Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
“Who wouldn’t want to ban creepy activity or creepy people from playgrounds? But what O’Farrell is proposing goes far beyond targeting worrisome activities that, in most cases, are already outlawed. It would bar any adult from sitting on a bench, exercising or otherwise enjoying public space near playground unless he or she brought a child along. Is this really necessary?”
Read the editorial in the Los Angeles Times.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
…to help the National Center for Reason and Justice and receive a tax-deduction for 2016.
NCRJ works to free the wrongfully convicted and to prevent future injustices through rational criminal-justice reform.
You can make a credit-card donation via PayPal (you don’t have to have a PayPal account to do this) by clicking here.
You can also send a check, payable to NCRJ, to
NCRJ
POB 191101
Roxbury MA 02119
Date your check 12/31/16 or before for a 2016 deduction.
For those of you who have already given, we thank you again.
And we wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Those white crosses mark nameless people. Only a number can be seen in each cross. The cemetery off Highway 178 is where the Georgia Department of Corrections bury inmates “without family, friends, or a care from the world.” I couldn’t help but wonder whether that would be me one day. Or, any of the men I have met over the years. I tried to shake it out of my head. I prayed.
Read the full post by Gunther Fiek.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
“Pizzagate shares much of its content with an outbreak of collective hysteria over imaginary occult pedophile rings three decades ago, which can now summed up in three words: satanic-ritual abuse. At the beginning of the 1980s, it seemed eminently plausible to many people that an extensive underground network of sadistic devil worshipers was sexually torturing large numbers of children in preschools and day-care centers across the country — and that these activities had somehow gone undetected for years, if not decades.”
Read the article by NCRJ Board Member Roger Lancaster in the Washington Post.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Anyone who knows a prisoner knows how important it is to them to receive mail, especially at this time of year. Many prisoners receive no outside support at all.
I don’t care if you send a Christmas card, a holiday card, or whatever. Neither will they.
Here is a list of prisoners who’d be delighted to get a card:
https://bobchatelle.net/please-write-to-a-prisoner
Unfortunately, New Hampshire prisoners are not allowed to receive greeting cards of any sort, picture postcards, or any typewritten or printed material. Only handwritten letters on stock paper are permitted.
-Bob Chatelle
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
“I looked forward to the weekends and holidays because my window gave me a view of family and friends that were coming in to visit their loved ones. I could see individuals of all ages, families, elderly, children, …etc. I wondered: that is someone’s mother, father, wife, girlfriend, or kid. Needless to say, the time I really took advantage of that sight was when my family was coming to visit me. Sometimes I could see them drive in and park. I could see them going through the main front gate, walk through the open walkway to the main building where they would go through a security check and register. A few minutes later I was being summoned to the visitation room.”
Read Gunther’s full post.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
THE SAN ANTONIO 4 — Anna Vasquez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassie Rivera, and Kristie Mayhugh — are innocent. So declared the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on November 23, 2016.
The four young Chicana lesbians were imprisoned for almost 15 years on false accusations of sexually abusing Liz’s two little nieces while babysitting them for a few days in the early 1990s.
When no one else would believe in their innocence, the National Center for Reason and Justice did.
When no one else would find them legal help, NCRJ did. We persuaded the Innocence Project of Texas to take their case. IPOT won their released from prison in 2013.
With your generous donation, we can do more.
When no one sought to publicize their flight, NCRJ did. We alerted local journalists and the documentarian Deb Esqenazi to the story and helped them tell it. Deb’s powerful film “Southwest of Salem” galvanized support for the women nationwide.
And now, just before Thanksgiving, the Four have been exonerated. Although they can never get back what they lost, the state will pay them restitution for each year of wrongful imprisonment.
Help NCRJ celebrate—and work for justice for others—with a special extra donation of $25, $50, or $100 to NCRJ at ncrj.org/donate.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
Please subscribe to his blog.
“It is because of experiences that I’ve lived the reason why I, in a way, erected barriers around my self so that I can filter in – or out – people. I’m careful who I offer my friendship to and even more careful to not judge someone. I’ve always had the desire to help those that I see want to change. You sooner or later realize that you’ve made a mistake but, as I said before, once I’ve offered someone my friendship I try to salvage it. I confess that with time I realize a person’s intentions but I turn a blind eye just for the sake of their company. It is also because I learned that I can do my time better, as it also gives me happiness, when I’m able or was able to do something for someone. But it is in man’s nature to disappoint one another.”
Read the full post.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
“Twenty years of research has established that people with convictions for sex offenses have low rates of recidivism and that the expanding realms of post-release punishment do not prevent sexual violence. But no matter how many times the data are repeated or extrapolated, they have negligible effect on policy, as repealing or even softening any sex-crimes statute is viewed as politically radioactive.”
Read the article by Judith Levine and Erica R. Meiners in The Baffler.
Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.
The National Center for Reason and Justice has sponsored the case of Victor Rosario for many years. We are likely on the verge of complete victory.
“Chief Justice Ralph Gants questioned what standard the court should follow in determining whether Tuttman erred and abused her discretion in ordering a new trial, the main question of law that the court was asked to consider.”
“Don’t we focus now on the fundamental issue of whether there was a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice?” the judge asked.
Read the article by Milton J. Valencia in the Boston Globe.
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