Florida's
Voting Ban
Courtenay Strickland, Voting Rights Project Director
of the ACLU of Florida, says Florida's voting ban impacted
the 2000 presidential election. The ban dates back to
the end of the Civil War when Florida had to adopt a
variety of laws, which were aimed at preventing newly
freed slaves the right to vote, before being readmitted
in the U.S.A.
Today, Florida's voting ban takes
away the civil rights of all past felons even after
completion of their sentences. "Florida
is completely out of line with the rest of country," says
Strickland, "and it's high time to put Florida's
racist history behind us... by providing for automatic
restoration of the right to vote after serving a sentence."
Restoration of civil rights is
possible for past felons, but Strickland describes
the process as "medieval." And
you won't believe who sits on Florida's Executive Clemency
Board, the only board to grant restoration of rights.
Nor will you believe the unfair and nonstandard criteria
they use to decide weather to grant clemency, or how
ineffecient they are at working throught the current
35,000 applications.
Ms. Strickland proposes a short term
solution, which you can hear by listening to this show
in the Criminal
Justice Radio Archive as well as why she
calls this "taxation
with representation."
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Terrorism
Textbook
Terrorism has been
much more widespread than the mainstream media will tell
you. sDr. James Lutz, Indiana University-Purdue University
Department of Political Science Chair, and coauthor of
Global Terrorism, a textbook written with his wife, Brenda
Lutz, presents the history and a categorical perspective
of terrorism around the world.
Dr. Lutz says there are
several different types of terrorism. And he says that
there is a misperception that it is focused in the Middle
East. He talks about several other groups including,
the PLO, KKK, IRA, Chechen
Rebels, Oklahoma City bombers,
and the Sons of Liberty.
Learn what religion has
to do with terrorism and if there is a connection between
drug trafficking and terrorism by listening to this show
on our Criminal
Justice Radio Archive.
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F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. stands for Forfeiture
Endangers American Rights, which is an organization
working to reform federal and state asset forfeiture
laws. Brenda Grantland, President of F.E.A.R.'s board
of directors, explains that asset forfeiture is "a
procedure which allows the federal, state and sometimes
city governments to seize private property from people
and permanently take it without paying for it."
Ms. Grantland says the police must allege the property
was used to facilitate a crime, but they don't need to
prove it before seizure. And, the police get to keep
the proceeds of what they have seized.
Sounds like a good deal for the police, but a bad deal
for citizens and victims of forfeiture. ome of the most
vulnerable targets are the elderly, poor, and immigrants
with poor English skills. And the property owners don't
actually need to have taken part in the crime to have
their property seized!
Listen to this show on the Criminal
Justice Radio Archive page where you can also hear about highway
forfeiture traps, how to find representation if you've
been a victim of forfeiture, and if one particular Sheriff
in Georgia was immune to the forfeiture laws after he
illegally used some sharing money.
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In the near
future...
FCAT Scores and School Funding, airing September 4th
Mark Pudlow from the Florida Education Association joins
Criminal Justice Forum again to help translate this year's
FCAT scores and how the State of Florida plans to pay
for the Class Size Amendment.
Your Vote Counts! airing September 11th
Tracy Moavero from the Friends Committee on National
Legislation reminds us exactly how important it is to
exercise our right to vote and to be involved in the
Democratic Process.
Florida Bullet Train, airing September 18th
Keith Lee Rupp, President of the Florida Transportation
Association, Inc., talks about Florida's need for a bullet
train, its economic impact, and Florida voter's choice
in the 2000 election to build a high-speed train.
To be announced, airing September 25th
Check out our lineup on the web at http://www.criminaljusticeforum.com/justice_radio.htm to find out what's coming next.
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