Author: rbchatelle

“Why did you write a book about the sex offender registry?” “When I saw the research on the registry I was really shocked at how pointless it is. And it was shocking because usually, when you research something, there’s ambiguity—there are some good things and there are some bad things. But with the registry, there’s… Continue reading NCRJ’s Emily Horowitz Interviewed About Forthcoming Book

(XiXinXing via iStock) “How did you arrive at taking up reform of the sex offender registry as a cause? “Well, I’m interested in keeping kids safe and I’m also interested in when our fears don’t match reality. That began when I let my son ride the subway and everyone told me, “Don’t you watch ‘Law… Continue reading Stop the Sex Offender Registry Panic

Read these articles in the Washington Post on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Tamir Kalifa “On April 22, the case will enter its final act as the two alleged victims take the stand. Now in their late 20s, one still maintains the abuse took place, and the other says the two were coerced to make a false accusation. After each is cross-examined, a judge will decide the likely… Continue reading Case of “San Antonio Four” Set to Enter its Final Act

“The growing unpopularity of the War on Drugs and the number of bipartisan moves to, supposedly, roll back mass incarceration have led some leftists to believe that, finally, the prison-state is about to be cut down to size. “Yet a new book by University of Pennsylvania political scientist Marie Gottschalk, Caught: The Prison State and… Continue reading It’s Not Just the Drug War

9 Social Panics That Gripped the Nation, Were Totally False, and Did Horrible Lasting Damage. Read the article by Janet Allon and Kali Hollway in Alternet.

“You have to feel a little sorry these days for professors married to their former students. They used to be respectable citizens—leaders in their fields, department chairs, maybe even a dean or two—and now they’re abusers of power avant la lettre. I suspect you can barely throw a stone on most campuses around the country… Continue reading Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe

emily cooper for the boston globe “The situation on college campuses has become so dire that civil libertarians are calling for sexual assault investigations to be left to police and prosecutors. Despite the fact that conviction in a criminal court carries severe sentences and other harsh ramifications, frustrated and fearful students, parents, and lawyers seem… Continue reading The new panic: campus sex assaults

“It was only for a moment, but on January 20, 2015, this country’s criminal punishment system got a general call for reform in President Obama’s state of the union address. With 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated people, it’s about time we heard this from our president. But… Continue reading A Moral Imperative: Release Aging and Long-Term Prisoners

Todd Heisler/The New York Times “From the beginning, the case was deeply flawed. The only evidence that Jesse and his father, Arnold, had abused anyone consisted of statements to the police by children and one of Jesse’s friends. Many of the statements were made after repeated or hourslong visits from detectives who would not leave… Continue reading Jesse Friedman Deserves the Chance to prove His Innocence