“Worst of the worst?”
Published July 24, 2010
Roman Polanski, David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz, and a new movement of former sex offenders and their families force the criminal justice system — and us — to think about redemption. Read more at Seven Days.
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Sympathy for the Devil
Published February 5, 2010
Martha Coakley has enlisted public hysteria, attacked her marks in the media, and fought like a Tasmanian devil to keep people behind bars long after they’ve been exonerated.
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Poli Psy: A Poverty of Solutions
Published December 15, 2008
Vermont is about to push through another round of “child protective” sex-crimes legislation. These laws won’t protect kids. There is a way to do that — but it won’t grab any sexy headlines: attack child poverty.
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Poli Psy: Cruel and Unusual
Published August 13, 2008
Hysteria, said Elia Kazan, “is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” Kazan was wrong about a lot of things — for instance, his decision to inflame anti-communist hysteria by naming names of alleged pinkos during McCarthy’s Hollywood inquisitions. But he was really wrong about this.I come to this [...]
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Poli Psy: “Be Very Afraid”
Published November 8, 2007
Phew. We made it through another Halloween with no American child bursting into flame. For this we can thank the Consumer Product Safety Commission, whose Halloween Safety Alert admonished parents to dress children in flame-retardant costumes, emboss their bags and clothes with reflective tape, and make sure they were wearing sensible shoes: “Mother’s high heels [...]
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Poli Psy: Wrongful Commitment
Published January 18, 2006
On January 4, Vermont District Court Judge Edward Cashman sentenced Mark Hulett to the minimum: 60 days in jail, probation predicated on compliance with 21 conditions, including participation in community-based treatment. Hulett, 34, had pled guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a friend’s daughter when she was 6 to 10 years old. Defending [...]