The ACLU recommendations to the next president

[nancylebov]

Here.

I'm pleased to see that stopping torture is at the top of the list.

So far as releasing Guantanamo Bay prisoners is concerned, I think some of them will have to be given US citizenship if they're to be able to live somewhere that they aren't at significant risk of torture.

Unless I missed something, there isn't anything about generally improving the criminal justice system. Sloppy evidence and plea bargaining aren't just a problem for black men accused of capital crimes.

Link thanks to supergee.

Comments

[subnumine.livejournal.com]

I think you did miss this measure, slightly ahead of the death penalty: in Special Litigation Unit of Civil Rights Division - rebuild docket of prison conditions of confinement cases and where appropriate,

Unfortunately, most of the responsibility for the criminal justice system rests on the states, and, except for civil rights cases, the President can't do much about them - and none of it quickly.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what that section means. Do you think it covers the many sorts of malpractice involved in convicting people?

[subnumine.livejournal.com]

Probably not, although the preceeding clause: prosecution of pattern and practice cases, enforcement of consent decrees; may deal with some of the atrocities.

This looks like it deals with conditions of imprisonment, insofar as those are themselves civil rights violations: the states are (probably) now bound not to inflict cruel and unusual punishment, and for state officials to violate the rights of a citizen of the United States is a criminal offense. Perhaps an Obama administration will remember this. (But I am no lawyer. Your Oseness?)