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Killing California's Costly Death Penalty

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Is the death penalty too expensive and ineffective to keep?

This November, California voters will have the chance to decide on that question by voting for or against a ballot initiative called SAFE (Savings Accountability Full Enforcement), which would replace the death penalty with life without possibility of parole as the state's maximum punishment.

Putting the moral issues of the death penatly aside, SAFE proponents argue that California's death penalty is costly to taxpayers and broken beyond repair.

“Over the last 32 years its cost California tax payers about 4 billion dollars to have the death penalty, and over that period only 13 executions have been carried out,” says LMU Law Professor Paula Mitchell.

Mitchell's study, "Rethinking the Death Penalty in California," shows that once the death penalty comes into play for a case, the legal costs skyrocket to an extra $134 million dollars per year, well above the cost to implement life without possibility of parole. Death penalty cases require more attorneys, more experts, and an automatic review by the California Supreme Court, making it a seemingly endless process.

“The average time on death row is now approaching 30 years,” says former San Quentin Death Row Warden Jeanne Woodford. “So we have more inmates on death row who have died by natural causes or by suicide.”

Opponents of SAFE, such as Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Kent Scheidegger, say California simply needs to streamline its system to emulate the process in states like Virginia.

“We need to speed up the review process. We are currently spending far more than we need in both time and resources reviewing claims that have absolutely nothing to do with whether the guy committed the murder or not.” Scheidegger says.

Yet advocates for SAFE say that this would be a dangerous move, not to mention extremely costly. Mitchell argues that it would cost an extra $100 million per year to reform the existing system.

“And one of the dangers of this idea that we should just hurry and speed things up is that it could result in cases where someone who isn’t guilty or didn’t have a fair trial is being executed,” Mitchell says.

About 7 minutes.

Written and Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer. Field producer is Zach Weissmueller.

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The Real Breaking Bad

Thu, 03 May 2012 01:00:00 EDT

88-year-old Bob Wallace, and his 85-year-old girlfriend, Marjorie Ottenberg fell in love 35 years ago backpacking to the tops of the highest peaks in the world.

Wallace is a Stanford educated engineer and Ottenberg is a former chemist and decades ago they came up with a water purification product for backpackers like themselves called Polar Pure out of their garage in Saratoga, Calif.

“For an old guy with nothing else to do, this is something that keeps us occupied,” says Wallace.

Today, Wallace and Ottenberg are fighting the Drug Enforcement Administration and state officials to continue to operate their business. Why? The DEA says that drug dealers are using their product to make methamphetamine.

The DEA says meth heads are interested in Polar Pure’s key ingredient, iodine crystals.

In 2007 the DEA reclassified iodine as a controlled substance and named Polar Pure in particular as a product that was of concern to the DEA. The DEA told Wallace and Ottenberg, they could continue to operate their business but they would have to pay a $1,200 regulatory fee, register with the state and feds, report any suspicious activity and keep track of each and ever person who bought a bottle of their product.

Bob says that the overhead alone would be too much to pass onto customers.

“So that’s why I didn’t bother with their rules, because I would be out of business if I followed their regulations,” says Wallace.

The same went for camping stores and online outlets that stocked Polar Pure. Instead of dealing with the new regulations they just dropped the product, effectively killing Wallace and Ottenberg's business.

“Any time you deal with a government it’s a hassle,” says Ottenberg.

A spokeswoman for the DEA told the San Jose Mercury News that Wallace was “collateral damage.”

“They are being put out of business, they are totally being put out of business,” says Stephen Downing, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Downing says that that the DEA is the most out of control arm of the federal government today because they are given so much authority with very little oversight.

“Within the controlled substances act, the DEA is given authority chemicals as they come up,” says Downing. “To make it easy for federal enforcement people to so called, do their job and make their quotas and have their show-and-tells, they pass these regulations that impact innocent people.”

Downing also says that the metrics for stopping use and production of methamphetamine don’t make sense.

The Justice Department’s own National Drug Threat Assessment for 2011 said that the availability of methamphetamine was increasing in every region of the country and the rates of abuse were increasing as well.

About 6:47 minutes.

Written and produced by Paul Detrick. Field produced by Zach Weismuller and Sharif Matar.

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Can Volunteers Protect Communities?

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

The shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has opened a nation-wide discussion about the role of citizen law enforcement.

But as the town of Redlands, Calif. can attest, a properly run volunteer police program can be efficient, cost effective and safe.

"If you want to volunteer with the Redlands Police Department, we'll find a place for you," says Sergeant Travis Martinez.

Redlands volunteers now outnumber paid officers five to one and, even with a 25 percent reduction to their police force in 2007, their violent crime rates have decreased steadily.

And it doesn't cost tax payers a dime.

"Our volunteer program is completely self-sustainable," Martinez says. "They raise their own money, they buy their own cars. None of the money comes out of the general fund.

The program even includes an air support unit, complete with 30 volunteer pilots and a prop plane.

Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer. Camera by Zach Weissmueller and Oppenheimer.

About 4 minutes.

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How Sex Offender Registries Fail Us

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

You can be put on the sex offender registry for urinating in public, having consensual sex as a teenager or even for “sexting.” And in California, once you are on the list, you are on it for life.

The registry has become the medieval stocks of the 21^st century and, as attorney Janice Bellucci says, once someone is on the registry, "he is treated like a leper".

There are violent sexual predators who should be on the registry for life, but 95% of those on the registry never commit another sex offense, according to the California Department of Corrections.

Reason.tv spoke to a registrant ruined by the registry. His crime: having sex with his teenage girlfriend.

“It was actually illegal for me to be anywhere near her for three years,” he says, “but she waited for me. And I waited, too.”

They are still married today, 10 years after he was convicted.

Harsher laws for registrants continue to be passed while proposed reforms to the registry have struggled to gain ground.

California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano introduced a bill for a tiered registry in January, but it was defeated thanks to opponent's scare tactics.

"There have always been stories, especially this summer, about child predators in the area," says Mission Viejo Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht, who introduced a bill banning sex offenders from public parks and beaches.

Bellucci is going to keep fighting for reform. “We’re not thinking from a logical and rational place,” she says, “instead we are acting from fear."

Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer. Shot by Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller and Sharif Matar.

Approximately 7.30 minutes.

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Who's Lethal? Police or Tasers

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

On May 10, 2011, 43-year old Allen Kephart died after having a Taser applied to him multiple times by three San Bernardino, California, sheriff's deputies during a routine traffic stop in Lake Arrowhead.

"I feel that my son was murdered, I feel that something has to be done about law enforcement," says Alfred Kephart, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit in San Bernardino Superior Court, August 30, 2011.

High profile police related deaths like Allen Kepharts' are pushing activists, families and courts to question whether Tasers or officers are to blame, but the answer to that question is a tricky one.

Numerous studies and reviews from the National Institute of Justice, Amnesty International and the Police Executive Research Forum have come to different conclusions on Tasers and how officers use them. A study in the American Heart Journal even revealed that studies funded by Taser International were "substantially more likely to conclude Tasers are safe."

Former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson says that when it comes to Tasers, safety depends on the circumstances in the case.

"We can remember back to the Rodney King case and in fact they did try to use a Taser there and it didn't work, where we had police using so much force, it was almost lethal," says Levenson. She points out that often questions of force from officers using Tasers come up after minor traffic violations.

According to Peter Bebring , staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, that is because when police are led to believe Tasers can't cause harm, they "are more likely to use them in circumstances where they would never consider using more serious force, like a gun."

Those types of circumstances led the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2011, to look at more incidents involving Tasers and policing, one being the Tasing of a woman eight months into her pregnancy. The court found that when police use a stun gun it may be a violation of Constitutional law.

In the year 2000, around 5,000 law enforcement, correctional and military agencies were using Tasers, by 2011, that number climbed to 16,000.

About 6:33 minutes. 

Written and produced by Paul Detrick. Associate producer is Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Radley Balko talks HuffPo, Nashville, OWS, & Cory Maye

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST

"A story like the Cory Maye story is why you become a journalist," says former Reason staffer Radley Balko. "It's probably the most rewarding thing I'll ever do.” In 2006, Balko first reported on Cory Maye, a Mississippi man given a death sentence for shooting a police officer who was leading a no-knock raid on his apartment. Balko's continued coverage of the case, and the shakey testimony of expert witnesses, eventually led to Maye being released not just from Death Row but prison altogether. (For Balko's Reason archive, go here.)

Reason.tv caught up with Balko in Nashville, where he's been writing for the Huffington Post since May and helming The Nashville Byline, a blog that covers news and events in the Music City. He also continues to run The Agitator, his popular personal site.

In a wide-raning conversation, Balko discusses what working at the HuffPo is like, how Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring protesters are using social media to make government more transparent than ever, and why Nashville nannies sometime push restaurant owners into serving hard liquor rather than beer.

About 4 minutes long. Shot by Anthony Fisher and Joshua Swain; edited by Swain.

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Katherine Mangu-Ward Talks Drone Surveillance on CNN's Outfront

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appeared on CNN's Outfront with Erin Burnett to discuss new drone surveillance by police departments. Airdate: December 16, 2011.

Approximately 4:39 minutes.

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How a Local Blog Broke the Kelly Thomas Story

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EDT

The pretrial hearing for excessive force and murder charges filed against Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli in the death of Kelly Thomas begins November 4, 2011. Thomas was a 37 year old schizophrenic drifter who was beaten to death by officers at a Fullerton, California, bus depot in July 2011 .

The charges came down after multiple headlines were made, not by local media, but by a local small-government blog in Fullerton called Friends for Fullerton’s Future . The blog was the first to publish a horrific picture of Thomas in the hospital and a chilling video of the incident captured by a cell phone video camera.

“The picture was so horrific that the local news channels wouldn’t show it and a lot of times they don’t think there is much of a story there because they get the police version of the story,” says Travis Kiger, a blogger at Friends for Fullerton’s Future.

Kiger and Chris Thompson, also a blogger, sat down with Reason TV to talk about how the blog broke the story and what they think contributed to the international media attention.

Topics include: The lack of public information in the city of Fullerton; the decline of local media; reaction to charges filed by district attorney Tony Rackauckas; and how citizens can keep government accountable in their own cities.

Approximately 8:05 minutes.

Interview by Paul Detrick. Shot by Sharif Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Detrick

Cops Vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media

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Cops vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas and the Power of New Media

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

This video includes graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.

The autopsy results from the death of Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic drifter who was allegedy beaten to death by Fullerton, California police will be announced today by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. Rackauckas will also announce whether he will file charges against the officers involved in Thomas' death, following the office's investigation. The confrontation with police took place at a municipal bus station on July 5, with Thomas dying in the hospital five days later. This press conference comes weeks after the Fullerton police refused to answer questions about the case.

Regardless of today's announcements, Thomas' death is a case study of how ubiquitous phones with cameras and the Internet are transferring power from the government, police, and the media to the masses. Images and word of the beating spread not because of official communications but by viral cell phone video of the incident and a horrific hospital photo taken by his father of Thomas in a coma.

We already know how influential citizen video can be from the 1991 Rodney King beating in Los Angeles. Now that practically everyone has a camera with them on their cell phone or other device, says Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, it is increasingly difficult for authorities to dictate the flow of information.

“Technology has changed so much that we now carry cameras and recorders on our very person everywhere we go so it is very easy to immediately pull them up and take a video of whatever is happening,” says German.

That is how the Kelly Thomas video was recorded, but it didn’t find its way to the nightly news right away like the Rodney King beating. Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas’ father, told Reason.tv that after initial interest, the media stopped covering the story.

“Nothing was going on, I tried contacting everybody, nobody cared to do anything,” said Ron Thomas. “So, I released the picture of my son [in his hospital bed] and that got everybody’s attention. When the cell phone video came out, I released that. The audio had their attention again. You put together the picture with the sound of what’s happening is very, very compelling.”

Those images came after the Fullerton police department decided not to release any information, including the names of the officers or even whether Kelly Thomas had a Taser applied to him, a detail that is heard in the video.

Jarrett Lovell, a criminologist at California State University, Fullerton, says the fact Ron Thomas was able to release information before the Fullerton police department‘s public information officer, Sgt. Andrew Goodrich, underscores a shift in power away from authority to citizens. “That the victim’s father, Ron Thomas, was able to release public information before the public information officer from the Fullerton department shows this shift in political power at the local level from police to the citizenry," says Lovell. "Citizens can be the media themselves.”

Lovell has written about the role of public information in his book Good Cop/Bad Cop: Mass media and the cycle of police reform, and points out that the Kelly Thomas case seems to be a case study for what public information officers and what law enforcement agencies, “should not do.” He says that because the Fullerton police department has not gone public with the facts of the case or released the names of the officers, it looks like they have something to hide. “Public information is essential to keep check on government,” says Lovell.

After the photo and video were released, the Fullerton community reacted in outrage at city council meetings and at protests outside the Fullerton police department. Whatever charges are filed (or not) today, the death of Kelly Thomas will remain an example of how new media is changing the old guard.

Written and produced by Paul Detrick, who also narrates. Camera by Detrick, Alex Manning, and Zach Weissmueller. Special thanks to Ron Thomas.

About 8 minutes.

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The Top Threats to Civil Liberties After 9/11

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:00:00 EDT

"The government has no right to pick through your private information just because that's technologically possible," says American Civil Liberties Union policy counsel and former FBI agent Mike German. "The laws are now so lax that they can."

German sat down with Reason.tv to discuss the top threats to civil liberties after 9/11. They range from new interpretations of the Fourth Amendment to law enforcement's fascination with vast empires of data to "fusion centers" that pool sources among intelligence agencies and local police.

About 6.30 minutes.

Produced by Paul Detrick. Shot by Joshua Swain. Edited by Detrick and Tracy Oppenheimer.

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Dennis Kucinich: "It's Not a Radical Position" to Want Pot Legalized

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

"It's not a radical position...to say that decriminalization or legalization ought to occur," says U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Reason.tv caught up with Kucinich at Seattle's 2011 Hempfest, where he spoke with Nick Gillespie about growing political support for marijuana legalization and the need for citizens to speak up frankly about their drug use. "The cost of enforcing these laws is prohibitive," says Kucinich, who says "libertarians on both sides of the aisle" are gaining ground in Congress and among the electorate at large. "The American people are mature enough to make their own decisions."

Seattle Hempfest is an annual event that started in 1991 as a protest against the prohibition of marijuana, the commercial cultivation of non-psychoactive hemp for a variety of uses, and related issues. Every year since, tens of thousands of people gather each August to listen to speakers and bands and to show their support for legalizing pot and hemp products.

About 2.30 minutes. Shot by Alex Manning and edited by Zach Weissmueller.

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You're Killing Me! Was a police-related jailhouse death an accident or a homicide?

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:00:00 EDT

The recent police-related deaths of 43-year-old Allen Kephart in Lake Arrowhead, California and 37-year-old Kelly Thomas in Fullerton, California have sent shockwaves through the their respective communities. Indeed, both are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The death of Thomas, a homeless schizophrenic beaten into a coma by Fullerton police, is also being investigated by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. His case is not the first time Orange County law enforcement has been accused of applying excessive force to a mentally ill homeless man.

In October 2007, 28-year-old Michael Patrick Lass was living on the streets of Santa Ana when police stopped him for having an open container of alcohol. At the time of his arrest he was alcohol-dependent, schizophrenic, bipolar, and had a history of seizures.

The altercation that led to Lass's death took place at the Orange County Central Jail, where Lass was sentenced to serve five days after pleading guilty to public intoxication. The day Lass would have been able to leave he felt ill and asked for medical attention. Lass was ordered to leave his cell and after repeatedly looking over his shoulder while being directed by a deputy, he was tackled to the ground and a melee ensued.

“He wasn't fighting or anything and he was already in a contained area, locked in a contained area,” Lass's father Frederick, says of the incident. “Immediately there was a second deputy there, a third deputy, a fourth, a fifth, and on and on it went. There was so many deputies that you couldn't count how many deputies were there.”

Lass was shocked with a Taser nine times and the county's autopsy said he had multiple contusions on his body, “involving the head, neck, torso and extremities.” The struggle was captured on film. “I can remember viewing the film and at one point while they are beating him Michael tells them, 'You're killing me.' Literally: 'You're killing me',” says Frederick Lass.

Frederick Lass sued Orange County and six deputies involved in the incident. Although neither was found liable in that case, Orange County later revised its Taser policy so that deputies would not be able to use Tasers on restrained suspects unless they display "overtly assaultive behavior."

While an improvement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California says the policy didn't go far enough. Executive Director Hector Villagra sent a letter to Sheriff Hutchens in January 2009 urging still-stricter use of Tasers, pointing to five people who have died since 2005 after being stung with the weapon.

Like the cases of Allen Kephart and Kelly Thomas, the death while in custody of Michael Patrick Lass raises troubling questions about police procedures - and the power of surveillance videos to shine a bright light on the workings of the criminal justice system.

The following video includes graphic violence and viewer discretion is advised.

Written and produced by Paul Detrick. Camera: Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller, and Alex Manning; edited by Detrick.

Special Thanks: Frederick Lass.

Music by Audionautix.com.

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The Killing of Allen Kephart

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EDT

On May 10, 43-year old Allen Kephart died after being tased multiple times by three San Bernardino, California sheriff's deputies during a routine traffic stop.

Kephart, a quiet and well-liked member of the tight-knit mountain community around Lake Arrowhead, allegedly ran a stop sign and became “combative” during the stop.

But local residents say this claim is wildly out of character for Kephart, who had no police record and no history of aggressive behavior or even temper. Kephart’s death has galvanized the local community around a problem they say is getting worse: aggressive policing and the souring of relations between civilians and local law enforcement.

While an FBI review of Kephart’s death proceeds, the people of Lake Arrowhead are demanding a change in the climate of fear that has grown up in this quiet rural community. Whatever the final outcome of that investigation, the case of Allen Kephart is a case study in how law enforcement can lose the support even of citizens who believe strongly in law and order.

Producers: Tim Cavanaugh and Paul Detrick. Camera and Editing: Paul Detrick and Alex Manning

About 7 minutes. Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

Veronique de Rugy: The Facts about American Prisons

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Editor’s Note: Reason columnist and Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.

Myth 1: Incarceration rates in the U.S. are comparable to the rates in other industrial countries.

Fact 1: U.S. incarceration rates are significantly larger than those in any other liberal democracy.

In 2009, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 1,524,513 prisoners in state and federal prisons in the United States. When local jails are included, the total climbs to 2,284,913. These numbers are not just staggering; they are far above those of any other liberal democracy in both absolute and per capita terms. The International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College, London calculates that the United States has an incarceration rate of 743 per 100,000 people, compared to 325 in Israel, 217 in Poland, 154 in England and Wales, 96 in France, 71 in Denmark, and 32 in India.

America’s enormously high incarceration rate is a relatively recent phenomenon. According to a 2010 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), U.S. incarceration rates between 1880 and 1970 ranged from about 100 to 200 prisoners per 100,000 people. After 1980, however, the inmate population began to grow much more rapidly than the overall population, climbing from about 220 per 100,000 in 1980 to 458 in 1990, 683 in 2000, and 753 in 2008.

Myth 2: The rise in the incarceration rate reflects a commensurate rise in crime.

Fact 2: Crime rates have collapsed.

Why are American incarceration rates so high by international standards, and why have they increased so much during the last three decades? The simplest explanation would be that the rise in the incarceration rate reflects a commensurate rise in crime. But according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the total number of violent crimes was only about 3 percent higher in 2008 than it was in 1980, while the violent crime rate was much lower: 19 per 1,000 people in 2008 vs. 49.4 in 1980. Meanwhile, the BJS data shows that the total number of property crimes dropped to 134.7 per 1,000 people in 2008 from 496.1 in 1980. The growth in the prison population mainly reflects changes in the correctional policies that determine who goes to prison and for how long.

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws enacted in the 1980s played an important role. According to the CEPR study, nonviolent offenders make up more than 60 percent of the prison and jail population. Nonviolent drug offenders now account for about one-fourth of all inmates, up from less than 10 percent in 1980. Much of this increase can be traced back to the “three strikes” bills adopted by many states in the 1990s. The laws require state courts to hand down mandatory and extended periods of incarceration to people who have been convicted of felonies on three or more separate occasions. The felonies can include relatively minor crimes such as shoplifting.

Myth 3: The drop in violent crimes is the result of “tough on crime” policies, particularly expanded prison sentences.

Fact 3: Only a small share of the drop in violent crime is the result of expanded incarceration.

For many, America’s soaring incarceration rate and the drop in crime that began 20 years ago are connected. The theory is that if you punish people and make it very costly to commit a crime (expand incarceration), they will have an incentive to live a more virtuous life.

A good question then is whether or not tough sentences have accomplished this? Research by the Pew Center on the States suggests that expanded incarceration accounts for about 25 percent of the drop in violent crime that began in the mid-1990s—leaving the other 75 percent to be explained by things that have nothing to do with keeping people locked up.

If it wasn’t incarceration, what caused the drop?

As Reason contributing editor Radley Balko explains, “There is no shortage of theories: Scholars have pointed to everything from the legalization of abortion to the prohibition of lead-based paints. Other theories credit America’s aging population (the vast majority of criminals are under 30), President Bill Clinton’s program to put more cops on the street, and either stronger gun control laws or an increase in gun carrying by law-abiding Americans.”

He concludes:

More likely, crime scholars argue, we probably have less crime now not because of any anti-crime initiatives dreamed up by academics and politicians but because civil society has quietly churned out benefits independent of those policies. Basically, we are wealthier and the opportunity cost of being incarcerated is high at all level of income.

On that point, it is also worth reading this great piece by Reason Senior Editor Tim Cavanaugh about the drop in New York City’s crime rate.

Contributing Editor Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Radley Balko Discusses the Death Penalty in Texas on Russia Today

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko appeared on Russia Today's The Alyona Show to explain the Texas court hearing on the state constitutionality of the death penalty. Air date: December 7, 2010.

Approximately 6.26 minutes.

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Radley Balko Talks Cops and Cameras on Freedom Watch

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko appeared on Fox Business' Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano to discuss the right of citizens to record police officers and the negative consequences that may result from potential state bans of that practice.

Air date: December 15, 2010.

Approximately 6 minutes.

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Filling Up Prisons Without Fighting Crime: Mark Kleiman on America's Criminal Justice System

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:45:00 EDT

UCLA Professor of Public Affairs Mark Kleiman is "angry about having too much crime and an intolerable number of people behind bars." The United States is home to five percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's prisoners, yet, says Kleiman, our high incarceration rate isn't making us safer.

In his book, When Brute Force Fails, Kleiman explains that, when it comes to punishment, there is a trade-off between severity and swiftness. For too long the U.S. has erred heavily on the side of severity, but if we concentrate enforcement and provide immediate consequences for law-breakers, Kleiman says we can both reduce the crime rate and put fewer people in prison.

Approximately 7 minutes.

Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Alex Manning. Edited by Weissmueller.

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Three Ingredients for Murder: Neuroscientist James Fallon on why psychopaths kill and libertarians don't

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EDT

UC Irvine neuroscientist James Fallon had already been studying the brains of psychopathic killers for years when his mother told him that he comes from a long line of murderers (including his infamous cousin, Lizzie Borden). After studying himself, Fallon discovered that he has two of the three ingredients for psychopathology.

Fallon sat down with Reason.tv to explain why he's not a murderer, why others are, and what it is about libertarians that—just might—keep them peaceful.

Approximately 8.50 minutes.

Interview by Paul Detrick; shot by Zach Weissmueller; edited by Detrick.

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Five Ways the Drug War Hurts Kids: A Conversation with Neill Franklin of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EDT

Commentators like Bill O'Reilly claim that ending the drug war would lead to more children being abused by drug-addicted parents. But 33-year law enforcement veteran Neill Franklin sees it differently.

"These drugs in an illegal environment are more accessible to our kids," says Franklin, who serves as Executive Director Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, "because we leave complete control, regulation, and standards up to the criminals."

Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Franklin to discuss how battling drug dealers in Baltimore turned him against the war on drugs and why ending prohibition would improve safety for children, as well as the rest of us.

Approximately 8.2 minutes.

Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Edited by Hawk Jensen and Sam Corcos.

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A Drug Raid Goes Viral: Radley Balko on the Missouri SWAT Raid Video

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:30:00 EDT

What happens when video of a routine police procedure is posted online? In the case of a Missouri SWAT raid, outrage, anger, and a viral sensation viewed over 1.2 million times.

Reason Magazine Senior Editor Radley Balko sat down with Nick Gillespie to discuss the raid, the video, and the fallout.

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes. Edited by Bragg.

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"You Are Your Brain": David Eagleman on Transforming The Criminal Justice System

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EDT

"You are your brain," insists Baylor University neuroscientist and best-selling writer David Eagleman.

It's an insight that he argues should radically transform all aspects of our criminal justice system, from how laws are written to how punishments are levied to how juries are selected.

Reporting back from the bleeding edge of brain research, Eagleman takes viewers on a tour of the latest technological insights into how humans make decisions and whether free will exists anywhere but the pages of philosophy books.

The findings don't exculpate individuals from responsiibility for their actions, the libertarian author of Sum: 40 Tales From The Afterlives says, but they certainly complicate things. And they help to explain why governments double or triple down on failed policies such as drug prohibition.

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot and edited by Alex Manning and Dan Hayes; edited by Hayes. Interview by Nick Gillespie

Scroll down for downloadable versions.

And go here for a 50-minute, multimedia presentation by Eagleman at Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.

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Reason Weekend 2010: David Eagleman on How Neuroscience Will Transform Criminal Justice (Multimedia Presentation)

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EDT

"You are your brain," insists Baylor University neuroscientist and best-selling writer David Eagleman.

It's an insight that he argues should radically transform all aspects of our criminal justice system, from how laws are written to how punishments are levied to how juries are selected.

Approximately 50 minutes. Scroll down for downloadable versions.

And go here for a 10-minute interview with Eagleman with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie.

This discussion was part of Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.

Subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel and receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

T. Markus Funk on The International Criminal Court

Tue, 04 May 2010 15:00:00 EDT

T. Markus Funk is a former Oxford law professor who has worked for the U.S. Departments of Justice and State and the author of the new book Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court (he was also a Reason contributor in the 1990s).

Drawing on his experiences as a legal observer in Kosovo, Funk has written a book that provides insight and criticism of the way the International Criminal Court has functioned and, more importantly, should function. His book, writes Enver Hasani of the Kosovo Constitutional Court, "is a perfectly candid, and at times quite disheartening, assessment of the ICC's shortcomings, while also acknowledging its strengths. Providing a roadmap to reform and the establishment of a more 'professionalized' Court, Mr. Funk's book succeeds entirely in its bold effort to marry the theory of victims' rights with the practice of victim representation."

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes, who also edited the piece.

Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel for automatic notification when new material goes live.

Radley Balko Discusses Asset Forfeiture on Stossel

Mon, 03 May 2010 13:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko discusses the government's abuse of asset forfeitrue with John Stossel on April 22, 2010. Also appearing: Scott Bullock of the Institute for Justice.

Approximately 7 minutes.

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Radley Balko on Fox News Freedom Watch discussing Inner-City Policing

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:32:00 EDT

On March 9, 2010, Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko appeared on Fox News Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano to discuss inner-city policing strategies.

Approximately 10 minutes.

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Policing for Profit

dan.hayes@reason.org (Dan Hayes) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. With civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your property and use it to fund their budgets—all without charging you with a crime. Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but with civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent—and law enforcement has a huge incentive to police for profit, not justice.

If police suspect that you committed a crime, they can arrest you and put you on trial. At that trial, prosecutors must prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

But if police suspect your car was involved in a crime, they can take it, sell it and, in most places, pocket the proceeds to pad their budgets. They need not prove you committed any crime—or even arrest you—to take your property away.

Welcome to the upside-down world of civil asset forfeiture.
With civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent to get it back.
And because most state and federal laws allow police and prosecutors to pocket the proceeds, they have a big incentive to pursue profits, not justice.

How big? In 1986, the Justice Departments forfeiture fund took in 94 million dollars. Now it has more than a billion. State and local agencies receive forfeiture funds, too—but we dont know how much because most states dont publicly report on forfeiture.

No surprise—abuse is rampant. One New York police department spent forfeiture funds on food, gifts and entertainment. In Georgia, forfeiture funds paid for football tickets for a DAs office. In Louisiana, cops used funds to pay for ski trips to Aspen. And a DA in Texas used forfeiture dollars to buy TV ads for his re-election campaign.

Meanwhile, citizens are seeing cash, cars and other property taken away for the flimsiest of reasons. Carrying too much cash? Police can accuse you of selling drugs or laundering money and seize it, no conviction or even arrest required.

An Institute for Justice study grades state laws on how well they protect people from wrongful forfeitures. Only three states receive a B or better. The rest range from mediocre to awful—and so does federal law.

Worse, a federal legal loophole allows police and prosecutors to bypass state protections and keep pocketing forfeiture money. IJs research shows that the easier and more profitable these laws make forfeiture, the more it is used and abused.

Its time to end civil forfeiture. People shouldnt have their property taken away without being convicted of a crime. And law enforcement shouldnt be policing for profit

Learn more at http://www.ij.org/PolicingForProfit

Jacob Sullum at Hampden-Sydney College

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EDT

In September 2008, Reason senior editor Jacob Sullum spoke at Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, as part of a lecture series sponsored by the school's Center for the Study of Political Economy. His talk, Voodoo Pharmacology: Drug Use and Loss of Control, is approximately one hour.

The Reason.tv Talk Show, Episode 10

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST

Reason.tv's Michael C. Moynihan and Nick Gillespie recently sat down with Julie Stewart, founder and head of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and Mark Hemingway, a staff reporter at National Review Online.

In a wide-ranging and freewheeling discussion, Stewart and Hemingway discussed the rise of mandatory drug sentencing laws, right-wingers and marijuana use, conservatives vs. libertarians, just how bad President Barack Obama might turn out to be, and much, much more.

Approximately 20 minutes. Shot by Dan Hayes and edited by Roger Richards.

Go here for audio podcast.

Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on the High Costs of the Drug War

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Norm Stamper is a cop who saw it all during his 34 years on active duty. As police of Seattle from 1994 through 2000, he was in charge during violent World Trade Organization protests in the Emerald City.

Stamper, who holds a Ph.D. in leadership and human behavior from United States International University, has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and outspoken critics of the war on drugs, which he believes causes untold misery, undermines effective law enforcement, and doesn't begin to pass any sort of cost-benefit analysis. As important, the libertarian Stamper believes that the drug war—and other wars on the behaviors on consenting adults—does great violence to the idea that we own our bodies.

Stamper is the author of the Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing (2005) and now works with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a nonprofit created by former cops to "reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition."

For an audio podcast version, go here.

Raiding California

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EDT

UPDATE: On August 5, 2008 Charlie Lynch was found guilty on all five counts. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2009.

For reason.tv's coverage of the trial (including an on-camera interview with the jury foreperson), go here, here, and here.

For more information, visit Friends of Charles C. Lynch.

For information on how to contact your elected officials, please go here or here.

______

June 10, 2008

Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?

With its sun, surf and small town atmosphere, California's San Luis Obispo County is a good place to grow up. Seventeen-year-old Owen Beck played football and soccer for a local high school, but one day his thoughts abruptly turned away from sports and school. Doctors told Owen he had bone cancer, and would have to begin chemotherapy right away.

The young athlete suffered another blow—doctors would have to amputate his leg to try to keep the cancer from spreading. Chemotherapy attacked Owen's cancer and his body, leaving him bald, gaunt, and vomiting the food he needed to recover. The amputation introduced Owen to a bizarre, new agony called phantom pain, and although doctors gave him powerful medication, nothing helped.

But might a new kind of pharmacy offer new hope? A medical marijuana dispensary had recently opened in the nearby city of Morro Bay. More than a decade earlier, California voters legalized medical marijuana and Morro Bay's mayor and Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the dispensary, and its owner Charlie Lynch.

Owen's parents knew the idea of giving medical marijuana to a 17-year-old strikes many people as scandalous. Local Sheriff Pat Hedges even asserts that allowing medical marijuana is "not in the best interest of a community that prides itself on providing a healthy, family environment."

But the Becks weren't concerned about what other people thought; they were focused on helping their son. So with a written doctor recommendation in hand, they purchased medical marijuana for their teenage son. The new medication eased Owen's pain and nausea like nothing else had, and the Becks grew fond of Charlie Lynch, who would sometimes refuse payment because, says Steve Beck, "He was just a compassionate kind of a guy."

But one day, Owen's life took another abrupt turn. Federal agents and local sheriff deputies raided Charlie Lynch's dispensary, and seized nearly everything inside, including Owen's medicine. "He had a prescription from a doctor at Stanford, and they took his stuff!" says Debbie Beck. Federal agents cuffed Lynch, and put him behind bars. Even though state and local laws allow for it, medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law. And because he had clients like Owen who were under age 21, Charlie Lynch faces heightened penalties. In California the average first-degree murder serves 20 years behind bars; Charlie Lynch could face a sentence as long as 100 years in prison.

The trial of Charlie Lynch begins this July.

Saving An Innocent Man From Death Row

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko discusses the Cory Maye story, the war on drugs. the militarization of police, and more.

Back to Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye

Mississippi Drug War Blues

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Update (July 11, 2011): In a plea agreement, Cory Maye pleaded guilty to manslaughter and, with credit for time served, was released from prison. Cory Maye is now a free man.

Update (November 20, 2009): On Tuesday of this week, the Mississippi State Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Cory Maye. This is heartening news for Maye, who has been in prison since December of 2001. Defense attorney Bob Evans said of the decision, "I am, needless to say, delighted. I'm just ecstatic. We hoped against hope all along that this would happen." Reason senior editor Radley Balko, who has written extensively about the case, had this to say: "At worst, he's guilty of poor judgment under some pretty traumatic circumstances. He had no criminal record, wasn't a drug dealer and has been a model prisoner. Cory Maye isn't a threat to society. Let him go back to Monticello to be a father."

Update (February 9, 2009): We're proud to announce that Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye, by writer-producer Paul Feine and editor-producer Roger M. Richards, was awarded the Best Documentary Short prize at the 2009 Oxford Film Festival in Oxford, Mississippi.

Mississippi Drug War Blues originally aired on May 7, 2008.

At 11p.m on December 26, 2001 police in Prentiss, Mississippi raided the residence of Cory Maye, a 21-year-old father who was at home with his 18-month-old daughter Ta'Corriana.

The cops were looking for drugs and smashed through the back door. In the ensuing chaos, Maye hunkered down with his daughter in a bedroom and when the police broke down that door, he fired three bullets, one of which killed Officer Ron Jones. Maye testified in court that the police did not identify themselves until after they had entered his residence; indeed, he testified that they did not identify themselves until after he had fired his shots. Once they did, he said he put his weapon on the floor, slid it toward police, and surrendered.

The police, who refused to talk with reason.tv, tell a different story. They claim that they identified themselves multiple times before entering Maye's house and bedroom, and that there was no way Maye couldn't have known who they were. A jury rejected Maye's case that he was acting in self-defense and he was sentenced to death for the murder of Officer Ron Jones.

"Mississippi Drug War Blues" is a story about the intersection of race (Maye is black and Jones was white); the war on drugs; the disturbing increase in the militarization of police tactics; and systemic flaws in the criminal justice and expert-testimony systems.

It is a tragedy in which one man is dead and another may spend his life in prison.

It is the subject of an October 2006 story in reason by Senior Editor Radley Balko, whose coverage of the case led to Cory Maye receiving new legal representation and his death sentence being changed to life in prison. To read the original story, please go here.

In September 2006, Cory Maye's new legal team of Robert Evans and lawyers from the Washington, D.C.-based firm of Covington and Burling was given two days to argue their post-trial motion that his guilty verdict should either be overturned or that he should be granted a new trial.

After the hearing, the judge ordered a new sentencing trial, determining that Maye's trial attorney was competent during the guilt phase of his trial, but incompetent during the death penalty phase. He ruled against all of the remaining defense arguments, including concerns about confidential informant Randy Gentry, discrepancies in police testimony, the venue for the trial, and problems with controlling precedent in the state with respect to self-defense.

Prosecutors eventually agreed to drop their pursuit of the death penalty. Earlier this year, Maye was again sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Because of the delays associated with acquiring new representation, Cory Maye's case in May 2008 is still in the early stages of his appeal. His legal team anticipates the case will be heard in the fall.

If the Mississippi State Court of Appeals denies Maye relief, he'll then appeal to the Mississippi State Supreme Court. If he's again denied relief, he'll begin his federal appeal process in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi, and then to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

In early 2008, a state district court judge in Mississippi denied attempts by Maye's attorneys to bring in Dr. Steven Hayne for questioning (Hayne, who performed the autopsy of Ron Jones, was a key witness for the prosecution). Maye's lawyers had hoped to question Hayne under oath about recent revelations about Hayne's questionable autopsy procedures and questionable credentials, first reported in reason, then touted by the Innocence Project and its Mississippi chapter. Maye's lawyers plan to raise their concerns about Hayne in the appeal.

Cory Maye is currently housed in Unit 32, the high-security wing at Mississippi's Parchman Penitentiary. His daughter Ta'Corrianna lives in Covington, Louisiana with her mother Chanteal Longino. His son Cory, Jr. lives in Jackson, Mississippi.

Medical Marijuana

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EDT

“I think it’s clear by now that the federal government needs to reclassify marijuana. People who need it should be able to get it – safely and easily,” says The Price Is Right and Power of 10 host Drew Carey in a new Reason.tv video examining medical marijuana and the war on drugs.

One of the most outrageous consequences of the war on drugs is the federal crackdown on medical marijuana, which is used by patients to help treat the effects of cancer, glaucoma, HIV-AIDS, chronic pain and nausea, and other severe symptoms associated with serious illnesses. Medical marijuana prescribed by a physician is legal in 12 states, yet federal agents are raiding state-approved dispensaries and preventing patients from having safe access to this drug.

In Episode 2 of Reason.tv's Drew Carey Project, Drew takes a look at patients who need and use medical marijuana in California, and how the federal government is making their lives even worse.

Episode 1 of Reason.tv's Drew Carey Project, Gridlock, is here.