“We’re trying to straddle a recreational use versus a medicinal use. Drawing the lines will be difficult, because we’ve been doing this for almost three hours, and I’m still not sure what we’re talking about.” https://www.texasobserver.org/advocates-speak-against-lege-thc-hemp-restrictions/
An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole.
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A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm Black people — and may even be unconstitutional.
https://www.propublica.org/article/tiger-algorithm-louisiana-parole-calvin-alexander?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole.
https://www.propublica.org/article/tiger-algorithm-louisiana-parole-calvin-alexander
>This is not to mention what happens when state agencies use the wrong amounts of these drugs, or in some cases, the wrong drugs altogether. Supply chain issues and pharmaceutical companies’ resistance to having their products used off-label in lethal injections have led states to buck regulations in order to get execution drugs. Some states, including Texas, have been caught trying to illegally import the drugs from sketchy sellers.
And yet Texas wants to ban #THC. Absolutely farcical.
>While the subject of the book is narrow, and often difficult to sit with, the author effectively provides entry points for people who might not normally wade into the death penalty debate. She dives into contract law, supply chains, off-the-books drug deals by state agents, and executions as currency in local politics, among other interesting roads that intersect with lethal injection.
Well, you're definitely selling the book well :) Makes me want to read it.
>“But the point is not the examples; it’s the patterns,” she writes. Here, she’s talking about state secrecy and obfuscation, but it really could be the thesis of the book. She provides a nearly overwhelming amount of evidence—the footnotes take up more than 70 pages—to back up her claim that lethal injection doesn’t provide the humane death it promises.
Devouring footnotes is a favorite pastime of mine.
Our top story: “Many of these technologies are eroding that reasonable expectation of privacy that people have, and [are] kind of leading to this police #surveillance state, where the government ends up having … information about people without having to get a warrant.” https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-surveillance-arsenal-artificial-intelligence-lege/
Read an excerpt from the new book by the Observer's Lise Olsen: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer/
See Lise tonight at 7pm at BookPeople in Austin! RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bookpeople-presents-lise-olsen-the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer-tickets-1207891188059?aff=bp
In explaining the legal and clinical aspects of lethal injections, “Secrets of the Killing State” is far from sterile. Corinna Barrett Lain lays out her fact-based narratives in stomach-churning detail, while also plainly sharing her analysis of the facts with readers, often bordering on righteous indignation. https://www.texasobserver.org/sordid-story-behind-lethal-injection/
What Reality TV Gets Wrong About Criminal Investigations. (Spoiler: So Much.)
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-first-48-wrongful-conviction-edgar-barrientos-quintana
Our top story: Over the past several years, the #Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has quietly built out an expansive #surveillance apparatus—one that’s increasingly powered by artificial intelligence. Can the legislature pass new protections for our privacy? https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-surveillance-arsenal-artificial-intelligence-lege/
Tomorrow (Wednesday April 9): Join Texas Observer's Lise Olsen in conversation with Michelle Pitcher, to celebrate the release of Lise's new book The Scientist and the Serial Killer.
FREE! 7pm BookPeople, #Austin, Texas
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bookpeople-presents-lise-olsen-the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer-tickets-1207891188059?aff=bp
In #books, from Michelle Pitcher: Law professor, former prosecutor, and death penalty expert Corinna Barrett Lain brings readers into the death chamber to bear disturbing witness to the reality of lethal injection. A look behind the curtain at our state's grim legacy in criminal justice ...
https://www.texasobserver.org/sordid-story-behind-lethal-injection/
According to a new book edited by Andréanne Bissonnette and Élisabeth Vallet, while “restoring the rule of law” to the U.S.-Mexico #border has been a repeated talking point for successive administrations, it is the border walls themselves which are lawless. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/
In books: While “restoring the rule of law” to the U.S.-Mexico border has been a resonant and repeated talking point for successive administrations, it is the #border walls that they have built, not the border itself, that are lawless.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/
The 'Judicial Black Hole' of El Salvador's Prisons Is a Warning for Americans
Presented as a means to “restore the rule of law” to the United States’ southern border, hundreds of miles of border walls have been erected by successive presidential administrations. This new book claims it is the walls themselves that transcend the law: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/
“He was eighteen years old, and while that might legally mean that he’s an adult, it was clear to me that he was just a kid in a terrible situation who had no idea why he was being punished so harshly.”
The #Austin-Area Teen #Trump Disappeared to El Salvador
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-austin-area-teen-trump-disappeared-to-el-salvador/
More than 50 years later, some Houston families still wait for confirmation that their sons and brothers were among the victims of serial killer Dean Corll.
Out this month, the new book from Lise Olsen: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-scientist-and-the-serial-killer/
Earlier, from Francesca D'Annunzio and Pulitzer Center: Operation Lone Star has turbocharged DPS’ surveillance capabilities. Lawmakers say they want to prevent Texas from becoming a police state but have filed only modest legislation to regulate use of #AI.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-surveillance-arsenal-artificial-intelligence-lege/
In #books: While “restoring the rule of law” to the U.S.-Mexico border has been a resonant and repeated talking point for successive administrations, it is the border walls that they have built, not the #border itself, that are lawless. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-lawless-border-wall/
#bookstodon #immigration #CriminalJustice #law #USpol #politics #news @bookstodon
From our magazine: “The Laken Riley bill, that’s been talked about by the media and everybody as an immigration bill, but it’s a criminal justice bill. And they’ve punctured the due process in criminal cases. They’re basically saying that as long as [immigrants are] charged … not even that they’ve been convicted or that they’re on trial, [that they’ll be deported].” https://www.texasobserver.org/sylvia-garcia-interview-immigration/
