Just when I thought things were settling down at the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, I hear that things might have actually been worse under former director Heather Bolejack’s reign than previously thought. Sources tell me officials are looking into possible grant mismanagement to the tune of nearly $1 million. Stay tuned…
Just for the record I know I’ve been pretty hard on the Marion County Democrats as of late. It’s the nature of what I do for a living. If you are a partisan don’t worry there are some things coming down the pike soon that put the local GOP in my sights, but for now Democrats, enjoy your moment.
Today was a Democrat day for me in the sense that Melina Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for County Prosecutor, came on my morning radio program. And the Dss (Mayor and Sheriff) had a morning news conference touting the “arrival” of new bed space at Liberty Hall on east Washington. The beds will help alleviate overcrowding and help address crime as part of a comprehensive approach to solving crime. Of course I have say Liberty Hall was a bit Orwellian with some of the signs that were promoting positive reinforcement. “God doesn’t make junk” and “Get out stay out,” “Think Positive and be positive,” “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Okay, I made up the last one.
The Kennedy interview was interesting. Melina and I have had our differences but I still respect her as an attorney and former public servant. While she did fine, I do think the big challenge for her will still be the experience issue, particularly as crime is trending to be at an all-time high this year. (See earlier postings) The challenge will be to explain to average voter how someone who has never tried a criminal case can oversee an office that is crucial to fighting crime when it is as high as Robert Downey, Jr. Time will see if she is up to the task. Of course being videotaped going through the new jail with the Mayor and Sheriff doesn’t hurt either.
Like I said at the beginning, if you’re a partisan don’t get mad or cocky, because the other guys’ days are coming, and probably sooner than everyone thinks.
Let me start this off by saying I am not a big fan of drunk drivers. They are very dangerous individuals who are to blame for a lot of fatalities. And when it comes to their prosecution, I think the book should be thrown at them. The people at Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) think so too. They argue that anyone who refuses to take a Breathalyzer test should not get the chance to plea bargain their case. MADD has good intentions, but they are off the mark on this one.
Breathalyzer tests are good for getting drunk driving convictions, but they are only part of a bigger picture. There are a number of steps taken in a field sobriety test. And according to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, a very pro-prosecutor anti-drunk driving website, a defendant is more likely to beat a drunk driving charge if they don’t take a Breathalyzer test. So if a prosecutor has no ability to plea bargain, the case goes the trial and the odds increase the bad guy will walk. Is that what MADD wants? I thought they were about fewer drunk drivers on the road. Their actions show the opposite.
I just got my hands on some recent raw crime data. The picture is not good. I knew crime was getting out of control in Indianapolis, but I didn’t think it was that bad. As of June 30, 2006 there were 69 homicides in Marion County. In June 2005 at this time there were only 45 homicides. In fact, the homicide rate in Indianapolis is higher than it’s ever been in the past 8 years, since 1998. Homicide has not been this bad since the Backstreet Boys were a hit, Something About Mary was in movie theatres and the FDA approved Viagra for use. (I had to throw that in there for Rush).
This morning Mayor Bart Peterson and Sheriff Frank Anderson are going to offer a tour of Liberty Hall which will hold 125 jail beds for women and free up space at the Marion County Jail. While that’s fine and good, please note more than 380 inmates were let go in April because of jail overcrowding. That means 255 inmates would still be out on the streets. That number could have been 5 inmates had City-County Council President Monroe Gray decided not to play politics and “exercise his juice” and block a proposal to rent space for the summer and house another 250 inmates.
No one will disagree that fighting crime takes a comprehensive approach. You need the cops and neighborhood residents to patrol and get the criminals off the streets and keep neighborhoods clean. You need the jail space to hold the inmates. You need the judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to get people through the system and off to prison. You need the economic development and jobs so that people don’t turn to a life of crime in the first place. All I can say is that with more homicides being committed since Seinfeld went off the air, I knew things were bad, but this is just plain ugly.
Recently Georgia joined Indiana and fifteen other states in enacting a “stand your ground” law which allows citizens to use deadly force in responding to threats in public places, without a duty to first retreat. Similar bills are pending in 16 additional states.
Currently the majority common law view found in a majority of states requires that deadly force only be used when death or serious bodily injury is reasonably likely to occur. With the laws which appear to be gaining ground, deadly force can be used to defend yourself or a third person to prevent the commission of a forcible felony (IC 35-41-3-2).
But these states, and especially Indiana, are also liberalizing the justification of force in defense of property. The common view is that deadly force may never be used merely to defend property. Indeed my bar exam review materials take pains to bold and italicize that statement. Yet in Indiana, and perhaps a growing number of states, a person is in fact justified in using deadly force “to prevent or terminate the other person’s unlawful entry of or attack on his dwelling or curtilage.”
“Curtilage” is the area immediately surrounding a residence, and the mere throwing of stones at a house could reasonably be considered an “attack on” a curtilage. Like it or not, that’s the law in Indiana and what appears to be a growing number of other states.
As we mark the 4th of July and America’s birthday (although some historians argue it was actually July 2nd) I got to thinking recently about all the issues regarding the border. As we have the immigration debate, one component is sealing the border. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to ask myself, what exactly is the “border”?
You’re probably saying, “Hey idiot boy, look at the map and you can see where the border is!” That’s not the border I’m talking about. Last month Honda announced a major expansion in Indiana. The state just signed a deal to lease the Toll Road for nearly $4 billion to a Spanish-Australian conglomerate. On any given day there are millions of transactions taking place with an international flavor. Heck, I got pictures the other day from my sister-in-law in the Philippines of my new nephew. They didn’t come through the mail, they came via the Internet. I can sit at my computer and chat with friends in London, Moscow and New Delhi simultaneously. This was virtually impossible 10 years ago. And despite all the positives about living in a virtually borderless world, there are also negatives; the international fight against terrorism, the spread of diseases like avian bird flu, and of course illegal immigration. Although I’m in Indianapolis, I can still be affected by all these things.
So with such a breakdown in barriers to trade, commerce and communication, I really have to wonder if the old notions of a border still matter. According to Moises Naim of Foreign Policy Magazine, building fences and National Guard troops aren’t going to necessarily make things safer. Technology and trade have redefined how we look at the world. Is the border a few thousand miles away, or right around the corner at my financial broker, or is it my mouse when I turn on the computer and click on the internet?
As the world’s problems become more complex, nations, Naim argues, will have to work closer together to solve them giving up some of their “sovereignty” in order to survive.
As we celebrate America’s birthday, independence and national sovereignty, we may want to think that we are lot more connected to the rest of the world than we think and while national boundaries may look good on a map, they mean less as and less as time goes by.
I’m in the process of going through the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding military tribunals for detainees. Although it’s more than 180 pages long, I can tell you a couple things.
1. It does not mandate detainees be tried in civilian courts. What it does say is there is no statutory on
Constitutional scheme for the current military tribunal system the President wants to use. It says he
can use the civilian courts or military court-martial. He can also go back to Congress and have the
process clarified.
2. When the Congress removed jurisdiction for civilian courts to hear the claims of detainees, it did not
clearly identify those currently in the system, therefore the civilian courts can hear the current claim.
By the way, the Court did note that one version of the bill that did create the Detainee Treatment Act
of 2005 that would have included pending cases was voted down.
3. No terrorists are going free. They just have to be tried according to civilian law or the Uniform Code of
Military Justice.
I’ll be reviewing the opinion through the course of the day. But I thought you should know this before the idiots and nut jobs start commenting without even having read the opinion.
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, but there are a lot of little things going on around town so I thought I’d put them all in one place. Take them for what they are worth.
I know this has nothing to do with what I usually post here, but I saw Superman Returns last night at a sneak preview. It was awesome and worth waiting 20 years. To understand it, the folks at Warner Bros. say you have to ignore Supermans III and IV, which suits me just fine because I could have eaten a roll of film and vomited a better picture. Go see the film. It rocks!
Indianapolis Fire Fighters Union says a new survey shows Marion County voters will support fire consolidation if they get all the facts. The April poll was conducted in Washington township where a survey of 400 registered voters showed them supporting fire consolidation by 46 to 11 percent. 30 percent said they didn’t think it would make a difference. Union President Mike Reeves says the survey shows when voters get the facts about consolidation they will support it. Reeves says the poll will be helpful in their push for consolidation. He says another poll may be conducted countywide in the future.
