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Your comments in response to our stories, or other criminal justice issues. Join the conversation by submitting your own Letter to the Editor.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 25
“Reform is hard. As we see in Boston, Cincinnati, and elsewhere, progress is generally slow, uneven, and incremental in nature, but that doesn’t make it any less real.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 16
“The truly troubling thing about the deluge of articles regarding the new heroin scourge is that none of them address the societal factors causing the epidemic. Opiate drugs? Please.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR January 13
“The bottom line here is that the argument for the Ferguson Effect, while plausible in some respects, is both overstated and under-supported.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR January 12
“The Ferguson Effect ‘has been documented in summons, arrest, and stop data. Officers routinely describe their reluctance to undertake discretionary actions in the face of the hostility they are now encountering on the streets.’”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR January 12
“Ms. Sween does a disservice to your readers when she criticizes lawyers for not winning a case, without revealing to the readers she was unwilling to take up the case herself when we offered her every opportunity.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR November 3
“More than 70% of the nation’s 333 people proven innocent through DNA testing were misidentified, making eyewitness misidentification a leading contributing cause of wrongful conviction. ”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR January 25
“Driving offenders from legal employment and responsibility more reflects discrimination, slavery, and eugenics than wise economic, criminal justice, family, or social policy. ”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 8
“It was very hurtful to me to see these pictures, of a murderer who gets to see his son and grandson grow up, while my brother never got to have a son.”
Responding to Life Without Parole
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 2
“For the most part I didn’t enjoy prostitution, but I will tirelessly defend the right to labor legally in the sex industry. ”
Responding to ‘Sex is Not a Service’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 1
“Today, closed, proprietary software can put you in prison, or even on death row. And in most U.S. jurisdictions you still wouldn’t have the right to inspect it. In short, prosecutors have a Volkswagen problem.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 2
“Missing from your story is the context of how important reading is to prisoners--one inmate called it his "spark in the dark"--and the barriers they face to get the books they want and need. ”
Responding to Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Prison Censor?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 9
“I don’t feel I - as a former homeless teen who engaged in commercial sex, and someone who meets the federal definition for domestic minor sex trafficking - should be forced to have my life narrative defined by others. ”
Responding to ‘Sex is Not a Service’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 9
“I agree that it is not fair for people with so much money to exploit people who don't. But to criminalize the exchange of sex for money is not going to help. ”
Responding to ‘Sex is Not a Service’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR September 3
“The President should push for reforms regarding the removal of children from adult jails and criminal courts. ”
Responding to Obama’s Final 500 Days
LETTER TO THE EDITOR September 11
“Of the thousands of cases I have handled, I can not think of a single one in which I would not have savored the availability of body camera evidence. ”
Responding to Should Cops Get to Review the Video Before They Report?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 17
“Access to emergency care is the very first step in saving a life. ”
Responding to Narcan: It Saves Lives. Does It Enable Addicts?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 17
“I have no doubt that race is a huge contributor here, but also am sure that class is at play, too.”
Responding to When Heroin Hits the White Suburbs
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 17
“There is rarely any mention of the upfront investment needed to stop the flow of people going into the criminal justice system.”
Responding to How to Cut the Prison Population by 50 Percent
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 17
“Why isn’t there more of an effort to try and use the therapeutic/mental health industry to perform diagnostic examinations?”
Responding to The New Science of Sentencing
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 17
“Both prisoners and ex-prisoners...must receive 100 percent of their constitutional rights. ”
Responding to If You Commit Murder, Do You Have the Right to Vote?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 10
“Everyone is so excited about new research...but no one thinks about how it will actually be implemented.”
Responding to The New Science of Sentencing
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 10
“Can any of those pushing for risk assessment point to any evidence that, among criminals, arrest records are a good indicator of likelihood to commit crime?”
Responding to The New Science of Sentencing
LETTER TO THE EDITOR August 10
“When the face of protest is feminine...there is a monumental problem relative to masculine protection of our communities.”
Responding to The Sandra Bland Breakthrough
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“You don’t have to like them and you don’t have to respect them, but you will respect that badge because that gives them the right to throw you in jail.”
Responding to ‘A Black Man’s Guide to Survival’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“Even if the officer’s actions are technically explainable, his police work is outrageous.”
Responding to The Sandra Bland Breakthrough
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“When she objected to putting out her cigarette... she was saying, ‘Leave me alone.’”
Responding to What You May Have Missed in the Sandra Bland Video
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“States seriously need to review cases too.”
Responding to Federal Prisons Could Release 1,000 Times More Drug Offenders Than Obama Did
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“What are we willing to sacrifice to raise ourselves out of the mire of a perpetual holocaust?”
Responding to Bryan Stevenson on Charleston and Our Real Problem with Race
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“The fact that our state and federal governments fail to train the individuals responsible for making life-altering decisions for inmates is appalling.”
Responding to Nine Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Parole
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 31
“Pretrial detention is designed to crush one’s spirit into acquiescence and despair.”
Responding to The Problem with NYC’s Bail Reform
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 22
“...The chances for getting a parole [in Ohio] have been about the same as hitting on the lottery.”
Responding to How to Investigate Parole Release Rates in Your State
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 22
“Prisons do bad things to all people who occupy them.”
Responding to What Are Correction Officers So Afraid Of?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 22
“Children do not have the same capacity as adults to control their reactions...”
Responding to What’s Justice for Kids Who Kill?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 22
“Coalitions have formed across [California] to move resources away from jails and towards alternatives to incarceration.”
Responding to California’s Jail-building Boom
LETTER TO THE EDITOR July 22
“Every state seems to have [a penal system] that is the worst in the country.”
Responding to This is Rikers
LETTER TO THE EDITOR June 29
“We, as a public, have never really reached a consensus on what we want the criminal justice system to actually accomplish.”
Responding to What Prisons Can Learn From Schools
LETTER TO THE EDITOR June 23
“Governor Cuomo could do something right now.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“The term 'convict' indicates a powerful individual identity capable of transcending captivity...”
Responding to Inmate. Prisoner. Other. Discussed.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“My dad could have taken a shortcut and come here illegally, but he wanted to do the right thing and not have to worry about the impact it would have on his kids.”
Responding to The Long and Winding Detainment of Diana Ramos
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 12
“Can we not see that all this woman wants is to find work to take care of her family? ...Is that so difficult for us as Americans to understand?”
Responding to The Long and Winding Detainment of Diana Ramos
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“This problem must be solved and 'comprehensive immigration reform' is not the answer. Enforce our laws now!”
Responding to The Long and Winding Detainment of Diana Ramos
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“When the United States incarcerated at a rate of 7 times that of any other developed nation, it should be a red flag warning citizens that we have lost our way on the road to freedom.”
Responding to Older Prisoners, Higher Costs
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“The War on Drugs has been an abysmal failure, yet society keeps sticking its face in that chainsaw.”
Responding to David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“This disassociation between cause and effect is the primary reason that no discernible improvement has been made in the majority of America's urban areas for decades.”
Responding to David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish
LETTER TO THE EDITOR May 15
“Proper police training must have officers struggle with the moral responsibility of the use of deadly force...”
Responding to David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 15
“There is not enough enforcement on child support, actually. If you think there is, you've never been on the other end of it. ”
Responding to Why Was Walter Scott Running?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 15
“Imprisoning parents for their poverty allows the imprisonment of people who are not even engaged in criminal activity.”
Responding to Why Was Walter Scott Running?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 15
“In my case I was implicated, incorrectly so, sentenced to 60 years and before being sent off to prison, inexplicably released. ”
Responding to Unfreed
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 6
“We made the editorial decision back in 1992 or 1993 to use the terms prisoner, guard, detainee, prison, jail., etc., because they are accurate.”
Responding to Inmate. Prisoner. Other. Discussed.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 15
“When I was inside (discharged 2001), convicts were guys who knew...all the ins & outs of doing time. ”
Responding to Inmate. Parolee. Felon. Discuss.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 15
“The clearance rate for murders has been dropping since the 1960s, when it was over 90% ”
Responding to Why Are American Cops So Bad at Catching Killers?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 1
“I remember when I first heard the term “inmate.” It was used to describe me.”
Responding to Inmate. Parolee. Felon. Discuss.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 2
“What may be more relevant is that many serious personality disorders such as borderline and antisocial personality disorders tend to moderate over time.”
Responding to Too Old to Commit Crime?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 2
“I wanted to relay a reform Floridians can be proud of.”
Responding to The Worst State for Kids Up Against the Law
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 3
“The Durst case shows how very little the police seemed to regard repeated domestic violence calls. ”
Responding to Five Lessons from “The Jinx”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR April 3
“In Ohio, too, we are engaged in a extensive statewide education effort with lawyers, judges, employers, service-providers, and potential applicants.”
Responding to Forgiving vs. Forgetting
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 18
“Contrary to the conventional wisdom, which always seems to reduce the issue of who receives promotions to a white versus minorities/women issue, the reality is more complex. ”
Responding to Why Is the FBI so White?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“If New York State passes the proposals outlined by Governor Cuomo’s Commission on Youth, Public Safety and Justice which are in the proposed Executive Budget, we will quickly become a leader in confronting juvenile crime. ”
Responding to How Not to Raise the Age
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“As others have noted, even after all these years not much has changed there. ”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“When families do not ensure that their children are in school, it is not just parents and students who are punished.”
Responding to Inexcusable Absences
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“Black, and other minority, people who may be considering an FBI SA career are the same people who can command big bucks in the business world, and the FBI cannot compete. ”
Responding to Why Is the FBI so White?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“Under the current accountability system schools will continue to try to use punitive measures against parents for truancy. ”
Responding to Inexcusable Absences
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“For those of us who love our jobs, the years have made us more knowledgeable in ways to provide our people with the support they need.”
Responding to Making Overseers into Advocates
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“The problem of barriers to college admission has been a growing area of advocacy among criminal reform groups on college campuses across the country.”
Responding to The Obstacle Course
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“Since I was in prison for [39 years], I'm not eligible for social security or retirement. When is the punishment supposed to stop? ”
Responding to How to Cut the Prison Population by 50 Percent
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“Likely the US has more science than the rest of the world put together on what is effective and what is cost effective at preventing violence. ”
Responding to How to Cut the Prison Population by 50 Percent
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“I don't think it is too early for us to take on the question of what is and isn't a crime of violence. ”
Responding to How to Cut the Prison Population by 50 Percent
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“As a parent there seems to be no one to make a complaint to and be sure your child wont get beaten worse for it.”
Responding to No Jail Time for Attica Guards
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 3
“I was a prisoner in Attica in 1970...It is apparent to me that nothing has changed.”
Responding to No Jail Time for Attica Guards
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 3
“I have started a gofundme campaign for Mr. Williams”
Responding to Attica’s Ghosts
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 3
“I worked as a prison psychologist for ten years, probably one of the best run in the U.S...and still we had problems with sadistic officers.”
Responding to Attica’s Ghosts
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“ I will never forget the absolute terror of that feeling of thinking I might be raped.”
Responding to A Boy Among Men
LETTER TO THE EDITOR March 17
“I want to note that the persistence of quasi debtors' prisons afflicts the military legal system as well as civilian ones. ”
Responding to Debtors’ Prisons, Then and Now: FAQ
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“I was also charged approximately $80 per day jail costs, which amounted to $14,449 or so. They tell me this must be paid in cash, no community service. ”
Responding to Debtors’ Prisons, Then and Now: FAQ
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“It is a somewhat vicious cycle as these are the least likely folks to get hired in a tight economy and then they go back to jail for court debt owed. ”
Responding to Debtors’ Prisons, Then and Now: FAQ
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“My curriculum deals with men who have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated...I show several films, none of which you mentioned in this article. ”
Responding to Oscar on Trial
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“To cure the manifestation of these problems (mass incarceration), I suggest that we deal with its causes. ”
Responding to Where Right Meets Left
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“The one thing I do know that there should be more people who care about us as people and not just a parolee. ”
Responding to Making Overseers into Advocates
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“Those ex-cons who are serious and have truly made changes in their lives will be forces to be reckoned with. We are not people who are easily told, "Hey, You can't do that!" ”
Responding to Start Me Up
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“The problem--if you can call it that--with Vivitrol is that it exposes the addict to his underlying problems--anxiety disorders, et al--without offering a way for the addict to deal with them. ”
Responding to The Anti-Heroin
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“These sex offender civil commitment facilities are a horrible place for a teenager to grow up. ”
Responding to ‘A System That Is Clearly Broken’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“It is difficult to shock a conscience that is unshockable.”
Responding to ‘A System That Is Clearly Broken’
LETTER TO THE EDITOR February 24
“Mr. Horn, however, showed...naïveté when he included defense attorneys among those who have no incentive to 'expedite the disposition of criminal cases in the courts.'”
Responding to Fixing the Jail Where Kalief Browder was Held
LETTER TO THE EDITOR January 15
“Your article failed to mention any law enforcement personnel who use PowerPoint effectively. I have many positive examples, but the one below is timely...”
Responding to PowerPoint Justice
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 19
“In focusing on Adnan’s case, Serial host Sarah Koenig highlighted a number of issues related to the practice of sentencing children to life without parole. ”
Responding to Our Jury Is In on “Serial”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 19
“Some adults prosecuted in our criminal justice system suffer cognitive impairments and developmental disabilities, and are still treated as any other adult in the eyes of the system. ”
Responding to Kids Are Different
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 19
“I wish your article told us exactly what legislation proposal was being introduced so we could more easily raise awareness to our Senators about protecting PREA. ”
Responding to Pulling the Teeth from the Prison Rape Elimination Act
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 19
“One of the key items that seems to be overlooked in this debate is the safeguards and resources available to a person sentenced to death obtains vs. a person sentenced to life without parole. ”
Responding to What Death Penalty Opponents Don’t Get
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 19
“A National Solution for a National Problem”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“Just want to say how encouraged I am that you young'uns want to tackle a problem like this. ”
Responding to Will Millennials Embrace Prison Reform?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“While a nephew who throws a punch at his uncle in an over-policed community becomes “factually guilty” of assault-in-the-third-degree, rape on an Ivy League campus easily goes without arrest.”
Responding to Is the Criminal Justice System Defensible?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“As long as racism/abuse of authority is not honestly discussed in this country there will NEVER be an end to what we are seeing in our cities today in terms of the 'us against them' relationship...”
Responding to What it’s Like to be Black In the NYPD Right Now
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“Your readers might like to know that the quotation from Lewis Katz...appears in his article from a symposium on the 40th anniversary of Mapp v. Ohio.”
Responding to Dollree Mapp, 1923-2014: “The Rosa Parks of the Fourth Amendment”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“What if Jay and Adnan were hooking up and Hae caught them? Would the fear of her potentially telling his parents or friends be enough for Adnan to strangle her?”
Responding to Our Jury Is In on “Serial”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 17
“I am a public defender in Brooklyn...who begs to differ with my colleagues. This case seems fairly straightforward.”
Responding to Our Jury Is In on “Serial”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“It is painful to the point of agony to read Judge Wilkinson’s responses in this exchange.”
Responding to Is the Criminal Justice System Defensible?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 17
“I was in prison for 26 years myself and I know how important outside contact with family and friends are.”
Responding to The FCC Looks into the Prison Telephone Racket
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 12
“I spend around $200 or 300 a month for the phone. But we also want to make sure they can call out to us to let them know we love them, miss them, and will be there...”
Responding to The FCC Looks into the Prison Telephone Racket
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 17
“Passed unanimously by Congress over a decade ago, now is the time to fully implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).”
Responding to Pulling the Teeth from the Prison Rape Elimination Act
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 10
“I can guarantee, based on conversations I have had with people exonerated after years in prison, some having been on death row, that not every prisoner would prefer death to life in prison.”
Responding to What Death Penalty Opponents Don’t Get
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 3
“We have the qualities – if we are what older generations describe us to be – to restore America to its fundamental ideals...This is our country, and we must demand that it be fair and just. ”
Responding to Will Millennials Embrace Prison Reform?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 8
“...we use data to identify problems that feed crime - like identifying apartment buildings that welcome criminal activity. ”
Responding to Cincinnati: Ferguson’s Hope or Hype?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 1
“As for solutions I have one word: data. ”
Responding to Is the Criminal Justice System Defensible?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 1
“Wrongful convictions and wrongful executions happen that way too: they are "Normal Accidents" caused by many small mistakes... ”
Responding to Death by Deadline, Part Two
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 1
“Marcela was detained for over six months in U.S. immigration detention, and she discusses trying to create make-up in detention, but being threatened with the 'hole' ”
Responding to Fakeup
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 1
“It seems to me that the capital defense groups, the malpractice carriers and (theoretically) the courts all have an interest in making sure that habeas deadlines are accurately calculated, alerted and met. ”
Responding to Death by Deadline, Part One
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 3
“This unit, as well as your article about Leonard H. Benzin, has really opened my eyes about the injustice of the prison system.”
Responding to Dying in Attica
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 3
“...my English class read the article Dying in Attica. It is really upsetting to me that Lenny is going through colon cancer and the prison is treating him like any other inmate.”
Responding to Dying in Attica
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 3
“This letter really opened my eyes. I want to be able to help this problem as much as I can. ”
Responding to Dying in Attica
LETTER TO THE EDITOR December 3
“I've judged prisoners in the past and maybe I will again in the future. However, I think I somehow forgot that you're human as well.”
Responding to Dying in Attica
LETTER TO THE EDITOR November 21
“My students and I are on a mission to do what we can to help others who could be on their way to prison or in prison, realizing that there is more to a prisoner than his conviction. ”
Responding to Dying in Attica
LETTER TO THE EDITOR November 18
“While offender (seen on your stats page), inmate, convict, etc are technically correct, they are too loaded to be used in a respectful manner.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR November 18
“Solitary confinement is such an abuse of the system without due process. ”
Responding to Eric Holder on His Legacy, His Regrets, and His Feelings About the Death Penalty
LETTER TO THE EDITOR November 18
“It's time to move marijuana out of Schedule I”
Responding to Eric Holder on His Legacy, His Regrets, and His Feelings About the Death Penalty
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