Justice Hot Docs: Holder Declassifies Controversial Bush-Era Legal Opinions

Justice Releases Secret Bush Memos: The Justice Department has released nine secret memos and opinions written in the wake of 9/11. The Office of Legal Counsel documents cover a host of issues, including the use of military forces to combat terrorist activities inside the United States, presidential power to transfer terrorists to foreign nations, military detention of U.S. citizens, and the authority of the president to suspend provisions of the ABM Treaty. Attorney General Eric Holder, in releasing the documents, said, "Americans deserve a government that operates with transparency and openness. It is my goal to make OLC opinions available when possible while still protecting national security information and ensuring robust internal executive branch debate and decision-making."

More Than 7 Million Now in Corrections System: The number of people in prison, on probation, or on parole in the United States now reaches 7.3 million. According to a report by the Pew Center on the States, the number translates to 1 in every 31 adults. Just 25 years ago, that figure was 1 in 77. The study, "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections," also finds that rates vary widely by race, gender, and region. While 1 in 11 black adults is in prison, on parole, or on probation, the number for Hispanics is 1 in 27, and for whites, 1 in 45. The number for men is 1 in 18, and women, 1 in 89. The study found that in a small section of a neighborhood on Detroit's East Side, 1 in 7 adult men was under some form of correctional control. The five places with the highest rates of people under correctional control are Georgia, Idaho, the District of Columbia, Texas, and Massachusetts.

And Many Are Training to Put Them There: A study of state and local law enforcement training finds that 648 academies trained some 57,000 recruits in 2006 at a cost of $16,000 each. The study, by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, says that most are being trained for careers as local police officers. Others are training for jobs as sheriffs' deputies, campus police, state police, constables, tribal police, natural resources officers, and transit police. Some 45 percent of the academies are operated by colleges and universities, and coursework covers such things as firearms, self-defense, health and fitness, investigations, criminal and constitutional law, first aid, and report writing. Training programs typically included more than 750 hours of class time, and a third of the academies required more than 450 hours of field training.