CT: Connecticut moves to abolish death penalty (Associated Press)
After executing just one prisoner in more than 50 years, Connecticut moved Thursday to become the fifth state in five years to do away with the death penalty for good. But the repeal wouldn't be a lifeline for the state's 11 death row inmates, including two men who killed a woman and two children in a horrifying home invasion supporters touted as a key reason to keep the law on the books. The state Senate debated for hours Thursday about whether the law would reverse those sentences before voting 20-16 to repeal the law...
DC: Feds Begin Penalizing States That Haven't Adopted U.S. Sex Offender Law (The Crime Report)
Nearly six years after the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was enacted, the U.S. Justice Department is beginning to penalize many of the states that have failed to follow its provisions. The latest count shows that only 15 states are in "substantial" compliance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) parts of the Adam Walsh law, long after a deadline of last July.
DC: Wells Fargo’s prison cash cow (Salon)
Wells Fargo is one of the top five largest banks in America, a fact that on its own is damning enough, basic human decency not exactly being conducive to success in the financial industry. Despite, or rather because of, its role as one of the leading sub-prime mortgage lenders prior to the 2008 crash in the housing market, the bank was handed $37 billion from the U.S. government, a transfer of wealth from the foreclosed upon have-nots to the haves doing the foreclosing – people like chairman and CEO John Stumpf, whose compensation actually rose after his company’s de facto bankruptcy to a cool $18 million last year...
IL: Is life without parole constitutional for 14-year-olds, like Adolfo? (WBEZ)
Seventy-nine juveniles 14 or younger who've been convicted of murder, are serving sentences of life with no chance of parole. Adolfo Davis of Chicago is one of them. In the next few months, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on this question: Is life without parole a cruel and unusual punishment for 14-year-olds, even when they're convicted of murder? This is the first of two stories on Adolfo's case, and a critical hearing this week on his state plea for clemency...
IL: Illinois aims to reduce prison overcrowding (WBEZ)
Illinois lawmakers are once again debating a bill that could help ease the state’s bursting prison population at a time when there are plans to close several correctional facilities...