Posts Tagged ‘parole’

The United States Supreme Court will entertain oral argument today on the issue of whether a life sentence without parole for a juvenile offender convicted of a non-murder offense violates the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court has already decided that juveniles are not subject to the death penalty.

Terrence Graham was 16 years old when he was convicted of burglary and attempted armed robbery. He received a one year sentence. Shortly after his release he earned a sentence of life without parole upon being convicted of armed residential burglary and robbery. His criminal defense lawyers argued on appeal that the life sentence, for any juvenile, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2005, the Supreme Court issued a deeply divided opinion when deciding that juveniles cannot be executed. The composition of the Court, of course, has changed radically in the last several years.  Mr. Graham may have wished for a speedier appeal process. Oral arguments in his case, and a transcript of the arguments, will be available at http://www.oyez.com.

No CommentsTags: appeal process, attempted armed robbery, burglary, criminal defense lawyers, cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty, Eight Amendment, juvenile, lawyers, life sentence, offender, oral argument, Oral arguments, parole, residential burglary, sentence, transcript, United States Supreme CourtRead More

A kidnapped girl was discovered 18 years after her abduction at the home of a convicted parolee and registered sex offender despite the fact that law enforcement has repeatedly been in contact with the man and has visited his home on many occasions over the years. That law enforcement for almost two decades missed Jaycee Dugard at the home of Phillip and Nancy Garrido is no great surprise to criminal lawyers. The shared resources of the U.S. federal  and Nevada state authorities  was not enough to effectively manage this parolee.  California – like every other state – has overburdened our police, probation and parole authorities by continuing the trend toward retribution and punishment over rehabilitation and reformation. Non-violent three strike offenders overburden prison officials. Juveniles are increasingly being punished as adults within the already crowded criminal courts. New enhancements and new Penal Code provisions and harsher punishment are continually being written into law. The list of those offenses that require registration for life as a sex offender is ever expanding. Consequently, prison, parole and probation officials cannot keep up with the workload and those persons convicted of misdemeanor non-violent sex offenses are draining resources from the supervision of high risk offenders.  As California clearly does not have more money to throw at these criminal justice problems, perhaps it is time to re-think how to best allocate the money we do have.

No CommentsTags: California law, court, criminal law, criminal lawyer, enhancement, high risk offenders, Jaycee Dugard, Juvenile Law, kidnapped, law enforcement, Nancy Garrido, offenses, parole, penal code, Phillip Garrido, police, probation, punsihement, reformation, rehabilitation, retribution, sex offender, sex offense, sex registration, three strikesRead More

The unprecedented California budget crisis has now resulted in the San Diego Superior Court closing every third Wednesday of the month, effective September 1, 2009. Court clerks have already cut-back to a shorter work day, and the court closing will put further strain on a majority of criminal court defendants and defense lawyers. The budget mess has also forced the California Legislature to consider a number of proposals to allow for early release of prisoners.  The early release will lighten the budget load as the higher cost of housing prison inmates will be eased by the lower cost of parole supervision. This proposal, of course, does not apply to inmates in county jails serving a probationary sentence.  There are a few county sheriffs, however, that take a creative approach to the meaning of “custody” by allowing their county inmates to “serve custody” in ways ranging from electronic surveillance to work release. In this way their budget load is lightened.

The budget mess is clearly both helping and hurting criminal defendants.

No CommentsTags: attorney, budget crisis, California Legislature, county jail, court clerks, criminal courts, criminal defendant, criminal lawyer, custody, defense attorney, early release, electronic surveillance, inmate, parole, prisoner, prisoner release, probation, san diego, sentence, sheriff, superior court, work releaseRead More