Since 2000 we have been looking for an alternative to prison. Prisons are based on punishment; what is needed today is healing. Pu`uhonua is a Hawaiian alternative for prison. Instead of wasting taxpayers' money down the black hole of building more prisons, invest in Pu`uhonua

Last month, a group including what Slate called “the biggest names in voter suppression” wrote an open letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that could have disastrous consequences for our voting and civil rights. Responding to a wave of voter suppression laws passed after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has taken an active role in rooting out and opposing laws meant to keep eligible people from voting based on race or other factors. This open letter wanted to change that -- urging Attorney General Sessions to shift the Civil Rights Division’s priorities away from fighting voting discrimination, and to hire people who shared that mission. That’s hiring discrimination plain and simple -- federal law prohibits the government from making hiring decisions based on political affiliation. And politicizing the hiring process like this would be a massive step backwards for the Division, which ought to be free to pursue its mission without political interference. We should be hiring the best people to protect our civil rights and make decisions on merit -- not political affiliation. This letter echoes a shameful chapter in the Department of Justice’s history, which some signatories to the letter, like Hans von Spakovsky, were a part of. In the mid-2000s, the Bush Administration deliberately favored conservatives over other candidates when staffing the Civil Rights Division, leading to a rightward shift overall in the Division’s crucial work. If Sessions follows through on these right wing ideologues’ requests, he’ll undermine the Division’s ability to carry out its important mission and the nation’s confidence in the even-handed application of the laws. We can’t allow that to happen.

The Supreme Court of the United States supports the idea that child status does matter. Children are different from adults and should not be treated the same as adults. Texas lawmakers should acknowledge that fact and offer a second chance to those convicted of an offense committed when younger than 18 years of age.

He is my first kiss, first love, and high school sweetheart. I have known him 14 years and dated him on and off throughout that time. We are now engaged to be married, despite his crime. I am wanting to be with him out here though, not separated. So I am fighting to get him home. I know his character and that wasn't him. He had a drug problem, but he has changed in the years since getting arrested for this crime, and he is ready to be a productive member of society if released!

This week's stolen vote will skew the distribution of a supposed non-partisan court to the far right for generations. A nominee with bipartisan support can reach the 60 vote threshold.

Let's thank Sen. Elizabeth Warren for OPPOSING the terrible GOP nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch. She said "I believe Judge Gorsuch's nomination should be blocked," (Op-ed in the Boston Globe on 3/20/2017) and plans on filibustering his nomination along with other Senate Democrats. Sources: 1) Warren says 'Gorsuch doesn't belong on the Supreme Court' in op-ed https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/03/20/warren-says-gorsuch-doesnt-belong-on-the-supreme-court-in-op-ed Mar 20, 2017 - Sen. Elizabeth took aim at Judge Neil Gorsuch in an op-ed piece published in The Boston Globe Monday, saying the Supreme Court nominee's ... 2) Warren: Delay Gorsuch vote because of Russia investigation | TheHill http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/325096-warren-delay-gorsuch-vote-because-of-russia-investigation Mar 21, 2017 - called for a delay Tuesday of Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court confirmation vote, citing ... Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 21, 2017. 3) Here's how senators plan to vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil ... https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/neil-gorsuch-whip-list/ 8 hours ago - Washington (CNN)Republicans are considering their next step now that the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch are over and many Democrats are planning to filibuster the nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee met Monday to consider Gorsuch's nomination ...

I have worked with some of the men scheduled to be executed. They were part of a creative writing workshop I led from May to October of 2016. I acknowledge they committed heinous crimes in the past, and I grieve for the families of their victims, but there is NOTHING to be gained by the state's killing of them.

I have worked with some of the inmates who are scheduled to be executed. They participated in a creative writing workshop I helped to lead between May and October, 2016. They committed heinous crimes in the past, and I grieve for the families of their victims, but there is NOTHING to be gained from the state's killing of them.

According to the most current FBI reports, a white police officer killed an African American individual nearly two times a week in the United States. The Department of Justice has found a pattern of excessive force within a number of major police departments.

Members, Supporters and Partners of The Florida State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are calling on Governor Rick Scott to rescind his decision to remove State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the Markeith Lloyd case. State Attorney Ayala made a sensible decision about the use of prosecutorial resources in her jurisdiction. After a detailed review, she announced that she would no longer seek the death penalty in future cases. She had ample reason to come to this decision because the death penalty is an expensive, unnecessary, unreliable, and racially-biased punishment. The death penalty wastes prosecutorial, defense, judicial, and correctional resources. Pursuing the death penalty requires additional resources given the literal life-and-death stakes of the prosecution. A death penalty case necessitates additional procedural protections, lengthy jury selection, an involved sentencing phase, and an intricate appeals process. Even the possibility of the death penalty raises costs because of additional pre-trial preparation and investigation in potentially capital cases. These costs continue in prison with the need for a separate death row and the costs of execution. Given this reality, it is unsurprising that Florida spends an estimated $51 million a year on the death penalty. Florida taxpayers pay approximately $3.2 million to prosecute, convict, and execute a single person. And what for? There is no reliable evidence that the death penalty makes communities any safer. In fact, the Florida communities that do not impose death sentences have lower crime rates that those that do. Even with the additional procedures instituted in death penalty cases, Florida’s death penalty system has proven unreliable in determining who is guilty, which crimes are the worst-of-the-worst, and in complying with constitutional standards. With 26 death row exonerees, Florida leads the nation in the number of innocent people freed from death row. The courts have reduced the death sentences of hundreds of Florida death row inmates to life sentences, and Florida’s death penalty has been repeatedly found unconstitutional. The racially-biased application of Florida’s death penalty is another compelling reason not to pursue it. The death penalty is inextricably intertwined with a history of mob violence against Black people. In Florida, there is clear bias in the way the race of a defendant and the race of a homicide victim affect outcomes. Homicides involving white female victims are 6.5 times more likely to result in an execution than those involving Black male victims, and no white person has been executed in Florida for a homicide involving a Black victim. These facts provided State Attorney Ayala with a host of reasons to determine that pursuing life sentences instead of the death penalty was in the interest of justice in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Yet, you took the extraordinary step of reassigning a case because of your personal opinion about how justice should be delivered. Numerous counties, 19 states, and 102 countries are able to provide justice without administering the death penalty. There was no “good and sufficient reason” to remove her from the Loyd case. Your decision to interfere with an elected prosecutor’s determination of local priorities is even more serious given the fact that State Attorney Ayala is the first Black State Attorney in Florida history. When 95% of elected prosecutors nationwide are white, State Attorney Ayala’s voice and leadership are important for the future of the criminal justice system. The Florida State Conference of the NAACP is deeply troubled by this unprovoked interference with her proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion. We call on you to immediately rescind your executive order reassigning the Markeith Lloyd case and to leave decisions about the pursuit of the death penalty in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to its duly elected prosecutor.

I parked my car in front of my house 14 min before NO PARKING street cleaning time was up, after the street sweeper went through, and I was charged $80!!! Minimum wage in Los Angeles is $9/hr. A minimum wage worker makes $81 in an 8hr work day. With taxes, Social Security, and all of the stuff you take out of the wage, it will take two full days to pay for one parking ticket (for street cleaning). A parking ticket is supposed to be a slap on the wrist and not break the bank!

The idea that the people who knowingly kept a person inside a hot shower until said person died are not guilty of said person's death is preposterous and is not justice, and we the people have both the right and the responsibility to demand justice.