on solitary-confinement

 http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/solitary-confinement-shane-bauer

Finally, some small steps taken in regards to a problem that is so often overlooked: I wonder if it had anything to do with the victim this time.

    http://on.aol.com/video/lapd-commander-removed-following-excessive-force-claim-517465564?hp=1&icid=maing-grid7|maing6|popular-videos-5min-main|sec1_lnk1|199305

  Beating Police

    Many people say that the police abuse their power. In Florida an officer was caught on his own dash cam slamming a woman into her car after a stop. What the officer did was wrong and what makes it worst was that it was to a woman. The Police officer was fired and is being charged with criminal battery. It feels like when a person of authority gets in trouble they always get away or just get a slap on the wrist. When I saw the video I was shocked, but it feels good to know that some cop out there saw it too and decided to say something. Not all police are not bad people, but it takes one rotten apple to spoil the bunch. If the officer that reviewed the video didn't say anything, how more people would have been hurt? Bad police murder and hurt many innocent people and it goes unseen and unheard of, whats worst is that when they are caught they don't do any real time, they are put on a paid suspension. In other words a vacation pretty much. The system needs away to make an example of people that abuse there power, so things like this won't happen again. Police should be respected, but how can we respect someone that won't respect you?

E.G.B

                                                          Prison Illness?

In the old days if you acted crazy and got picked up by the police, they would have took you to an asylum. Now you go straight to jail. Here in the United States 1/5 of the prison population suffers from some kind of mental illness. Are jails the new dumping grounds for the mentally ill? Why are we not helping them, is it fair to throw them in jail if they can’t control there actions? Mentally ill prisoners would be better off in a hospital. They get the same medication in jails that they would receive if they where in a hospital. The staff that are working with in the jails are just as good or even better in a hospital. So whats the problem? I think it is the environment that they are placed in. Some people have problems and will do things they shouldn’t, they can’t control themselves. Being in jail and having mental problem might even make them worst. Imagine being trapped in a small box with no way out your mind is unstable you are trapped with your demons. We as humans need to help each other, we are smart and know right from wrong.
                                                                                                 
                                                                                                 E.G.B

Click to see our finest do what seems to be becoming the Norm

Anaheim Police Shooting - Video Results

Once again others go to jail never the Pigs who started the mess

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — An Anaheim officer-involved shooting that left an unarmed man dead and led to a violent clash between witnesses and police has stirred anger for a second night.

Protesters gathered near the shooting scene Sunday night and expressed their outrage by setting fire to a Dumpster and moving it into the street numerous times as police monitored the scene from a helicopter.

The tense scene followed a day of protest where a crowd stormed the police headquarters lobby as the police chief prepared to hold a news conference to discuss the case.

Hours later and several miles from the Saturday afternoon shooting, there was a second deadly Anaheim police shooting.

Late Sunday, anti-gang officers spotted a gang member in a stolen sport utility vehicle, and a brief pursuit ended when three people jumped from the SUV and ran, authorities said.

Sgt. Bob Dunn said officers were chasing the suspects on foot when one of them fired one or two rounds at an officer. The officer retuned fire, killing the gunman.

Earlier Sunday, protesters chanted "no justice, no peace" and "cops, pigs, murderers" as officers stood by and watched a demonstration over the Saturday officer-involved shooting.

Police Chief John Welter said two officers were placed on paid leave after one of them fatally shot Manuel Diaz, 24, Saturday afternoon.

He said the officers approached three men who were acting suspiciously in an alleyway when they ran away. One of the officers chased Diaz to the front of an apartment complex where the shooting occurred.

Welter would not say what led the officer to shoot Diaz, citing an independent investigation by the county's district attorney office. Police said Diaz was a known gang member.

The shooting sparked a melee in the neighborhood as some threw rocks and bottles at officers who were securing the scene for investigators to collect evidence. Sgt. Bob Dunn, the department's spokesman, said that as officers detained an instigator, the crowd advanced on officers so they fired bean bags and pepper balls at them.

Video captured by a KCAL-TV crew showed a chaotic scene as some people ducked to the ground and others scattered screaming. A man is seen yelling at an officer even as a weapon is pointed at him; two adults huddled to shield a boy and girl. Meanwhile, a police dog charged at several people sitting on the grass, including a woman and a child in a stroller, before biting a man in the arm.

Dunn said the dog accidentally got out of a patrol car. He said he didn't know whether police warned the crowd to disperse before firing the rubber bullets and pepper balls.

Throughout the night, police in multiple marked and unmarked squad cars attempted to control an unruly crowd gathered near the shooting scene, where some moved a Dumpster into an intersection and set its trash on fire.

Dunn said five people, two of them juveniles, were arrested during the unrest.

http://news.sfsu.edu/academic-path-former-inmates-selected-model-program
 good news, some people are slowly recognizing the importance  of this work

    Cuts

   California public schools have been losing funding and cutting programs and now Governor Jerry Brown wants to cut more funding unless his tax hike initiative passes this November. What does this mean for our schools? What the tax hike initiative will do if it doesn’t pass the money the tax initiative was going to bring in will be taken from the school funding as a result, more schools will close, and lose more programs, the school year can get shorter, classrooms will get larger, and the school week might be cut to four days in some places. In other words this can make learning harder for all of us. With larger classes teachers will have less time to spend with each student individually. Teachers are already underpaid and I don’t believe that teacher will want to have bigger class sizes and still get paid the same amount.
    Community colleges have also been affected. City College might lose its accreditation if it doesn’t show why they need it. The college might also close, if the college loses it’s accreditation student will not be able to transfer their courses credits they have earned. The cost of going to school has gone up too, tuition has gone up. The cost per unit last year was $36 and now it is $46. Many students will have to take out loans in order to attend college. Students will have a harder time paying off student loans. Teachers are also being laid off and there are hiring freezes on college professors Did you ever have that teacher that you recommended to all your friends? What if he or she leaves the college because he or she was getting offered a bigger check somewhere else. Colleges are losing good teacher to private colleges with deeper pockets. Why must the school funds be cut? School should be our number one priority we are the future leaders of America, and cutting the fund is also cutting our chances of success for future generations.

E.G.B

Remebering the the man who made it all possible

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Criminal-turned-criminologist-John-Irwin-dies-3205069.php

                                                          Concrete Jungle
   Why is it a war zone outside my door? I live in the Sunnydale projects and there are nights when you can hear gun shots left and right. I have seen shootings take place and have been the victim of one. I was curious about how many of them would be on the news or in the paper. I never saw anything on the news, but when I went online I found a few in the SF Examiner. When I was reading I noticed most of the people in the shootings are very young, in their early and mid twenties and the shootings often take place in a very small area. I don’t get why people go around shooting other people. 
   One of the articles I was reading got me a little scared. There was a shooting that got one person shot, and about two hours later there was another shooting on the same block. These people have no fear, and don’t care about who gets hit. The police said the shootings could have been local gang retaliation, but the facts are unclear. I have heard that in many of the shootings that it has to do with gangs, but how do the police really know this? Can what they say be trusted?  Either way,  a death for a death is not a fair trade especially if you are going to just look for some random person to shoot.
    I have a friend who is a white guy from Arizona and  when he stays with me sometimes I can tell in his body language that he feels unsafe. One day we both noticed that there were lots of police patrolling the area. He asked me if I feel safe with more police. I said no. That was when I realized that I didn’t feel safe with or without the police, not just for me, but also for my family and friends-for my daughter most of all.  Also, I feel like I have limitations on what I can do. I don’t feel safe taking my daughter outside to play, I feel like we can’t go outside due to the thought of a drive by shooting. For example, taking my daughter outside to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July was out of the question. I didn’t even stay at home that day because gun shots sound a lot like fireworks and  there are some people that shoot their guns into the air so it's hard to tell the difference.  It is hard to try and feel safe, the only place I feel a little safe is at home, but then I become a prisoner inside of  my own home. That isn't freedom, and still bullets can come through the walls and windows.
  Looking for a way out of here is hard. I understand why people do some of the things they do. It’s survival for the most part, but many innocent people get hurt for no reason. Violence makes home sweet home an ugly place. 


How can we make home a sweet home not for us, but for the children for there innocence?

Once again the rich get richer and the poor get charged

Once again the rich get richer and the poor get charged
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/us/probation-fees-multiply-as-companies-profit.html?_r=1&hp

  As you may have heard this year there is a reform on the ballot to the Three Strikes Law. A reform to the Three Strikes Law is needed, but is the reform offered to voters a good thing? In other words what would the new Three Strikes really do if passed? One of the many things that the reform will do is that people who have prior strikes for nonviolent crimes will not serve a life sentence for their third offense. Instead a person who gets convicted of a nonviolent crime will serve double their normal sentence for their second offense and three times for their third offense. This is good because there will be less people in prison serving life. Because prison will now be less populated, there will be more space for people incarcerated for violent crimes so they will not get early releases. With less people in prison for non-violent crimes, proponents argue that there would be less taxpayer’s dollars going into prison spending.

However, most of the money saved will go back into to the prison system. In the reform measure, prisoners will be moved from prisons to jails. Money will go into building new county jails to house inmates coming from these prisons. Also, money will go into building new county jails to house these inmates coming from prisons. The money will further fund jobs , such as  guards, sheriffs, and probation officers. Ultimately, the reform will make some changes for the better, but not exactly what was intended.

Another problem with the new reform is that it takes away necessary services for vulnerable populations. If passed, the reform will stop funding for long term health care for nonviolent criminals and elderly inmates serving life. This is not right because if someone needs medication they should have the right to receive them. The 3 Strikes reform currently on the ballot has been watered down and deviates from the original intension of the former reform effort to minimize the number of inmates and save tax payers dollars from funding the incarceration over education of our people, especially working-class and poor people of color. “The main objective of the reform was to reduce prison population by about thirty five percent,” said Joe Miles, of SFSU Project Rebound. 

 

M.M

When is the right time to ask questions?

Come Support

Three Strikes Reform Act Gaining Momentum

By: Miles Maurino

            Two Stanford Law School professors, David Mills and Michael Romano, have written a ballot initiative that would reduce the number of inmates that are currently incarcerated under the Three Strikes Law.  The Three Strikes Reform Act most significant reform proposes is for non-violent, non-serious felons to receive twice the normal sentence on the third felony offense instead of a life sentence.  One of the main goals of the bill aims to remove courts power to sentence convicts to 25 to life when their crimes have been neither violent nor serious.  Currently, California is the only state that allows for third time offenders, regardless of the crime, to be sentenced to life in prison.

            According to the Office of the Attorney General the main components of the ballot initiative will be as follows:

1. Requires that murderers, rapists, child molesters will receive life sentences, even if they are convicted of a new minor third strike crime.

2. Requires life sentence only when a defendant’s current conviction is for a violent or serious crime.

3. Maintains that repeat offenders convicted of non-violent, non-serious crimes like shoplifting and simple drug possession will receive twice the normal sentence instead of 25 years to life.

4. Save the State hundreds of million dollars.  The State will no longer pay for housing, long term health care for elderly, low-risk, non-violent inmates serving life sentences for minor crimes.

5. Prevent the early release of dangerous criminals who are currently being released early because jails and prisons are so overcrowded.

            To qualify for the ballot in November, the initiative will need to gather 504,000 signatures by May 14.  A challenge of that magnitude puts significant pressure for supporters to adequately fundraise, which they have done so to date.  As of February 12^th , advocates have raised over $1.2 million, but the funding has primarily been donated by only three donors.  According to thecriminalreport.org $600,000 was contributed by initiative author David Mills; $500,000 by philanthropist George Soros and $100,000 chipped in from Washington D.C. investor Peter Ackerman. 

The initiative aims to restore the original purpose of the Three Strikes Law (to lock up serious, violent offenders) and to ensure that state resources are not being exploited by incarcerating non-serious offenders.  A similar measure was proposed in 2004 but was defeated after an onslaught of attack ads spearheaded by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Nonetheless it was rejected with 47.3% of the vote, leaving the door open for victory this time around.

Allied with FACTS

Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes ( FACTS) is a profound and competent organization with community leaders, media-savvy activists, and local experts on the abuses of California’s Three Strikes law that are fighting to change the broadest and harshest Three Strikes law in the nation. She plays an active and constructive role in reforming the Three Strike law which aims at striving for the fairness and justice in the criminal justice system. We at Project Rebound are one of the community allies and we want to be proactive in getting the Three Strikes law taken away.

   

    Through making use of media coverage and community networks, FACTS is able to enhanced public’s understanding of Three Strikes. As a result, according to 2004 Poll, more than 65% of Californians support altering the law. Even the Klass family themselves who have suffered greatly never intended the law to become what it has today.     Vote to get rid of Three Strikes