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The Deputy Juvenile Officer, the representative of the court, diligently scribbled notes into the boy’s file while the child’s case manager, the person in charge of navigating the murky waters of the state’s foster-care system droned on about attention seeking misbehaviors and individualized education plans (IEPs). The drab décor of the courthouse room reflected the…
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Since the dawn of humanity, man has sought to somehow account for those things which he cannot otherwise account for. Early civilizations created myths to help them to understand the nature of their surroundings, and to provide solace in the rather harsh reality people of the time found themselves in. As time wore on, the…
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Google the words “perception quotes”. Now, invest twenty minutes reading the diverse information the search engine brings back. The breadth of those having something to say about the limits to human perception is vast. For thousands of years the majority of the human race has operated their lives in a vacuum, oblivious to the experience…
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“Not criminalizing drugs doesn’t mean we approve of it,” says Nancy Gertner, a judge for the U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, in her speech to a panel of judges at the 1998 Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL) sponsored by the Partnership for Responsible Drug Information (PRDI). She continues: Not criminalizing drugs doesn’t mean we…
Read MoreIn an effort to shave approximately $3 million annually from their $27.4 billion budget (State of Massachusetts), GOP lawmakers in Massachusetts have announced a bill to cut the payment of prisoners for performing routine maintenance duties within the state’s penitentiaries. This bill, while having the potential of realizing a marginal savings to taxpayers, is flawed. If enacted, this law would take away the only way some prisoners have of paying for vital personal care items such as toothpaste and razors while the cost of relegating these tasks to unionized labor, the norm in Massachusetts, has not even been determined. This nation, can not allow its prisons to become an even greater breeding ground for increased crime, debt, and demoralization than they already are. Certainly not while attempting to paint a picture of fiscal responsibility by lawmakers for the taxpayers they serve.
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John Crimpton sits on a bus headed for his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. In his lap rests a worn bible, a small duffle bag full of his sparse belongings and a slip of paper. On the slip of paper is the name Renaldo Vasquez. John is one of the nations more than 650,000 inmates to…
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