To Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Abolish the Death Penalty
This Monday, Americans will celebrate the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through acts of service. To truly honor him, we should call for an end to capital punishment. The Death Penalty is Racist In 1958, Dr. King led a protest in Alabama over the execution of a black 16-year-old child convicted […]
2023 Wishlist: Criminal Justice with Dignity
My wishlist this year highlights my belief that people are far more than the worst thing they’ve ever done. I truly believe that people can do great harm and, also, that people can be transformed. I believe that our criminal legal system can hold people accountable and still recognize their humanity. Everything on this list […]
Crime Is on the Ballot – and Voters are Choosing Whether Prosecutors with Reform Agendas are the Ones Who Can Best Bring Law, Order and Justice
Different approaches to justice are on the ballot in November 2022 in some public prosecutor and Congressional elections around the country, revealing a deep divide about how differently Americans feel about crime and its consequences. Many Republican Congressional and prosecutor candidates are focusing their electoral messages on crime, accusing Democrats of being “dangerously liberal”, amid a seeming rise of crime […]
Progressive Prosecutors Make a Difference for the Innocent
This November, voters around the country will engage in local elections with significant criminal justice impact. Nowhere is that more apparent than local prosecutor races. Progressive prosecutors offer fresh and innovative crime-control approaches to a criminal legal system that disparately — and often unnecessarily — impacts the poor and people of color without increasing public […]
Criminal Justice Reform in 2022
It’s time for my annual end-of-the-year criminal justice reform wish list. This year I’m including specific action steps you can take, and I’m highlighting organizations that you might be interested in supporting. Together, we can promote a better vision of what justice could be in 2022. Nearly half a million people are held in jail […]
A One-Two Punch for Juveniles
April brought a one-two punch for juveniles. Punch One: Jones v. Mississippi (April 2021) For the last 20 years, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a string of decisions limiting the most severe sentences for children. The Court abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders. It prohibited life without parole (LWOP) in cases that did not involve […]
Now That the Chauvin Verdict is in, Let’s Talk About How We Change Policing
The conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd marks a significant victory not only in the court of law, but for the Black Lives Matter movement. What the verdict does not do, however, is change the systemic issues that have left an open wound in communities of color, and in those of […]
Twenty Books About Wrongful Convictions that Will Change Your World.
Twenty Books About Wrongful Convictions that Will Change Your Life. BOOKS ABOUT HOW WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS HAPPEN ACTUAL INNOCENCE: FIVE DAYS TO EXECUTION AND OTHER DISPATCHES FROM THE WRONGLY CONVICTED (2000) by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer “At the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld have helped to free thirty-seven wrongly convicted people, […]
Even the Sentencing Judge Now Agrees that Bobby Bostic Should Not Die in Prison.
Bobby Bostic was only sixteen-years-old when he was sentenced to 241 years in prison after trial for two armed robberies in which no one was killed or even seriously injured. His adult accomplice, who plead guilty, died while serving a 30-year-prison term. Unless the Missouri Governor or the Missouri state legislature intervenes, Bostic will die […]
MPL Check Us Out Podcast Interview
In the January edition of Montclair Public Library’s Check Us Out Podcast, Selwa interviews local author Jessica Henry, author of “Smoke but No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened.”