Through prisoners' eyes: a lawyer lay chaplain discovers why inmates misunderstand the system

Article Abstract:

It is not hard to understand why prisoners feel the criminal justice system is stacked against them. Arraignment is usually their first contact with the system and a very impersonal one at that. After waiting a long time in a crowded holding cell, prisoners are confused third parties at a very brief legal proceeding. Seeing so little of their lawyers before trial makes prisoners feel abandoned and lost. Prisoners come to feel they are powerless against the system and presumed innocent only until arrested.

Evaluation, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Prisoners, Criminal justice, Administration of, Administration of criminal justice

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Jurors ignore, misunderstand instructions; the result, says study's principal researcher, is a bias in favor of death penalty

Article Abstract:

A study of death-penalty-case jurors by the Capital Jury Project concluded that jurors routinely misunderstand or misapply the instructions they receive on evaluating guilt and on sentencing. The research confirmed many attorneys' observations, and led some to suggest that ordinary citizens should not be involved in such cases until better guidelines are in use. Some skeptics noted that the sample base was relatively small, and that in most cases where the death penalty could apply it is in fact not used.

Research, Capital punishment, Jury members

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The day the music died: after drafting a victims' rights bill, a lawyer sadly discovers its personal impact

Article Abstract:

The author of Arizona's victims' rights bill reflects on a subsequent tragedy in her personal life which that law covered, dealing with the murder of her father. What was abstract principle became grueling experience for her, as she went through the legal system as a victim instead of as a lawyer. She notes that a national constitutional amendment is now proposed to establish victims' rights.

Personal narratives, Laws, regulations and rules, Attorneys, Lawyers, Arizona, Victims of crimes, Crime victims

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