The term “Superpredator” was coined by John J. DiIulio Jr. in November 1995 which began the demonization of an entire generation of black youth. This article brilliantly outlines the timeline with which the media falsely identified young black men as a danger to society. The media needs to acknowledge the mistakes that were made and apologize. Only then, can we begin to repair the harm that was caused.
The court observer program which has been implemented into cities across the nation was brought to Madison at the end of 2018 by local groups Justified Anger and Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development. The “court watcher” programs are designed to create complete fairness in the courtroom. Court watchers are members of the community who sit in on hearings and fill out forms documenting what they experience. Anyone can go on CCAP and find out someone’s criminal background but actually experiencing how a defendant is treated in court can help implement actual change. Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a rare opportunity to grow this program faster than expected as hearings are held via Zoom and easier to attend anywhere. There is much speculation if Zoom hearings are fair in general, but that is a whole separate topic for discussion.
What does Biden winning the United States presidential election mean for the face of the criminal justice system? His campaign made progressive promises, such as abolishing both the death penalty and cash bail. Biden additionally promised that the United States would cut its current prison population in half if he were elected president. According to his statements and promises, here are some changes Biden could make pertaining to: police reform, juvenile justice, the death penalty, bail reform, mandatory minimums, clemency, private prisons, immigration detention and reducing the prison population.
The ballot question on Marsy’s Law is being challenged by the Wisconsin Justice Initiative. In his decision, Judge Remington ruled that the ballot question should have been broken into two parts, one focused on the rights of those accused of crimes and the other on the vast reduction of those rights, in order to give voters a better picture of what they were voting on. He believes that the question misled the Wisconsin voters.
“Voters deserve to know what they are voting on,” Remington wrote. “Only by framing a question that reasonably, intelligently and fairly comprised or referenced every essential (element) of the amendment, could the voters decide whether and how to change the rights of persons accused of crimes.”
