Justice

Kidney Not Sole Condition for Sister's Release

UPDATED: This story has been updated to reflect information from the NAACP's press conference this morning.

End Mindless ‘Tough-on-Crime' Policies

A few weeks ago, the Jackson Free Press published a lengthy cover story exposing the mindless politics behind juvenile-justice policies that treat children as adults and end up turning many children into hardened adult criminals, increasing dangerous crime rather than making society safer.

Barbour Suspends Scott Sisters' Sentences

cover story on the Scott sisters

[Balko] Conservatives Rethink 'Tough on Crime'

Last week I received an e-mail press release directing me to a new public-policy website. On that website, a quote from Reagan administration Attorney General Ed Meese says it's time to reconsider mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

Of Barbour and the ‘Uptown Klan'

It seems Haley Barbour went too far this time. In an interview with the conservative Weekly Standard, he downplayed the terror and racial caste system of his town and our state during the Civil Rights Movement.

Bluntson Questions DA Over Bail Bonds

City Council President Frank Bluntson was certainly not alone in his frustration at last week's council meeting. Venting about the Dec. 11 arrest of a 16-year-old suspect in connection with an early-morning burglary and armed robbery in south Jackson, Bluntson demanded to know why the suspect was out on bond the day of the crime, having been charged in other robberies this summer.

[Balko] The SWAT Team Would Like to See Your Permit

In August, a team of heavily armed Orange County, Fla., sheriff's deputies raided several black and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Orlando area. More raids followed in September and October. The Orlando Sentinel reported that police held barbers and customers at gunpoint and put some in handcuffs, while they turned the shops upside down. Police raided a total of nine shops, and arrested 37 people.

Scott Sisters Appear Before Parole Board

Investigations into the pardon petition for sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott have concluded, and the request for their release now awaits Gov. Haley Barbour's decision.

JPD's Operation Safeshop Targets Crime

Read this week's crime report (PDF)

Sanaa Hill

One year ago, on Dec. 9, Sanaa Hill was doing her homework at the Sykes Road Boys and Girls Club when a stray bullet from an AK-47 came through the wall and struck her in the head. Paramedics rushed her to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where doctors were able to remove the bullet. Hill ultimately made a full recovery and returned to McLeod Elementary School in January, where she is now a fourth-grader.

[Wilkes] TSA: Terrorists Screw America

The Transportation Security Administration implemented new policies that, in essence, give strippers more rights in their places of employment than airline passengers in an airport.

Judge Throws Out Edmonds' Suit

Read Judge Biggers' decision (PDF).

All God's Children

One image won't leave my head since I finished my part of the cover story I wrote this issue with freelance writer Valerie Wells (starts here): A deputy with his foot against a door as a desperate mother tries to get through to be with her  13-year-old son during a police interrogation that will elicit a murder confession that may or may not have any truth to it.

You Get What You Pay For

The confluence of two events brought home hard truths about the values that some Mississippians seem to hold dear: The first was Gov. Haley Barbour's budget recommendations for fiscal year 2012. The second was our cover story this week about children being tried as adults and, subsequently, incarcerated in sub-standard facilities, or thrown in with hardened criminals in adult prisons.

Scott Sisters' Clemency Momentum Growing

Support for imprisoned sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott is growing as an anticipated deadline for their clemency petition nears. The sisters, who are in the 17th year of their double life sentences for armed robbery, have a petition for clemency or pardon pending before Gov. Haley Barbour.

Ellington