Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.
The state's district attorneys want to abolish a 16-member committee charged with reviewing how Tennessee carries out the death penalty, and the Legislature should take their concerns seriously. (www.theleafchronicle.com)
Dr. Hayne has responded in Jackson's Clarion-Ledger to a complaint filed by the national and Mississippi Innocence Projects to revoke his medical license. And to vouch for his credibility, he has summoned none other than District Attorney Forrest Allgood-the same guy who has had three murder convictions overturned, and who continued using "bite-mark expert" Dr. Michael West more than a decade after the disgraced dentist was exposed as a fraud. (www.theagitator.com)
While a federal judge has ordered death row inmate Paul House to be released from jail while appeals proceed in his case, it appears he won't be released anytime soon. (www.wkrn.com)
The Committee to Study the Administration of the Death Penalty was approved by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Phil Bredesen, who supports the death penalty. They have introduced legislation to extend the committee for an additional year, to October 2009. (www.tennessean.com)
When the door closes and the interrogation begins, the quest for truth can run tragically off course. Clemency petitions on Gov. Tim Kaine's desk raise disturbing questions about false confessions. (www.styleweekly.com)
The Justice Project, an organization which aims to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the American criminal justice system, is proud to sponsor the Justice Newsladder, a new tool to find the top news and articles about criminal justice reform.
On top of all of all the mental health problems that soldiers are facing as they return from the combat zone is the No. 1 disability in the war on terror: hearing loss. 70,000 troops who have served are on disability for tinnitus (a constant ringing in the ears) and another 58,000 for hearing loss. (AP)
A new study found that among people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, those who also suffer from PTSD face worse outcomes and consequences from their chemical dependency problems. (Medical News Today)
The weekly newspaper at Fort Drum (already the subject of a damning report about its failure to treat troops from the most deployed unit in America for mental health problems) responded to a recent spate of DWIs by printing the mug shots of servicemembers on the front page. Maj. Gen. Michael L. Oates defends his decision to print the pictures to discourage other troops from drinking and driving, while Adrienne Willis, a spokesperson for Veterans For America said it seemed to unduly burden soldiers who are reeling from the stresses of multiple deployments in Iraq. (NY Times)
Veterans of America is proud to sponsor the Our Troops Newsladder, a new tool to find the top news and articles in the progressive community by, about and for our troops.
One of my core frustrations with the Corporate Media is how fast they turn onto, and off of, stories Veterans Day has come and gone and that means, sadly, coverage of veterans will come and go as well.
I saw this happen incredibly clearly with the Burma NewsLadder I launched just over a month ago, boom, everyone was on Burma, and then absolute silence from our media - interestingly enough, overseas the media has continued to cover the story; and we are continuing to link to all the stories from around the world and we are still getting great traffic to the site.
As important as Burma is to me personally, perhaps no where do we see the on-again, off-again coverage more powerfully than we do with the coverage of veterans and our men and women in uniform. While politicians are more than happy to parade the troops out on Veteran's Day, when the coverage turns away from veterans, so do the politicians.
Remember Walter Reed and the outrage? The most tragic story I heard about that situation was from Bobby Muller, the dynamic founder of Veterans For America - when he was just home from Vietnam, paralyzed from the waist down, there was similar outrage and a LIFE cover story - and guess what? Nothing changed.
