JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

DOM asks in his blog post today whether the Democrats are taking criminal justice reform seriously. Rumpole replies "Not as seriously as President Trump." Say what you want about this president, but he is actively doing more bringing some sanity to the criminal justice system then Obama did, and we are in a lot of this mess because of what Clinton did. 

Put another way, there is a famous Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
Only hard-wing law and order Republicans have the political capital to spend on sentencing and criminal justice reform, because who is going to call them "bleeding heart, criminal coddling liberals"? No one. 

The prison reforms being implemented are bringing a whole lot of relief to people without a constituency- prisoners.

The Democrats need to catch up here. 

In Florida we can take the decision making power out of the hands of twenty-four year old prosecutors and return it to more experienced and hopefully level-headed judges by removing the ever expanding list of crimes that carry minimum mandatory sentences. 

Judges are elected based, hopefully on their experience and ability to be fair (yes we know, please stop laughing or cringing). Twenty something prosecutors hoping to make a name for themselves have no such oversight. Only supervisors who are unwilling to make hard calls. As Judge Moreno used to opine: "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians."

Have your say in response. 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Democrats are gutless. They bought into the lock em up mentality only out of political expediency. Their attitude was "so what. The blacks will never abandon us and our flank will always be covered." Guess what fellas? The reality is that most Republicans realize this is the right thing to do and the rest don't care. So now it is Trump's issue. What irony. The Dems next year will get clobbered because Trump will increase his share of the black vote because he jumped out front on this.

Anonymous said...

It's disappointing that you buy into the Republican narrative that Trump has done more than Obama. One, the First Step Act has important provisions but it's extremely weak tea. And you can't seriously condemn Obama when Moscow Mitch controlled the Senate for his last 6 years. Tell the truth.

Anonymous said...

bla bla bla, blablabla, bbbbbbbllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You want to overhaul the criminal justice system and lower crime in Chicago. STOP LETTING KIDS DROP OUT OF SCHOOL , HOLD PARENTS/LEGAL GUARDIANS AND SCHOOL OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE. PUT PARENTS IN JAIL FOR THE FELONIES THEIR MINORS DO. RAISE TEACHER SALARIES. ENFORCE CHILD SUPPORT. TALK ABOUT BLACK ON BLACK CRIME AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT.
RESPONSE: YOU NEED TO SHUT UP. IF THE ABOVE IS DONE CRIME WILL GO DOWN 33% AND WHAT DO WE DO THEN /S/ JUDGES, PD, SAO, PROBATION, JAIL AND PRISON UNION, BAILIFFS, COURT REPORTERS, MORTUARIES OF AMERICA, GRAVE DIGGERS UNION, BLEACH BLONDE BIMBO TV ANCHORS, NEED I GO ON?

Anonymous said...

I'll give Rump credit where credit is due. Im used to occasionally checking in and finding run-of-the-mill anti-Trump rants no different than anyone can find, on any given day, at vox.com or cnn or any number of hyperventilating outlets, assured that every move this President makes is another Shoah.

Understanding the antipathy Rump holds towards DT, good on him for acknowledging something he believes the president and his party have done somewhat right. If nothing else, this buys Rump more credibility in his criticisms.

Anonymous said...

Rump
Mike Flynn continues to press prosecutorial misconduct in a high profile case. You continue to ignore it. Oh yea i forgot that would be because you fell for the russia hoax like every other idiot liberal, so now you don't have the cojones to speak up. Instead you piggyback on DOM...weak!

Anonymous said...

What hornets nest did Jeri Cohen and Tunis poke. Can't figure it out. They are not really politicians. I understand lawyer groups discussing them, but their names keep coming up in political circles. When I hear lobbyist in Tally talking Cohen and Tunis in context of funding an electioneering committee it peaks my curiosity and tells me they did something that upset well connected individuals. Electioneering committees are rare in judicial races. An ECO is organized through a nominee to raise tons of soft money since they are not subject to max contribution limits. United Auto had one to go after Pando. With all the sources in this blog can someone shed some light.

Rumpole said...

I'm not ignoring it. It's not on my radar screen. But if it's on your screen please tell us more. I'll post the comments.

Anonymous said...

The Q is supporting Cohen and Tunis. The Pols have no chance- they have no idea of the power of the Q.

JediQ said...

He's like a Jedi master...
These aren't the droids you are looking for...
These aren't the judges you should be concerned about.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:56: "Under the current Chicago union contract, beginning teachers make a base salary of just over $56,000 a year, while the most senior teachers with extra credentials make $108,242 a year." https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2019/10/02. And if you are still feeling sorry for the underpaid Chicago school teacher, check this out: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-teachers-recover-pension-contributions-5-months-into-retirement/. And remember, they only work ten months a year and get two weeks off at Xmas and another week off in the winter. And the Chicago public schools are an abomination.

the triamaster said...

I think that Judge Tunis is one of best we have. Too bad she is not in civil. She does an outstanding job and we are very lucky to have her in the Justice Bldg.

Anonymous said...

That ASA who runs South Beach like he owns it, and has every model flocking to him at the Shore Club was in LA last night chowing down at the new hotspot Onda, with Mexican Heirloom corn salsa, fermented chili guacamole, and jalapeno-sauerkraut salt dusting rockfish tamales, the dude and his crew ran up a medium five figure tab, as a bevy of leggy starlets sauntered in and out of the orbit of the young ASA and his crew.

Anonymous said...

@10:03 a.m., Judge Jeri Cohen is retiring.

Seth Sklarey said...

What happened to Colby's restaurants???