[Magdalen] Jury Duty Anyone?

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

This reminds me of a movement, to some extent underground, I suspect, of
people who resolve that, no matter what, they will not bring a guilty
verdict against a defendant of color.

I'm sure some might think this is unfair, and of course it is.  Perhaps not
nearly as unfair as our status quo in criminal justice practice in which it
has been repeatedly documented that persons of color go to jail when
persons who are white get off, for a whole laundry list of reasons, from
simply not being arrested to begin with to being sentenced when a more
respectable person (i.e., white) gets community service or probation.

When I taught classes at Greenhaven, our local maximum security prison, I
often felt like I was a visitor at Greenhaven Prison for African-American
Offenders. I had continual experiences where I was the only white face to
seen, aside from the guards, of course, who were almost all white.

The United States has the highest number of incarcerated persons per capita
of any country on earth, and we had this distinction while the USSR was
running its gulags full-bore.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 11:08 PM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm appalled that her verdict was based on something other than the
> testimony and evidence presented in court and allowed by the judge, and the
> relevant law.
>
> And more appalled (as you are, David) at the publication of all this
> information from the jury room on the front page.
>
> On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 11:53 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
> magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>
> >
> > I was appalled today to read front page, the names of the jurors for
> this
> > trial, and a list of how they voted.  It turns out that there was  only
> > one juror against the death penalty.  Her name was printed,  along
> > with the apparent reason for her vote:  "She has a son currently
> > imprisoned".
> >
> >
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>