Seven and a half things zombies can do to resist mass incarceration by piratenews

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Seven and a half things zombies can do to resist mass incarceration

POSTED BY: PIRATENEWS
UPDATED: Friday, February 26, 2010 07:23
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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:17 PM

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Ten Things You Can Do To Reduce Incarceration

The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Criminologists have found that when too many people are incarcerated the crime rate actually increases. Imagine if we spent some of the $60 billion a year prisons cost on education, job training and healthcare. (0) Paul Butler, a law professor, former federal prosecutor and author of Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice suggests ways to undo the damage caused by overincarceration. If you have state specific resources send them to nationtenthings@gmail.com.

1 Do your jury duty. If you are a juror in a non-violent drug case, vote not guilty. Jury nullification—an acquittal based on principle—is perfectly legal. The framers intended jurors to be a check on unjust prosecutions and bad laws. Click here for more information. (1)

2 Pay a kid to graduate. A report by the RAND Corporation found that paying students to finish high school prevented more crime than the toughest sentencing laws. Dropping out of school creates a high risk of ending up in jail. Work with your community group or place of worship to create a program to pay at-risk students to graduate from high school.

3 Come out of the closet about your drug use. War on drugs propaganda says users are bad people. Let your fellow citizens know the real face of the American drug user. Don’t be scared. Barack Obama admitted he used marijuana and cocaine during his youth, and he got elected president!

4 Hire a formerly incarcerated person. Every year about 600,000 people get out of jail. The odds are against their landing a job, which is a huge factor in why more than half will be re-arrested within a year. Go to Hired Network. Go here if you are formerly incarcerated or visit Reentry Policy.

5 Vote for politicians who are smart on crime. (5) Tougher sentences aren’t the answer. In the US criminal sentences are twice as long as those in England, three times those in Canada and five to ten times those in France. And yet crime rates in US cities are higher than in those nations.

6 Just say no to the police. When cops request your consent to pat you down, peek inside your backpack or purse or search your car, you have the right to decline. When they have a warrant or other legal cause to search, like at an airport, they don’t have to ask. Too many Americans—especially in communities of color—are scared to death of the police. Go to ACLU “Know Your Rights” or the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement to learn your rights if stopped by the police.
http://aclu.org/police/gen/14528res20040730.html

7 Don’t be a professional snitch. If you have information about a violent or property crime, call the police. Witnessing is fine. But snitches get paid either in cash or a break in their own prosecution for tattling. They make untrustworthy witnesses. Snitches are responsible for almost half the wrongful convictions of people who were later found to be innocent.

8 Talk up the trades. Retail drug selling pays about as much as working at McDonald’s. As the book Freakonomics pointed out, that’s why most drug dealers live with their moms. Many dealers would prefer a more lucrative—and safer—line of work. People who don’t see themselves as “college material” and might otherwise end up on the street should be encouraged to get training for a blue collar trade. Click here for more information.

9 Let accused people discover the evidence against them. There are very few discovery requirements in criminal law. Many defendants in criminal cases don’t learn who the witnesses are—or even get copies of police reports—until the day of the trial. “Open discovery” laws like one Ohio recently introduced will enable criminal defendants to see the state’s evidence against them before trial.
http://ohioopendiscovery.com

10 Listen to hip-hop. No other aspect of pop culture has considered as carefully, and as personally, the costs and benefits of the American punishment regime. Members of the hip-hop nation often come fr om the most dangerous communities and have a vested interest in safety . They help us understand that treating people who have messed up with love and dignity is, for law-abiding citizens, an act of self-interest and community safety. Visit AllHipHop.com or Hip Hop Caucus to learn the political side of hip-hop.

http://radgeek.com/gt/2010/02/24/seven-and-a-half-things-you-can-do-to
-resist-mass-incarceration/

Quote:
Zombies Have Fourth Amendment Rights, Too

Howard Bashman over at How Appealing picked up on an 8th Circuit case decided yesterday, ruling in favor of seven people who had been arrested in Minneapolis for protesting "consumerism" by dressing up like zombies and plodding around during the 2006 Aquatennial.

The court ruled (PDF) that the police had no probable cause to arrest the undead for disorderly conduct. The fact that those arrested were, at the time, engaged in First Amendment-protected expressive activities matters in applying the disorderly conduct statute, the court said. Yes, these people might have been painted white, covered in fake blood, dragging their feet and moaning over a portable sound system, but "the likelihood was great that the plaintiffs’ artistic and symbolic message would be understood by those who viewed the protest."

The police could not even fall back on qualified immunity; they should damn well have known that there was no probable cause to arrest the defendants, said the 8th Circuit. How could they have been so sure? Because who hasn't read the case where the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that even "protesting homosexuality by riding [a] horse through a crowd gathered to celebrate National Coming Out Day, shouting anti-homosexual statements, swinging a rope, and knocking over signs advertising the event" is constitutionally protected?

Apparently, the cops trumped up some other charges against the group as well, like "display of simulated weapons of mass destruction." You know, an iPod and some speakers. Oh, and did we mention they confiscated the prosthetic leg of one of the zombies, for fear he might use it as a weapon, presumably to crack the skull of one of his jailers in order to more easily get at his brain?

The opinion is good stuff, even though the judges in the majority somehow managed to resist any urge to use zombie puns. Fortunately, James Walsh of the Minneapolis Star Tribune doesn't take himself as seriously in his headline relating the story.

http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/archive/supct/9801/cx961865.htm
http://www.startribune.com/local/85287037.html
http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2010/02/zombies-hav
e-fourth-amendment-rights-too.html

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Friday, February 26, 2010 7:23 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Quote:
1 Do your jury duty. If you are a juror in a non-violent drug case, vote not guilty. Jury nullification—an acquittal based on principle—is perfectly legal. The framers intended jurors to be a check on unjust prosecutions and bad laws. Click here for more information.

When you show up for jury duty summons, DON'T say the words 'jury nullification'. There's no faster way to get kicked off jury duty.

Only stoopid illiterate juries are allowed in USA.

Top Secret Handbook For Jurors
www.patriotnetwork.info/Citizens_rule_book.htm
http://apfn.org/pdf/citizen.pdf

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