AFTER years as a civil rights lawyer, I rarely find myself speechless. But some questions a woman I know posed during a phone conversation one recent evening gave me pause: “What would happen if we organized thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people charged with crimes to refuse to play the game, to refuse to…
As N.P.R. reported in May, services that “were once free, including those that are constitutionally required,” are now frequently billed to offenders: the cost of a public defender, room and board when jailed, probation and parole supervision, electronic monitoring devices, arrest warrants, drug and alcohol testing, and D.N.A. sampling. This can go to extraordinary lengths:…
In a Bill Of Rights ruling, a Texas grand jury nullified capital murder charges against a man who shot and killed am illegal law enforcement officer executing a no-knock raid on his home. A Burleson County SWAT team raided the man’s home near Snook on December 19th of last year. 28-year-old Henry Goedrich Magee said…
CONCORD, N.H., January 23, 2014 – Today, a bipartisan state house committee in New Hampshire voted unanimously in support of a bill which deems federal indefinite detention powers unconstitutional and bans “any activity that aids” the federal government in carrying out such powers. Introduced by Rep. Tim O’Flaherty (D- Hillsborough), the bill quickly garnered co-sponsorship…
AFTER years as a civil rights lawyer, I rarely find myself speechless. But some questions a woman I know posed during a phone conversation one recent evening gave me pause: “What would happen if we organized thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people charged with crimes to refuse to play the game, to refuse to…
