Friends of Justice

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

A prison post from Shane Crum – My Wounded Spirit

February 14th, 2021

“I have noticed that when you are charged with the crimes I have been, people treat you like you are less than human. Who wants to spend time getting to know a person who has committed crimes against a child? I explain I am innocent and attempt to show the evidence. They just do not want to waste their time. Especially when the grand prize is a friendship or intimate relationship with someone like that. I cannot win.

“It does not help that the whole of society acts this way. I am not found of people who harm children. Yet, my experience tells me, I cannot say who those people might be. I have been convicted of just such a crime, and there has never been any kind of evidence to suggest a crime occurred. Let alone the idea I am guilty. I have no doubt, that when you meet me, you would never guess I have been convicted of such a crime, much less being capable of committing it.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

In Furor Over Poet With Child Porn Conviction, Prison Abolitionists Debate the Limits of Mercy

February 14th, 2021

Photo: Zbigniew Bzdak/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

“A bedrock principle of the prison abolitionist movement is that you don’t ask an incarcerated person what they’re in for. It’s more than etiquette. To eschew the identity that the punitive state assigns — which could be false — is to see someone whole. “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” says Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson. Even a murderer is somebody’s baby.

“That’s the way guest editors Tara Betts, Joshua Bennett, and Sarah Ross — poets, abolitionists, and educators behind bars and in the free world — approached the submissions to “The Practice of Freedom,” the February 2021 issue of Poetry magazine. The issue features the work of people who are or were incarcerated, their families, and those who work in “carceral spaces.” The contributors had already been judged and punished; the editors would judge the work, no rap sheet attached, not its makers. ”

NCRJ Director Judith Levine offers compassion and common sense in response to sex hysteria.

Read her article in The Intercept.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Sex Offense Civil Commitment: An LGBTQ and Racial Justice Issue

February 12th, 2021

Thank you Bill dobbs. if you want to join The Dobbs Wire email list or have something to say: info@thedobbswire.com Twitter: @thedobbswire

“This webinar will feature a discussion on recent research on the overrepresentation of Black and sexual minority men in civil commitment programs and provide a brief history of civil commitment and the legal challenges to it. Panelists will also discuss the need to address violence in our communities without further expanding mass incarceration.”

Watch the webinar.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Pretending Prisoners are Patients

February 10th, 2021

From the Dobbs Wire. if you want to join The Dobbs Wire email list or have something to say: info@thedobbswire.com Twitter: @thedobbswire

“Twenty states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government have laws that authorize civil commitment of sex offenders who would otherwise be released after serving their prison terms. The Supreme Court upheld the practice in 1997, saying it was appropriate for people who “suffer from a volitional impairment rendering them dangerous beyond their control.”

“That logic is puzzling. The state punishes people who commit sex crimes based on the assumption that they could and should have controlled themselves. But when it is time for them to be released after completing the punishment prescribed by law, the state says that was not actually true; now they must be locked up precisely because they can’t control themselves.”

Read the article by Jacob Sullum in Reason magazine.

Posted in Prisons, Sex Panic | No Comments »

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Injustice Behind Bars — a new prison post from Shane Crum

January 31st, 2021

“My last couple of post were failed attempts to convey just how difficult it is for me to accept harsh treatment, and how O.D.R.C. staff apply their rules unequally. Try to imagine being punished for something you not only did not do, but something that obviously never occurred. Imagine being punished with individuals who have done things.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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Posted in Innocents, Prisons, Sex Panic | No Comments »

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Judge orders Austin babysitter Rosa Jimenez freed from prison, questions guilt

January 27th, 2021

laura skelding

State District Judge Karen Sage made the ruling after a 2½-hour hearing Tuesday afternoon in which three top pediatric airway specialists testified that 21-month-old Bryan Guttierez most likely swallowed, on his own, the compacted mass of paper towels that led to his death — and that there was no way Jimenez could have forced the wad down the boy’s throat, as prosecutors argued at her 2005 trial.

“I do not believe that Ms. Jimenez should spend another night in jail if it can be prevented,” Sage said.

Read the full article by Chuck Lindell in the Austin America-Statesman.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Please Join us for an Important Educational Event!

January 22nd, 2021

A Conversation with Judith Levine
February 5, 2021 @ 11:10am EST via Zoom
RSVP to ehorowitz@sfc.edu for Zoom link

Join Judith Levine and Emily Horowitz for a conversation about Judith’s new book THE FEMINIST AND THE SEX OFFENDER (Verso, 2020).

At the heart of the conspiracy theory that stirred many in the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 was the lie that a cabal of Democratic and “deep state” pedophiles are trafficking and killing thousands of children. A demented “Save the Children” campaign led to a near coup d’etat and the death of five people. This is what people fighting for fairness for “sex offenders” are up against. How can feminism help us understand the hatred of the “sex offender”? How can social justice movements work together to end personal, political, and state violence?

The Feminist and the Sex Offender, co-authored by Judith Levine & Erica Meiners, makes a powerful feminist case for accountability without punishment and sexual safety and pleasure without injustice.

With analytical clarity and narrative force, The Feminist and the Sex Offender contends with two problems that are typically siloed in the era of #MeToo and mass incarceration: sexual and gender violence, on the one hand, and the state’s unjust, ineffective, and soul-destroying response to it on the other. Is it possible to confront the culture of abuse? Is it possible to hold harm-doers accountable without recourse to a criminal justice system that redoubles injuries, fails survivors, and retrenches the conditions that made such abuse possible?

Drawing on interviews, extensive research, reportage, and history, The Feminist and the Sex Offender develops an intersectional feminist approach to ending sexual violence. It maps with considerable detail the unjust sex offender regime while highlighting the alternatives we urgently need.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Rest in Peace Donald Connery

January 18th, 2021

We were deeply saddened last Friday to receive a message from Don’s daughter, informing us that her wonderful father had left us the Monday before.

I first met Don 24 years ago, at a conference about wrongful convictions in Salem, Massachusetts. Our last email exchange, not that long ago, reminisced about that conference. Don also told me that he was finishing his book on the Michael Pardue case and planned to immediately start on his next one. At the age of 94.

My email correspondence with Don began not long after Salem. He was one of the first supporters of Bernard Baran, the NCRJ’s first major case. Although then approaching 80, Don would drive from Connecticut to Worcester, Massachusetts to attend the many hearings that preceded Baran’s release. I well remember the many delightful breakfasts and lunches we shared at that time. Don would also make the longer drive to Bridgewater, Massachusetts to visit Baran in prison.

When the NCRJ was founded in 2002, Don graciously accepted our invitation to serve on our Board of Advisors. Don was devoted to the NCRJ, frequently attending Annual Meetings and teleconferences.

Don was a true gentleman and scholar. He led a fascinating life and was a most entertaining conversationalist. You can learn more about this amazing man by reading this obituary from the New York Times.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

A Prison Post from Shane Crum: Unfair Treatment

January 9th, 2021

“I see inmate after inmate get caught being high or in possession of drugs, and nothing of any significance happens to them. For that matter, in a few short weeks after being caught, they are likely to get one of the coveted institutional jobs. I get a really minor rules infraction, and I lose my institutional job, educational opportunities, my merit status, and it could take me years to get only a small part of that back.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

A Prison Post from Shane Crum: Giving Thanks

December 14th, 2020

“When inmates discuss the conditions of their confinement, it always appears they are simply complaining. Some people would tell them “not to come to prison, and they would not have anything to complain about”. Truth is, they have more to complain about than they should. The quality and content of the food, health care, recreation and library being closed far too often, the way big business exploits inmates and their families, and the way most staff treat us as throw away humans. I am sure there are many other issues I could list here, but that is not the purpose of this post. In fact, I do not want to sound like I am complaining about anything. Rather, I want to talk about some of the positive things that happen in prison. More to the point, I want to express my gratitude toward the individuals who have helped me over the years.”

Read the rest of Shane’s post.

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Posted in Innocents, Prisons, Sex Panic | No Comments »