Word: jailings
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...which a "violent killer" plea-bargained a murder charge into manslaughter and was promptly released, since he had already served 18 months while awaiting trial. Instead of violent criminals getting tougher sentences under the ban, only drug offenders and people accused of minor property crimes ended up going to jail, more frequently or for longer terms. "The ones who really got socked were the low-risk offenders," says Clarke, "the ones with no prior record or whose crimes were not aggravated...
Presumably, judges should decide sentences. "After all, they are the impartial figures in the System," says Yale Law School Professor Abraham Goldstein. But in plea bargaining it is generally the prosecutor and not the judge who in effect decides whether and for how long a defendant is going to jail. Indeed, American Bar Association standards forbid judges to participate in bargaining, because the defendant would feel coerced to accept the judge's recommendation. Whether judges do participate varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Often, says Alschuler, they do it implicitly, with veiled threats, cajolery, hints, nods and winks...
When New York Times Reporter Myron Farber, 40, was tossed into a New Jersey jail two and a half weeks ago for refusing to give his notes to a trial judge, the issue seemed reasonably clear-cut. As of last week, it proved to be anything...
...defense lawyer demanded to see Farber's notes, but Farber refused, citing the First Amendment and a New Jersey "shield" law that allows reporters the privilege of keeping their sources confidential. A New Jersey judge asked to see the notes in private, and Farber still refused. Off to jail he went, cited for contempt...
...Kracke, chief bargainer for the publishers: "The union's response has been to demand even greater numbers of employees." One pressman summed up the union's determination to stand fast: "It's my work. It's for my family. I'd go to jail for it. I'd kill...