We issue jail sentences like candy, to address every known problem that we have. Drug problem — jail. Using your family member’s address to get your child into a better school — jail. Paying college athletes — jail. The United States jails more people than any other country in the world. We have higher incarceration rates than Russia, Iran, and Iraq — by a lot. We tolerate innocent people sitting in jail when we only suspect that they might have done something wrong, as one man did for 82 days when he brought honey into the United States. 82 days.
Even though oversleeping doesn’t seem to be a rampant problem, the judge in Deandre’s case admitted that he was trying to solve a broader jury “misconduct” issue with jail. This is not how it should be.
The jail solution has become much worse than the diseases it was trying to cure. So what do we do about it?
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Probably nothing because we're also addicted to putting lawyers who put people in jail as a career on the bench.
ReplyDeleteNice piece.
ReplyDelete"A criminal case or a civil rights case has a 50 percent chance to be heard by a former prosecutor and only a six percent chance to be heard by a judge who has handled a case against the government."
That statistic says a lot.
sadly, you are 100 percent correct. there is also the implicit bias problem; that kid would not have been sentenced to 10 days in jail if he was from Judge Kastrenake's neighborhood. that too is a real problem in the criminal justice system, even though the judge would swear on a stack of bibles he doesn't see race.
ReplyDeleteIt's telling that Sen. Rubio would not return blue slips for two of Obama nominees for the district court here who were former public defenders.
ReplyDeleteWell done, DOM.
ReplyDeleteThis becomes even more troubling when the draconian sentences routinely imposed in this country are compared to the sentences for the same offenses elsewhere in the world, particularly in the legal systems of countries we style as the "western democracies" with which we like to be associated.
Add to those draconian sentences the proliferation of prisons for profit, and one is moved from troubled to disturbed.
Then, finally, take a look at campaign contribution records, to see the pivotal role those companies play in financing the campaigns of the very politicians who set and execute the policies that lead to those draconian, profitable sentences, and the moral mind should be moved to frank outrage and alarm.
Kastrenakes can swear on whatever he wants. He is not putting some mom from Wellington in jail for the same actions.
ReplyDeleteJohnny K should be impeached
ReplyDeleteNo doubt if the kid was white he would not have been thrown in jail. Wonder how this "judge" can live with himself.
ReplyDeleteJohnny K had boyish looks when he was a prosecutor in Miami, but do not let his choir boy appearance fool you. He was very sneaky in the Joyce Cohen case and some others and was exposed in one case. Other than that he was easy to work with but one needed to watch your back in dealing with him.
ReplyDeletePlease stop with the canard about the lady being sentenced to prison for using a fake address to get her kid into a school. She was also convicted of selling cocaine within 1000 feet of a school and that explained the sentence.
ReplyDeleteDebate all you want about the wisdom of imprisoning drug offenders or other non-violent offenders--I largely agree with you on that--but can we stop pretending some lady got 5 years for misrepresenting an address, that is not the whole story.
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ReplyDelete209 you act like facts would get in the way of the drivel written on this blog
ReplyDelete2:09
ReplyDeleteYou miss the point. That lady was convicted and sentenced for both selling drugs and lying about her address to get her son into a better public school. So, even though there was a clear drug charge, the prosecution nevertheless saw fit to prosecutor her and have her punished for lying about her address (she was homeless at the time) to get her kid into a better public school. What is the over/under on the number of people in South Florida who have lied about their address to try and get their kids into better public schools? How many of those people get prosecuted for it?