JUSTICE & CIVIL LIBERTIES

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CALIFORNIA POLS PROPOSE ANOTHER ATTACK ON TENTH AMENDMENT, CALLING ON
FEDS TO FIGHT GANGS

[Once again Patrick Leahy stands up for the Constitution]

JOHANNA NEUMAN, LA TIMES - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a
plea today to federalize gang-related crimes, saying that more Americans
have died from gang violence in the last four years than in Iraq. "Since
2001, more than 4,000 people have lost their lives to gang violence in
California alone," Villaraigosa told the Senate Judiciary Committee. . .
Endorsing a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would toughen
federal penalties for gang violence and provide $1 billion for
prevention and intervention, Villaraigosa said that "gang violence is a
problem of national scope, and it must be confronted on a national
scale.". . .

But Feinstein's bill, which she has trumpeted for a decade, may have a
difficult time making its way through Congress. Though the House passed
a similar version of the bill last year, the Senate has yet to consider
the idea. And the Judiciary Committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy
(D-Vt.), again today voiced his concern about mandatory sentencing
schemes and about federalizing local crimes. In a statement, he said, "I
do not believe that sweeping new federal crimes, which federalize the
kind of street crime that states have traditionally addressed...are the
right way to go."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-gangs6jun06,0,5847648.story?
coll=la-home-center


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FEDERAL COURT APPROVES FLEETING OBSCENITIES ON TV. . . FCC CHAIR SAYS
'FUCK
' AND 'SHIT' IN STATEMENT

MARTHA GRAYBOW, REUTERS - In a major victory for TV networks, a U.S.
appeals court on Monday overruled federal regulators who decided that
expletives uttered on broadcast television violated decency standards.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, in a
divided decision, said that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
was "arbitrary and capricious" in setting a new standard for defining
indecency. The court sent the matter back to the commission for further
proceedings to clarify its indecency policy. The FCC, which said it was
still studying the opinion, could decide to ask the U.S. Supreme Court
to reverse the appeals court. . . Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin
angrily retorted that he found it "hard to believe that the New York
court would tell American families that 'shit' and 'fuck' are fine to
say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most
likely to be in the audience."

"If we can't restrict the use (of the two obscenities) during prime
time, Hollywood will be able to say anything they want, whenever they
want," Martin said in a statement. . .

The three-member appeals panel focused on whether expletives were used
repeatedly or were only uttered fleetingly. The FCC had argued that,
under certain conditions, one utterance can violate the decency
standard.

"We find that the FCC's new policy regarding 'fleeting expletives'
represents a significant departure from positions previously taken by
the agency and relied on by the broadcast industry," Judge Rosemary
Pooler wrote for herself and Judge Peter Hall in the majority decision.

"We further find that the FCC has failed to articulate a reasoned basis
for this change in policy," the ruling said. "Accordingly, we hold that
the FCC's new policy regarding 'fleeting expletives' is arbitrary and
capricious."

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070604/3/32w7k.html

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BABY BOOMERS BEHIND BARS

EZEKIEL EDWARDS, DMI BLOG - A prison population of 2.3 million people:
it's getting old. . . In New York, in the mid 1980s, inmates 50 and
older comprised 3% of the prison population; in 2006, they made up 11%.
In response, the correctional unit in Fishkill, NY now houses inmates
suffering from some degree of dementia in this special unit, which
offers, among other activities, Bingo every Friday. Across the nation,
the number of prisoners over age 50 in state and federal prisons is
rising at about 8% a year, according to sociologist Ronald Aday. . .

As our prison population grows, its demographics widen as well. Not
necessearily in terms of race and class, since the overwhelming majority
of America's inmates remain poor and disporportinately people of color,
but in terms of gender, as daughters, mothers, and grandmothers enter
prison at an alarmingly high rate, and age, as more teenagers are
squeezed in while more elderly are kept from getting out.

http://www.dmiblog.net/archives/2007/06/baby_boomers_behind_bars.html

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STUPID COP TRICKS

TIMES ARGUS, VT - A woman facing jail time for "staring" at a police dog
had charges against her dropped Monday after an Orange County prosecutor
viewed videotape of the alleged crime. Jayna Hutchinson, now of Lebanon,
N.H., was scheduled for a jury trial this week on a misdemeanor charge
of cruelty to animals.

A Vermont State Police sergeant said Hutchinson was intoxicated and
stared at his police dog in a "taunting/harassing manner" last July
while officers were in the process of investigating a reported melee
outside a West Fairlee establishment.

"Prosecuting a woman for staring at a police dog is absurd," said Kelly
Green, a public defender appointed by Vermont District Court in Orange
County to represent Hutchinson. She likened the act to giving a police
officer the finger – a form of expression protected by rights accorded
under the First Amendment.

"After looking at the video, I did not think it was worthwhile
proceeding," Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said Tuesday.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS01/
706060362/1002/NEWS01&template=printart


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