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Opening Statement
August 27, 2015
Edited by Andrew Cohen
Opening Statement is our pick of the day's criminal justice news. Not a subscriber? Sign up. For original reporting from The Marshall Project, visit our website.

Pick of the News

Sudden death comes to live television — and then the Internet. Not only was the murder of two journalists broadcast live on TV in Virginia early Wednesday, the killer later posted his own snuff video of the attack to social media, before killing himself in a wild morning of violence. The New York Times Related: From the gunman, a manifesto of grievances, faxed to a network. ABC News More: The danger of auto-play. The Atlantic

Missouri breaks. On the eve of another execution in Missouri, new questions are raised about the work of a lawyer struggling to represent her capital clients while handling the other professional and financial obligations in her life. TMP’s Ken Armstrong continues his coverage of Jennifer Herndon, who in a roundabout way may have given her condemned client a slim chance for relief. The Marshall Project

When prisons need to become like nursing homes. Despite runaway costs and countless stories about the neglect of seriously ill inmates, “there is no national oversight to determine how prisons handle the challenges of an aging population.” TMP’s Maura Ewing looks at how some states are confronting the problem — and in many ways succeeding. The Marshall Project

Perverse incentives. After the Ferguson unrest last year exposed the breadth and depth of “debtor’s prisons,” states and towns across the country are struggling to ease the financial burden on citizens while maintaining revenue streams. The Pew Charitable Trusts

“What happened at Kingman was frightening, disturbing and completely unacceptable.” Arizona severs ties with private prison company in the wake of July riot, after report shows unrest was caused in large part by mistreatment of inmates. The Arizona Republic Related: After the riot, the beatings of inmates began. Gawker

N/S/E/W

A Tennessee judge upholds the state’s lethal injection method, paving the way for the execution of 33 death row inmates. Associated Press

North Dakota this week became the first state to legalize armed “taser” drones, thanks to the push from a pro-police lobbyist. The Daily Beast

Death penalty abolitionists in Kansas find growing support from college Republicans. The Huffington Post

A juror from the Boston Marathon bombing trial in Massachusetts, the first to speak publicly, says he “probably” would have voted for life instead of death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had he known that so many of victims’ families were against capital punishment. The Boston Globe

Law enforcement officials in Alabama can’t wait to order more military gear from the Pentagon now that the suspension of the 1033 program has been lifted. Al.com

Commentary

The simplest, most logical argument against cash bail: The longer we keep people in pretrial confinement, the higher the likelihood they’ll be re-arrested for criminal conduct when they’re released. The New Yorker

Prison rape reform at a crossroads. Did the Justice Department just undermine its own progress in reporting (and preventing) prison rape by agreeing to a deal with Texas? The Crime Report Related TMP context: Pulling the teeth out of the federal prison rape law. The Marshall Project

Clemency 2.0. President Obama has plenty of power to grant clemency. The problem is that the people in charge of helping him exercise that power aren’t doing their jobs well enough, writes Paul Larkin. The Heritage Foundation

It depends on what the meaning of incarceration is. No, the Clintons can’t be blamed for mass incarceration. Clinton-era federal laws and policies only contributed to the explosion of the prison population, which was already underway in the 1980s. Politifact

“The intentional dismantling of evidence.” Even when judges are outraged by prosecutorial misconduct, they don’t really hold the prosecutors who have cheated accountable. Simple Justice

Etc.

Quote of the Day: “There are only about 650 hospital beds for mentally-ill youth” in California. Here’s the story of one troubled youth home that has gone from bad to worse. ProPublica

List of the Day: The ten troubling facts you need to know about Latinas and mass incarceration. Latina.com

Bear Cub of the Day: A Denver police officer’s wife called him the other day to tell him a bear cub was loose in his neighborhood. Cuteness ensued. 9 News-TV

Video of the Day: What can the leading presidential candidates agree on, no matter their ideology or party? The value of drug courts to help process low-level offenders away from prison and toward treatment. MSNBC

Irony of the Day: The one in which the prosecutor who once went after defense attorneys for accepting drug money from clients is alleged to have accepted drug money from undercover officers posing as money launderers. The Miami Herald







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