News

A debate between NCRJ Director Dr, Emily Horowitz and Montclair State University Professor Cary Fetterman. Listen to the debate and cast your vote.

“These are the facts about the term pedophilia. It is a medical term, not a legal one. There are no laws or statutes criminalizing pedophilia. Depression might cause a person to shoplift, but the criminal act is shoplifting, not having depression. Not everyone who shoplifts has depression, and not all with depression shoplift. “The same… Continue reading Pedophilia and the Media

photo: Tom Landers/Globe Staff “Its [The Governor’s Council] approval would remove a stain on the Massachusetts criminal justice system and help restore the Amiraults’ reputation.” Actually, the stain is indelible. But the pardons would lighten it. Read the op-ed at the Boston Globe by Harvey Silverglate and John Swomley.

Getty Images. This April 2000 file photo shows Gerald “Tookie” Amirault while being interviewed by the press at the Bay State Correctional Center. As most of you know, the NCRJ has been supporting the Amirault family in their quest for justice since our founding. You may have read our recent post about Governor Baker finally… Continue reading Governor’s Council to Meet on Amirault Pardons

Getty Images. This April 2000 file photo shows Gerald “Tookie” Amirault while being interviewed by the press at the Bay State Correctional Center. Members of the The National Center for Reason and Justice were actively fighting to rectify this dreadful miscarriage of justice before we were even incorporated. Indeed, it was because of this case,… Continue reading Breaking: The Amiraults to receive pardons!

  The decision in Baughman v. Virginia ends the state’s efforts to civilly commit activist Galen Baughman as a ‘sexually violent predator’ In mid-September 2022 the Supreme Court of Virginia reversed a trial court decision and dismissed the Commonwealth’s petition to have Galen Baughman declared a sexually violent predator and confined in civil commitment. Baughman… Continue reading Virginia Supreme Court Ruling Vindicates Activist

Photo: Jim Cole/ASSOCIATED PRESS All this happened because “believe the children” became a nationwide mantra. Society has a duty to protect young children—but also to assess accusations rationally and fairly, especially when they’re improbable, spectacular and horrifying. Journalists, too, must maintain a level of skepticism when cases as improbable as these arise. Any reporter who… Continue reading Justice Delayed for Father MacRae

photo: aclu of new hampshire “On September 9, 2022, three years after leaving this prison, Joseph was the recipient of the New Hampshire Rising Stars Changemaker of the Year Award, a civic award bestowed upon a citizen who has played an outstanding role in effecting positive social change.” Read the post by Father Gordon MacRae… Continue reading Joseph Lascaze: Criminal Justice Reform from the Inside Out

Illustration: Mike McQuade. Photograph:Getty Images “Just what happened to lead so many well-intentioned people down such a road is not a simple story. Understanding the power of recovered memory therapy requires an examination not just of the memory retrieval techniques used by individual therapists but also of how the movement created a tide of popular… Continue reading The Forgotten Lessons of the Recovered Memory Movement

photo/gofundme “Prosecutors got their conviction, but at a great cost to an innocent man. To make matters worse, defense attorneys did an inadequate job of saving their client. “Blood and semen evidence that could’ve cleared a Black man’s name in a home-invasion rape was never considered in his trial, and he spent more than 35… Continue reading Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys Failed to Present Evidence That Could Have Prevented a Newly-Freed New Orleans Man from Spending 36 Years In Prison; Judge At a ‘Loss for Words’