If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The current immigration bill falls short of overhauling our broken immigration system. The heart of the bill is clearly the pathway to citizenship, but what's missing from the conversation is the number of individuals who will actually be barred from this path.
I would never have imagined that with all the love in my heart and what we felt were the best parenting skills my husband and I knew, that we would find ourselves visiting our son in the county jail, where he was incarcerated nine days after his 17th birthday.
Instead of sending technical parole violators back to prison for technical parole violations, the offenders are instead redirected to community corrections centers which cost the state less money than it would to incarcerate an offender in a state prison.
Much has been said of the ways our criminal justice system has fallen short of that promise. But I didn't see it that day. I saw men and women in a dark place, bringing hope.
From the Capitol to the courtrooms, prosecutors can chart a new path on public safety in California by championing at both local and state levels one of the biggest ways we can transform our justice system in this generation--sentencing reform.
Why are there so many African Americans in prison? It is my belief that such racial disparity is not mainly due to overt discriminatory practices by the courts or the police. But that hardly exhausts the moral discussion.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, many are wondering where our mental health system has gone awry. The state of Texas's desire to kill Andre Thomas shows that we are a long way from where we need to be.
The idea that by serving time one has paid his debt to society is ingrained in our social narrative, but it is not accurate. Once caught up in the tides of the criminal justice system, it is very difficult to escape.
Both the NY Times and the Today Show stories do their audience a disservice by dwelling on forgiveness as the apparent reason for restorative justice. Forgiveness is neither an expectation nor a goal of restorative justice.
Making policy based on high-profile events is a surefire way to overreact and make inefficient and, worse, ineffective policy. A high-profile event is good time find out where a shortcoming of a policy might reside, but a high-profile event is not necessarily what policy should target.
The only way to lower prison and jail populations is to reduce the number of people who enter the system and the amount of time they spend there. We're going to have to stop arresting so many people for petty crimes. There's really no other choice.
When you hear the pundits or politicians on TV talking about the only or the best way to reduce gun violence, ask yourself if you have heard the person talk about the different types of gun violence. Not all gun violence is the same.
There are different types of gun violence, just like there are different types of diseases. And just like difference types of diseases and illnesses, there are different approaches to reduce gun violence.
The time has come for all law enforcement organizations to support mandatory state laws that require the use of electronic recording systems during custodial interviews. This is a simple, sensible and effective way to improve our nation's system of criminal justice.
A complete concept of justice should more fully consider and understand the suffering of all those affected by crime. Justice should not be narrow, but expansive. It should consider all the contributing factors and consequences of crime and violence.
Why do we want to keep politics out of the District Attorney's Office? If politics creeps into cases, the prosecution of the cases will inevitably be harmed. District Attorneys must follow the evidence and follow the law vigorously yet fairly.
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