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In a sentencing hearing weeks after the trial, Judge Arthur Brennan sentenced MacRae to a term of 67 years in prison – more than thirty times the two-year maximum sentence proposed to MacRae pre-trial, deals that the priest rejected citing his innocence of the charges. During the sentencing phase, he was not permitted to say… Continue reading A Grievous Error in Judge Joseph LaPlante’s Court

The criminal justice system has immense influence on an ex-offender’s ability to work, live, and interact post-release. Treating all sex offenders as one, rather than treating them as individuals therapeutically and programmatically, makes no sense, especially if we are interested in reducing risk, improving lives, and saving money. Read the article by Doug Ryan in… Continue reading To Reduce Recidivism Rates, Turn to Housing Policy

“The fact is that we have no idea of who is going to offend or re-offend,” said Professor Heather Ellis Cucolo—an attorney, adjunct professor, and director of New York Law School’s Online Mental Disability Law Program. “The ironic part of all this is that some of the factors that might potentially lead to a greater… Continue reading Sex Offender Registration: Driven by Fear or Real Risk?

Jason Doiy/The Recorder via AP “When we as a community reprimand or condemn a judge for engaging in such a holistic analysis and for exercising discretion, such efforts can have a chilling effect on judicial courage and compassion,” the letter states. Punishing him, the defenders explain, will “deter other judges from extending mercy and instead… Continue reading Could Removing Brock Turner’s Judge Hurt Poor and Minority Defendants?

Photo: Jeff Gritchen/The OC Alexandra Natapoff, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and the nation’s leading expert on the use of snitches, said the fact that Orange County officials engaged in unconstitutional behavior similar to what made headlines years earlier in Los Angeles County reveals the “entrenched” nature of the practice… Continue reading Anatomy of a Snitch Scandal

“In the file of worst possible things that could happen to you, being falsely accused of sexually abusing young children, and then convicted and imprisoned for over a decade, is probably close to the top of the pile. “This is the hell that was dealt out to a few dozen Americans in the great Satanic… Continue reading What It’s Like to Be Falsely Branded a Satanic Child Molester

photo credit: debbie nathan Here are some things you can do right now to help them find justice.

“What makes Southwest of Salem even more extraordinary is that it is Esquenazi’s first feature film. The Austin resident uses a sure hand to guide the viewer through a complicated narrative, laying out the facts while still deftly conveying the intense emotion behind a story in which many lives were damaged. It’s a tale that… Continue reading A Different Kind of Horror Film

“Yes, this group is more racially proportionate to the general population than, say, drug offenders. But like every other criminal population, people convicted and punished for sex crimes are disproportionately African-American.” Read the article by Judith Levine and Erica Meiners in Counterpunch.

(AP Photo/Barry Chin-Pool) According to Amirault, Baker spoke to him in 2014 while he was campaigning for governor in the North End in Boston. “He made a commitment to me in front of my whole family that once he was elected one of the first things on his list would be to take care of… Continue reading Anderson’s ‘dying wish’ revisits controversial case