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The first full day of the Aspen Ideas Festival kicked off with a
session on the criminal justice system. The panelists: retired
associate justice of the Supreme Court Sandra Day O'Connor, Harvard Law
Professor Charles Ogletree (an expert on race and law), and Bishop TD
Jakes, who runs a 30,000-member church in Texas. I had to leave before
the Q-and-As, but there were some highlights from the panel portion,
which was moderated by NPR's Linda Wertheimer. Some quick bullets:
On mandatory minimum sentences: O'Connor suggested it was time
for Congress to revisit mandatory minimums, which stipulate certain
minimum sentences for certain crimes, often drug offenses. The result
of mandatory minimums has been to limit judicial discretion in
sentencing and to overcrowd the prisons with criminals who may have
gotten 20 years for a first-time drug offense. "I don't advocate making
drug use legal, but I do advocate examining the mandatory minimum"
regime, she said. She also said that recidivism is so high because
there's "a shocking lack of rehab efforts within prisons."
On the jury system: Some talk about how jury service is changing
due to technology. The problem with juries, said Ogletree, "is not race
or gender or class. It's the tweeting, blogging, texting jurors who
want to find out more about the case [so they go online after hours] to
see what this guy is really about." Judges already tell jurors they
can't read newspapers or talk about the case with their neighbors.
They need to extend those remarks, said Ogletree. "There's a flaw in
the system that has to be addressed, and I think it's in the jury
instructions: You can't tweet, you can't blog." O'Connor, who was a
local trial judge at one point in her career, implied that good judges
should be able to control their juries, regardless of the technology at
issue.
On more women in prisons: "We think women can do all kinds of things," O'Connor said. "And I guess they can commit crimes, too."
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