Reforming Criminal Justice

NYRB has an interesting review of three books, by David Cole, called Can Our Shameful Prisons Be Reformed. November issue. Not much new here, but the problem is gaining in notoriety, perhaps.

Prison Reform and Justice Go Hand in Glove

New York could be the model for prison/crim justice reform efforts nationwide. See the NYT article here, contributed by Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that monitors prison conditions.

Important Judiciary Initiative

Here is most of the announcement of the Georgetown Law Center regarding an important project on the judiciary. Particularly interesting, I thought, are the "interactive online product" for secondary school students, and "innovative technology" legal writing components:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Georgetown Law Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff is pleased to announce the establishment of the Sandra Day O’Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center. The project will continue the work of "Fair and Independent Courts: A Conference on the State of the Judiciary", held at Georgetown Law in September 2006 and co-chaired by Justices O’Connor and Stephen Breyer.

"I am very pleased that Georgetown Law will partner with me in educating the public about judicial independence," said Justice O’Connor. "As a judge, it is critical to me that we help people understand the importance of a fair and independent judiciary in a constitutional framework."

"The Sandra Day O’Connor Project aims to be a valuable resource in increasing public confidence in the judiciary," said Aleinikoff. "We are delighted that the project can support Justice O’Connor’s work as a strong voice for judicial independence, both as a member of the Supreme Court and now as a retired justice."

Project plans include:

• Circulating the recommendations of the conference participants to all state Supreme Court chief justices and federal judges.
• Publishing the conference proceedings and scholarly background materials. A conference DVD is also being produced.
• Planning regional conferences in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and other venues in cooperation with the William H. Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona School of Law and local law schools and bar associations.
• Developing an interactive online product for secondary school students on the role of the Third Branch with the Sandra Day O’Connor Law School of Arizona State University. Georgetown Law Professors Julie O’Sullivan and Diana Donahoe are employing innovative technology designed by Professor Donahoe for her new online legal writing instruction course.
• Monitoring developments in the 110th Congress related to federal judicial salaries.
• Planning a conference at Georgetown Law on state court judicial selection and elections to be held in the fall of 2007. Additional panel discussions and symposia on judicial independence topics are also being planned and will be co-hosted with associations and groups including elected officials, the business community, attorneys and bar groups.

A steering committee will guide the work of the O’Connor Project. Members of the committee, along with Justices O’Connor and Breyer, include Aleinikoff; former Solicitor General Theodore Olson; former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.); Larry Thompson, General Counsel of PepsiCo and former Deputy Attorney General; former White House Chief of Staff Kenneth Duberstein and three state Supreme Court chief justices. Meryl Justin Chertoff, project director for the "Fair and Independent Courts" conference, will serve as director of the O’Connor Project.
(hat tip: SCOTUSblog)

Sub-lethal (illegal) Injection?

There must be blood in the water, the sharks are circling, the beast has been sighted, and it is (find out with DAB) ... [Choose only one: a) sub - lethal injections, b) the white whale, c) Ahab, d) your lawyer calling.] OR, is it

Change Needed in the Courts? Ron Rotunda writes in Washington Post:

The Judicial Transparency and Ethics Enhancement Act of 2006, now before Congress, would create an inspector general for the courts. It offers modest reforms that would keep our judiciary independent (because no one favors a dependent judiciary) and help keep it accountable (because no one favors a judiciary that is above the law).

THAT would be a change. Is this just politics or something with real teeth? How would an IG further the cause of independence? AND judiciary should be accountable to whom? How would that work? House Judiciary Committee recently voted in favor of this bill by a bipartisan majority of 20 to 6.