July 12 USA: Worse Than Death Last year a German teenager named Sven Jaschan released the Sasser worm, one of the costliest acts of sabotage in the history of the Internet. It crippled computers around the world, closing businesses, halting trains and grounding airplanes. Which of these punishments does he deserve? A) A 21-month suspended sentence and 30 hours of community service. B) Two years in prison. C) A 5-year ban on using computers. D) Death. E) Something worse. If you answered A, you must be the German judge who gave him that sentence last week. If you answered B or C, you're confusing him with other hackers who have been sent to prison and banned from using computers or the Internet. But those punishments don't seem to have deterred hackers like Mr. Jaschan from taking their place. I'm tempted to say that the correct answer is D, and not just because of the man-years I've spent running virus scans and reformatting hard drives. I'm almost convinced by Steven Landsburg's cost-benefit analysis showing that the spreaders of computer viruses and worms are more logical candidates for capital punishment than murderers are. Professor Landsburg, an economist at the University of Rochester, has calculated the relative value to society of executing murderers and hackers. By using studies estimating the deterrent value of capital punishment, he figures that executing one murderer yields at most $100 million in social benefits. The benefits of executing a hacker would be greater, he argues, because the social costs of hacking are estimated to be so much higher: $50 billion per year. Deterring a mere one-fifth of 1 percent of those crimes - one in 500 hackers - would save society $100 million. And Professor Landsburg believes that a lot more than one in 500 hackers would be deterred by the sight of a colleague on death row. I see his logic, but I also see practical difficulties. For one thing, many hackers live in places where capital punishment is illegal. For another, most of them are teenage boys, a group that has never been known for fearing death. They're probably more afraid of going five years without computer games. So that leaves us with E: something worse than death. Something that would approximate the millions of hours of tedium that hackers have inflicted on society. Hackers are the Internet equivalent of Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber who didn't manage to hurt anyone on his airplane but has been annoying travelers ever since. When I join the line of passengers taking off their shoes at the airport, I get little satisfaction in thinking that the man responsible for this ritual is sitting somewhere by himself in a prison cell, probably with his shoes on. He ought to spend his days within smelling range of all those socks at the airport. In an exclusive poll I once conducted among fellow passengers, I found that 80 percent favored forcing Mr. Reid to sit next to the metal detector, helping small children put their sneakers back on. The remaining 20 percent in the poll (meaning one guy) said that wasn't harsh enough. He advocated requiring Mr. Reid to change the Odor-Eaters insoles of runners at the end of the New York City Marathon. What would be the equivalent public service for Internet sociopaths? Maybe convicted spammers could be sentenced to community service testing all their own wares. The number of organ-enlargement offers would decline if a spammer thought he'd have to appear in a public-service television commercial explaining that he'd tried them all and they just didn't work for him. Convicted hackers like Mr. Jaschan could be sentenced to a lifetime of removing worms and viruses, but the computer experts I consulted said there would be too big a risk that the hackers would enjoy the job. After all, Mr. Jaschan is now doing just that for a software security firm. The experts weren't sure that any punishment could fit the crime, but they had several suggestions: Make the hacker spend 16 hours a day fielding help-desk inquiries in an AOL chat room for computer novices. Force him to do this with a user name at least as uncool as KoolDude and to work on a vintage IBM PC with a 2400-baud dial-up connection. Most painful of all for any geek, make him use Windows 95 for the rest of his life. I realize that this may not be enough. If you have any better ideas, send them along. (source: Opinion, John Tierney, New York Times) ************************ Federal Appeals Process for Death Penalty Cases in Jeopardy 2 bills traveling concurrently through the United States House of Representatives and Senate would effectively remove a major alley of appeal for criminal defendants at the state level. Several of the proposed provisions would present disadvantages for defendants in capital cases. Critics of the proposed legislation say it would hide some death penalty sentences meted out in the states from scrutiny by federal judges, a move they fear will increase the number of innocent people put to death. Senate Bill 1088 and House Bill 3035, known as the Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005, would narrow the circumstances under which defendants could appeal to federal courts for relief from flawed decisions made by lower courts. According to testimony offered by University of Chicago Law Professor Bernard Harcourt at a June House subcommittee hearing on the bill, the legislation proposes "cutting and slashing" federal habeas corpus review of death penalty convictions under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Filing for a writ of habeas corpus is a centuries-old practice lawyers use to challenge to the governments legal authority to keep a person imprisoned. It represents the only means by which federal courts other than the Supreme Court can compel review of state criminal cases in the US, according to Human Rights, a publication of the American Bar Association. Harcourt termed the Act "radical, jurisdiction-stripping legislation," and noted that one portion of the bill, Section 9, would prohibit federal review of most state death penalty sentences imposed upon indigent defendants who argue they received poor legal representation, so long as the court-appointed counsel system is certified by the US Attorney General. And Section 6 has the potential to block federal review of any alleged sentencing errors under the AEPDA, so long as the error is "harmless," a nearly undefinable standard that would further restrict federal review, Harcourt said. Both bills are in their respective judiciary committees. The House version, introduced by Daniel Lungren (R-California) is awaiting a vote and the Senate version of the bill, introduced by Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), has yet to be addressed. (source: The News Standard) IDAHO: Duncan may face death penalty----Probable cause hearing today In Coeur d'Alene, prosecutor Bill Douglas said Monday he will seek to file 3 counts of 1st-degree murder against Joseph Edward Duncan III today. Douglas said he would ask Magistrate Judge Scott Wayman to find probable cause in the deaths of Brenda Kay Groene, 40, her son, Slade Groene, 13, and boyfriend Mark Edward McKenzie, 37, whose bound and bludgeoned bodies were found May 16 at their Frontage Road home near Wolf Lodge Bay. If Wayman finds credence in the charges, Duncan, already charged with 2 counts of capital kidnapping in the disappearance of Shasta Groene, 8, and 9-year-old brother Dylan Groene, will likely make a 1st appearance on the murder counts on Wednesday, Douglas said. "We're considering three more kidnapping charges as well" in connections with the victims because they were bound, Douglas said, "even though they weren't taken anywhere." The Kootenai County prosecutor said he met with Thomas Moss, the U.S. attorney for Idaho, for about an hour on Monday to set up the jurisdictional boundaries for the charges. "They will defer to us and await the outcome of our prosecution," Douglas said. The federal government will most likely take over prosecution of the kidnapping of the 2 children, because federal statutes are superior to state kidnapping counts. "We're going to rely on their resources," Douglas said. "They have incredible resources in regards to child exploitation cases ... they will make their resources available to us as well." Douglas would not say whether he would seek the death penalty if Duncan is convicted of murder. "It's a potential penalty, but a jury's going to have to make that decision," he said. Douglas said for now, next Tuesday's preliminary hearing into the state kidnapping charges is scheduled to take place. Last week, following her rescue from Duncan after the 2 were seen at the Coeur d'Alene Denny's restaurant, Shasta told investigators she and Dylan were taken across state lines to Montana, where the 2 were repeatedly sexually abused. Dylan's body was discovered two days after Shasta's recovery at one of the campgrounds investigators believe the children were held. Douglas would not comment on the status of the investigation of Dylan's death. Last week, Mineral County (Mont.) prosecutor M. Shaun Donovan told the Missoulian newspaper Duncan would not face state charges in Montana. "There's pretty general agreement between all the prosecutors working on this case that it makes sense for Idaho to go forward with this," Donovan said, prior to the announcement that the remains belonged to Dylan. "The state prosecutors there feel they have all the horsepower they need, and the U.S. attorney there is willing to step in and file as well." But Donovan told the paper there was a possibility of filing charges "if anybody indicates to us that we need to," he said. "We'd be ready to file immediately." On Monday, Donovan didn't return a call to The Press seeking comment on the latest developments. Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said last week it appeared Duncan chose his victims at random, with the family's two youngest children the target. Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said sex was the motive for the crime. The house, at 12525 Frontage Road, is less than a hundred yards away and easily seen from the westbound lane of Interstate 90. Although authorities would not confirm how the crimes took place, interviews with police and sources familiar with the investigation suggest Duncan conducted surveillance on the family. Then, sometime after midnight on May 16, he allegedly parked his stolen Jeep Laredo near a neighbor's driveway about a quarter-mile away and walked to the home. After going inside, the two adults and 3 children were bound with plastic zip ties. Shasta and Dylan where then taken to a white pickup outside the home and driven off the property, then transferred into the Jeep. Sometime between binding the victims and leaving the scene, sources said Brenda, Slade and McKenzie were killed with hammer blows to the head. Authorities would neither confirm nor deny what the murder weapon was. During Shasta's interview with investigators, she said they were then taken into Montana, where they camped in at least two different sites in a remote area of the Lolo National Forest. Then, sometime between May 16 and 1:53 a.m. July 2, Dylan died. Authorities have yet to say how or when Dylan died. Douglas said the assistance of the federal government has been invaluable. "We are very appreciative of the incredible partnership we've had with the U.S. Attorney's Office," Douglas said, "and this partnership will continue through this prosecution." Meanwhile, Dylan's family is making arrangements for the boy's funeral. Steve Groene said he hopes to hold a public service for Dylan sometime this week. But as of Monday, Groene said the date or place was not set. "We want to do something similar that was done for Brenda and Slade," said Groene. Groene said he wants it to take place before the end of the week, and hopes to ask the judge for another furlough for his second son, Jesse, before he's sent to the state prison system's diagnostic unit for placement on his 6 month pre-probation review. Jesse Groene was sentenced last month to concurrent 6-year terms for burglary and 5 years for injury to the jail. Before his sentencing, 1st District Judge John Mitchell granted an 8-hour furlough to attend services for his mother and brother, Slade. Public defender Martin Niels said he's working on a temporary release, but since Jesse Groene is a state prisoner now, any release would have to be approved by the Department of Correction, not just a judge's order. (source: Bonner County Daily Bee) ***************************** Sex Offender to Be Charged With Murder A convicted sex offender, already facing kidnapping charges in the abduction of two Idaho children, will be charged in the slayings of 3 people found dead at the children's home, prosecutors said. Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, was expected to make a court appearance Tuesday for a probable cause hearing, Kootenai County prosecutor Bill Douglas said. Duncan is being held in the alleged kidnapping of Dylan and Shasta Groene, who were declared missing in May after police found the bound and beaten bodies of their mother, her boyfriend and the children's older brother in their home. 8-year-old Shasta was spotted July 2 in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant with Duncan, who was arrested. Dylan, 9, was found dead at a remote campsite in western Montana last week after Shasta gave authorities information about where the children were held. Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson has said he believes the victims in the house were killed so the perpetrator could kidnap the two young siblings for the purposes of sex. He has said the victims were apparently chosen at random, although the killings were carefully planned. Authorities believe Duncan is also the sole person responsible for the deaths of Brenda Kay Groene, 40; Slade Groene, 13; and Mark Edward McKenzie, 37. Kidnapping in Idaho can carry the death penalty, but authorities have not decided whether to seek that punishment and do not have to make a formal decision until 30 days after a plea is entered. Duncan also may face federal charges. Shasta has been released from Kootenai Medical Center to her father, Steve Groene. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Justice and death----N.C. must ensure ultimate penalty is administered justly The likelihood that the N.C. House will approve a study of the way North Carolina administers the death penalty improved last week after sponsors of the bill agreed to drop a two-year moratorium on executions. A vote on the legislation may come any day now. Given our state's recent history of injustices in death penalty cases, the study is desperately needed. By examining what has gone wrong here and what is working better elsewhere, it surely would recommend ways to root out the injustices of our system. The compromise didn't please all supporters of the study. Instead of postponing all executions, it would authorize delays of executions only for inmates who could convince a judge that the results of the study could have a bearing on their case. That's a step backward from the Senate bill, which includes a moratorium, but if in the judgment of House leaders it's the only way to move forward on the study, it's worthy of support. North Carolinians disagree on whether the state should have the death penalty. But surely no one disagrees that if there is a death penalty, it must be administered justly. We believe there's virtually unanimous agreement on these points: - An innocent person should not be sentenced to death. - State law should be administered evenhandedly across the state. - Especially in crimes punishable by death, a defendant should have a competent, experienced lawyer and a fair trial. North Carolina's system has failed too many times to meet those tests. In recent months North Carolinians have seen a condemned man freed from death row because of new evidence. Surveys of how the death penalty is applied suggest the most important factor determining whether a defendant faces the death penalty or life imprisonment is the preference of the prosecutor, not the particulars of the crime. We've seen death penalty cases tainted by prosecutors withholding evidence and offenders sentenced to death because of defense lawyers' inexperience or ineffectiveness. Look on death row in any state and you'll find very few inmates who had the money to hire a top-flight defense lawyer. That must change. The standards for investigating, charging, trying and sentencing in potential death penalty cases must be high and must be uniformly and professionally observed throughout our state. There is no room for error in death penalty cases, for there may be no opportunity to correct it. Polls consistently find a majority of North Carolinians favor the death penalty. The state's responsibility is to ensure that it is carried out with the utmost attention to justice. Our state is failing to meet that responsibility now. We must do better -- not because of sympathy for murderers, but because of concern for justice. A study approved by the legislature is the way to begin. (source: Opinion, Charlotte Observer)
