Why did Jacob Wideman murder Eric Kane? One teenager fatally stabbed the other during a summer camp trip in 1986 but couldn’t explain why. “Two Sons, Lost,” the first episode of “Violation,” a podcast from The Marshall Project and WBUR, introduces the story of the crime that has bound two families together for decades, from the night of the killing, through years of parole board hearings that would determine Jacob’s fate. TMP’s Beth Schwartzapfel, host of “Violation,” interviewed Jacob’s father, the author John Edgar Wideman, about his son’s case. Subscribe to “Violation,” and get new episodes each Wednesday. “Violation” will also be available on TMP’s site and on Here & Now from NPR and WBUR. The Marshall Project
Is today the day? The U.S. Secret Service has met with New York City police officials to discuss security for the possible arrest and indictment of former President Donald Trump. USA Today Analysis: A survey of recent New York felony prosecutions for falsifying business records—the same crime former President Trump is being prosecuted for—disproves the claim that he’s being unfairly targeted for political reasons. Just Security More: An employee discrimination lawsuit targeting the FBI’s general counsel office has exposed deep rifts within the bureau that predate the Trump era. Politico
More ways in which the Bureau of Prisons is failing to implement the First Step Act. The law requires federal prison officials to measure an incarcerated person’s recidivism risk, but prison staff aren’t keeping reliable data and don’t have “clear, measurable goals and milestones to evaluate whether its programs are working,” a federal watchdog agency concluded this week. Government Accountability Office TMP Context: The BOP is also failing to implement the First Step Act’s requirement of more medication for prisoners with opioid addictions. The Marshall Project
Insult to injury for Clarence Brandley. He was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder and spent nearly a decade on death row in Texas before he was freed in 1990. His case helped convince legislators to make it easier for wrongfully convicted people to get some financial compensation from the state for their years behind bars. But Brandley himself was deprived of the benefit of those reforms, which expanded prisoner eligibility even as it heightened legal standards. A key sticking point was the lack of a finding of “actual innocence” in his case. Brandley died in 2018 still fighting for relief. His family continues the fight. Texas Observer
Video from Virginia’s Central State Hospital earlier this month shows 10 sheriff’s deputies and medical staff piling on top of a shackled man, Irvo Otieno, for approximately 11 minutes until he stopped moving and died. The Washington Post Prosecutors have charged seven officers and three hospital workers with second-degree murder. The New York Times
An out-of-state marijuana firm hired a shooting victim in Illinois to try to take advantage of the state’s social equity licensing rules for the burgeoning cannabis industry. Chicago Sun-Times
Police settlements cost New York millions of dollars each year. There’s growing support among elected officials there to try something new: quicker police reforms that would limit misconduct, rather than engaging in costly litigation tactics. ProPublica
Idaho legislators passed a measure to allow firing squads to execute prisoners if state corrections officials can’t get the drugs they need to kill people by lethal injection. The Associated Press
There are civilians who serve on disciplinary panels to try to hold police officers accountable for misconduct in Los Angeles, California. But they’ve never been called to duty despite a crush of cases. They think it’s because of their perceived views toward cops. Los Angeles Times
They are not political prisoners. Seventeen of the 20 people currently held on Jan. 6–related charges in Washington, D.C.’s notorious jail are accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the Capitol riot. Just Security
A couple of good old boys. Robert Morgenthau, Alvin Bragg’s predecessor as Manhattan district attorney, took it easy on Donald Trump. The New York Times More: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy just gave us all a textbook example of the sort of “weaponization of government” he professes to hate. The New Republic
We are all fetuses now. “The tactic of protecting the voiceless innocent unborn has now been deployed to deprive actual living, breathing, ambulating humans of moral agency as well. It’s the tactic being used to ban books, to silence teachers, to go after drag performances, to deny health care to families seeking to support trans kids,” writes Dahlia Lithwick. Slate
What do prosecutors do now? Alex Murdaugh, now serving two consecutive life sentences for murder in South Carolina, still hasn’t answered for his alleged financial crimes. He faces “19 indictments setting forth 99 charges in crimes running the gamut from money laundering, attempted tax evasion and fraud to embezzlement and forgery.” MSNBC
No sense of urgency from bureaucrats. An Oregon man was wrongfully imprisoned for almost a year—he lost his job and missed out on the birth of his son—because state Department of Motor Vehicles officials failed to quickly respond to an error in the DMV’s database. It’s not an isolated problem. Reason
The aftermath of school shootings. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who owes $1.4 billion to the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims, has shielded many of his assets to avoid his creditors. The New York Times Police in Uvalde, Texas, hesitated before confronting gunman Salvador Ramos because they feared the firepower of his assault rifle, newly released police transcripts reveal. Texas Tribune/ProPublica
“I just want to get out, land a gig, and find a spot to live.” Thousands of formerly incarcerated people leave prison in New York without a place to live. A state senator has introduced legislation that would include former prisoners among those eligible for special housing vouchers. The New York Times
Where are the pardons? Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the LGBTQ California Clemency Initiative three years ago, promising pardons to people who were subjected to discriminatory arrests or prosecutions. So far, only one living person has benefited from the project. Los Angeles Times
“The carceral system was not developed with women in mind.” A new report by the Prison Policy Initiative focuses on women in prison, highlighting increased incarceration rates and gender disparities behind bars. The 19th
The “mundane, largely hidden violence.” Margaret Burnham’s new book, “By Hands Now Know: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners,” gets a rave review from Eric Foner, one of the nation’s most prominent historians. Burnham’s work “merits the attention of anyone interested in the historical roots of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and, more recently, Black Lives Matter,” Foner writes. The New York Review of Books
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