One of the consequences of treating drug addiction as a crime rather than a public health problem is the damage done to many urban neighborhoods. Current policies have made drug dealing a profitable venture, so it is not surprising that people…
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The Accidental Advocate
Governor George Ryan was a career politician dogged by accusations of corruption, a pro-death penalty Republican who inexplicably became a champion of abolition. What could account for his conversion? Could it be that, as Governor, he was forced to abandon ideology and confront the realities of capital punishment in America?
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We Always Pay the Piper
The picture of Timothy ‘Jake’ Laird stared out at me from page one of my morning paper–so terribly young, so much like the idealistic young criminal justice students in my classes. He was gunned down before he really had a chance to live, as much the victim of failed public policies as the man who pulled the trigger.
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Symbolic Justice
The opening salvos have been fired in the battle over Sandra Day O’Connor’s replacement, offering vivid, if disquieting, reminders of just how polarized America has become.
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CommentsPlaying Well With Others
Didn’t Brian Bosma or John Hostetler ever play with other kids when they were young? Or have they just forgotten how to play well with others?
We are used to these “Righteous Brothers” whining whenever anyone objects to their efforts to use government to force their beliefs on everyone else. Tell them to stop bullying others, and you are accused of prejudice against “people of faith.” It reminds most parents of their three-year-old stamping his foot and insisting that if he can’t take that other kid’s candy, it isn’t fair.
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