Minister Farrakhan on American Criminal Justice

     In a fiery speech Sunday, February 16, 2014 delivered to 18,000 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Minister Louis Farrakhan blasted the judicial system in the U.S. as being biased against African Americans, calling upon the community to set up their own courts….Farrakhan spoke for nearly three hours, reiterating the Nation of Islam's view that the U.S. is a land headed for destruction because it has disobeyed the word of God.

     Farrakhan suggested that African Americans rely on the Quran and Bible to help them set up their own legal system that would be more fair to African Americans….Farrakhan railed against Christian pastors who endorse gay marriage, which he said contradicts the teachings of Christianity and Islam….Noting that the Nation of Islam started in Detroit in 1930, Farrakhan said: "I want Detroit to know we're back to stay. This is a great city."

"Farrakhan: African Americans Deserve Their Own Courts," USA Today, February 22, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: U.K's Mental Health Act: Holding Kids in Jail

     Hundreds of children in England and Wales were detained under the Mental Health Act and locked in police cells because officers did not have anywhere else to take them….There were 305 detentions of under-18s in the first 11 months of 2013….Some were held for more than 24 hours….the practice of detaining children suspected of being mentally ill was first uncovered by the BBC in 2012….

     Some children were detained for periods of time--including 17-year-olds held for more than 24 hours and 15-year-olds for between eight and 15 hours. Police have the power under the Mental Health Act to take people they suspect of being mentally disturbed and who could be a danger to themselves or others to a "place of safety" to be assessed by a doctor. This detention may only last up to 72 hours. Places of safety will usually mean a hospital, care home or any other suitable place but, in exceptional circumstances, it may also be a police station.

Nicola Beckford, "Hundreds of Children Detained in Police Cells," BBC News, January 25, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Alan Dershowitz Finds Race, Politics and Prosecutorial Misconduct in the George Zimmerman Case

[In the Zimmerman trial] there was reasonable doubt all over the place. I think there were violations of civil rights and civil liberties--by the prosecutor. The prosecutor sent this case to a judge, and willfully, deliberately, and in my view criminally withheld exculpatory evidence. They denied the judge the right to see pictures that showed Zimmerman with his nose broken and his head bashed in. The prosecution should be investigated for civil rights violations, and civil liberty violations. If the judge had any courage in applying the law, she never would have allowed this case to go to the jury. She should have entered a verdict based on reasonable doubt. The special prosecutor [Angela Corey] had in her possession photographs that would definitely show a judge that this was not an appropriate case for second-degree murder. She deliberately withheld and suppressed those photographs, refused to show them to the judge, got the judge to rule erroneously that this was a second-degree murder case. That violated a whole range of ethical, professional, and legal obligations that prosecutors have. Moreover, they withheld other evidence in the course of the pretrial and trial proceedings, as has been documented by the defense team. Angela Corey is basically a prosecutorial tyrant, and well known for that in Florida.

Alan M. Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor, author, and famed appellate attorney, July 2013