921.002 The Criminal Punishment Code.—The Criminal Punishment Code (CPC) shall apply to all felony offenses, except capital felonies, committed on or after October 1, 1998.
(1) … The Criminal Punishment Code embodies the principles that:
(a) Sentencing is neutral with respect to race, gender, and social and economic status … (emphasis added)
However, before the 1998 CPC was enacted, there were older guidelines in use, originally put in place in part to combat racial disparity in sentencing, which capped the amount of time a judge could dole out to an offender. In fact, a Department of Corrections report entitled Sentencing Guidelines 1995-96 Annual Report, Part II: Impact, Section 2. Sentencing Neutrality, states as follows:
“FACT: This study found that an offender’s race has NO meaningful effect on the sentencing decisions made by Florida courts under the 1994 and 1995 sentencing guidelines structure.”
And now comes the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s exhaustive study entitled Florida’s broken sentencing system, finding racial disparity alive and well throughout the state. After examining “tens of millions of documents” relating to criminal cases from 2004-2015, all cases falling after the enactment of the 1998 CPC which eliminated caps and allows judges to impose any sentence within the statutory maximum, the Herald-Tribune found racial bias in sentencing is back with a vengeance.
The good folks in Sarasota didn’t suggest the 1998 changes to the guidelines as a possible factor in the inexcusable reemergence of racial disparity in sentencing, but some of our sources did. Additionally, sources caution against the filing of disqualification motions against the worst judicial offenders based upon the Herald-Tribune’s Judges Database, at least until a better understanding of the methodology employed by the paper can be realized, and a more thorough consideration is given concerning the role all parties may play in the current state of sentencing in Florida, namely the SAO, PDO, Defense Bar, Law Enforcement, DOC, JNC, JQC, DCA, SCT, Judicial College, and Legislature. Until that time, however, lawyers should be informing their clients of the study, particularly in courtrooms starring judges with higher scores on the racial bias database scorecard …
New Courthouse Move-In Schedule
Coming Soon – Goodbye, Hugh’s Catering …
Well, if a Satz robot ASA scared of minorities asks for more time on every minority case that’s open pled or guilty verdicted than she does on non-minority cases, isn’t the Judge obligated to meet in the middle after the defense attorney asks for her low end position? Is the Judge supposed to reject every negotiated plea made by that ASA?
On victim cases, what if minority victims of minority offenders typically ask for more time than others?
Too many questions, including how does Chief Judge Weinstein reassign the most biased Judges, when Judge Weinstein himself scores 29% 43% 55% on the bias counter?
JUDICIAL DIVERSITY CALL TO ACTION
Judicial Diversity has been a cornerstone of our Association since 1983. No organization in Broward County as a whole have fought for equality on the bench for African American Attorney’s in Broward County like The TJ Reddick Bar Association. We are now in the 21st Century with ONLY 6 African American Judges on the judicial bench. There will be 7 on the bench after January 1, 2017. Frankly, with over 33% of representation in the County, 7.4% is deplorable and the message is clear our work is not over.
Hence, The TJ Reddick Bar Association is sending out a Call To Action. We can no longer wait for appointments but we must exercise our right and utilize the electoral process. There are over 30 Judgeships that will be up for reelection in 2018. We are calling on all qualified candidates to seek a judgeship. TJ Reddick, along with our supporters, will provide support through workshops, informational sessions and coaching sessions. Let us come together to support diversity on the bench and put our personal differences aside. We have the power to breathe new life into our county and our community. The ability to ensure fair and equal justice for all and the intestinal fortitude to accomplish the mission.
“Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.”
Thurgood Marshall
Sincerely,
The Executive Board of The TJ Reddick Bar Assn. Inc.
Racial disparities exist in the Broward Judiciary? Don’t be ridiculous.
Judge the victim wants the maximum so that is what we are asking for.
Judge the victim doesn’t want any jail time but he scores X so that is still our offer.
Mike’s new community outreach person really has her work cut out for her now. Give her a raise already.
lol!
Yes give her a raise!!! There will be much more to contend with when the homicide unit is staffed with whoever hasn’t quit yet. Like how the office lost a murder 1 because someone forgot venue. Spin that!
Please say who? This can’t be true.
Justice has never been blind when it comes to race in Florida.
Blacks were first at the mercy of slave masters. Then came Jim Crow segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. Now, prejudice wears a black robe and EX JUDGE TOM LYNCH was the more prejudice against Blacks than any other judge in Broward County scoring 103%…one of the worst scores in the entire State of Florida. Good ole boys like Tom Lynch need to be voted out. Keep an eye on new judge Mike Lynch to assure he does not follow this extremely racist pattern. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF EX JUDGE TOM LYNCH. YOU ACTIONS ARE DESPICABLE.
“I’m embarrassed, frankly, by the numbers,” said Derek Byrd, a criminal defense attorney in Sarasota. “I knew that the system had a disparity between the treatment of blacks and whites. I did not know it was to that degree. We obviously have a long way to go.”
Racial discrepancies in sentencing, experts say, more likely involve implicit bias — subtle stereotypes developed through upbringing, schooling, television and movies.
Lynch living up to his name…probably tells Black jokes about lynching
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article120611173.html
Buh bye Brennan
Judge Geoff Cohen scored the fairest in South Florida. We need more judges like Judge Cohen who treat all fairly across the board.
Stop joking Geoff Cohen is a racist him and his fat rolly polly olly wife.
Judge Geoffrey D. Cohen
Circuit 17
3rd Degree 8%
2nd Degree -5%
1st Degree 7%
Judge Cohen is race neutral, almost best in Broward.
Judge Cohen IS race neutral. One of the best in the state. That is the truth.
Geoff Cohen and Satz were warned about OPIOIDS, DR SHOPPING AND IMPENDING OD’S 17 YRS AGO BY SOMEONE THEY WERE PROSECUTING A STUPID DIVORCE ISSUE! COHEN SAID IT WAS NONE OF THAT PERSONS BIZ AND TO “SHUT UP!”. FAMILY MEMBER DIED 6 DAYS LATER FROM OXY OD AND HIS STEP SON,PARISH’SON DIED OF SAME 6 MONTH
S LATER! AND THESE ARROGANT KILLERS GET TO RIDE OFF INTO THE SUNSET WITH BIG FAT PENSIONS??
At least we’ve seen the last of that ass wipe ! Lol. Mediocre at best and managed to suck it for all it was worth for a long time.
Just the kind of level headed cool and collected kind of Judge you’d want hearing your case ! Just don’t go over your allotted time for argument or you might get bashed over the head with a lead pipe ! At least her resignation letter is a lot more imaginative and grammatically correct than the ones the judges in Broward can muster up ! We’ve got a real bunch of morons here!
WOW….that is an astonishing statistic that Judge Tom Lynch is the most prejudice against black that any other judges in South Florida. He obviously is a big Trump supporter. Out with the Jim Crow judges.
Read statistics in Herald-Tribune’s Judges Database and see the disparity in sentencing of blacks by ex judge Tom Lynch. DISGUSTING
The ability to sentence up to the statutory max has also precipitated a massive decline in jury trials because defendants get scared and cop a plea even when innocent or over-charged. For this reason the guidelines will remain the same because they don’t want more trials, they want less.
Agreed. Blacks are scared to death to go to trial with these Jim Crow-like judges.
Blacks are scared to death to go to trial with Judge Holmes. Black attorneys usually tell a black to try a white Judge instead.
Holmes’ numbers are pretty even
Singhal — 62-97-58
Prosecutors offer deals they know the judge will except. They are both guilty the State and Judges.
http://projects.heraldtribune.com/bias/judges/
Scherer : 25% – 3rds ; 14% – 2nds ; 1st’s – 136% !!!!
Surprising the judges with bad numbers.
Who would have thought the judges with bad numbers are those people THOUGHT were fair. What a disappointment. They just can’t help the way they were raised.
Cowardly Thieves in Robes was created, and sponsored by “The Florida Bar and JQC.
RUN AGAINST ALL JUDGES
MULTIPLE LAWYERS IN EACH RACE
MOTIVATE THE MASSES
DRAIN THE SWAMP OF RACIALLY INSENSITIVE JUDGES
Haimes +292% on 1st felonies?
Just a bunch of glut flies who couldn’t make it in private practice so they suck at the public trough always looking over their shoulders fearing someone will run against them and end the free ride. Ross and Billy Backman set the example and the rest of the squealers followed suit.
Look at Weinstein. Typical bureaucratic fat cat. Like a dog, if they can’t eat it, they try to bury it like he has with horrible judges who have repeatedly showed how unfit they are to sit in Broward or anywhere else.
The numbers say Haimes would give white guy 30 and similarly situated black guy 82.60 years. Wow!!!
Blows my mind about Lynch statistic on 3d felonies… he really banged blacks on what were mostly victimless drug charges.
Hope Little Lynch was raised differently. Doubt it though. These white guys just don’t get it.
Lynch mortgaged his soul for the job years ago to the PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. Some people would do anything for a steady paycheck. Especially in Broward where it’s judges don’t do much of anything in terms of really working but stick together like old mules headed to the glue factory. But not before patting themselves on the backs for sending as many blacks to the poke as they can.
He always had that scared vacuous look on his face like a man that kept a lot of secrets. Some of them not so secret.
Enough on Lynch already. It’s starting to get old. You seem to have a lot of energy on Defaming Lynch, so why don’t you take that energy on maybe helping the needy, helping homeless pets or maybe just enjoying the upcoming holidays with your family. Defaming Lynch is starting to become a broken record. Let it rest already.
Agreed. Very similar in verbiage to those negative comments on JAAB over the years on about Judges Seidman, Gehl, Tobin and Beller
Defamation? The statistics of this study are not true? Haury is just as bad as Lynch or maybe worse. Either way, it is irresponsible to tell people to enjoy the holidays when many of those people are in prison as a result of these racists oriented judges’ sentencing policies. Your insensitivity to the blight of recipients of unfair prison terms is the exact white supremacist attitude this country needs to worry about.
The “needy” obviously do not include those serving time in prison for victimless 3d felony drug offenses. You are the kind of elitist that cares about homeless pets, but not about black people taken from their homes and family resulting from abuse of power that Gelin thankfully has taken the charge to end for years with this blog. Thanks Bill, for bringing abuse of the black population to our attention. Lets use this holiday season to make resolutions to end this despicable behavior by judges.
Make homeless pets a priority…really. That is what you compare blacks wrongfully rotting in jail to. It is assholes like you who just don’t get it.
Believe me my friend, I get it, but defaming Judges just doesn’t help. How would you feel if someone was defaming you?
Nick Poland isn’t going to be defamed, he is going to be investigated for potential kickbacks! Right before a hearing the husband was bragging about having a lot of money and would get what he wanted.nicky totally ignored at least 6 4th DCA rulings and so rude he was obviously biased!But hey, his grandfather Grinch was the consumate extorted, dealing in graft right from the dirty NYC streets hey came from! When he was on the boat ofNBHD HE TRIED TO SHAKE DOWN A YOUNG GUY WHO JUST WON A BIG MULTI MILLION CONTRACT WITH OUT ANYY POL JUICE! Grinch intimated he’d bring down some goons and the kid told him if he ever stuck his hand into his pocket he’d find it broken! Then he went to tally and sat in WALKIN LAWTON CHILES OFFICE UNTIL HE AGREED TO HEAR HIM OUT! YOU SEE, THE KID KNEW CHILES HAD APPOINTED TRINCHI ,AND TRINCHI GOT A SCOLDING! SO GENES ARE HARD TO DENY SO LIL NICKY MIGHT GOT GRABBY HANDS ALSO!NICKY, HOW ABOUT CALLING JENNY CRAIG? YOU PUT YOURS,PETEY DIJOLS AND WEINSTEINS ROBES TOGETHER ITD MAKE A GREAT TARP FOR THE FIELD AT HARD ROCK SLADIUM!
Most certainlyif Nick loan has any OF That dirty wop greaseball guinea pig TRINCHI then the whole town is underwater!They say Madoff killed more Jews than Hitler but OL AMADEO FLEECED MANY A CENTURY VILLAGER!Always thought Nicky L looked like an upside down top! If the lying imbecile could stand on that mental midget gran oh his with that 350 lbs of lard above him that and a ten foot rope and a good pull could have Nicky careening thru the courthouse halls like that old childhood top game!Nicky lop is just another example of a clown who could not make partner even in any law firm so he plays TRINCHI juice for an appointment! Sound familiar TOMMIE COLEMAN?
Court House watchers, be on the look out for any profligate spending by Nicky lopane as he might have just come into a modest windfall!a guy who FLEECED taxpayers of Kentucky conning the st tax credit offerings by saying he’d create jobs, got the credits and did not deliver also leaving a slew of creditors in his wake! Nicky just might be beholding enough that he brushed aside applicable and probably controlling 4th DCA rulings! So all you folks who look for judges leaving in their cars early PLS take note if Nicky lopane has new wheels or spends money on any trinkets from LEVINSONS? REMEMBER NICKY THE BIGGEST MISTAKE A BANK ROBBRR CAN MAKE IS SPENDING THE LOOT TOO SOON! LOL
THEY WILL BECOME THE ANGELS OF THEIR OWN DESPAIR
DESTRY IS A GOOD EXAMPLE
Liz McHugh’s daughter, Alexandra Langley, got a $28,000 raise and as a secretary is making $53,400 while most secretaries make around $25,000. That’s more than most PDs make. No attorney has ever gotten a raise that high.
How about we all quit and let the office burn like it deserves to?
Wow! Now I no longer feel bad about Liz getting trounced in her campaign to be Clerk. Well deserved.
Whoever becomes the next PD needs to include Liz on the list of “to be fired”, right next to Frank, Cathy and Bob Wills.
Part of Litl Howie’s program to reward those select bimbos who run for office under his direction so he can in his little way expand what he considers to be his influence! LOL. Didn’t do too well !
Kingdom of the blind …
Under his mismanagement half the office has quit …
This is so completely false and ridiculous. Check again in Jan. All salaries will be back to normal
So basically hf gave a one time bonus (which is illegal) and made it look like a raise. A guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do, I guess. Nevermind. Cathy told him to. LOL
So she merited a $2,500 bonus or did she get that because of who her mom is when the other secretaries didn’t get bonuses?
Actually Alex is a really nice person and a hard worker. A lot of secretaries got bonuses. The ones who do a good job..,
Did you ever think that maybe she (Alexandra) got the one time reward because she has a great work ethic instilled in her by her mother? Perhaps, she is a great employee who was very deserving. Did that cross anyone’s mind?
Maybe it’s because most blacks that come through the system are poor and have to rely on PD’s. Maybe not so much a racial disparity as an economic one.
Mikey Satz loves his job. Jimmy Crow never retired either.
The best part is when these callous, indifferent, or just plain racist pea brains get called up for judgement day and the big guy has braids and a grill.
Black judges, for example, don’t always show empathy toward their own race. In fact, no group has a wider gap when it comes to sentencing black and white defendants than black Republicans.
They sentence criminals of their own color to nearly 70 percent more confinement than white defendants for third-degree felonies.
http://projects.heraldtribune.com/bias/politics/
Sure – all we need are a couple more like the Robinsons to fix things right up. You can’t understand a thing that judge Mary Robinson says and M. Robinson is one of the dumbest, densest judges I’ve ever had to deal with. Then of course you’ve got Holmes whose act is so old and repetitive it’s downright stupid at this point. Never heard worse. She needs to spend some time with Betsy Benson for some cross racial much needed girl to girl bonding.
Please!!!!! Holmes may be arrogant. But she knows the law and is intelligent. I have no doubt she was a great lawyer. Benson is a moron that couldn’t make it in private practice and as a PD and was a laughing stock.
Please!!!!! Holmes may be arrogant. But she knows the law and is intelligent. I have no doubt she was a great lawyer. Benson is a moron that couldn’t make it in private practice and as a PD and was a laughing stock.
HOLMES IS A ONE WOMAN FREAK SHOW
ONLY IN BROWARD
Mary’s going away courtroom shindig sparsely attended? Surprised?
Many more dinosaurs getting ready to retire to the obscurity they so richly deserve and wallowed in when they were failed lawyers before wrangling judgeships through politics or condo kissing up.
Michael Robinson’s will be even emptier.
Happy Hanukkah!
Broward is covered in a cesspool of racial sentence bias and the CJ is partying in Washington DC.
Did the CJ tell President O about his
29% 43% 55% score?
His Pops walked w MLK
Lucky for Barry Obama he never was a defendant in Judge Weinstein’s court back in the day.
“There must be some misunderstanding. I switched sides and voted for Donald Trump !”
Yesterday at 8:05 PM
Tacky to live broadcast/video from the White House but not surprising given the source.
Is there a video?
Damn, Michael is well on his way to being portly like his daddy.
Judge Weinstein most assuredly used the opportunity of his private sitdown with the leader of the free world over sponge cake and latkes to thoroughly air his concerns regarding the poison of racially disparate sentencing in Broward County.
Private sitdown…….lol!!!!!!
A turn around the rose garden before schmoozing our way to the nearest table to stuff our faces is good for the soul.
He’d eat anything put in front of his nose.
This is the most effective Trump campaign advertisement I have ever seen.
Pimps in polyester or pigs in a blanket: The resemblance is unmistakable! LOL
ANYWHERE THE FOOD IS FOR FREE
Hope ole whiney got a chance to check out the whitehouse toilet seats … probably stuffed his pockets with hors d’oeuvres before leaving.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-man-accused-threat-broward-judge-2-20161214-story.html
Ellen Feld is a Judge? In Broward?
http://wsvn.com/news/local/7news-sneak-peak-inside-newly-renovated-broward-county-courthouse/
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20161214/lyons-judges-share-in-blame
Thanks to Mr. Satz sending these people to prison, lives have been saved.
http://projects.sun-sentinel.com/projects/dyingforhelp/#nt=oft12aH-1la1
At last a Public Defender who makes sense and really means what she says about the mentally ill. Not just a pompous grandstander like we’ve got here in Broward.
List Of Sitting Broward Circuit Felony Criminal Judges Disparate Sentencing Percentages:
These percentages measure the additional confinement given to black defendants. A negative figure indicates white defendants were given more time.
Felony Level 3rd 2nd 1sts
Paul L. Backman 7% 23% -3%
Dennis D. Bailey 68% N/A N/A
Martin J. Bidwill 25% 20% 20%
Bernard Bober 46% 62% 45%
Geoffrey D. Cohen 8% -5% 7%
David Haimes 42% 8% 292%
Ilona M. Holmes 13% 7% 14%
Ernest Kollra N/A
Jeffrey R. Leveson 55% 95% 49%
Edward H. Merrigan -1% 5% N/A
Lisa M. Porter 73% 19% 144%
Ari Abraham Porth 13% -16% N/A
Michael A. Robinson 16% 5% 65%
Michael Ian Rothschild 59% 44% -13%
Elizabeth Scherer 25% 14% 136%
Andrew L. Siegel 36% 47% 57%
Anuraag Singhal 62% 97% 58%
Michele Towbin Singer 24% 8% -14%
Michael Usan 25% -14% 227%
http://projects.heraldtribune.com/bias/judges/
1st degrees these jump out…….Usan +227………Scherer +136……..Haimes +292…..Porter +144……Shocking.
All former prosecutors!
Not so much. 1st degrees are more serious crimes, murder, rape, armed robbery, they are mostly bad actors.
The real shocker is 3rd degree, mostly non violent drug offenders: Dennis D. Bailey 68% , Bernard Bober 46%, David Haimes 42%, Jeffrey R. Leveson 55%, Lisa M. Porter 73%, Michael Ian Rothschild 59%, Anuraag Singhal 62%
Ok usan. Whatever you say. If they’re bad actors though, why did you disproportionately punish black “bad actors” more harshly than white “bad actors?” 227% more harshly.
THATS why the figures for the firsts are more important. Because all things being equal (kind of crime), you punished the black offenders more harshly.
The fact that you even tried to shift the dialogue to take attention off of you just shows what a bad apple you really are. Your logic is preposterously flawed.
Except that 3rd degrees are 99% negotiated pleas. So while Judges may be rubber stamping these jail sentences, it’s the State and defense attorneys (mostly PD) who are agreeing to this disparity. Plus many times the smarter defendants are taking jail time on these rather than setting themselves up on probation. How many white guys ask for “no paper”?
WOW!!! Looks like Haimes Usan Porter & Scherer are the klansmen on the bench. And they get by undetected. Well, that’s not true. Anyone who has practiced before any of them knew this to be true when Destry was getting killed in the papers.
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/documents/certification2017.pdf
https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2016/2178/2016-2178_notice_80312.pdf
http://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/09/judge-phillip-yacucci-cited-inappropriate-conduct-former-political-rival/95195654/
To all you pathetic slicer’s, deicer’s, and splicer’s.
And other derisive divide and concur Scummycrats.
Democrats got it shoved where the sun don’t shine and just where they deserved to get it ! They got whitelashed by the moral silent majority that’s sick of the status quo political hacks.
Now these piss ant Broward judges need to be flushed down the drain with the rest of the political hacks every time they have to run to retain their seats. Broward citizens are waking up to their political shenanigans. Very few deserve to sit more than a single term. Drain the Swamp of these scum suckers on the public dole!
She deserve a raise. Good work!! BTW justice never blind and it won’t be.