The public at large rarely gets a glimpse behind the curtain of justice, and thus can’t appreciate the ugly reality of the criminal justice system. Sadly, defendants are often punished for relying upon the very rights we say we revere. Nowhere is this more evident than in imposition of what defense lawyers call the “trial tax.”
Among the rights guaranteed to a person accused of a crime is the right to present a defense, and the right to a public trial. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Indeed, jurors are sometimes told that the presumption of innocence alone...
February 3, 2016
Odds are, you have never visited someone imprisoned for life, or for many decades. Prisoners are outcasts, beloved, if at all, only by their families; remembered, if only periodically, by their lawyers. We give them numbers and then forbid their jailers to get too close to numbered souls.
Prison is our effort to create a hell, or, at the very least, a purgatory, here on Earth.
May God forgive us our trespasses.
This past week, the United States Supreme Court gave fresh force to a commonplace enough observation: juveniles sometimes do stupid, even horrible, things. Yet, they...
January 28, 2016
Utopian or dystopian?
You decide. But consider seriously the question: The Muslim Brotherhood forms a new a political party in France, and, in a coalition with the left, forms a new government, with a prominent Muslim as prime minister. Then the Saudis purchase the Sorbonne, an ancient and prestigious French university. What’s a good professor to do?
Michel Houellebecq’s new novel, “Submission,” published in France, and, in translation, in the United States in 2015, is set in the not-too-distant future. The protagonist, Francois, is a French literature...
January 26, 2016
Just why the office of the chief state's attorney is hell-bent on killing people is one of those deeper mysteries I am destined never to understand. But there stood Harry Weller, one of the state's smartest appellate lawyers and prosecutors, in the well of the Connecticut Supreme Court, urging justices to reverse themselves and put the death penalty back on the books.
Why, Harry? Or, more to the point, why, Kevin? I direct this question to Kevin Kane, the state's top prosecutor.
In 2015, the high court ruled in yet another bitter 4-3 decision that put on display once again that...
January 18, 2016
January 6, 2016
The trouble with appeals to heaven is the answer might disappoint. For the folks who’ve commandeered the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in...
January 6, 2016
It is the day before Christmas, and I should be scurrying around, doing my last minute shopping, and letting the holiday spirit overcome me all at...
December 30, 2015
At year's end, it is sometimes customary to name a person of the year, so let me add my nominee: Aylan Al-Kurdi. Odds are, you never learned his...
December 16, 2015
I felt much as a secret agent, or a confidential informant must feel, settling in among strangers, listening to them talk, wary of my...
December 16, 2015
Is gun violence in the United States a public health crisis? There are plenty of people who seem to think so. And these folks are quick to call for...
December 10, 2015
I have a confession to make. It’s not pretty. Indeed, given the argot of the day, it’s pretty terrifying. You see, I’ve been...