Category: Broward Public Defender
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Broward continues to fail its mentally ill; The sad case of Broward’s ‘Forgotten Soldier’
By Owen Mcnamee and Douglas Brawley
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Twenty years ago eighteen members of a Broward Grand Jury issued a scathing report that concluded the Broward County mental health system was underfinanced, fragmented and leaderless. They found the system was failing thousands of mentally ill and disabled persons and causing hundreds to wind up in jail or endure forced hospitalizations without needed treatment. Twenty years later, we are still failing this vulnerable population. -
Plans for a new ‘marijuana court’ advance in Broward; addressing racial disparity in arrests
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Since the birth of drug court in South Florida nearly 25 years ago, so-called problem-solving courts have proliferated in courthouses across the country. Now a new idea that would take judicial specialization a step further could debut soon in Broward after its tentative approval Friday by Broward State Attorney Mike Satz. -
Findings of racial disparity in Broward marijuana arrests pits Satz, Finkelstein
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Recent findings that blacks are much more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession in Broward has led State Attorney Mike Satz to issue an unusual personal defense of himself, his office and local police. -
State drops burglary case against teen; Satz tolerates police misconduct, Finkelstein says again
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
The Broward State Attorney’s Office has dropped a felony burglary charge against a 15-year-old boy who defense attorneys say was coerced by Fort Lauderdale Police into falsely confessing to a crime he did not commit. -
Don’t ask, don’t tell at the Broward State Attorney’s Office
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Broward prosecutors who declined to charge a Coconut Creek policeman who pulled a Taser on a frightened theft suspect standing in a bathtub never asked the officer under oath why he hadn’t mentioned the incident in his police reports. -
Finkelstein to feds: “Please do something” about improper police interrogations in Broward
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate what he called the Broward State Attorney’s “long, distressing history” of condoning police use of “threatening, improper interrogation techniques.”
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