-Response to CNN Article Judge Seeks criminal contempt charges against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and WNYC Podcast Judge Seeks Criminal Charges Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio In Profiling Case-
According to CNN reporter Kimberly Hutcherson, the US Attorney’s Office has
been asked by Federal Judge G Murray Snow to pursue a criminal case against
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and, if they don’t, he may just give the job to a
special prosecutor. She explains that the reasoning behind Snow’s request lies
in Arpaio’s decision to ignore court orders to stop racial profiling and for,
in Snows words, “intentionally [making] a number of false statements under
oath”. Hutcherson mentions that Snow also accuses Arpaio of trying to prevent
further questions from being asked about his unlawful activity. Her article on
the CNN web base gives a clear background of Arpaio’s racial profiling history.
In it is described a class action lawsuit filed against Arpaio and the Maricopa
Sheriff’s Office for using discrimination in policing and jail practices in
2007, the opening of a federal investigation in 2009, and the suing of Maricopa
County in 2010. The article explains how, if convicted for his wrongdoings,
Arpaio faces fines and possible jail time.
Hutcherson’s article Judge Seeks criminal contempt charges cgainst Sheriff Joe
Arpaio is well-presented and organized. I like how her presentation of the
information includes subtitles used to separate different subtopics, and I
enjoyed how she attached videos that describe the case and present Arpaio and
his views. Overall, the article offers a good, solid summary of why criminal
contempt charges are being pressed against Arpaio.
Although I enjoyed reading Hutcherson’s article, there were a few things I
didn’t like about it. First, there were not many direct quotes from Arpaio.
Although the article shows a tweet from Arpaio stating that he does not want to
engage in conversation about the ongoing litigation, it would have been nice
for some direct quotes on his views to be inserted in text into the article,
rather than only being embedded in one of the attached videos. Also, I did not
like how politics surrounding the 2016 presidential election were brought into
the picture. I believe they were unnecessary and did not contribute to the
topics at hand. Lastly, I noticed that Hutcherson describes Arpaio as a
“supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump”, whereas in the
attached video Arizona sheriff still impugning Obama birth certificate, Arpaio
clearly states that he “never endorsed Trump”. In my opinion, Hutcherson was
misleading in describing Arpaio as a Trump supporter. These were the main
matters I came across in the article that I personally am not fond of.
By listening to the WNYC Podcast reported by Jude Joffe-Block, my understanding
of this story was slightly broadened. In the podcast’s introduction, I learned
that Arpaio is a 6-term sheriff, elected each time by the people of Maricopa
County. This surprised me, for it gives me reason to believe that although
Arpaio is wrong in racial-profiling, he must be doing something right for him
to keep being reelected. I was also enlightened in understanding Snow’s
frustration, for Joffe-Block explains that Snow has been involved with Arpaio
for three years, overseeing reforms and being disappointed by the sheriff time
and time again. The reporter tells how Arpaio was forbidden by Snow to make any
immigration arrests and continued to do so anyways. She also brings up a time
four years ago when a criminal case against Arpaio was closed by the criminal
justice department, showing that Arpaio is not new to being accused of criminal
acts. Another interesting tidbit given in Joffe-Block’s podcast is spoken by
University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, who tells how it is “not a
common thing…for a court to use the criminal contempt powers and rarer still
for court to order criminal contempt charges against elected officials”. This
gives light on just how much Arpaio must be giving reason for Judge Snow to
press charges. The extra details such as these that the podcast offered
definitely helped fill in the blanks in my understanding.
I would not have presented this information much differently than Joffe-Block
did. The podcast began with a straight-to-the-point introduction, and direct quotes
from several different points of view were embedded in the podcast. The detail
offered was astounding and helped clear any questions I had before, leaving me
with a complete understanding of the case.
Works Cited
Hutcherson, Kimberly. “Judge seeks criminal contempt charges against Sheriff
Joe Arpaio”. CNN. 20 Aug. 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/20/us/arpaio-
criminal-contempt-charges-referral/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2016.
Joffe-Block, Jude. “Judge Seeks Criminal Charges Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio In
Profiling Case”. Audio Blog Post. All Things Considered. WNYC, 22 Aug. 2016.
Web. 26 Aug. 2016.
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