Criminal Justice (Also see Death Penalty)

16-year-old girl gets 51 years in prison for self-defense against attempted rapist/murderer

December 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Cyntoia Brown, a 16-year-old girl, was afraid that a man who was going to rape her was also going to kill her, so she killed him in self-defense. See this information: https://www.freedomunited.org/news/calls-for-clemency-as-cyntoia-brown-given-51-years-in-jail/?trk_msg=G3JDM722QIFK56BHJIIIH18Q50&amp;trk_contact=K0U2405KL0NSNF0DMJQ6KVTNEC&amp;trk_sid=7H71ASV2V8BDKPMJ28IG9A6O90&amp;utm_source=Listrak&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=Calls+for+Clemency+as+Cyntoia+Brown+Given+51+Years+in+Jail&amp;utm_campaign=News+Digest&amp;utm_content=News+Digest_12162018 MORE INFORMATION from a non-profit organization urging Tennessee’s government to grant clemency:: Cyntoia Brown is a girl who our justice system failed. A sex trafficking victim who after days of being abused and drugged by her captors, was sold to a 43 year-old armed child predator. She feared for her life. She defended her life. The system failed to protect her. Cyntoia Brown has been locked away in […]

California is still planning to execute an innocent man.

December 16, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Kevin Cooper, who is almost certainly innocent, has been imprisoned on California’s death row for 33 years. His cell is smaller than a typical American bathroom. The State of California refuses to conduct modern DNA testing. A federal judge on the 9th Circuit says Mr. Cooper is innocent, and that “the San Bernardino sheriff’s department framed him.” The evidence does not point to him at all. The same federal appeals judge also said, ““the state failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing,” that “the state obstructed and impeded Cooper and his lawyers in almost every way imaginable in denying his […]

PART 2 of “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

November 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Our nation and world are in a horrible mess. The December 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series examines how to solve the problems. A person or an entire society has a “worldview” — a way of seeing reality — that strongly directs their behavior and public policy. The worldview that currently dominates the U.S. government and society has caused escalating greed, corruption, cruelty, oppression, war, and other bad things. Instead, we need to replace that worldview with its opposite — a worldview that is humane, compassionate, peaceful, fair to everyone, and environmentally sustainable. An unjust society seeks to […]

A blistering critique of U.S. politics! PART 1: “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

October 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

You can watch the November 2018 episode of the TV program for my series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” through a link on this blog post — or on TCTV cable channel 22 in Thurston County. (See info below.) This is PART 1 of a 2-part topic, “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World.” It focuses mostly on the problems. PART 2, the December 2018 program, will focus more on solutions. SEE THE LINK BELOW for a VERY THOROUGH, BLISTERING CRITIQUE of the worldview that has increasingly dominated U.S. politics. Parts 1 and 2 of this program explains that the […]

Washington State’s death penalty is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Our State Supreme Court ruled UNANIMOUSLY on Oct. 11, 2018.

October 12, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Wednesday October 10 was the World Day Against the Death Penalty. One day later big news happened in Washington State USA. On Thursday October 11, 2018, Washington State’s Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional in the way it’s used here. The Court ordered that the sentences of people currently on death row are converted to life in prison. I learned about this State Supreme Court case (State v. Gregory) in May 2016. We were expecting a decision in November 2016 or soon after. Allen Eugene Gregory, who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to die, had […]

Republicans excuse Kavanaugh’s crime from age 17. Will they release all prisoners who committed crimes at age 17 or in 1982 or before, when Kavanaugh commited his crime?

September 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Our nation’s prisons are full of prisoners who had committed felonies at age 17, were tried as adults, and were sentenced to very long sentences — sometimes life terms. Republicans say Brett Kavanaugh committed his crime at age 17, which was a long time ago, so he should be allowed to serve on the Supreme Court. That logic should COMPEL those Republicans to LIKEWISE release from prison ALL prisoners who had committed their crimes at age 17 or before, and ALL prisoners who had committed their crimes in 1982 (when Kavanaugh committed his crime) or longer ago. But MORE THAN […]

Voters view CORRUPTION as the most important issue. Write letters to editors in Republican communities.

September 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Voters are angry! Some issues become more prominent, while others drift downward. Trump has been promoting CORRUPTION throughout his administration, and Republicans have become the party of corruption nationwide. In order to save our nation, we must alert and mobilize voters to reject the corrupt politicians. Current research shows that CORRUPTION is a MAJOR CONCERN among voters. Now — before the Nov. 6 election — is a good time for people to raise this issue, use the Republicans’ corruption against them, and write letters to editors (especially in communities that could shift from Republican to Democratic). This article provides information: […]

Kavanaugh THREATENS our rights!

September 5, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

See my recent post listing some very serious dangers that Brett Kavanaugh would pose if the Senate were to confirm his nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump nominated him precisely because Kavanaugh — who is young — would impose Trumpist cruelty and abuses upon the USA for many decades, long after Trump is gone. See my recent post about this. Please contact your U.S. senators and DEMAND that they VIGOROUSLY OPPOSE Kavanaugh in every nonviolent way they possibly can. Among other problems, Kavanaugh would undermine the Constitutional separation of church and state. He would impose right-wing religious bias as […]

Pope Francis OPPOSES the death penalty in ALL cases.

August 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Although the Roman Catholic Church has staked out positions that is says are “pro-life,” the Church has allowed the death penalty in a very few cases, although the Church has opposed the death penalty in general. Just recently Pope Francis came out STRONGLY AGAINST the death penalty in ALL cases. This is big news from a pope who has been exercising his conscience very well on a number of issues. This article explains his decision: Pope Francis OPPOSES death penalty in ALL cases This article is about support for his decision: Support for Pope Francis’ anti-death penalty decision

A court victory for civil resistance vs. nuclear weapons!

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On May 12, 2018, Mother’s Day, members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action blocked the road leading into the Trident Nuclear Submarine base at Bangor in Kitsap County WA. (They were on the county’s side of the line, not on the federal side.) On Friday July 27 the defendants had their mitigation hearings. Larry Kerschner, a Vietnam veteran who is now a pacifist living in Centralia WA presented his statement to Judge Jeffrey J. Jahns. Larry was pleased and surprised when the judge responded to Larry’s statement by reducing his $68 fine to zero. The judge reduced all the […]

Voters do want prosecutors to be PROGRESSIVE, not “tough-on-crime.”

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In almost every state, the voters elect their local prosecuting attorneys. For many years prosecutors were elected and re-elected by being “tough-on-crime,” and public opinion seemed to support “lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” policies. Mainstream media kept reinforcing that stereotype, and both of the big political parties bought into it. We were very stuck. But finally people are paying attention to the RESEARCH that PROVES those “tough-on-crime” laws and policies DO NOT WORK. Also, voters want to replace those with fair and just reforms. Besides being seriously biased by race and economic class, they are grossly unjust and they waste taxpayers’ money. Now the […]

Impeachable offense: Trump kidnaps children and imprisons families without due process.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

U.S. law and international law recognize the rights of refugees and persons seeking asylum, but Trump deliberately violates those laws. Trump continues to COMMIT CRIMES that are IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES, but Congress does not seem to care. Separating little children from their families is yet one more kind of child abuse that Trump is committing. The Trump regime has lost track of many, many of the children that he has kidnapped. Kidnapping anyone is a federal felony. So is transporting kidnapped victims across state lines. It is a felony to unlawfully imprison someone. Trump is denying people their constitutional right to […]

Drug War: Bad news from Congress. Good news from Mexico.

July 10, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Starting with Nixon and ever since, the bi-partisan “War on Drugs” has been a political scheme to attack “hippies” and people of color. After the Nixon years it became a way to attack immigrants too. It was designed to promote fear, escalate oppressive policing, and take away people’s civil rights. Finally, some people — including fiscal conservatives who oppose the waste of money on an unworkable “big government” program — are calling for changes that reflect common sense. The “harm reduction” strategies are a great step forward. The Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to reduce […]

Several ways to vigorously reform our criminal justice system

June 3, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s criminal justice system — like so many other aspects of American society — is profoundly dysfunctional, cruel, and wasteful. Thoughtful people have been urging humane reforms for many years. More and more people are advocating positive changes. Here are some reforms we really need now. Grassroots organizing can help to accomplish them. In order to change the system, we need to change how we talk about it. Some commonly used words and expressions keep us trapped in the unjust status quo. Here are five ways to improve our effectiveness when we talk about criminal punishment and mass […]

9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump

May 31, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

As you know, I read a huge amount of information. Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S. This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses many aspects of American society. The article below connects many of the issues we care about, including peace, social justice, environment/climate, economics, and so forth. The article ends with a call for nonviolent organizing to rise up against Trump’s […]

Glen's Parallax Perspectives

This is independent from any organization or political party. It provides information, analysis, and resources about a wide variety of issues and opportunities related to peace, nonviolence, social justice, economic justice, and how to make our world better.