Showing posts tagged justice

theatlantic:

Scenes from the ‘Million Hoodie March’ for Trayvon Martin

The family of Trayvon Martin joined thousands of demonstrators, who teamed up with Occupy Wall Street, to march across New York City last night to protest the shooting death of the Florida teenager. The “Million Hoodie March,” as it was dubbed, was organized to show support for the Martin family and call for the arrest of the George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Martin last month, but has not been charged after claiming self-defense. Martin’s parents spoke to crowd to thank them for their support and continue to push for chages to be filed against Zimmerman. Martin’s mother Sabrina Fulton told the gathered protesters that “My son is your son.”

After the formal demonstration ended, the protest — buoyed in part by the Occupy Wall Street supporters angry over recent clashes with the NYPD — evolved into a general anti-police rally. Much of the anger surrounding the Martin case has shifted from the shooter to the Sanford, Florida, police department that seems to have let him off the hook. 

The protesters marched from Union Square to Times Square and back, where they encountered a massive police prescence, with lines of NYPD officers and barricades blocking off most of the park. Despite the ominous and aggresives stances from both the police and the protesters, the night ended calmly with no major confrontations. 

See more. [Images: AP, Reuters, Meg Robertson]

(Reblogged from npr)
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But whether Manning is ultimately found guilty or not is beside the point: All one needs to know about American justice is that if he had murdered civilians and desecrated their corpses - if he had the moral capacity to commit war crimes, not the audacity to expose them - he’d be better off today.
No justice for Bradley Manning - Opinion - Al Jazeera (via stfupenguins)
(Reblogged from stfupenguins)
shortformblog: ProPublica study reveals striking racial disparities in presidential pardons And justice for all? A study broke this weekend that flies in the face of that notion. ProPublica journalists Dafna Linzer and Jennifer LaFleur investigated the last decade’s worth of presidential pardons, and found some alarming things. For starters, white applicants were four times more likely to receive a pardon than minority applicants, with blacks having the lowest chance of approval. After taking office, President Bush outsourced the pardons process to lawyers in the Office of the Pardon Attorney, who claim their protocol for examining cases never included any mention of the applicant’s race, but that non-statistical factors like candor and remorse were taken into account. That said, there are striking examples of minorities being denied for very similar or lesser offenses than successful white applicants. Of the thirty-four drug-related pardons President Bush authorized, all were white. Of President Obama’s twenty-two total pardons to date, twenty have been white. Pro Publica’s reporting on this is excellent, and far more in-depth than we can possibly summarize; we urge you to look for yourself. Exhibit A Two women, one white and one black, both from the same city in Texas, filed for pardons on tax related offenses. The black woman had been fined $3000 for underreporting her income in 1989, while the white woman had faked multiple tax returns to reap over $25,000; only the white woman’s pardon was approved. Exhibit B A first-time, black drug offender from South Carolina was given probation for possessing 1.1 grams of crack; his pardon was denied. Conversely, a white four-time offender, who had served prison time for selling 1,050 grams of methamphetamine, was pardoned; only the white man’s pardon was approved. source Follow ShortFormBlog View high resolution

shortformblog:

ProPublica study reveals striking racial disparities in presidential pardons

And justice for all? A study broke this weekend that flies in the face of that notion. ProPublica journalists Dafna Linzer and Jennifer LaFleur investigated the last decade’s worth of presidential pardons, and found some alarming things. For starters, white applicants were four times more likely to receive a pardon than minority applicants, with blacks having the lowest chance of approval. After taking office, President Bush outsourced the pardons process to lawyers in the Office of the Pardon Attorney, who claim their protocol for examining cases never included any mention of the applicant’s race, but that non-statistical factors like candor and remorse were taken into account. That said, there are striking examples of minorities being denied for very similar or lesser offenses than successful white applicants. Of the thirty-four drug-related pardons President Bush authorized, all were white. Of President Obama’s twenty-two total pardons to date, twenty have been white. Pro Publica’s reporting on this is excellent, and far more in-depth than we can possibly summarize; we urge you to look for yourself.

  • Exhibit A Two women, one white and one black, both from the same city in Texas, filed for pardons on tax related offenses. The black woman had been fined $3000 for underreporting her income in 1989, while the white woman had faked multiple tax returns to reap over $25,000; only the white woman’s pardon was approved.
  • Exhibit B A first-time, black drug offender from South Carolina was given probation for possessing 1.1 grams of crack; his pardon was denied. Conversely, a white four-time offender, who had served prison time for selling 1,050 grams of methamphetamine, was pardoned; only the white man’s pardon was approved. source

Follow ShortFormBlog

(Reblogged from shortformblog)
fuckyeahprotest: A protester holds a sign during the ‘Occupy Toronto’ march in the financial district in Toronto, October 15, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Cassese View high resolution

fuckyeahprotest:

A protester holds a sign during the ‘Occupy Toronto’ march in the financial district in Toronto, October 15, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Cassese

(Reblogged from fuckyeahprotest)

Occupy Together: October 15, 2011

You might deride Occupy Wall Street. You might not comprehend Occupy Wall Street. You might just not give a shit about Occupy Wall Street. But the movement cares about you. The world cares about you. History cares about you.

Consider standing with your brothers and sisters from around the world this coming Saturday, October 15. Join the occupation. Occupy everything. Occupy together. Organize your local community. Hold General Assemblies. Discuss the issues. Come to consensus. You have a voice in the occupation — don’t be afraid to use it.

It’s time to take back the streets and the parks, the cities and the communities, and, most importantly, it’s time to take back our futures. Refuse to be sold out. Refuse to be ignored. Refuse to give up.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Davis’s case offers a bracing and depressing illustration of capital punishment’s many problems. In their eagerness to prosecute a black man for murdering a white cop, local officials set in motion a killing machine that, once turned on, is near impossible to halt without executive intervention. Much has already been written about the details of Davis’s case; no reasonable observer can deny there is significant doubt as to his guilt. But our criminal justice system is anything but reasonable. Those who don’t come into contact with it can sit in self-satisfied assurance that our cops and courts measure out blind justice that keeps society well ordered. The evidence simply does not support that fantasy, as Davis’s life and death so dreadfully illustrate. In fact, if we are to judge our criminal justice system by its outcomes, it is built to round up masses of black men, transfer public funds to private companies to warehouse them, and then kill them in cold blood.
The Long, Murderous Arm of the Law Has Killed Troy Davis (via azspot)
(Reblogged from liberalsarecool)
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Dick Cheney is living proof that if we are not brave enough to enforce our laws, we will forever be at the mercy of a handful of men.

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate.

Rule of Torture trumped Rule of Law for Bush/Cheney. Sadly, America is in denial about the horrors done by the previous administration. Abu Ghraib in Iraq seems a millions years ago. In order to move forward, we must understand, atone, and prosecute our past.

(via liberalsarecool)

(Reblogged from liberalsarecool)

Rwanda: Bernard Munyagishari arrested for genocide

evanfleischer:

fyeahafrica:

A Rwandan genocide suspect on the run for 17 years has been arrested in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bernard Munyagishari is accused of being a militia leader who masterminded the killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Gisenyi in 1994.

He was caught in an operation mounted by the Congolese army in collaboration with a tracking team from the UN court trying genocide suspects.

Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in the 100-day genocide.

Nine other Rwandans accused of being key perpetrators of the genocide are still at large.

[Read More]

First Mladic, now this.

(Previously: Ghosts of Rwanda.)

(Source: )

(Reblogged from pantslessprogressive)
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Put to him that “rape is rape”, he said: “No, it is not.
BBC News - The rape question (via charliemielczarek)
(Reblogged from charliemielczarek)

DR Congo colonel Kibibi Mutware jailed for mass rape

fyeahafrica:

A military court in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo investigating a case of mass rape has sentenced Lt Col Kibibi Mutware to 20 years in jail.

He was found guilty of crimes against humanity for sending his troops to rape, beat up and loot from the population of Fizi on New Year’s Day.

Forty-nine women came to testify in the court in in Baraka.

The BBC’s Thomas Hubert says it is the first conviction of a commanding officer for rape in eastern DR Congo.

Humanitarian agencies regularly cite government troops as the largest single group of perpetrators of widespread sexual violence in the Kivu region, says our reporter, who is in the town of Baraka, not far from Fizi.

Sitting in a mobile court in Baraka, the military judges also sentenced three officers serving under Lt Col Kibibi to 20 years and five soldiers to between 10 and 15 years.

Unusual testimonies

Lt Col Kibibi Mutware is one of many former rebels who joined the army as part of peace agreements in 2009.

More than 60 women were raped on 1 January in Fizi.

Our reporter says it is unusual for such large numbers of victims in eastern DR Congo to be willing to testify against their rapists.

Ahead of the verdict, many of them gathered at the rape victims’ centre in Fizi.

“I was fleeing the violence but unfortunately I met four soldiers, ” a 29-year-old mother of five told the BBC about the events on New Year’s day.

“They began to tear the pants I was wearing. They took my child from my arms and left him on the ground. Then they had sex with me.”

In August 2010, rebel forces were accused of raping hundreds of women, girls, men and boys around the town of Luvungi.

The UN recorded some 11,000 rapes in 2010 - the true figure is believed to be much higher.

Our reporter says since January there have been other reports of sexual violence in an area where the Rwandan FDLR rebels are still active, 40km (about 25 miles) from Fizi.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres says it is planning to deploy a mobile clinic to the area on Monday after receiving credible reports of 30 new rapes last week.

It says it has treated more than 70 victims of rapes in two similar incidents in the area between 19 January and 4 February.


(Reblogged from )