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
*Originally published in The Conversation 10/27/22. 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 […]
Progressive Prosecutors Make a Difference for the Innocent
*Originally published in Medium’s Age of Awareness 10/16/22. 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 […]
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. Here’s to 2022! May it be a year of […]
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. Jessica S. Henry 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 […]
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.”
Top Ten Criminal Justice Reform Wishlist for 2021
For the past seven years, I have written a year-end “wish list” of criminal justice reforms I’d like to see happen in the coming year. Here’s mine for 2021, with ways you can get involved below. What’s on your wish list? Immediately stop federal executions – and end the death penalty everywhere. Since July 2020, […]
Lisa Montgomery is Set to Die, While Her Lawyers Battle the Coronavirus They Caught While Visiting Her
*Originally published in (En)gendered 11/18/20. EDITED (11/20/20): A federal judge temporarily delayed the December 8th execution of Lisa Montgomery, so that her lawyers can recover and prepare a clemency petition. Read on, as the fight for her life continues. *** Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 8th. Montgomery would be […]