#Electronic Monitoring for House Arrest

[everythingsyouneedtoknow]

Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

Dive into the complex world of electronic monitoring for offenders. Our latest article unpacks the legal implications, privacy concerns, and ethical debates surrounding the use of monitoring devices in the justice system. Discover how technology balances public safety with individual rights at Laipac.com

[offender42085]

Post 1349

...not guilty of felony hate crime charges, but guilty of third-degree malicious mischief -- a crime that is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days in county jail.

Frank John Bagley, inmate 395764

Cabriel R Smith-Nilsen, inmate 395763

Matthew A Clement, inmate 365991

Lewis County Washington Jail inmates, incarceration intake October 2024, sentenced to 364 days

In October 2024, a Lewis County (Washington) Superior Court judge sentenced the three men convicted by a jury for defacing the “Friendship Fence” in Chehalis earlier in the year to 364 days in county jail: the maximum sentence allotted for their cases.

“This crime cries out for the maximum. It cries out for a statement that this will not be tolerated,” Judge J. Andrew Toynbee said during a sentencing hearing for the three defendants, Frank John B. Bagley II, 40, of Seattle, Matthew A. Clement, 33, of Centralia, and Gabriel R. Smith-Nilsen, 25, of Driggs, Idaho, on Friday, Oct. 4.

Bagley, Clement and Smith-Nilsen were arrested in Centralia early in the morning on Sunday, Feb. 25, after a neighbor saw them defacing the Friendship Fence — a rainbow-colored fence — in Chehalis and followed them as they fled in a dark-colored Subaru station wagon.

The Chehalis Police Department received a call at 12:08 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, from the neighbor, Norman Lynn, reporting three subjects “wearing all black and ski masks” were spray painting the Friendship Fence in the 600 block of Northwest Pennsylvania Avenue.

They hid behind the house before fleeing on foot, getting into a dark-colored station wagon and fleeing northbound on Interstate 5 into Centralia. Officers with the Centralia Police Department were able to stop the suspects’ vehicle as they were trying to get onto southbound I-5 at 12:38 a.m. on Feb. 25, according to police call logs. 

Officers found a stencil “covered in multicolored paint and had the words ‘Patriotfront’ as the cutout for the sign,” as well as a blue bag containing “several pieces of White Lives Matter and … literature and propaganda stickers” inside the vehicle the suspects were in when Centralia police arrested them on Feb. 25.

A Lewis County jury ruled earlier that Bagley, Clement and Smith-Nilsen were not guilty of felony hate crime charges, but were guilty of third-degree malicious mischief.

The crime is a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days in prison.

“This was undoubtedly a contentious case,” defense attorney Shane O’Rourke, representing Clement, said Monday.

While the jury found that the defendants did not target a specific person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, which would be required for a hate crime conviction, O’Rourke said Friday, “I think the evidence did suggest it was an attack on the social commentary and political messaging of the fence.”

O’Rourke said the fence was “unquestionably a symbol and monument” in the community, but asked the court “would we all be engaged in the same conversation” if “liberals” had vandalized a hypothetical Confederate or Trump monument in the community?

O’Rourke and fellow defense attorneys Joseph Enbody and Jakob McGhie, who represented Bagley and Smith-Nilsen, respectively, argued Friday in favor of a suspended sentence or an electronic home monitoring option for the defendants, saying such a sentence would be consistent with what they’ve seen the court sentence for third-degree malicious mischief cases in which the defendants have little to no prior criminal history.

3v

[gatheringbones]

[“Rehabilitation is meant to remake the person into a law-abiding citizen. Incapacitation removes the person from society so that they cannot do additional harm. Deterrence prevents people who might offend from engaging in harm because, having seen what the punishment has been or will be, they understand the potential negative consequences of their actions. And retribution, the oldest moral underpinning for punishment, is intended to ensure that those who commit crimes receive the punishment they deserve. Punishment settles the score between the person who commits a crime, their victim, and the wider society. Punishing survivors of gender-based violence is difficult to justify using these theories. In an era in which prisons barely meet people’s basic human needs and substantive programming is scarce, few argue that punishment rehabilitates. Nonetheless, in sentencing eighty-year-old Lavetta Langdon for the murder of her husband after fifty years of torture and despite his recognition that she had “lived in hell,” Judge David Urbom sentenced Langdon to eight to ten years’ imprisonment to “rehabilitate” her.

For criminalized survivors, relying on rehabilitation is particularly inapt. Crimes committed by criminalized survivors are often specific to their victimization. The problem is not with the person who commits the crime, but with the harm they are experiencing. Justifying punishment using rehabilitation reinforces outdated stereotypes suggesting that gender-based violence is linked to some deficiency or infirmity in the victim. Rehabilitation also assumes that the person convicted of a crime does not appreciate that their actions were problematic; rehabilitation is meant to change the person’s underlying values. Criminalized survivors understand that they may be technically guilty of crimes. What they dispute is the failure to recognize the context for those crimes and to apply the law—and the values underlying the law—appropriately. As one woman convicted of killing her husband explained, “I’m not asking to be found not guilty, because I am guilty, I took his life, I did it. . . . I am definitely guilty of taking his life, I mean, if I was found not guilty, they’d have to look for who did it, right, I mean someone’s got to be guilty. And I certainly take responsibility for what I did, I have no problem with that, but I certainly don’t deserve 18 to 20 years for it.”5 Faced with the same situation again, many would be forced to make the same choice. Incapacitation is generally linked with incarceration (although house arrest and electronic monitoring are forms of incapacitation) and assumes that because people have committed crimes in the past, they are likely to do so again unless removed from society. But many criminalized survivors have never offended previously, and most (including those who have been convicted of serious violent crimes) will not reoffend. Incapacitation is therefore unlikely to prevent offenses by these people.

What incapacitation does do is deprive society of the many other functions performed by these people—as parents, caregivers, workers, and members of communities—while at the same time imposing the costs of their incarceration on taxpayers. Deterrence is no more persuasive. The evidence for the deterrent value of punishment is inconclusive, particularly when the sentence involves incarceration. Sentencing people convicted of violent crimes to prison may have no greater impact on recidivism after release than sentencing someone to probation.6 Incarceration may instead spur offending by exacerbating preexisting mental health conditions or trauma and making it difficult for people to find legal employment after their release.7 For the criminalized survivor being punished, deterrence is largely unnecessary: that person is unlikely to find themself in the same situation again. Other survivors, perceiving immediate danger to themselves or their children and no other clear or effective options, are unlikely to be deterred from acting by the abstract threat of punishment or the knowledge that another person has been punished for taking similar action. Which leaves retribution. Retribution motivated the judge in the case of Barbara Jean Gilbert, who killed her husband after fifteen years of abuse. The judge handed down the maximum sentence of incarceration—even though the probation department asked for probation, citing her “exemplary” conduct, and prosecutors did not ask for prison time. The judge explained his decision: “You have snuffed out a life. . . . Therefore the court has the right to inflict pain and deprivation on you.” But what does a criminalized survivor deserve, particularly when the victim of the crime for which the person is being punished has inflicted immeasurable damage on that person? Retributivists stress that the punishment must be proportionate to the crime. To determine proportionality, context is essential. A proportionate response should factor in the harm already suffered by the person being punished. As Darcy K. WarBonnett has observed, prior to entering prison she was already serving a life sentence by virtue of having been abused by her partner. “We are incarcerated not AS punishment, but evidently for MORE punishment.”

Retributivists also argue that punishment restores moral balance. That balance is necessarily different, however, when the victim of a crime has abused the person convicted of that crime. The moral balance has already shifted away from the victim because of their earlier actions. Even if none of these rationales for punishment is satisfied, society may still seek to punish those who commit crimes. Punishment reinforces the value of and respect due community norms. Directing hostile feelings toward those who have committed crimes allows members of society to vent their frustrations and feel in control, while at the same time believing they are right. To the extent that punishment fulfills those needs, “punishment pleases.” The need to assert community norms and control motivates community members to call for harsh punishment of criminalized survivors. As one newspaper columnist wrote after Dixie Shanahan was sentenced: “Open a loophole for one woman to kill an abusive spouse and pretty soon you’ve got dozens of dead husbands.”]

leigh goodmark, from imperfect victims: criminalized survivors and the promises of abolition feminism, 2023

[beardedmrbean]

Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A former Cornell University student has been sentenced to nearly two years behind federal bars for posting threats online targeting his school's Jewish community.

Patrick Dai, 22, of Pittsford, N.Y., was handed the 21-month sentence Monday, four months after he pled guilty in April to posting threats to kill or injure another person using interstate communications.

Dai was a junior at Cornell in late October when he posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion forum.

Excerpts of the posts reproduced in statements from the Justice Department show he threatened to "shoot up" 104 West!, Cornell's kosher dining room that is located next to the Center for Jewish Living facility, as well as "bomb jewish house."

He also threatened to bring an assault rifle to campus to "shoot all you pig jews," according to federal prosecutors, who added that he vowed to stab and slit the throat of any Jewish man he saw at Cornell and rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish woman. Jewish babies, he said, according to prosecutors, would be beheaded.

Dai was quickly identified after the posts were published online and he has remained at the Broome County Jail since his arrest.

"Every student has the right to pursue their education without fear of violence based on who they are, how they look, where they are from or how they worship. Anti-Semitic threats of violence, like the defendant's vicious and graphic threats here, violate that right," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said Monday in a statement.

United States Attorney Carla Freedman said Dai's actions "terrorized" the Cornell campus for days "and shattered the community's sense of safety."

The threats were communicated less than a month after Hamas launched a bloody assault on Israel that killed some 1,200 Israelis and ignited the ongoing war between the Iran-backed militia and the Middle Eastern country.

Lisa Peebles, a federal public defender and Dia's legal representative, told The New York Times in an email that her client is not anti-Semitic and that the posts had been a misguided effort to "expose the atrocities of Hamas and garner sympathy for the Jewish community."

She explained that Dia is autistic and can function like a child between the ages of 5 and 10.

"He is deeply sorry for the hurt he caused," Peebles said, The Times reported. She also suggested that the crime is what led to his autism diagnosis.

Dia was also sentenced Monday to three years' post-incarceration supervised release that is to include no contact with his former university and mental health treatment. Other restrictions imposed as part of the sentence include monitoring of his electronic devices and use of the Internet.

[luckyladylily]

Looked into it a bit, the cops justified this by saying he had posted more than just memes, producing several messages to the effect of "I want to shoot up the school". However, those messages were not made on an account publicly tied to the kid, and he and his family deny the second account is his. The cops have refused to offer any proof the second account was his.

So basically, to make this legally stick or, more likely, make boot licking conservatives excuse all their actions no matter how vile, they pretended a second account was also his in order to be able to have something actionable.

As of now he's been released with an electronic monitor l, under something approximating house arrest, and legally barred from using the internet.

Ron DeSantis just kidnapped a 13-year old boy.

Earlier this evening, at around 7 PM CT U.S., Rebekah Jones (notably one of DeSantis’ biggest political enemies right now) underwent a raid on her home by state police.

Guns were pointed in the face of her 13-year old son, Jack. They arrested him under the charges of digital terrorism and “on state orders.”

They are refusing to let him go home and they are refusing to let Jones see him.

These are her screenshots recounting the incident from earlier tonight. They were taken at 10:23 PM CT U.S.

Reblog. I don’t care who you are, reblog this. We have to make sure that this doesn’t get buried – it’s already happening.

[hurfordglobal]

Riverdale Resident Yoel Belitz Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges, Sentenced to Supervised Release, Registry

Starting in April of 2020, federal law enforcement agents opened an account on a live video streaming site used primarily for sexual purposes to monitor and chat with accounts engaged in sharing child pornography on the site. Around June 20th, 2022, agents accessed a chatroom in which Belitz was a member. This chat room was suspected to be used for sharing child pornography.

The same day, Belitz posted two links in the chat. The first contained approximately 647 files, consisting primarily of images of nude prepubescent children in sexually explicit poses, as well as images depicting the rape and other sexual assaults of prepubescent females. At least one of the files depicted the sexual assault of an infant.

The second link contained a folder which contained

approximately 628 files consisting primarily of videos depicting prepubescent and adolescent females, many of which depict the nude minor victims engaging in sexually explicit conduct, oral sex, and/or masturbation. One video in the folder depicted a 5 year old being forced to perform a sex act on an adult.

Around July 13th, agents observed Belitz had shared two more links. The first link contained a folder which contained approximately 66 files. The files consisted largely of videos depicting the sexual abuse of prepubescent children. The second contained a folder which contained approximately 105 files. The files were primarily a mixture of sexually explicit videos depicting either adults or teenage girls whose age could not be determined engaged in sex acts.

5 days later, Belitz posted another folder link in the chat. This one contained approximately 91 videos primarily depicting nude prepubescent children in sexually explicit poses and/or being sexually assaulted by adult males.

Around October of 2020 federal agents executed a search warrant on the house Belitz was living in. Belitz admitted to have shared the materials. During the execution of the search of the Subject Premises, law enforcement seized multiple electronic

devices belonging to Belitz, including his cellphone, laptop, and hard drives.

After reviewing the contents of the phone, agents found several hundred stored media files depicting child pornography, including photographs and videos of nude infants and prepubescent children engaging in various sex acts.

Belitz was arrested on 1/15/2021 and pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on 5/27/2022. He was sentenced to time served, 5 years supervised release, and registry, although it seems he may only be a level 1 offender which wouldn't show on the public registry.

Belitz was a former counselor at Camp Kaylie, a former Madrich at B'nei Akiva, and a former counselor at Moshava Ba'ir in New Jersey. He has also worked as an EMT for SeniorCare.

According to a filing in the case, Belitz, at least as of 2021, was davening at SDC in RIverdale.

[blogdailylive]

Hon. Robinson Uwak Arrested For Criminal Defamation Of Character, Conspiracy To Commit Murder

A detachment of the IGP Monitoring Unit has arrested a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Robinson Uwak for alleged criminal defamation of character against the member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Benjamin Kalu.

He was arrested following his refusal to honour series of invitation extended to him by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba. A court of competent jurisdiction therefore issued a warrant of arrest against him.

Rep Benjamin Kalu who is also the spokesperson of the House of Representatives had demanded an apology from Uwak over accusation of infidelity with his (Uwak) wife. He had threatened to approach the court upon failure of Uwak to tender apologies.

Hon Robinson Uwak who was a member of the 7th Assembly of the House of Reps had been accused by his wife Kezia Uwak of domestic violence which led her to leave their matrimonial home as he had alleged to continue abusing her physically regardless of her pleas.

It is noted that in the past few years, Hon. Uwak has lost his first marriage to domestic violence, with a divorce case still pending in court and a newly contracted marriage which like the First broke down on the allegations of domestic violence by the wife which has also been confirmed by the NAPTIP office.

This criminal intention to damage the character of Rep. Benjamin Kalu, led him to publish falsehood in all the major media houses in Nigeria including electronic media, face book, Twitter and various blogs with the aim to institute a smear campaign on his reputation.

In all these time, Rep. Kalu recalled that his wife Kezia who is also skilled photographer and a graphic designer had worked with him during his 2018/2019 campaign, while refusing to join issues or respond to any of the media houses, however took the legal paths of petitioning through his lawyer Prof. Ernest Ojukwu to the Inspector General of Police.

[reviewnews24]

Hon. Robinson Uwak Arrested For Criminal Defamation Of Character, Conspiracy To Commit Murder

A detachment of the IGP Monitoring Unit has arrested a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Robinson Uwak for alleged criminal defamation of character against the member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Benjamin Kalu.

He was arrested following his refusal to honour series of invitation extended to him by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba. A court of competent jurisdiction therefore issued a warrant of arrest against him.

Rep Benjamin Kalu who is also the spokesperson of the House of Representatives had demanded an apology from Uwak over accusation of infidelity with his (Uwak) wife. He had threatened to approach the court upon failure of Uwak to tender apologies.

Hon Robinson Uwak who was a member of the 7th Assembly of the House of Reps had been accused by his wife Kezia Uwak of domestic violence which led her to leave their matrimonial home as he had alleged to continue abusing her physically regardless of her pleas.

It is noted that in the past few years, Hon. Uwak has lost his first marriage to domestic violence, with a divorce case still pending in court and a newly contracted marriage which like the First broke down on the allegations of domestic violence by the wife which has also been confirmed by the NAPTIP office.

This criminal intention to damage the character of Rep. Benjamin Kalu, led him to publish falsehood in all the major media houses in Nigeria including electronic media, face book, Twitter and various blogs with the aim to institute a smear campaign on his reputation.

In all these time, Rep. Kalu recalled that his wife Kezia who is also skilled photographer and a graphic designer had worked with him during his 2018/2019 campaign, while refusing to join issues or respond to any of the media houses, however took the legal paths of petitioning through his lawyer Prof. Ernest Ojukwu to the Inspector General of Police.

[24blogspress]

Former Reps Member, Robinson Uwak Arrested Over Criminal Blackmail, Conspiracy to Commit Murder

A detachment of the IGP Monitoring Unit has arrested a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Robinson Uwak for alleged criminal defamation of character against the member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, Igbere TV has learnt.

According to ABN, Hon. Uwak was arrested following his refusal to honour a series of invitations extended to him by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba. A court of competent jurisdiction, therefore, issued a warrant of arrest against him.

Rep Benjamin Kalu who is also the spokesperson of the House of Representatives had demanded an apology from Uwak over the accusation of infidelity with his (Uwak) wife. He had threatened to approach the court upon failure of Uwak to tender apologies.

Hon Robinson Uwak who was a member of the 7th Assembly of the House of Reps had been accused by his wife Kezia Uwak of domestic violence which led her to leave their matrimonial home as he had alleged to continue abusing her physically regardless of her pleas.

It is

noted that in the past few years, Hon. Uwak has lost his first marriage to domestic violence, with a divorce case still pending in court and a newly contracted marriage which like the First broke down on the allegations of domestic violence by the wife which has also been confirmed by the NAPTIP office.

This criminal intention to damage the character of Rep. Benjamin Kalu, led him to publish falsehoods in all the major media houses in Nigeria including electronic media, Facebook, Twitter, and various blogs with the aim to institute a smear campaign on his reputation.

In all these time, Rep. Kalu recalled that his wife Kezia who is also a skilled photographer and a graphic designer had worked with him during his 2018/2019 campaign, while refusing to join issues or respond to any of the media houses, however, took the legal paths of petitioning through his lawyer Prof. Ernest Ojukwu to the Inspector General of Police.

Hon. Uwak who has prided himself to be untouchable by the law and the judicial system was will be expected to prove his allegations against Rep. Kalu when the case is brought before the court.

[receiptarchive]

Kendall Stephens, Philadelphia LGBTQ activist, charged with rape of minors

https://www.fox29.com/news/philadelphia-lgbtq-activist-kendall-stephens-charged-in-rape-of-two-minor-children-police

PHILADELPHIA - An LGBTQ+ activist in the Philadelphia community has been charged with raping two minors after previously being the victim of a violent assault in 2020, sources tell FOX 29.Philadelphia police say Kendall Stephens, 37, was arrested Monday after an investigation into sexual assaults from September 2023.

She has been charged with two counts of Rape, Indecent Assault, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Corruption of Minors and related charges.

Stephens is the same woman who survived a brutal hate-crime in her Point Breeze home on August 24, 2020 in which the attacker, Tymesha Wearing pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy. According to the DA, Wearing was sentenced to 11.5 to 23 months of house arrest with electronic monitoring, with no parole eligibility until 18 months of home confinement, as well as 120 hours of community service, a letter of apology to Stephens, and completion of a court-monitored anger management program. The details in the allegations against Stephens are developing as the investigation of the case is ongoing. Bail for Stephens has been set at $500,000.  

[everythingsyouneedtoknow]

How do electronic monitoring devices for prisoners balance security with human rights?

Electronic monitoring devices for prisoners and offenders are a testament to the evolving landscape of criminal justice, aiming to strike a balance between ensuring public safety and upholding the human rights of those being monitored. These devices, which track the movements and activities of individuals under house arrest or probation, are designed with the dual purpose of preventing recidivism and facilitating rehabilitation in a manner that respects individual freedoms and dignity.

The core of balancing security with human rights lies in the use of technology that is both effective in monitoring and minimally intrusive. GPS ankle bracelets, for example, allow for real-time location tracking, enabling authorities to ensure that individuals comply with their movement restrictions without necessitating physical confinement. This approach not only reduces the strain on prison systems but also allows individuals to maintain employment, family connections, and access to rehabilitative services, crucial factors in reducing the likelihood of reoffending.

Moreover, modern electronic monitoring systems incorporate features designed to respect privacy and dignity. Data encryption and strict access controls ensure that sensitive information is only available to authorized personnel. Additionally, the design of the devices themselves focuses on being discreet and comfortable to wear, minimizing the stigma associated with their use.

Transparency in the use of electronic monitoring and clear communication with the monitored individuals about their rights and obligations also play a critical role in upholding human rights. It's essential that those under monitoring understand the extent of the surveillance, the reasons behind it, and their rights to appeal or question the monitoring conditions.

Laipac is at the forefront of developing electronic monitoring solutions that carefully consider the balance between security needs and human rights. Our devices are designed with the highest standards of ethics and compliance in mind, ensuring that monitoring is both effective and respectful. To learn more about our commitment to advancing electronic monitoring technology in a humane and responsible manner, visit Laipac's Electronic Monitoring for House Arrest.

[rainycollectionangel]

Checking Out Alternative Sentencing Options for DUI Offenders

Introduction: Comprehending the Requirement for Option Sentencing Options

Driving under the impact (DUI) is a serious offense that can have extreme consequences. It not just puts the lives of the driver and others at threat but likewise brings legal penalties that can have lasting impacts. As a result, there has been a growing motion towards exploring alternative sentencing options for DUI transgressors. These alternatives intend to resolve the underlying concerns behind impaired driving while providing an opportunity for rehabilitation and minimizing recidivism rates.

Exploring Different Kinds of Alternative Sentencing Options 1. Community Service as an Alternative Sentence

Community service has actually become a popular alternative sentencing alternative for DUI offenders. It involves performing unsettled work in the neighborhood, such as cleaning up public spaces, helping at regional charities, or taking part in educational programs. This kind of sentence enables offenders to give back to their communities while also functioning as a type of punishment.

2. Ignition Interlock Devices: A Technological Solution

Ignition interlock gadgets (IIDs) are Learn here another alternative sentencing option getting traction in lots of jurisdictions. These gadgets need motorists to pass a breathalyzer test before starting their automobiles. If alcohol is found, the car will not begin, thereby avoiding impaired driving. IIDs are typically used as a condition of probation or as part of a limited license program.

3. Alcohol Education and Treatment Programs

Alcohol education and treatment programs offer DUI culprits with the opportunity to resolve their alcoholic abuse issues and make positive changes in their lives. These programs concentrate on educating individuals about the risks of impaired driving and offering tools to conquer addiction. By addressing the root cause of DUI offenses, these programs aim to minimize recidivism rates.

4. Restorative Justice: Fixing Harm Through Dialogue

Restorative justice approaches focus on repairing Take a look at the site here harm brought Additional info on by DUI offenses through dialogue between culprits, victims, and the community. These programs intend to hold culprits responsible for their actions while supplying a chance for healing and reconciliation. By involving all stakeholders while doing so, restorative justice seeks to produce a sense of empathy and understanding.

5. Home Arrest: Restricting Movement as a Deterrent

House arrest, likewise referred to as electronic monitoring, involves restricting a culprit's movement by requiring them to stay at home during specific hours or for a designated period. This alternative sentencing option intends to discourage DUI culprits from repeating their offenses by limiting their ability to engage in dangerous behavior.

6. Sobriety Treatment Courts: A Holistic Approach

Sobriety treatment courts supply an alternative sentencing option that integrates judicial supervision with substance abuse treatment. These specialized courts concentrate on dealing with the underlying concerns of addiction through thorough programs that include regular drug testing, therapy, and probationary requirements. The goal is to promote long-term healing and reduce recidivism rates.

FAQs about Checking out Alternative Sentencing Options for DUI Offenders 1. What are the advantages of checking out alternative sente

[gatheringbones]

[“In 1985 the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women in New York held historic hearings on the devastating links between criminalization and gender-based violence; incarcerated women and their advocates testified about the devastating pipeline between experiencing sexual violence and incarceration. Sisters Inside, an Australian abolitionist group that supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, in 2001 presented the term “state sexual assault” to argue that the state itself is a perpetrator of sexual violence through policing, incarceration, and other carceral methods.

State sexual assault is strip searches and cavity searches of incarcerated or arrested people; it’s the enabling of rampant sexual assault by police officers and prison guards, the general punitiveness and systemic denial of incarcerated people’s bodily autonomy. Sisters Inside organizers who had been incarcerated themselves described how physical and sexual abuse from interpersonal partners and from agents of the state carry many of the same impacts and feel virtually indistinguishable from each other.

Despite the inevitable sexual violence perpetuated by the prison system, mainstream feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem spent the summer of 2022 shilling for the creation of an ostensibly “feminist” women’s prison to be built in a shut-down jail in Harlem. It would be called the Women’s Center for Justice and incarcerate “women and gender-expansive people.” The proposal was immediately shot down by abolitionist feminists, pointing out how prisons are inseparable from white supremacy and are innately sexist and dehumanizing, no matter what they’re called.

“Feminist” organizing for the Women’s Center for Justice is hardly the first time criminal justice reformers have unveiled supposedly more humane forms of prison, like house arrest, electronic monitoring, or parole. This level of state surveillance amounts to a prison without walls, all around us. In their 2020 book Prison by Any Other Name, Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law note that all these ideas raise fundamental questions about the prison system as a whole: “What does it mean to reform—to improve—a system that, at its core, relies on captivity and control? What are the dangers of perfecting a system that was designed to target marginalized people?”

Abolitionist feminists recognize the futility of reforms or collaborations with police to help abuse victims. Abolition entails the end of prisons and policing; it reconstructs society to ensure everyone’s needs are met, survival-based “crimes” are no longer necessary or criminalized, and harm is addressed without dehumanizing, carceral resolutions, which are more likely to reproduce and worsen harm than alleviate it. The carceral system, a fundamentally racist web of processes and institutions that criminalize and incarcerate people, has always been deeply tied to our societal crises of domestic and sexual violence—from the hostility and threats of criminalization that many victims of abuse face when they seek help, to the prevalence of sexual abuse and violence carried out by police officers and within prisons.

Lived experience first prompted me to question the norms of how we understand gender and violence from a carceral lens that frames law enforcement as saviors rather than assailants. With time and reflection on my own experiences with sexual assault, I learned the complexity of acts of interpersonal harm, and multilayered paths to personal restoration that are threatened and upended rather than supported by carceral logic. As a teenager, I balked at the idea of talking to people with guns about what had happened to me when I couldn’t even talk to my own parents. When your only option to process or seek “justice” for acts of sexual harm is to implicate yourself and someone who’s hurt you—someone you may hold complex or even loving feelings toward—into a violent, permanent system, truthfully, you’re left with no options at all. Even then, I think on some level I understood that victims of abuse are not the people that our law enforcement systems and punitive traditions are designed to serve. The police state is built to perpetuate rather than alleviate abuse, to disempower rather than support those who survive violence. The result is a culture in which victims of a wide range of acts of sexual and interpersonal harms are left to fend for themselves or risk incurring additional trauma—even, in no shortage of documented cases, criminalization and incarceration. Carcerality is incompatible with creating environments in which abuse victims feel safe enough to seek recourse. Overinflated police and prison budgets mean that publicly funded resources for victims are severely lacking if not nonexistent. Yet carceral policy is the governing model of nearly all cities across the country, which rely on it to generate revenue through policing, incarcerating, and exploiting Black and brown people, consequently slashing funding for essential resources.”]

kylie cheung, from survivor injustice: state-sanctioned abuse, domestic violence, and the fight for bodily autonomy, 2023

[beardedmrbean]

BAY CITY, MI — A Bay City man is heading to prison for sexually assaulting a little girl, who called 911 herself on her abuser.

Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill on Monday, Dec. 19, sentenced Jimmy L. Alexander, 55, to 50 months—or just over four years—to 15 years in prison.

Gill gave Alexander credit for 284 days already served in the county jail.

Upon Alexander’s release from prison, he is to be on electronic monitoring for the rest of his life.

Alexander in November pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charge is limited to touching.

In exchange for his plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves penetration and is a life offense.

By pleading no contest rather than guilty, Alexander did not admit to having committed a crime. Gill relied on documents to enter a conviction on the record.

The police investigation into Alexander began the day he committed his crime, June 25, 2021. That day, Bay County Central Dispatch received a call from a 10-year-old girl claiming she had locked herself in a bathroom. The girl said Alexander had just sexually assaulted her at his house in the 300 block of South Raymond Street in Bay City.

Though Alexander was present when police arrived, he was not arrested that day. Alexander had access to the girl as they are related but they did not live together, police confirmed.

The girl was released to other family members after police responded to the scene.

During the subsequent investigation, the girl told police Alexander had assaulted her multiple times that year, court records show.

Authorities in March issued a warrant for Alexander, who was then arrested and arraigned in Bay County District Court.

[amistadbailbonds]

Bail Conditions for Specific Offenses: What to Expect?

When you or a loved one has just been arrested, the immediate question on your mind would be, “What happens next?” Among the many concerns that swing in a defendant’s mind, the concerns associated with bail tops the list. Especially when the bail is granted, what would be the conditions? Yes, when you cannot afford bail, bail bond services in Charlotte, NC,can help you avoid financial constraints.

Minor Offenses

Minor offenses constitute offenses, such as misdemeanors, and the bail conditions are generally lenient. Courts often consider these offenses to pose a lower risk to public safety and a minimal flight risk, and the conditions of bail for these offenses include:

Personal Recognizance: The defendant is released based on their promise to appear in court, without the need for monetary bail.

Minimal Supervision: Periodic check-ins with a bail officer.

Travel Restrictions: Limitations on travel outside the jurisdiction

The bail conditions for these offenses are specified to ensure court attendance without imposing any undue hardship on the defendant.

Moderate Offenses

These include offenses like drug-related offenses and domestic violence. Bail conditions for drug-related offenses vary widely depending on the nature of the drug, the quantity involved, and whether the offense is a first-time or repeat occurrence. Typical conditions include:

Monetary Bail: Setting a bail amount to be posted as a financial guarantee.

Drug Testing: Regular drug testing to ensure the defendant is not using illegal substances.

Treatment Programs: Mandatory enrollment in a substance abuse treatment program.

Curfew: Restrictions on movement during certain hours.

For domestic violence, the bail conditions are often stringent due to the potential risk to the victim. These include:

No-Contact Orders: Prohibition of any contact with the victim.

Restraining Orders: Legal orders to stay away from the victim’s residence and place of work.

Electronic Monitoring: Use of GPS ankle bracelets to track the defendant’s movements.

Surrender of Firearms: Requirement to surrender any firearms the defendant may own.

The conditions in drug offenses are to ensure the defendant’s appearance in court while preventing further drug use. Whereas the measures in domestic violence bail are to ensure the safety of the victim while balancing the defendant’s right to bail.

Serious Offenses

For high-risk offenses such as violent crimes, the bail conditions are extremely stringent, and financial crimes, such as fraud or embezzlement, also come under serious offenses. The conditions of the bail can include:

High monetary bail

House arrest

Regular reporting

Prohibition of alcohol and drugs

Asset freezes

Travel restrictions and more

Conclusion

The criminal justice system balances the presumption of innocence with the need to ensure the defendants appear in court and don’t become a risk to society. Bail conditions are specified to be tailored to reflect this balance, taking into account the specifics of the alleged offense, the defendant’s criminal history, and other pertinent factors. If you are granted bail, it’s a huge deal. Don’t miss this opportunity, and instead consult professional bail bond agents in Charlotte, NC,for financial assistance for a 5-10% premium of the entire bail amount.

Need more information or searching for bail bondsman services in Charlotte, NC? Contact the team of professionals at Amistad Bail and Immigration Bonds today!

Blog Source: https://www.amistadbailbonds.com/bail-conditions-for-specific-offenses-what-to-expect/

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

The Israel-Hamas war is testing whether campuses are sacrosanct places for speech and protest (AP) “Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making,” wrote poet John Milton, an alumnus of Cambridge University, in his 1644 treatise against censorship in publishing. “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” That lofty principle has clashed with the stark reality of the Israel-Hamas war. Administrators on some campuses have called in local police to break up pro-Palestinian protesters demanding that their schools divest from Israel in demonstrations that Israel’s allies say are antisemitic and make campuses unsafe. From Columbia University in New York to the University of California, Los Angeles, thousands of students and faculty have been arrested in the past month. Historically, universities are supposed to govern—and police—themselves in exchange for their status as “something of a secular sacred ground,” said John Thelin, University of Kentucky College of Education professor emeritus and a historian of higher education. Calling in the police, as administrators did at Columbia, Dartmouth, UCLA and other schools, represents the “breakdown of both rights and responsibilities within the campus as a chartered academic institution and community,” he said.

‘We’ll See You at Your House’: Fear and Menace Are Transforming Politics (NYT) One Friday last month, Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, spent a chunk of his day in court securing a protective order. It was not his first. Mr. Raskin, who played a leading role in Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment hearing, said he received about 50 menacing calls, emails and letters every month that are turned over to the Capitol Police. His latest court visit was prompted by a man who showed up at his house and screamed in his face about the Covid-19 vaccine, Mr. Trump’s impeachment and gender-related surgeries. Mr. Raskin was far from the only government official staring down the uglier side of public service in America in recent weeks. Since late March, bomb threats closed libraries in Durham, N.C.; Reading, Mass.; and Lancaster, Pa., and suspended operations at a courthouse in Franklin County, Pa. In Bakersfield, Calif., an activist protesting the war in Gaza was arrested after telling City Council members: “We’ll see you at your house. We’ll murder you.”

Second Russian invasion of Kharkiv caught Ukraine unprepared (Washington Post) Russia’s new offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months—yet it still surprised the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there to defend against it. After using drones to monitor how Moscow was steadily building up forces, on May 10, the morning of the attack, Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming. Its Starlink devices failed. “We were left at a certain point completely blind,” said a drone unit commander in the brigade. Within days, the Russians had captured—for the second time—some 50 square miles of territory along the border, capitalizing on a moment of particular vulnerability for Ukraine’s military. Begrudgingly, Ukrainian troops admit that their enemy has gotten smarter and adapted.

Europe Wants to Build a Stronger Defense Industry, but Can’t Decide How (NYT) France and Germany’s recent agreement to develop a new multibillion-dollar battlefield tank together was hailed by the German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, as a “breakthrough” achievement. For seven years, political infighting, industrial rivalry and neglect had pooled like molasses around the project to build a next-generation tank, known as the Main Combat Ground System. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine jolted Europe out of complacency about military spending. After defense budgets were cut in the decades that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse, the war has reignited Europe’s efforts to build up its own military production capacity and near-empty arsenals. But the challenges that face Europe are about more than just money. Daunting political and logistical hurdles stand in the way of a more coordinated and efficient military machine. “Europe has 27 military industrial complexes, not just one,” said Max Bergmann, a program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Each NATO member has its own defense establishment, culture, priorities and favored companies, and each government retains final say on what to buy.

UK to spend $12.7 billion on compensation in infected-blood scandal (Reuters) Britain will spend more than 10 billion pounds ($12.70 billion) compensating thousands of people who were treated with blood contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s, the Sunday Times reported. The infected blood scandal is widely seen as one of the worst treatment disasters in the history of the state-funded National Health Service. An estimated 30,000 people were given contaminated blood, with about 3,000 of those believed to have died. Many more lives have been affected by disease and some of those infected have never been traced. Victims and their families are still calling for justice, compensation and answers over how it was allowed to happen despite warnings over the risks.

French security forces work to regain control of airport highway in violence-scorched New Caledonia (AP) Using armored vehicles and backhoes to shove aside charred barricades, French security forces worked Sunday to retake control of the highway to the international airport in violence-scorched New Caledonia, shuttered because of deadly unrest wracking the French Pacific archipelago where indigenous people have long sought independence from France. An eventual reopening of the Nouméa-La Tontouta airport to commercial flights could allow stranded tourists to escape the island where armed clashes, arson, looting and other mayhem have prompted France to impose a state of emergency.

For Iran, a helicopter crash at a difficult time (NYT) The deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister leave the country without two influential leaders at a particularly tumultuous moment of international tension and domestic discontent, although analysts and regional officials expect little change in the direction of Iran’s foreign policy. Mr. Raisi, 63, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian were killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash resulting from a “technical failure,” Iranian state news media reported. The death of Mr. Raisi, a conservative who crushed dissent and had been viewed as a possible successor to Mr.  Khamenei, occurred weeks after Tehran came close to open conflict with Israel and the United States. And looming over everything is the question of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has produced nuclear fuel enriched to a level just short of what would be needed to produce several bombs. The authorities in Iran also face domestic anger, with many residents calling for an end to clerical rule. Corruption and international sanctions have ravaged the economy. In the last two years, the country has seen a domestic uprising, the Iranian currency plunging to a record low, water shortages intensified by climate change and the deadliest terrorist attack since the 1979 founding of the Islamic Republic.

War crimes prosecutor seeks arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu (AP) The chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court said Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken during their seven-month war. While Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, do not face imminent arrest, the announcement by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel’s isolation over the war in Gaza. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions. Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution.

Israel ‘is stuck inside Gaza’ as Palestinian suffering deepens (Washington Post) The war in Gaza rages on while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure from abroad and within. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called on Netanyahu and other key Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Sunday, stressing the need for Netanyahu to agree to a “day after” plan for the Gaza Strip that he’s been long evading. As my colleagues reported, the Biden administration sees a strategic failure in Israel’s decision to invade the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah—a move long opposed by both Western governments and international humanitarian organizations—and fears Netanyahu’s current course “is not worth the cost in terms of human lives and destruction, cannot achieve its objective, and will ultimately undermine broader U.S. and Israeli goals in the Middle East.” Netanyahu has scoffed at calls for plotting peace while fighting the war, arguing that it distracts from fully defeating Hamas. Experts warn that may be an impossibility and Israel’s own security establishment is getting increasingly vocal in its frustrations with the prime minister’s prevarications. Israel Ziv, a retired major general who served as the head of the Israel Defense Forces Operations Division, said that earlier gains by the Israeli military have “evaporated” due to inadequate political planning for the postwar dispensation. “If you are working only militarily without any diplomatic solution, you’re inside this swamp,” he said. “Israel is stuck inside Gaza.” Meanwhile, the territory’s more than 2 million Palestinian residents are stuck in a humanitarian nightmare.

Gazans Flee Jabaliya as Israel’s Military Launches New Offensive (NYT) The northern town of Jabaliya had already come under fierce attacks from the Israeli military earlier in the war, killing many civilians and demolishing large parts of the suburb. So, as Israeli ground forces moved to other parts of the Gaza Strip and military strikes focused elsewhere, residents thought they had experienced their worst days. But last week, the Israeli military dropped leaflets again over Jabaliya, where tens of thousands of people are living, ordering them to leave as it prepared to launch a renewed offensive. “When the Israelis dropped the leaflets, people were terrified, especially given what they experienced previously,” said Iman Abu Jalhum, 23, who graduated from medical school two months before the war began and has been volunteering in hospitals treating the wounded. “We thought given that we have already been attacked that we were safe; the Israelis have already been here.” Soon after the leaflets dropped, so too did the bombs, she said. Ms. Abu Jalhum, her 16-year-old sister and her parents fled their home under bombardment. She only had time to throw a few items of clothing into a bag and put on her prayer shawl.

South Africa’s top court rules former President Zuma cannot stand in election over criminal record (AP) Former South African President Jacob Zuma was disqualified Monday from standing in a national election next week because of a previous criminal conviction, a decision by the country’s highest court that’s bound to raise political tensions ahead of a pivotal vote. The Constitutional Court said that a section of the constitution disqualifying people from standing for office if they’ve been sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine does apply to the 82-year-old Zuma. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2021 by the Constitutional Court for contempt for refusing to testify at a judicial inquiry into government corruption.