ReportWire

Tag: criminal justice

  • Operation LIPSTICK is Featured in People Magazine

    Operation LIPSTICK is Featured in People Magazine

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: Oct 26, 2016


    New York, NY, October 25, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    A new approach to reduce gun violence is getting results—and People Magazine has the story in a Special Edition with Ellen DeGeneres on newsstands now. Operation LIPSTICK (Ladies Involved in Putting a Stop to Inner-City Killing) stops women from straw purchasing guns for felons, juveniles, and other people who can’t buy guns legally. Straw purchasing by women is a major source (http://operationlipstick.org/operation-lipstick/) of guns used in homicides and other violent crimes in cities throughout the country.

    Every day, women are exploited to move guns into the hands of drug dealers, convicted felons, gang-involved youth, domestic abusers, and more. Men who cannot pass a criminal background check often turn to women to buy guns for them in what’s known as a “straw purchase.”

    LIPSTICK reduced gun crimes by women 33%

    Nancy Robinson, Executive Director

    LIPSTICK keeps guns out of the wrong hands and youth out of the criminal justice system. LIPSTICK has been credited with a 33% reduction in gun crimes by women and girls in Boston.

    The non-profit has chapters in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. The organization is now raising money through crowd funding to expand to more cities.

    Straw purchasing cases involving women underscore the need for LIPSTICK in urban communities across the country:

    Chicago

    A Chicago man with a criminal record paid a female security guard $800 to buy four guns for him at local gun stores. (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-12/news/ct-met-guns-straw-purchasers-20130512_1_kenneth-lee-gun-violence-straw-purchasing​) Research by Northwestern University shows that 15% of guns recovered from male gang members were first bought by women

    Philadelphia

    Last month, a press aide to Philadelphia’s District Attorney was investigated for straw buying an AK-47 for her boyfriend.(http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160923_DA_s_press_aide_under_investigation.html)

    Harlem and Bronx

    In the largest gun trafficking bust in New York City history, the trafficker used his girlfriend to smuggle and resell weapons. (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/largest-seizure-illegal-guns-announced-article-1.1430629)

    Milwaukee

    The handgun used to shoot a Milwaukee police officer was purchased by a woman from The Gander Mountain store.(http://www.wisn.com/article/man-who-shot-officer-had-accomplice-documents-say/6332517)

    Minneapolis

    The 23-year-old wife of convicted trafficker straw purchased six guns in five separate transactions at the same gun store. The guns were used in Minneapolis-area shootings.(http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/03/17/guns-straw-purchase-sentencing/)

    Oakland

    A woman bought 35 guns for crack dealer. Several of the guns were found at Oakland crime scenes. (http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2014/10/03/oakland-guns-illegally-purchased-in-oregon-turn-up-at-crime-scenes/)

    Ft Myers, Florida

    A woman was arrested for straw purchasing the gun used in a nightclub shooting that killed two youth. (http://www.news-press.com/story/news/crime/2016/07/29/more-victims-identified-club-blu-shooting/87727494/)

    For more cases, visit LIPSTICK’s Women and Crime Guns database.

    LIPSTICK transforms female straw purchasers into leaders, mentors and spokeswomen. They make presentations in beauty salons, community centers, schools, after-school programs, churches, and domestic violence and homeless shelters. They warn women not to be duped into buying, hiding or holding guns for partners and male friends and family members who can’t get guns legally. 

    “Nobody’s doing what LIPSTICK is doing,” said John Jay College professor of criminal justice David Kennedy. “Their combination of grassroots action and their focus on establishing a community moral imperative against gun trafficking is particularly original and timely. ”

    Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley stated, “I’ve have been telling Hillary Clinton, Mayor DeBlasio, Mayor Walsh, and anyone else who will listen, LIPSTICK is the right fix.”

    “I’m making a difference when someone who is misguided on what love is, who is willing to go to jail for someone else, makes a turnaround, “ said LIPSTICK Program Director Judy Rose.

    LIPSTICK leaders who took part in the story include:

    •  Ruth Rollins, LIPSTICKS’ first Program Director whose 21-year old son Danny was found shot to death in 2007

    •  Rashandra Riley, former Ohio straw purchaser who testified before Congress (https://youtu.be/i5tYvzDuyqA ) and is now a mother with a Master’s degree.  Ms. Riley is seeking to launch LIPSTICK in St. Louis

    •  Judy Rose, LIPSTICK Program Director, mother, nurse and community activist with a passion for educating and empowering women and young girls

    •  Shante Leathers, LIPSTICK Social Media and Outreach Director, a senior at Wheelock College earning her Bachelor’s Degree in social work

    •  Iesha Sekou—founder of Harlem’s Street Corner Resources and director of the New York LIPSTICK office 

    •  Nancy Robinson, LIPSTICK Executive Director

    •  Ayanna Pressley, the first African American woman elected to Boston City Council and LIPSTICK board member

    •  David Kennedy, author of “Don’t Shoot,” director of National Network for Safe Communities at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice

    About LIPSTICK

    LIPSTICK is women helping women keep guns out of the wrong hands and create safe neighborhoods where children can grow up without the fear of gunfire.

    31 Heath Street Suite 12
    Jamaica Plain, MA 02130​
    www.operationlipstick.org
    info@citizensforsafety.org
    (617) 233-5363

    Source: LIPSTICK

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  • Medill Justice Project Investigates ‘Three-Strikes Law’

    Medill Justice Project Investigates ‘Three-Strikes Law’

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    Tulsa man convicted in spate of purse snatchings serving a life sentence. Oklahoma beginning to grapple with consequences of habitual offender law as other states reform sentences.

    Press Release
    –

    Sep 19, 2016


    TULSA, Okla., September 19, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    In a 10-week investigation, The Medill Justice Project probed the complex issues involved in the three-strikes laws that have swept the country. The story examines prison overcrowding, the costs of incarceration, prosecutors’ discretion in pursuing convictions and the case of prisoner Rodney Fisher, a Tulsa man convicted of multiple burglaries and robberies in the 1980s and sentenced under the habitual offender law to 52 years in prison.

    In 2004, Fisher was found guilty of escaping from a minimum-security prison, yet again triggering the state’s habitual offender law. Typically, the sentence for a prison escape would range from two to seven years. But because Fisher had already been convicted of multiple felonies, the law allowed for the punishment to be multiplied. The range suddenly rose to six years to life.

    Fisher got life.  

    Under Oklahoma law, those convicted of murder can serve as little as 10 years. A robbery sentence can bring less time than that. Some nonetheless say Fisher, now 52, got what he deserved. Others point to action in states that have reformed draconian sentences. In Oklahoma, leaders are beginning to grapple with the consequences of one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation and the consequences of its habitual offender law.

    “The three-strikes laws raise important issues about crime and punishment in the United States that need to be addressed but offer no easy answers,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, MJP’s director.

    Three Northwestern University students at The Medill Justice Project worked in collaboration with Oklahoma Journalists for Justice, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in Tulsa.

    The story is available at www.medilljusticeproject.org.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:
    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Source: Medill Justice Project

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  • Medill Justice Project Podcast Provides Rare Behind-the-Scenes Look at Investigation of Death Row Inmate’s Case

    Medill Justice Project Podcast Provides Rare Behind-the-Scenes Look at Investigation of Death Row Inmate’s Case

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    Seven-episode series follows MJP staff and students who spent 10 weeks examining Tommy Zeigler’s conviction. Listen to class strategy sessions, extended cuts of interviews with key subjects and students’ reactions as they search for the truth.

    Press Release
    –

    Jul 13, 2016


    EVANSTON, Ill., July 13, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​For the first time, The Medill Justice Project releases a podcast series offering listeners exclusive access to its investigation of a potentially wrongful conviction.

    Over 10 weeks this spring, a team of Northwestern University undergraduate and graduate students examined a 40-year-old murder case, discovering significant details overlooked and ballistics evidence that points away from Tommy Zeigler, who was convicted of the crime.

    The students investigated the case as part of a journalism class MJP supports at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

    “The Medill Justice Project is a unique program,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, MJP’s director. “There’s no other known program like it in the world where students at a university, as part of a class, investigate a real murder case where the accused says that he or she has been wrongfully convicted or charged and then we publish our findings for the world.”

    The podcast is available as at http://www.medilljusticeproject.org/mjp-radio/.

    In June, MJP published its investigation of the case, shedding light on two witnesses who call into question Zeigler’s guilt but whose accounts never made it into the trial. Prosecutors argued Zeigler shot himself in the lower torso to make it appear he was the victim of a robbery. But experts say it is practically unheard of for someone to shoot themselves in such a critical place, risking death, to cover up a crime. And the two key witnesses against Zeigler offered accounts of the night of the crime that have changed over the years while details have disappeared.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:

    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Allisha Azlan
    Associate, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 491-5840
    allisha.azlan@northwestern.edu

    Source: The Medill Justice Project

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  • Medill Justice Project Investigation Finds Crucial Details Overlooked in Case Against Florida Man Condemned to Death Row

    Medill Justice Project Investigation Finds Crucial Details Overlooked in Case Against Florida Man Condemned to Death Row

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    Ballistics Evidence Points Away From Prisoner Tommy Zeigler, Experts Say. Zeigler’s fate is in play as he seeks new DNA testing in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Florida’s death penalty.

    Press Release
    –

    Jun 13, 2016


    ORLANDO, Fla., June 13, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​​​​In an investigation of a 40-year-old Florida murder case, a team of Northwestern University undergraduate and graduate students has discovered significant details overlooked in the case and ballistics evidence that points away from Tommy Zeigler, who was convicted of the crime. The students’ investigation (www.medilljusticeproject.org) also found conflicting accounts from key eyewitnesses that raise questions about what happened when four people were killed in a bloody massacre in a furniture store in Winter Garden, near Orlando, Florida.

    “What the students have uncovered is remarkable and significantly challenges the conviction of a man who faces the death penalty,” said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, director of The Medill Justice Project, who oversaw the 10 students’ work as part of a class he teaches.

    “What the students have uncovered is remarkable and significantly challenge the conviction of a man who faces the death penalty.”

    Alec Klein, Northwestern University Professor and Director of The Medill Justice Project

    Among The Medill Justice Project’s findings:

    • Two witnesses call into question Zeigler’s guilt but their accounts never made it into the trial. Those witnesses, Ken and Linda Roach, heard 12 to 15 gun shots within four seconds as they were driving by the furniture store where the murders took place. The Roaches said authorities were not interested in hearing their story and wouldn’t provide information for them to contact the defense attorneys. Ballistics experts interviewed for this story say it would be virtually impossible for a single person to fire a non-automatic weapon so quickly.
       
    • Zeigler, who has always maintained his innocence, was discovered at the crime scene with a bullet hole through his lower torso. At trial, the prosecution argued Zeigler shot himself to make it appear he was the victim of a robbery. But experts interviewed for this story say it is practically unheard of for someone to shoot themselves in such a critical place, risking death, to cover up a crime. The experts also note the angle of the bullet, as it passed through his body, would have required him to use his non-dominant left hand to fire the weapon. And based on ballistics evidence, Zeigler would have had to shoot himself with the gun positioned away from his body, depriving him of the ability to stabilize the gun’s muzzle against his body.
       
    • The two key witnesses against Zeigler offered accounts of the night of the crime that have changed over the years while details have disappeared, according to interviews with sources, police records, trial transcripts and other court documents as well as investigative reports.

    Reprints

    Other media outlets can run this story with the accompanying photos, videos and audio clips as long as the material is not edited and The Medill Justice Project is credited in the byline.

    About The Medill Justice Project

    The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth.

    For more information:

    Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University
    Director, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-4476
    alec-klein@northwestern.edu​

    Amanda Westrich
    Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 467-5307
    amanda.westrich@northwestern.edu

    Allisha Azlan
    Associate, The Medill Justice Project
    (847) 491-5840
    allisha.azlan@northwestern.edu

    Source: The Medill Justice Project

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