Control or Outcome: What Should Justice Optimize For? Every day, we face choices about control versus outcome—how we respond when someone makes a mistake, whether at work, in our communities, or in our personal relationships. Do we enforce the rules and move on, or do we look for ways to help someone learn, repair, and … read more
Article Category: Judicial System
Breaking the Cycle: California’s Fight Against the School-to-Prison Pipeline
“Walk into any classroom in California, and you’ll see so many kids filled with promise,” says a public school teacher in the Oakland school district. But for too many students, especially “Black, Brown, disabled, homeless, and foster youth,” that promise is derailed by a system that treats misbehavior as a criminal offense instead of a … read more
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Illness and Incarceration
What does it mean to be ill? Going by Dr. Peter Eisenberg’s definition, it means to lose your freedom. Working as an oncologist with prisoners from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center for many years, he noticed one thread that connected all of them: they were confined in multiple ways. While being incarcerated is obviously physically constraining, … read more
Carrying the System: The Cost of Being a Public Defender
By 9 a.m., she’s already met two new clients, each facing felony charges. By noon, she’s given her case in front of a judge, scrambled to finalize paperwork, and returned half a dozen voicemails from frantic family members. “Sometimes it feels like my client’s freedom depends on my fifth cup of coffee,” she said, chuckling. … read more
Kayla’s Act Gives Hope for Victims of Domestic Violence
Kayla’s Act Gives Hope for Victims of Domestic Violence In the week of Thanksgiving 2022, Kayla Hammonds was brutally stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in a grocery store parking lot in Lumberton, NC. The ex-boyfriend, Desmond Sampson, had a significant prior history of violence, with Hammonds having filed multiple protective orders against him, including … read more
How Gen Z’s Truth-Seeking Is Reshaping the Courtroom
I was doing research for our upcoming community live event. It seemed pretty straight forward on the surface, but it got interesting quickly. Comparing the view of truth telling from sections of the legal landscape showed significant distinctions between cultures. As Generation Z enters jury boxes and law schools, their fundamentally different relationship with truth … read more
Bias Behind the Badge: How Officer Demographics Affect Arrest Escalation
Kemonte Hampton walked out of a gas station in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was told to get on the ground; he was being arrested for jaywalking. He complied, but was pushed over on his way down and handcuffed. In the arresting officer’s haste to get out of the car and apprehend Hampton, he forgot to put … read more
Prison Stories: Kyle
Kyle’s Story of his road to incarceration Prison Culture When I was living my life on the outside, coming to prison was the furthest thing on my mind, even though I was living a life that would inevitably lead to my incarceration. And the one aspect that would have helped me transition and better acclimate … read more
Waiting and Decision Making
The Mental Competency Process On December 24, 2009, 24-year old Victor Carrero ran into two people on the corner of Central and Jefferson Avenues in Brooklyn. He proceeded to knock one of them to the ground, stabbing them in their head and shoulder before running away. Al Jazeera America reported that Carrero was later charged … read more
Voting With a Record
The Struggle for Voting Rights by Formerly Incarcerated People In June of 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear a Mississippi voting rights case about a law that prevents people convicted of certain felonies from voting. Two months later, a 3 judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down that same law, … read more
Forward Thinking with Change in Mind
As a current college student, I have been fortunate enough to call both North Carolina and New York home: to be part of two unparalleled communities. And when I think about community, I instantly think of role models across the nation who play a formative role in engendering an atmosphere that nurtures and bolsters the … read more
