courts

Book Review: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

by Cara December 6, 2011

Few find it surprising that Jim Crow arose following the collapse of slavery. The development is described in history books as regrettable but predictable given the virulent racism that gripped the South and the political dynamics of the time. What is remarkable is that hardly anyone seems to imagine that similar political dynamics may have [...]

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An Open Letter to the De Anza Rape Victim

by Cara April 7, 2011

Dear Jane Doe, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that they put you through this. Both the ordeal of the rape and the ordeal of having your entire life dragged through the mud, after all of which they refused to provide you with the simple dignity and decency of an acknowledgment of what they did to you. [...]

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Louisiana Law Forces Many Sex Workers to Register as Sex Offenders

by Cara March 22, 2011

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence and abuses against sex workers Last week, Jordan Flaherty wrote an article at Colorlines about how sex workers are being punished under an archaic and punitive law that specifically targets those who are convicted of selling oral or anal sex (as opposed to vaginal sex). The law makes [...]

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De Anza Rape Trial Filled with Victim Blaming, Slut Shaming

by Cara March 10, 2011

Trigger Warning on posts and links for very explicit descriptions of gang rape against an intoxicated person, severe victim-blaming and rape apologism, and ableism. Four years ago, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped at an alcohol fueled party by 9 young men, almost all De Anza College baseball players. The girl was found by [...]

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Help Kelley Williams-Bolar, Mother Jailed For Sending Children to “Wrong” School

by Cara January 26, 2011

Yesterday, I wrote about the horrific case of Kelley Williams-Bolar (pictured left), a woman who has been jailed for ten days and slapped with a felony record — which will prevent her from obtaining her teacher’s license — for sending her children to a school district other than the one they lived in. My analysis [...]

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Mother Jailed For Sending Her Children to the “Wrong” School

by Cara January 25, 2011

Last week, a woman was sent to jail for ten days, placed on two years probation, and ordered to complete 80 hours of community service for a felony conviction. Her crime was fudging documents so that she could send her two daughters to the “wrong” school district, in the richer Akron, Ohio suburb where her [...]

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Rape Suspect Cross-Examines Accuser, Then Asks For Public Defender

by Cara January 17, 2011

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence and being confronted by one’s rapist Just a couple months ago, I wrote about how a case in which an alleged rapist defended himself, and therefore cross-examined his own accusers, ended in a threat of suicide from one of the alleged victims. In a follow-up, I noted the [...]

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States Force Ex-Offenders to Pay “User Fees” For Their Own Incarceration

by Cara January 10, 2011

Last week, Adam Sewer published a great article at the American Prospect about the trend of making former prisoners literally pay for their own incarceration, with “user fees” being imposed as a condition of parole. It was a practice that I was unaware of, and one that I imagine many readers who do not have [...]

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Idaho Law Says Only Married Women Can Be Raped By Fraud

by Cara December 3, 2010

Trigger Warning for sexual violence and rape apologism A couple weeks ago in Idaho, a judge dismissed a rape case in which a woman was allegedly raped by a man who she believed at the time to be her boyfriend. The article itself contains a graphic description of the charges themselves (Trigger Warning), but what [...]

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California Fights Order to Reduce Prison Overcrowding at Supreme Court

by Cara November 30, 2010

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the issue of prison overcrowding in California — or, specifically, the judicial order that California must release 46,000 inmates from its overcrowded prisons within two years. For those not familiar with this order issued last year, a little bit of background: At issue is whether the special three-judge [...]

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