tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/justice-937/articlesJustice – The Conversation2024-03-18T01:38:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2258862024-03-18T01:38:57Z2024-03-18T01:38:57ZVictims need to be protected – regardless of whether they are testifying in family court or criminal court<p>Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/member/2024/0030/latest/whole.htm">new member’s bill</a> before parliament could change all that. </p>
<p>Currently, our law guarantees special protections for victims in the criminal justice system but not those in the Family Court.</p>
<p>Victims who testify in criminal proceedings are entitled to give evidence by alternate means, typically some combination of prerecording their evidence and testifying remotely. </p>
<p>While the Family Court can apply these protections to victims who testify in child protection or family law cases, they are not required to do so. In practice, it’s rare to allow victims to testify via these alternate means in Family Court proceedings.</p>
<p>This means people who have experienced family and sexual violence may be required to testify in person in the Family Court. Victims are often face-to-face and with little physical distancing between themselves and their alleged perpetrators.</p>
<h2>Extending protections</h2>
<p>Labour MP Tracey McLellan recently introduced the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/member/2024/0030/latest/whole.html">Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill</a> to extend some of the special protections in criminal proceedings involving family and sexual violence to Family Court proceedings. </p>
<p>This is an important first step to implementing the “no wrong door” principle outlined in the Ministry of Justice’s <a href="https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/key-initiatives/addressing-family-violence-and-sexual-violence/work-programme/risk-assessment-management-framework/">Family Violence and Risk Assessment Management Framework</a>. The principle is victims should receive a consistent and safe response regardless of which door they knock on for help.</p>
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<p>If anything, protection for victims is more important in the Family Court than in the criminal courts. This is because family proceedings are private, civil proceedings that the parties initiate and prosecute themselves.</p>
<p>Victims in the criminal courts have police, prosecutors, and support workers from Victim Support to assist them. But victims in the Family Court are often left alone to navigate a complex, hostile system.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, some perpetrators initiate or prolong these proceedings as a form of “<a href="https://www.victimsupport.org.nz/news-stories/time-to-de-weaponise-the-courts-fighting-back-on-litigation-abuse">systems abuse</a>” – weaponising the judicial system to prevent their victims from escaping their control and abuse. This approach inflicts additional harm on victims.</p>
<h2>More support is needed</h2>
<p>The member’s bill is a good step towards improving the system. But more needs to be done to improve the process for victims of violence or abuse.</p>
<p>This includes requiring police to seek protection orders on behalf of victims. In criminal cases, police can seek non-contact restrictions so victims don’t have to pay legal fees to do so for themselves.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://plymouthda.com/the-office/divisions-units/family-protection-division/domestic-violence-unit/abuse-prevention-law-209a/">Massachusetts</a> in the United States, a victim witness advocate from the prosecutor’s office helps victims complete the paperwork for protection orders and offers them the option of filing criminal charges against their abusers, and a court advocate helps them through the proceedings.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2004-067#HP3@EN">Tasmania</a>, the police can issue final family violence orders on the spot without requiring victims to undergo lengthy and burdensome court processes.</p>
<p>In Aotearoa New Zealand several improvements could be made to make the system less dangerous for victims. </p>
<p>This includes providing victims with free legal representatives (the equivalent of prosecutors) in child custody cases involving family violence or protection order cases. This would mean victims don’t have to spend their life savings (or get into debt) trying to get protection. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-prosecute-cases-of-coercive-or-controlling-behaviour-66108">Why it's so hard to prosecute cases of coercive or controlling behaviour</a>
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<p>The Family Court could also be staffed with forensic investigators (the equivalent of police) to investigate claims of abuse and gather supporting evidence so that victims don’t have to struggle to do this themselves.</p>
<p>Children who have experienced family violence could also be given the right to participate safely and directly in proceedings that affect them – as they do when they are complainants in criminal proceedings.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0039/latest/DLM157813.html">Victims’ Rights Act</a> and the services of Victim Support could be extended to include child-protection and family law proceedings. Victims would then receive the same support and practical assistance in the Family Court they currently receive in criminal proceedings. </p>
<p>Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) coverage could also be extended for sexual abuse and assault to cover all family violence reports and not just criminal assaults.</p>
<p>Family violence isn’t a family matter. It’s a public health problem and a human rights violation. </p>
<p>When a family violence perpetrator inflicts abuse on other members of their family, we have an obligation as a society to protect their victims from further abuse and help them heal from past trauma. </p>
<p>We must keep working to improve the process for victims who have taken the brave first step of seeking help and find themselves in the Family Court.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carrie Leonetti is a member of the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children. </span></em></p>Victims in the family court system are often forced to come face-to-face with their alleged attackers when giving evidence. A new bill aims to afford these victims more protection when testifying.Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246272024-03-08T05:44:19Z2024-03-08T05:44:19ZPersonal trauma and criminal offending are closely linked – real rehabilitation is only possible with justice system reform<p>New Zealand’s justice system is failing. The country has one of <a href="https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/key-initiatives/key-initiatives-archive/hapaitia-te-oranga-tangata">the highest rates of incarceration</a> in the OECD, and over 56% of people with prior convictions are reconvicted within two years.</p>
<p>Some 52% of people in prison identify as Māori, while 91% of people in prison have experienced mental distress, and over 50% addiction. Many are affected by poverty and have been victims of sexual and physical violence.</p>
<p>Recent moves by the government to <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/508611/prison-reforms-government-ditches-reduction-targets-and-cultural-reports">abolish funding</a> for cultural reports at court sentencing further threaten the most vulnerable by removing information from judges to help create an appropriate rehabilitation pathway.</p>
<p>But it doesn’t have to be this way. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://heturekiatika.com/">new research</a> shows a “trauma-informed” justice system can better support people and their families to move from experiences of incarceration, mental distress and addiction into recovery and wellbeing.</p>
<p>This approach would mean taking into account the impacts of trauma across a wide spectrum that includes neurological, biological, psychological, spiritual, social and cultural wellbeing. </p>
<p>Simply put, a trauma-informed approach acknowledges what has happened to someone rather than identify what is wrong with them.</p>
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<p>Our study, He Ture Kia Tika (Let the law Be Right), aimed to identify how New Zealand can improve outcomes for people experiencing mental distress and/or addiction while in the criminal justice system. </p>
<p>Our team interviewed 45 individuals who had been in the system. They were now thriving in the community and free of criminal behaviour. We looked at what factors contributed to their success. </p>
<p>We also talked with six <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=kaupapa+maori">kaupapa Māori</a> community and peer-led providers who help support people on their recovery journeys. </p>
<h2>What a trauma-informed system would look like</h2>
<p>For Māori, a trauma-informed approach considers the importance of the wider community, acknowledges inter-generational and historical trauma, and incorporates te ao Māori (a Māori world view) to heal. </p>
<p>It also respects the autonomy of individuals and their families, and creates opportunities for them to feel empowered to make decisions about their own lives and livelihoods. </p>
<p>While the research included people across a number of ethnicities, most of the participants appreciated the healing they received from tikanga-led (customs and traditional values) approaches. </p>
<p>Time and again, participants shared how hapori (community) are already delivering what they need – localised, culturally safe, trauma-informed services that aim to support people to find their recovery pathway. </p>
<p>By prioritising kaupapa Māori and lived experience, grassroots community initiatives are making a real and lasting difference to people coming out of the justice system. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ending-legal-aid-for-cultural-reports-at-sentencing-may-only-make-court-hearings-longer-and-costlier-223627">Ending legal aid for cultural reports at sentencing may only make court hearings longer and costlier</a>
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<p>New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.districtcourts.govt.nz/criminal-court/criminal-jurisdiction/specialist-criminal-courts/matariki-court/">Matariki Court</a> allows an offender who has pleaded guilty to participate in a culturally appropriate rehabilitation programme. Ngahau Davis, head of Te Mana o Ngapuhi Kowhao Rau, which supports adults going through the Matariki court, explained it this way: </p>
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<p>Everybody wants to punish people - you’ve done wrong - but nobody is asking the question why. </p>
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<p>This approach does not mean ignoring the offending behaviour. In fact, our research underscores that the road to recovery and wellbeing is hard. It involves deep work to heal and restore balance from harms that have occurred.</p>
<p>Another research participant, Carly, shared how she tried and failed over many years to get support through official channels – either justice or health – for ongoing addiction and mental distress. Finally, she took drastic action. </p>
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<p>I woke up one morning, and I just wanted to die. I had a knife on me, so I walked into a dairy and held up the dairy worker at knifepoint. I climbed over the counter and said, “I’m coming over. I don’t want anything from you.” I took a packet of cigarettes, left the dairy, walked around the corner, and waited for the police to come. Then, I asked them to take me to prison.</p>
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<p>During the sentencing, Carly revealed, she and the judge were “both crying”. The judge acknowledged she had been trying to get help for a long time. But from a legal perspective, the only option was to send her back to prison.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Carly is one of our research participants who has kindly shared her story with the researchers.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Change at every level</h2>
<p>As a starting point, the government needs to meet its responsibilities to te Tiriti o Waitangi-Treaty of Waitangi. Both the legal and health systems have failed to provide justice or equity for Māori.</p>
<p>Our research shows the impact of people being deprived of access to the basic needs of housing, food, school and connection to their culture and communities. If we took eradicating poverty seriously, we would undoubtedly see more whānau and communities thriving. </p>
<p>There is also a lack of recognition of tikanga, as well as other ways of knowing and being, that are important to Māori. </p>
<p>Shane White, operations manager at Hoani Waititi Marae told us:</p>
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<p>The government chased us hard to run a tikanga programme. Their want is for them not to re-offend. Our want is for them to be good Māori – to be part of their whānau, to be part of their hapū, to be down on the marae, and to have belonging, love and laughter. He won’t bother reoffending because he has a life now.</p>
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<p>The comment illustrates the power of a trauma-informed justice system – to move the goalposts from simply “stopping offending” to supporting people realise their full potential, with the capacity to connect with whānau and contribute meaningfully to their communities.</p>
<p>A trauma informed approach has the power to transform not just the way our justice system understands and responds to clients, but to imbue people with agency and self-determination as they move into well-resourced pathways of recovery and wellbeing.</p>
<p>By reframing the justice system’s approach to its most vulnerable clients, and acknowledging the power of trauma and poverty in their lives, the courts and associated agencies can offer meaningful and sustained support to those who need it most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katey Thom and Stella Black, alongside our wider rōpū, received funding from the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation for this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stella Black received funding from the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation for this research project. </span></em></p>A major new report identifies how a ‘trauma-informed’ justice system would acknowledge and act on the deprivation and mental health problems experienced by so many offenders.Katey Thom, Associate professor, Auckland University of TechnologyStella Black, Kairangahau/Māori hauora and social justice researcher, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248932024-03-04T13:41:21Z2024-03-04T13:41:21ZI run mock trials to research the legal system. The bias shown in Channel 4’s The Jury: Murder Trial is a very real problem<p>Channel 4 has billed its new reality show, Jury: Murder Trial, as a <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-jury-murder-trial">“landmark experiment”</a>. A real-life murder trial is being re-staged in front of two juries of ordinary people to establish whether both groups will reach the same verdict. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/feb/26/the-jury-trial-review-surely-this-is-the-end-of-the-uk-legal-system-as-we-know-it">Some critics</a> have speculated that the show could cause the public to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/02/26/channel-4-jury-murder-trial-you-will-lose-faith-in-justice/">“lose all faith in the British justice system”</a>. That’s because the programme
has highlighted how personal experiences shape, and potentially bias, how jurors view the individual elements of a trial.</p>
<p>I was less surprised than these critics when I tuned into the show. That’s because, when researching jurors and juries, I do a similar thing with participants. I recruit jury-eligible members of the public and show them a mock trial. It’s usually filmed in a courtroom, with actors (and sometimes legal professionals) playing the relevant roles. I then ask the mock jury to reach a verdict. </p>
<p>In these experiments though, I will <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bsl.2568">manipulate certain factors</a> (for example, I may vary the verdicts which are available to jurors) and investigate how these manipulations influence verdicts. Alternatively, I may measure <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2021.1904450">certain beliefs</a> (whether the jurors, for example, have a bias towards the prosecution or the defence) and see if we can predict verdicts using these measures.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00258024221080655">my research</a>, and that of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jols.12287">other academics</a> interested in juror and jury decision making, it is clear that the UK’s jury system is far from perfect.</p>
<h2>How jurors use stories</h2>
<p>What was clear to me watching the programme was how jurors used stories to make sense of what was heard to them in court. They used personal experiences of previous altercations or instances of domestic violence in their own life, and there were clear instances of gendered biases against the victim throughout. </p>
<p>Interestingly, one of the key models in my field is the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tfeRuhypTs4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA192&dq=story+model&ots=XxhyMXMc8J&sig=WkWN9oF4lCtMoicYJVbq6bznNbs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=story%20model&f=false">story model</a>. This posits that jurors use the evidence in the trial, their own experiences and beliefs, knowledge of similar crimes and their understanding of what makes a complete story to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tfeRuhypTs4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA192&dq=story+model&ots=XxhyMXMc8J&sig=WkWN9oF4lCtMoicYJVbq6bznNbs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=story%20model&f=false">create narratives</a> surrounding the trial. </p>
<p>Then jurors select the best story (they may have created a number of competing stories) based on <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-21907-001">certainty principles</a>, such as how coherent the story is. Also, the more unique the story is, when compared to competing stories, the more confident the juror will be in their story.</p>
<p>Jurors will then learn about <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-21907-001">appropriate verdict categories</a> from the judge, although this may also be influenced by <a href="https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/625313/1/JCJ%20Final%20accepted%20maunscript.pdf">their own pre-trial experiences</a> and knowledge. Verdicts that fit or match the chosen story are then the ones that are reached. For example, if a guilty verdict best matches the story, then a guilty verdict will be given. </p>
<p>It is perfectly reasonable for jurors to use stories to make sense of a trial – we are social creatures who use stories to make sense of our everyday lives after all. The problem is, what we do when we discover that sometimes, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13218719.2021.1904450">jurors use problematic beliefs</a> to shape their stories.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00258024221080655">Research has shown</a> that many different types of biases influence juror decision making, including but not limited to racial biases and rape myths. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1365712720923157">Rape myths</a> are false beliefs relating to the act of rape, and the accused and complainer in said trial types.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jols.12287">research has found</a> that rape myths are mentioned in some mock jury deliberations, potentially influencing the joint jury narrative needed to reach a final verdict. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/vuwlr/article/view/7128">study in New Zealand</a> found that in a post-trial interview, real jurors who sat on sexual assault trials commonly mentioned rape myths in their discussions, suggesting that rape myths may inform story construction and verdicts.</p>
<h2>What can be done</h2>
<p>There are several potential alternatives, such as <a href="https://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/news/blog/why-we-support-single-judge-trials/#:%7E:text=There%20is%20no%20right%20to,is%20accountable%20for%20their%20decisions">judge-only trials</a>, or a mixed jury with legal professionals and laypersons. However, these solutions do not get rid of bias, as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377775721_Are_legal_experts_better_decision_makers_than_jurors_A_psychological_evaluation_of_the_role_of_juries_in_the_21st_century">experts are as likely</a> to be infected by bias as lay people.</p>
<p>As there are several reliable and validated scales which help to measure biased and problematic beliefs, I believe that juror selection would be the best method to rid the courts of unwanted bias. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9310652/">my own research</a>, I have found that I could measure how strongly jurors favoured the prosecution and defence using the pre-trial attitude questionnaire, and predict which verdict they were most likely to reach. </p>
<p>Those who favoured the prosecution were more likely to favour a guilty verdict and those who favoured the defence were more likely to reach an acquittal verdict. <a href="https://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34453/">Other researchers</a> have done similar work using rape-myth scales. </p>
<p>If jurors were selected based on validated measures, it would help to filter negative and problematic beliefs out of the system. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee John Curley receives funding from the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>As my research into jurors and jury decision making shows, our system is far from perfect.Lee John Curley, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2232732024-03-04T13:35:14Z2024-03-04T13:35:14ZIsraeli peace activists are more anguished than ever − in a movement that has always been diverse and divided, with differing visions of ‘peace’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578455/original/file-20240227-18-cypqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1024%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A demonstration on Dec. 28, 2023, in Tel Aviv, organized by the peace group Standing Together, calls for a cease-fire. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-gather-to-stage-demonstration-calling-for-peace-and-news-photo/1883324720?adppopup=true">Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The months since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have been excruciating ones for Israeli peace activists. As the country rallies behind the war effort, critics <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/13/it-is-a-time-of-witch-hunts-in-israel-teacher-held-in-solitary-confinement-for-posting-concern-about-gaza-deaths">have been arrested</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/world/middleeast/israel-oct-7-left-wing-peace.html">and condemned</a> by opponents who say the attacks proved how misguided the peace movement is.</p>
<p>But in activists’ eyes, the horrific violence of Oct. 7 and Israel’s sweeping military response only prove its urgency. Vivian Silver, who spent a decade leading Women Wage Peace – a solidarity group of Israelis and Palestinians – was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/peace-activists-killed-israel.html">one of several peace activists</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/11/17/1213523321/israel-gaza-peace-activist-vivian-silver-funeral-service">murdered that day</a>. “If we want a future here, we have to make the conflict a thing of the past,” her son Yonatan Zeigen <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-02-11/ty-article/.premium/my-mother-vivian-silver-is-gone-who-carries-her-flag/0000018d-9974-d92c-a9ed-fbfd75300000">wrote in an op-ed</a> after her death.</p>
<p>For some activists, in other words, Oct. 7 only underscored the urgency of their cause. Yet the peace movement has always been diverse and often fragmented. In reality, there are multiple movements, each with its own definition of peace. As <a href="https://kroc.nd.edu/faculty-and-staff/atalia-omer/">a scholar of religion, ethics and politics</a>, I have traced how divergent accounts of Israel’s founding connect to <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo15288847.html">different visions of justice</a>.</p>
<h2>The ‘peace camp’</h2>
<p>The Israeli demographics most associated with the “peace camp” are predominately <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/who-are-ashkenazi-jews/">Ashkenazi Jews</a>, meaning they are descended from communities in Central and Eastern Europe. They also tend to be secular, meaning they do not closely observe traditional Jewish religious law.</p>
<p>Even within this larger camp, however, there are divergent perceptions of justice, shaped by how people understand the root causes of the conflict. Did it truly start in 1917, when a British lord <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/text-of-the-balfour-declaration#google_vignette">promised a home for Jews</a>? In 1948, with Israel’s War of Independence – which Palestinians experienced as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">the Nakba, their “catastrophe</a>”? Or is the most important date 1967, when Israel occupied the Golan Heights, east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?</p>
<p>For the most part, this “peace camp” believes “Israel proper” consists of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54116567">land within the “Green Line</a>,” set by the armistice agreements at the end of the 1948 war. The Green Line does not include the territories Israel has occupied since the end of the 1967 war, which most of the peace camp considers <a href="https://peacenow.org.il/en/about-us/who-are-we">a morally wrong occupation</a>.</p>
<p>More broadly, their vision is grounded in preserving Israel as a democracy with a Jewish majority. This necessitates the creation of a sovereign Palestinian nation-state in the occupied territories.</p>
<p>A prominent example of a secular group <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Beyond+the+Two+State+Solution%3A+A+Jewish+Political+Essay-p-9780745662947">accepting the Green Line as a peace premise</a> is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30246797?seq=3">the once-robust Peace Now movement</a>, created in 1978 by Israeli veterans. They argue, using human rights and international law, that a permanent occupation will threaten the character of Israel as a Jewish democracy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four adults and a child walk together, leading a march with city buildings in the background, in a black and white photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578464/original/file-20240228-26-h0r0mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Peace Now movement arrive in Tel Aviv, finishing a 1983 march for peace that began at Israel’s northern border.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/moshe-ben-baruch-gives-the-peace-sign-to-applauding-members-news-photo/516513418?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>… and its dissenters</h2>
<p>Ever since the early days of Zionism, however, other Jews have challenged the movement’s basic objective of creating a Jewish-majority state, given <a href="https://fathomjournal.org/the-bride-is-beautiful-but-she-is-married-to-another-man-the-tenacity-of-an-anti-zionist-fable/">the reality that other groups of people, in addition to Jews, already lived</a> in historic Palestine. For example, <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/brit-shalom-a-covenant-of-peace/">the group Brit Shalom</a>, established in 1926 by European Jewish intellectuals, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27917784?casa_token=a5y8GUrm5WIAAAAA%3AW1hlB5xoTqIhVXHUbp0eaVzhED1b8N5_M4_z3pYUN7Dv4FXzKJfiSNL9UBLM4Db07JqnB8YwESoc_zCyXJTIuboUoGpypsNHrv5metvIOk0oLcTC5mQ">envisioned a binational state</a> that would include equality for non-Jewish Palestinian communities. </p>
<p>In Brit Shalom’s view, a commitment to democratic principles contradicted ambitions for creating a majoritarian Jewish state, which they predicted would depend on driving out Palestinians and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2002.31.3.36">preventing their return</a>.</p>
<p>Other contemporary secular groups that are mostly made up of Jewish Israelis also oppose the Green Line as a basis for peace building. <a href="https://www.zochrot.org/articles/view/17/en?Our_Story">Zochrot, for example</a>, emphasizes <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">the Nakba</a> of 1948 as a root cause of the conflict. Therefore, they advocate for Palestinian refugees’ <a href="https://www.zochrot.org/sections/view/19/en?Return_Vision">right of return</a>, which is central to Palestinians’ own conceptions of justice.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photograph of a long line of people, including women and children, walking uphill as they hold bags of possessions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578747/original/file-20240228-22-juzwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 war, often referred to as the Nakba, is central in shaping some activists’ ideas of justice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_in_Galilee.jpg">Fred Csasznik/'Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem' via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other critics of the mainstream peace movement have criticized it for ignoring <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/jmiddeastwomstud.7.2.56">the social justice struggles of non-Ashkenazi Jewish Israelis</a>, such as Arab Jews or “Mizrahim” and Ethiopian Jews, or connecting those issues with Palestinians’ experience.</p>
<h2>Palestinian voices</h2>
<p>The continuous expansion of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/world/middleeast/israel-west-bank-settlements-expansion.html">Israeli settlements in the West Bank</a> has eroded the Green Line as the basis for peace. This <a href="https://jstreet.org/de-facto-annexation-the-israeli-rights-plan-for-permanent-occupation/">de facto annexation</a>, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/08/israel-palestine-west-bank-annexation-netanyahu-smotrich-far-right/">as many analysts call it</a>, makes it increasingly unlikely that “peace” could mean most Israelis living within the line and most Palestinians outside it.</p>
<p>Yet with the erosion of the Green Line, various organizations are reemphasizing a binational vision of a single state, or two states joined in a confederation. Compared with the “mainstream” peace camp, some of these groups have more Palestinian representation, coming mostly from Palestinian citizens of Israel.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.alandforall.org/english/?d=ltr">A Land for All: Two States One Homeland</a>, known as ALFA, was formed in 2012 and is co-led by Palestinian and Jewish Israelis. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKmPvsywEM">events after Oct. 7</a>, members <a href="https://www.alandforall.org/pain-and-opportunity/?d=ltr">grappled with their grief</a> by resolving to imagine a political future together.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a white shirt kisses the forehead of another woman in a headscarf, whose eyes are closed, as they stand in front of a purple sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578751/original/file-20240228-30-nubrrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Israeli activist Yael Admi embraces Arab Israeli activist Ghadir Hani following a speech during a Dec. 28, 2023, demonstration in Tel Aviv organized by the group Standing Together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/israeli-activist-yael-admi-embraces-arab-israeli-activist-news-photo/1883322050?adppopup=true">Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>ALFA’s foundational assumption is that “<a href="https://www.alandforall.org/english/?d=ltr">both people belong in the whole land</a>.” While it believes that, realistically, Jewish settlers will remain in the territories occupied in 1967, it envisions them becoming Israeli residents of a future State of Palestine – one half of a larger confederation with the state of Israel.</p>
<p>Similarly, the organization <a href="https://www.standing-together.org/about-us">Standing Together</a> sent two representatives – one Jewish Israeli, one Palestinian Israeli – to the United States together to hold events with the message that “both Jewish people and Palestinians are going to stay on this land. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-standing-together.html">No one is going anywhere</a>.”</p>
<p>Notably, the Palestinian members of groups seeking Palestinian-Israeli dialogues tend to be Israeli citizens from within the Green Line, with a few exceptions, such as <a href="https://cfpeace.org/">Combatants for Peace</a> – a group of Palestinians and Jews committed to nonviolence but made up of former fighters.</p>
<p>However, after decades of “peace process,” many Palestinians interpret coexistence initiatives as a form of <a href="https://www.972mag.com/what-is-normalization/">normalizing the occupation</a>.</p>
<h2>The Faithful Left</h2>
<p>The tension between Israel’s Jewish and democratic identities has been present since before the state’s founding. Under the current hard-line government, however, critics fear the state has been <a href="https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid">relinquishing the democratic part</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/26410478-9355297">in favor of Jewish supremacy</a>.</p>
<p>Religious politicians have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-ministers-join-ultranationalist-conference-urging-gaza-resettlement-2024-01-29/">some of the most visible advocates</a> for measures that decrease the likelihood of a contiguous Palestinian sovereign state, such as by <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-settlements-hamas-gaza-war-netanyahu-smotrich-1d2306d55c24c8559b630d9f20db30e2">constructing new settlements</a>. Yet the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/israels-winning-coalition">current right-wing coalition</a> has provided an impetus for more Israelis who are observant Jews to join peace efforts: <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/eyeing-their-communitys-rightward-shift-left-wing-religious-jews-form-new-movement/">the “Faithful Left</a>,” or Smol Emuni in Hebrew. </p>
<p>The movement was born when hundreds showed up to <a href="https://www.972mag.com/religious-jewish-left-israel/">a Jerusalem conference</a> in January 2023, discussing their discomfort with how Jewish tradition was being used politically, and <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/under-shadow-of-war-conference-of-left-wing-religious-jews-grows-its-numbers/">a second conference</a> was held in February 2024. Because many of the Faithful Left are products of religious Zionist schools, their key advantage within the peace movement is the ability <a href="https://www.academicstudiespress.com/9798887193243/">to challenge</a> arguments for annexation or domination on religious grounds.</p>
<p>Older groups such as <a href="https://www.rhr.org.il/eng?lang=en">Rabbis for Human Rights</a>, whose members range from humanist to Orthodox, have also drawn on religious ideas for decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing blue, with a white beard and black hair, carries a large bundle through a dry grove of small trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578756/original/file-20240228-9454-66bbn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S.-born Israeli Reform Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a member of Rabbis for Human Rights, helps Palestinians during the olive harvest outside Ramallah in November 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/born-israeli-reform-jewish-rabbi-arik-ascherman-a-member-of-news-photo/1777936330?adppopup=true">Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some activists within the Faithful Left have also been a part of <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2022-12-04/ty-article/.premium/whos-an-anarchist/00000184-d9c3-dc05-adae-fff3834a0000">Bnei Avraham</a>, a group that <a href="https://www.mekomit.co.il/%D7%99%D7%A9-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%A9%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9F/">shows solidarity with Palestinians</a> by building relationships in the West Bank – specifically Hebron, where Palestinians routinely experience <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/09/west-bank-israel-settlers-violence/">violence and harassment</a>.</p>
<p>Secular anti-occupation groups such as <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2017-01-08/ty-article/.premium/masked-israelis-attack-activists-accompanying-palestinian-farmers/0000017f-ecd3-d3be-ad7f-fefb6cda0000">Ta'ayush</a> take this idea one step further by trying to provide in-person protection against violence. For example, Ta'ayush activists walk kids to school or accompany Palestinian shepherds as a buffer to prevent harassment.</p>
<p>The erosion of the Green Line has challenged many peace groups’ visions for peace and justice, as diverse as those are. Even more fundamentally, it has reopened the question of what it means for Israel to be Jewish and democratic – a question at the heart of Israeli peace activists’ challenges today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Atalia Omer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Secular Jewish groups have historically made up the majority of solidarity and peace groups. But Palestinian citizens and observant Jews are also key.Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2238412024-02-19T21:08:32Z2024-02-19T21:08:32ZWho was Robert Badinter, the most important Frenchman of whom you never heard?<p>At the end of a class on the fundamental principles of law that I was teaching to first-year law students, a group of students approached me and asked: “But who is this Robert Badinter you speak of so often?”</p>
<p>Every time I bring up Badinter, I know I am about to teach them about values such as the right to life, respect for individuals, human dignity, equality, and individual freedom. As a legal historian, such moments are a chance for me to introduce the younger generation of the early 21st century to a rare man who, throughout his life, fought against injustice. On 9 February, he died in Paris, aged 95.</p>
<h2>A national homage</h2>
<p>To say that Badinter’s death marked the end of an era for France is not an overstatement. The next day, not a single national daily failed to dedicate its front page to Badinter. <em>Le Monde</em> printed a black and white picture of him, striding confidently out of the council of ministers in 1981, his head seemingly crowned with a chandelier. <em>Libération</em> opted for a portrait in his later years, titled “Peine absolue” – a pun on a French phrase that means at once “capital punishment”, but also “Absolute sadness”. Others hailed “Un homme juste” (“A man of justice”). Even the conservative <em>Le Figaro</em>, a staunch opponent for most of his life, bowed to his “passion for justice”.</p>
<p>On Wednesday 14 February, the government held a ceremony of national homage Place Vendôme, Paris, where the Justice Ministry is located. His widow, the French feminist and Enlightenment historian Elisabeth Badinter, sat at the front row close to their three children. Hundreds of people stood under the drizzle to watch the coffin draped with the French flag, as French president Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2024/02/14/hommage-national-a-robert-badinter">announced</a> his entry to the Pantheon, in which the remains of distinguished French citizens lay.</p>
<h2>A very French upbringing</h2>
<p>The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Badinter was born on 30 March 1928 in Paris. In 1989, <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/radioscopie-par-jacques-chancel/robert-badinter-du-15-06-89-4783850">he described his father</a>, who died following deportation during the Second World War, as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“one of those young intellectual Russian students of before 1914, who loved France with an intensity that we find difficult to conceive. When I was a boy, he would tell me how poor students in Moscow, each possessed by the revolutionary ideal, would head to the French embassy, which was the only place where one could protest because it was an ally country. There, they would sing the <em>Marseillaise</em> [the French national hymn] and cry out ‘Long live France, long live the Republic’. Around the embassy there were Cossacks, whip in hand.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Badinter would grow up in a household steeped in the ideals of the French Republic, in which it was forbidden to speak any other language than French. Reading of 19th-century French writers such as Emile Zola or Stendhal was mandatory. Such ideals would also form the backbone of his relationship to his wife, Elisabeth. Fiercely reserved about their relationship and reluctant to appear in the media as a couple, they would go on to write one book together on French revolutionary philosopher, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet">Nicolas de Condorcet</a>.</p>
<p>Following a doctorate in law in 1952, Badinter worked first as an attorney, then a professor, and finally in politics.</p>
<h2>Consigning the guillotine to museums</h2>
<p>In France and abroad, Badinter is first and foremost known as the man who abolished the death penalty in 1981.</p>
<p>There had been talk of abolishing the capital punishment <a href="https://enseignants.lumni.fr/fiche-media/00000005058/une-revolution-dans-la-justice-partie-2-la-peine-capitale-depuis-la-revolution-francaise.html">since the French Revolution</a>. Already in 1791, deputies had debated on whether to include it in the country’s first criminal code. Politician and jurist Louis-Michel le Peletier, Marquis of Saint-Fargeau (1760-1793), believed its gruesome spectacles perverted society, accustoming it to the sight of violence and blood, while French lawyer and revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) sought to refute the very principle of the death penalty.</p>
<p>In the following century, French novelist Victor Hugo would take up the baton, devoting two novels to the subject, <em>The Last Day of a Condemned Man</em> (1829) and <em>Claude Gueux</em> (1834). Badinter, who called him the “great” Hugo, would go on to adapt the second <a href="https://www.opera-lyon.com/fr/programmation/2012-2013/opera/claude">as an opera, <em>Claude</em></a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1UxrY2iA5sA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Robert Badinter filmed at his home in October, 2021.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>True to that intellectual heritage, Badinter always stood against the death penalty. Despite this, in 1972 he was unable to save a client, Roger Bontems. While Bontems did not have any blood on his hands, he was found guilty for complicity in the murder of a nurse and porter, and went to the guillotine. As Dominique Missika and Maurice Szafran recount in their biography, Bontems’ death transformed Badinter from a “partisan against the death penalty” into an “activist”.</p>
<p>In 1977, his defence of Patrick Henry, who is convicted for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Philippe Bertrand, is seen as a turning point in the history of the abolition of the death penalty. Haunted by Bontems’ death, for 90 minutes Badinter weighed in with all his might on the conscience of the juries. “You are alone, and there will not be any presidential pardon,” <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2024/02/09/la-plaidoirie-de-robert-badinter-au-proces-de-patrick-henry-en-1977-moi-je-vous-dis-si-vous-le-coupez-en-deux-cela-ne-dissuadera-personne_6215669_1819218.html">he said</a>, appealing to every one of them “You, you, and you”. </p>
<p>On 14 February, Emmanual Macron <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2024/02/14/hommage-national-a-robert-badinter">described him as</a> “a soul crying out, a force wrenching life from the clutch of death.” Badinter saved Henry’s life, and would go on to save five more until becoming Justice Minister under President François Mittérand in 1981.</p>
<p>The abolition would represent one of his first tasks in government. On 18 September of that year, the French parliament ended capital punishment, with 363 votes against 117. It took Badinter courage to advocate for such a cause: during the 1981 presidential campaign, <a href="https://www.liberation.fr/societe/police-justice/robert-badinter-lepris-de-justice-20240209_7L4W23X6PBCMBFISMYCPEWKTFU/">a survey</a> revealed 63% of French people opposed its abolition.</p>
<h2>Making prison conditions more humane</h2>
<p>It was also Badinter who decriminalised homosexuality in August 1982. He would go on to repeal a set of other repressive legislations, including the “Anti-troublemakers” law (December 23, 1981), which held protest organisers responsible for any damage caused and was widely perceived as targeting trade unions. Also dismantled was the “Security and Freedom” law (June 10, 1983), which extended police powers to demand IDs and restricted the scope of convicts’ defence.</p>
<p>To Badinter, prison was not meant to replace the death penalty. Every individual, regardless of his or her actions, was redeemable, and hope for release should never be taken away. As minister of justice, Badinter introduced several reforms to humanise inmates’ living conditions, such as TVs in cells and the end of screens in visitation booths. To combat delinquency, relieve overcrowded prisons, provide alternatives to imprisonment for minor offences, he proposed non-custodial sentences such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-fine">day fines</a> or community service.</p>
<p>One of his other great accomplishments was improving citizens’ access to justice. He expanded the right for associations to become civil parties in cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes (June 10, 1983), and racially motivated crimes. He paved the way for greater recognition of victims, long neglected by the justice system, by creating the first victim-support service within his ministry, providing them with a more prominent role during trials. He also worked toward France’s recognising the right for any litigant to appeal to the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.</p>
<h2>The duty of remembrance</h2>
<p>As the son of Holocaust victims, Badnter cared intensely about history. As minister of justice, he once requested the file of notorious criminal <a href="https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/thematiques/epoque-contemporaine/landru-lassassin-aux-petites-annonces-90418.php">Henri Désiré Landru</a>, who was sentenced to death in 1921 for the murder of 10 women, only to find that the file had not been archived. In a ministry that showed little concern for its memory and heritage, he established the French Association for the History of Justice. The two were thus linked, and with this objective in mind, in 1985 he authorised the audiovisual recording of certain trials.</p>
<p>In 1983, Bolivia extradited to France the head of the Lyon Gestapo, Klaus Barbie, who in 1943 arrested and tortured French resistant Jean Moulin. The preamble of the law indicates that trials with “eventful, political, or sociological dimensions deserving preservation for history” should be recorded. Preserving filmed records of major trials for history has filled in, through images, what procedural archives do not reveal. These images enrich written accounts and provide new dimensions for research, capturing not only pleadings but also what only images can convey: gazes, gestures, silences, emotions.</p>
<p>Human dignity knows no borders or limits. It is one of the most important fundamental rights, which continues uninterrupted even after the death of individuals. Robert Badinter knew that humanity’s march toward human rights would never be complete. This is what he leaves to future generations because he never ceased to believe in the universality and indivisibility of human rights. This is his accomplished work of justice; it is up to us to ensure its continuation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvie Humbert ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The death in February of the man who abolished the death penalty inspired a national homage in France. Yet, Robert Badinter remains little known outside of the country.Sylvie Humbert, Historian of justice and law , Institut catholique de Lille (ICL)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2218032024-02-02T13:18:19Z2024-02-02T13:18:19ZA former federal judge explains what it’s like to be on the bench in a high-profile trial like those involving Donald Trump’s criminal charges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572538/original/file-20240131-27-krzw11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C0%2C7917%2C5134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Federal courts can be high-pressure environments, even for judges.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/gavel-and-scales-with-a-us-flag-in-the-background-royalty-free-image/1486785029">Simple Images/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Former President Donald Trump is expected to make many court appearances in the coming months, most in connection with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-facing-multiple-criminal-charges-investigations-59-articles-explain-what-you-need-to-know-210763">91 criminal charges against him in four cases</a> in both federal and state courts. The judges in these cases are under intense public and legal scrutiny, and several have been subjected to violent threats even before the trials begin.</em></p>
<p><em>To learn about what judges think and experience in these situations, The Conversation U.S. spoke with John E. Jones III, the president of Dickinson College, who is a <a href="https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/1494/dickinson_college_president">retired federal judge</a> appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 2002.</em></p>
<p><em>During his time on the bench, Jones issued landmark decisions in high-profile cases, including a 2005 ruling that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20051221144316/http:/www.pamd.uscourts.gov/kitzmiller/kitzmiller_342.pdf">teaching intelligent design in science classes is unconstitutional</a> and a 2014 ruling <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/225260457/1-13-cv-01861-Pennsylvania-Decision">legalizing same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania</a>, which anticipated by a year the U.S. Supreme Court decision reaching the same conclusion for the nation as a whole.</em></p>
<h2>What are judges thinking about while they’re listening to the testimony and the lawyers’ arguments in court?</h2>
<p>Judges are human. Judges read the news, watch the news. They’re aware of what’s happening around them. They’re engaged citizens.</p>
<p>But when you pass from being an advocate, a trial lawyer, to being a judge, you have this transformation. You’re in charge of keeping order in a courtroom.</p>
<p>You have to be on your game all the time, vigilant for anything that would make the proceedings less than fair for any of the litigants. That’s an intensive assignment. When you have a jury in the box, you have to be super careful. </p>
<p>For example, if you see an attorney running afoul of procedural rules or admonitions that you’ve given them, you need to resist calling out that attorney in front of the client or the jury. You want to make sure that you check the attorney either quietly at a sidebar conversation where the jury can’t hear, or in chambers. But there comes a point where, if that’s not efficacious, you’re going to have to do something more publicly in the courtroom.</p>
<h2>What are the rules that constrain judges, both on the bench and away from the courtroom?</h2>
<p>There are rules of court and evidentiary rules, and all judges underneath the Supreme Court have the <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges">code of conduct</a> for federal judges.</p>
<p>For example, if a member of the media contacts a judge’s chambers and wants to talk to him about the merits of a case, that’s absolutely forbidden. That’s something no judge would do under any circumstances. </p>
<p>Outside the courtroom, you must be very careful in what you do and what you say – and that’s even about matters that may not be pending in front of you but could show a bias with respect to a future case. </p>
<p>You stay out of politics, despite whatever your past may have been. Many federal judges have political paths to their position – <a href="https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Jones_JudicalProfile_Nov-Dec19.pdf">I did</a>. You have to be <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges#f">completely clear of all political activity</a> when you’re on the bench. That also includes <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges#c">potentially recusing yourself</a> from cases in certain circumstances.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/rules-policies/current-rules-practice-procedure">rules of court</a> that govern the proceedings, and some judges have their own unwritten rules about courtroom decorum. I didn’t have those, but it depends on the judge. For example, some judges have a protocol that you must stand when you address the court. Other judges are not so clinical or doctrinaire about it.</p>
<h2>How do you handle lawyers or defendants who don’t know or don’t follow the rules?</h2>
<p>Generally, the most difficult defendants that I had over my 20 or so years on the bench were criminal defendants. A lot of times they had public defenders, and they would clash with their attorneys.</p>
<p>Generally in a civil case, the client adheres to the instructions that the court gives and that the attorney gives. One of the worst things that any litigant can do when there’s a jury in the box is speaking out loudly – not just even a stage whisper but actually speaking out and talking directly to the judge. Most judges find that pretty intolerable. When somebody’s represented by counsel, they’re not supposed to be addressing the judge directly – and certainly not making statements that are not under oath that the jury can hear.</p>
<p>I had been a defense attorney. I’d been a trial lawyer. So I could see when there was what we used to call a “client management problem.” What you do in that situation as a judge is you give them a timeout and say something like, “I’m going to take a recess and, Ms. Smith, it might be a good idea for you to talk to your client.” </p>
<p>The other problem is the lawyer who just isn’t listening and is not responding to the signals that the judge is sending. Generally in federal court, but not always, the lawyers are practitioners who’ve been around. It’s a tougher place to practice than in state court. It’s a special kind of litigator and they’re very professional and they understand the rules of court.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view of a courtroom from the rear, showing seating and, down the aisle, the bench where a judge sits." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572902/original/file-20240201-15-pt8oex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Federal courtrooms are places of formal process and architectural dignity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2014630038/">Carol M. Highsmith via Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if you’re on the bench long enough, you get cases where you either have lawyers who are intentionally not listening or they just are not experienced enough, or a combination of both. Then you try to inform the lawyer, give them some rules of the road, explain to them why what they’re doing is not productive or may violate the rules, and hope that the lawyer picks up on those cues in court.</p>
<p>I also used to leaven the proceedings with humor. I think humor can break a lot of stress in a courtroom. These are very serious proceedings, but when a case was really dragging, I’d bring lawyers to sidebar and say something to the effect of, “Counsel, there are glaciers moving more quickly than this case.” </p>
<h2>How do you decide a case?</h2>
<p>You follow the law. Typically at the trial judge level, there’s precedent. There are very few cases you get as a trial judge that are without precedent. The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/225260457/1-13-cv-01861-Pennsylvania-Decision">same-sex marriage case</a> was one where I didn’t have precedent, and I had to make a judgment call out of whole cloth. </p>
<p>The logic and legal reasoning I used was really a precursor to what was in the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556">Obergefell</a> the following year: due process and equal protection. </p>
<p>When there’s no jury, you’re finding the facts. You listen to testimony, you judge the credibility of the witnesses.</p>
<p>There are some people – both judges and nonjudges – who are fond of saying about the judicial system, “We do justice.” This is really a misnomer, it’s sad to say. Many times I had cases that had extremely sympathetic plaintiffs, like with disastrous injuries, terrible things happened to them. But the law didn’t favor them. It may be that there was just simply no <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/cause_of_action">cause of action</a>, or they were outside the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/statute_of_limitations">statute of limitations</a>. There was just no relief that could be afforded. Is that justice? Probably not. But did I follow the law? Yes.</p>
<p>There are times that your heart breaks as a judge, and you think, “I would really like to help this person. But I’m guided by the law and the facts in this case, and I can’t afford relief.” So it’s a little bit of a misnomer to say that you’re there to do justice. Justice is indeed blind. And you’re not always pleased with where you end up in cases, but you do what you have to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221803/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John E. Jones III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The retired judge says the judiciary doesn’t ‘do justice’ but follows the law and the facts, which doesn’t always mean a sympathetic or compassionate ending.John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134322023-09-12T19:58:20Z2023-09-12T19:58:20ZRepublicans call for impeachment inquiry into Biden – a process the founders intended to deter abuse of power as well as remove from office<p>Yielding to pressure from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-12/mccarthy-hardliner-dilemma-resounds-from-impeachment-to-ukraine">hard-line members of the GOP House</a> caucus, on Sept. 12, 2023, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy directed the top Republicans in Congress to open a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/11/biden-impeachment-inquiry-abject-failure-report">formal impeachment inquiry</a> into President Joe Biden. The Republicans allege that the president committed financial wrongdoing with foreign businesses.</p>
<p>GOP-led congressional <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/us/politics/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-inquiry.html">inquiries of presidential son Hunter Biden’s records</a> to date <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/11/biden-impeachment-inquiry-abject-failure-report">have not shown any foreign payment</a> to his father, Joe Biden, or any other evidence of wrongdoing. </p>
<p>But McCarthy said in brief remarks on Sept. 12, 2023, “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”</p>
<p>Although impeachment inquiries can be misused, those concerned about McCarthy’s actions should consider words spoken at the Constitutional Convention, when the founders explained that impeachment was intended to have many important purposes, not just removing a president from office. </p>
<p>A critical debate took place on July 20, 1787, which resulted in adding the impeachment clause to the U.S. Constitution. Benjamin Franklin, the oldest and probably wisest delegate at the convention, said that when the president falls under suspicion, a “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=71">regular and peaceable inquiry</a>” is needed.</p>
<p>In my work as a <a href="http://www.clarkcunningham.org/">law professor</a> studying <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/29/big-trump-case-hinges-definition-emoluments-new-study-has-bad-news-him/">original texts</a> about the U.S. Constitution, I’ve found statements made at the Constitutional Convention explaining that the founders viewed impeachment as a regular practice with three purposes: </p>
<ul>
<li>To remind both the country and the president that he is not above the law. </li>
<li>To deter abuses of power. </li>
<li>To provide a fair and reliable method to resolve suspicions about misconduct.</li>
</ul>
<p>The convention delegates repeatedly agreed with the assertion by George Mason of Virginia that “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">no point is of more importance</a> … than the right of impeachment” because no one is “above justice.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294441/original/file-20190926-51425-1fa1c8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Mason of Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Mason_portrait.jpg">Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Need for deterrence</h2>
<p>One of the founders’ greatest fears was that the president would abuse his power. George Mason described the president as the “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">man who can commit the most extensive injustice</a>.” </p>
<p>James Madison thought the president might “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">pervert his administration</a> into a scheme of stealing public funds or oppression or <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=69">betray his trust to foreign powers</a>.” Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, said the president “will have <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=70">great opportunitys of abusing his power</a>; particularly in time of war when the military force, and in some respects the public money will be in his hands.” </p>
<p>Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania worried that the president “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=71">may be bribed by a greater interest to betray his trust</a> and no one would say that we ought to expose ourselves to the danger of seeing him in foreign pay.” James Madison, himself a future president, said that in the case of the president, “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=69">corruption was within the compass of probable events</a> … and might be fatal to the Republic.” </p>
<p>William Davie of North Carolina argued that impeachment was “an essential security for the good behaviour” of the president; otherwise, “he will spare no efforts or means whatever to <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=67">get himself re-elected</a>.” Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts pointed out that a good president will not worry about impeachment, but a “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=69">bad one ought to be kept in fear</a>.” </p>
<h2>Creating a powerful oversight procedure</h2>
<p>Until the very last week of the convention, the founders’ design was for the impeachment process to <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=432">start in the House of Representatives and conclude with trial in the Supreme Court</a>. </p>
<p>It was not until Sept. 8, 1787, that the convention <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=557">voted to give the Senate instead the power to conduct impeachment trials</a>. </p>
<p>This is clear evidence that the convention at first wanted to combine the authority and resources of the House of Representatives to conduct the impeachment investigation – a body they called “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=159">the grand Inquest of this Nation</a>” – with the fairness and power exemplified by trial in a court. </p>
<p>Even though trial of impeachments was moved from the Supreme Court to the Senate, Congress can still draw on the example of court procedures to accomplish an effective inquiry, especially if they are trying to get information from uncooperative subjects. In many of the investigations that are now part of the House’s impeachment inquiry, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/trump-blocking-congress/">Trump administration has refused</a> to hand over documents and blocked officials from testifying to Congress.</p>
<p>The Constitution makes clear that impeachment is not a criminal prosecution: “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei">Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office</a>.” </p>
<p>If impeachment trials had remained at the Supreme Court, the court could therefore have consulted the rules it has approved for civil cases. It makes sense that when the convention at the last minute decided Congress would have complete power over impeachment, the delegates intended Congress would have at least the same powers the Supreme Court would have exercised.</p>
<h2>When courts are stonewalled</h2>
<p>In civil cases, courts have powerful tools for dealing with someone who blocks access to the very information needed to judge the allegations against him.</p>
<p>The most commonly known method is the rule that says that once a person is legally served with a lawsuit against them, they must respond to the complaint. If they don’t, the court can <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_55">enter a judgment</a> against them based on the allegations in the complaint. But there are other processes as well.</p>
<p>One court tool that could easily be adapted to the impeachment process comes from the federal rules of civil procedure. In a process called “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_36">request for admission</a>,” one party to a lawsuit can give their opponents a list of detailed factual allegations with a demand for a response.</p>
<p>If the party does not respond, the court can treat each allegation as if it were true, and proceed accordingly. If the respondent denies one or more particular allegations, there is a follow-up procedure called a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_34">request for production</a>, demanding any documents in their possession or control supporting the denial. If the respondent refuses, again the court has the power to order that the alleged fact be taken as true. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294443/original/file-20190926-51438-chhu7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Franklin_by_Joseph_Duplessis_1778.jpg">Joseph Duplessis/National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Good for the president and the country</h2>
<p><a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=70">Benjamin Franklin told his fellow delegates the story</a> of a recent dispute that had greatly troubled the Dutch Republic. </p>
<p>One of the Dutch leaders, William V, the Prince of Orange, was suspected to have secretly sabotaged a critical alliance with France. The Dutch had no impeachment process and thus no way to conduct “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=71">a regular examination</a>” of these allegations. These suspicions mounted, giving rise to “the <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=71&">most violent animosities & contentions</a>.”</p>
<p>The moral to Franklin’s story? If Prince William had “been impeachable, a regular & peaceable inquiry would have taken place.” The prince would, “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=71">if guilty, have been duly punished – if innocent, restored to the confidence of the public</a>.”</p>
<p>Franklin concluded that impeachment was a process that could be “<a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">favorable</a>” to the president, saying it is the best way to provide for “the <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">regular punishment</a> of the Executive when his misconduct should deserve it and for his <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llfr&fileName=002/llfr002.db&recNum=68">honorable acquittal</a> when he should be unjustly accused.”</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published Sept. 26, 2019.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213432/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clark D. Cunningham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The founders of the United States viewed impeachment as a way to remind the country and president that he is not above the law and to deter abuses of power.Clark D. Cunningham, Professor of law and ethics, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103612023-08-21T12:25:17Z2023-08-21T12:25:17ZThe idea that imprisonment ‘corrects’ prisoners stretches back to some of the earliest texts in history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543081/original/file-20230816-27-7c81zv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1022%2C873&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hymn to the Goddess Nungal, on display at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hymn_to_the_goddess_Nungal_by_a_scribe_accused_of_a_capital_offense_-_Oriental_Institute_Museum,_University_of_Chicago_-_DSC07107.JPG">Daderot/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prisons are places of suffering. But in theory, they aim for something beyond punishment: reform.</p>
<p>In the United States, the goal of prisoner rehabilitation can be traced back, in part, to the 1876 opening of <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814766231/benevolent-repression/">the Elmira Reformatory</a> in upstate New York. Purported to be an institution of “benevolent reform,” the reformatory aimed to transform prisoners, not just deprive them – though founder Zebulon Brockway, known as the “Father of American Corrections,” was notoriously harsh. </p>
<p>Other states soon adopted the reformatory model, and the notion that prisons are <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prisons-in-ancient-mesopotamia-9780192849618?cc=us&lang=en&">places to “correct” people</a> has become a staple of the judicial system.</p>
<p>But the idea that imprisonment and suffering were supposedly good for the prisoner didn’t emerge in the 19th century. The earliest evidence <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prisons-in-ancient-mesopotamia-9780192849618?cc=us&lang=en&">goes back some 4,000 years</a>: to a hymn in Mesopotamia, in modern-day Iraq, praising a prison goddess named Nungal.</p>
<p>Almost a decade ago, <a href="https://rts.academia.edu/NicholasReid">as a graduate student</a> researching <a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a693cd93-092e-4118-ae02-b9775bc2285e">slavery in early Mesopotamia</a>, I came across numerous texts dealing with imprisonment. Some were administrative documents dealing with everyday accounting information. Others were legal texts, literature or personal letters. I became fascinated with <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prisons-in-ancient-mesopotamia-9780192849618?cc=us&lang=en&">imprisonment in these cultures</a>: Most of them detained suspects only briefly, but in literary and ritual texts, imprisonment was seen as a transformative, purifying experience.</p>
<h2>The ‘house of life’</h2>
<p>Around 1,800 B.C., students training as scribes at Nippur, an ancient Sumerian city, frequently copied from a selection of <a href="https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=17307">10 literary works</a>. Using cuneiform, these aspiring scribes would copy texts that included the exploits of the legendary hero Gilgamesh as he <a href="https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1815.htm">fought the beast Huwawa</a>, the fearsome <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1883-0118-AH-2598">guardian of the forest</a>. They wrote about <a href="https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr24201.htm">a great Mesopotamian king named Šulgi</a>, <a href="https://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=biography_shulgi">who claimed to be a god</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A slate-colored ancient seal has characters and an etching of a kneeling man holding a lion above his head." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543082/original/file-20230816-46396-o65x9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A seal from around the ninth-seventh century B.C. shows Gilgamesh overpowering a lion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/seal-depicting-a-bearded-hero-gilgamesh-kneeling-and-news-photo/152191411?adppopup=true">Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And as the master scribe dictated these various texts, the students also heard about a prison goddess named Nungal.</p>
<p>Though her justice was inescapable, Nungal was also celebrated for her compassion. Her “house” brought suffering upon prisoners, whose sorrow gave rise to lament. Through that lament, however, prisoners could be purified of their sins and made right with their personal gods, who were their protectors and mediators before <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/deit/hd_deit.html">the greater gods</a>. </p>
<p>The “Hymn to Nungal,” which dates from the second <a href="https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_5565.ahtml">or third millennium B.C.</a>, details how a guilty prisoner sentenced to death was not killed, but snatched “from the jaws of destruction” and put in Nungal’s house, which she calls a “house of life” – but also a place of suffering, isolation and pain.</p>
<p>Still, the hymn describes prisoners <a href="https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section4/tr4281.htm">transformed by their time in prison</a>. The goddess says her house is “built with compassion, it soothes the heart of that person, and refreshes his spirits.” Eventually, she continues, they will lament and be purified in the eyes of their deity: “When it has appeased the heart of his god for him; when it has polished him clean like silver of good quality, when it has made him shine forth through the dust; when it has cleansed him of dirt, like silver of best quality … he will be entrusted again into the propitious hands of his god.”</p>
<h2>Fact vs. fiction</h2>
<p>The extent to which the ancients <a href="https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/event/the-gods-in-literature-myth-theology-and-belief-in-ancient-near-eastern-and-greek-poetry">believed such stories about the gods</a> remains a matter of debate. Were texts like the “Hymn to Nungal” matters of sincere religion or just fairy tales that no one took seriously?</p>
<p>Since it is a literary text, it is not a reliable source about the justice system, either. Mesopotamian kingdoms during that time seem to have used prisons to detain suspects prior to punishment, similar to jails that hold suspects before trial today. They also <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prisons-in-ancient-mesopotamia-9780192849618?cc=us&lang=en&">detained people to force them to pay a fine or debt</a>, and to coerce labor – sometimes for over three years. But punishment, which typically involved physical or financial consequences, did not include time in prison.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded blue tile shows tan-colored figures walking in a line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=285&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543108/original/file-20230816-17-g5ko5q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail from the Standard of Ur, from third-millennium B.C. Sumeria, shows prisoners of war between soldiers. (Held in the British Museum)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_of_Ur_-_War_-_Detail_Top_Right.jpg">LeastCommonAncestor/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Still, detainment entailed suffering, with one prisoner describing the “prison” as a “house of distresses or famine” in <a href="https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/3183">a letter written to his superior</a>. <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/297">In another text</a>, the sender says he was released but complains of beatings that another prisoner endured as part of the investigative process – although the sender does not mention the nature of the suspected offense. </p>
<p>However, scholars <a href="https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/title_5565.ahtml">Klaas Veenhof</a> and <a href="https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/9782251446714/la-vie-meconnue-des-temples-mesopotamiens">Dominique Charpin</a> have found evidence of Nungal playing a role in the judicial process. At some temples, oaths would be taken in the presence of a throw-net, similar to what is used to cast for fish, which symbolized Nungal and inescapable justice.</p>
<p>The vision cast in the hymn was likely folded into a later ritual practice where imprisonment was used to purify the king. During <a href="http://www.islet-verlag.de/BandAmbos2.html">the New Year festival</a>, the king was stripped of his regalia and entered a makeshift prison made of reeds, where the king offered prayers to the gods for his sins. Through prayer and ritual, he was deemed purified and able to resume his royal duties.</p>
<h2>Yesterday and today</h2>
<p>While most people may not have spent long periods in Mesopotamian prisons, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prisons-in-ancient-mesopotamia-9780192849618?cc=us&lang=en&">they did suffer in them</a>. Perhaps it is that experience that caused a text like the “Hymn to Nungal” to be written, exploring how such an experience could be used <a href="http://www.islet-verlag.de/BandAmbos2.html">to reform the prisoner through lament</a>. </p>
<p>The notion that imprisonment can be good is pervasive, but is it accurate? How prison systems think about reform is very different today than how the “Hymn to Nungal” envisions it. Yet the powerful idea that suffering can be good for prisoners has deep historical roots – allowing incarceration systems to claim that the suffering within their walls is compassionate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Nicholas Reid does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mesopotamia’s prisons were built for detaining people, not punishing them. But they shaped powerful ideas about justice and reform that aren’t so different from today’s.J. Nicholas Reid, Professor Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Reformed Theological SeminaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111532023-08-11T14:14:53Z2023-08-11T14:14:53ZWhy imprisoning repeat shoplifters rarely breaks the cycle of offending – and what may work better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541706/original/file-20230808-25-1obzzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C5364%2C3910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The possibility of introducing mandatory prison sentences for prolific shoplifters has been mooted by government ministers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonenglandunited-kingdomjuly-21-2019-waterloo-rail-1676652064">Neil Bussey/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government is taking a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/action-plan-to-crack-down-on-anti-social-behaviour">harsher approach</a> to tackle criminal activity which is blighting local neighbourhoods. And recently, government ministers have been talking tough about repeat shoplifting, including <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/shoplifters-face-prison-under-crime-crackdown-ggdbv3j99">the possibility</a> of introducing new laws which would see prolific shoplifters imprisoned. This has all been against a backdrop of concern about a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/01/one-guy-uses-us-like-a-larder-the-british-shoplifting-crisis-as-seen-from-the-tills">rise in shoplifting</a> across the UK.</p>
<p>But there are some serious practical problems with any such measures and questions remain over whether such a policy could break the cycle of offending. Meanwhile, there is an innovative approach to this issue which may be a better way of dealing with crimes such as shoplifting called “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/integrated-offender-management-iom">integrated offender management</a>” (IOM). </p>
<p>Rolled out over the past few years, IOM is a novel criminal justice approach that is designed to break the cycle of re-offending. It is operated by 39 out of 43 police forces in England and Wales. </p>
<p>IOM involves police officers working closely with prison and probation services and criminal justice intervention teams. These are support staff who provide both clinical and therapeutic interventions for drug users involved in the criminal justice system. It is all in an effort to change or control the criminal activities of prolific offenders. </p>
<p>IOM was designed to address the underlying causes of offending. By the end of 2020, it was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-offender-management-strategy">central</a> to the government’s neighbourhood crime strategy. In a report issued that year, former minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse and former minister for prisons and probation, Luzy Frazer, said: </p>
<p>“We need a new approach – one with the tools to come down with full force on those responsible, but which also encourages rehabilitation and supports offenders to overcome the complex problems that we know can fuel this type of behaviour, such as substance misuse, poor mental health and issues with housing or employment.”</p>
<p>Any proposals which would see prison sentences for repeat shoplifters could risk undoing any positive progress made under IOM. </p>
<h2>The problem with prison</h2>
<p>The UK’s prison estate is running out of capacity for adult males. In November 2022, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/30/uk-government-requests-urgent-police-cells-male-prisoners">the Ministry of Justice announced</a> emergency measures that would see some offenders who would ordinarily be imprisoned (typically remand prisoners) housed in police cells. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2023">Figures</a> released in August 2023 show a total of just 980 available prison places.</p>
<p>The government has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/500-million-boost-to-create-thousands-of-new-prison-places">already stated</a> that more prisons need to be built. But any criminal justice initiative that requires new prisons will take a long time to deliver. This is because, on average, new prisons take <a href="https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/proposed-new-prison-in-chorley/supporting_documents/chorleynewprisonconsultation.pdf">two to three years to build</a> and open. </p>
<p>Also, <a href="https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CSJ-Desperate-for-a-fix-WEB-1.pdf">70% of shoplifting</a> is estimated to be carried out by people funding an addiction to class A drugs – typically heroin and crack cocaine. These people arrive in prison as addicts and likely leave as addicts and so will continue shoplifting. Custody is not a panacea for prolific shoplifting and is unlikely to break the cycle of offending. </p>
<h2>Integrated offender management</h2>
<p>IOM work is done through a mix of rehabilitative and restrictive or enforcement-orientated interventions. Here, the police take a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2018.1547719">carrot and stick</a>” approach to the management of offenders. Plain-clothed officers, deployed as police offender managers, gather intelligence and monitor people for signs of re-offending. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, these officers attempt to draw offenders away from crime by working alongside the other agencies, facilitating access to drug services, education, employment and transitions into stable housing arrangements. This is the “carrot” approach. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A police officer wearing a yellow high visibility jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Integrated offender management involves police officers working closely with other agencies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-19th-april-2019-police-1392717764">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Where there is evidence that a person is failing to comply with licence conditions, or engage with IOM positively, traditional catch-and-convict policing methods are used by uniformed patrol officers. This is the “stick” approach.</p>
<p>Prolific shoplifters are the type of offenders IOM schemes should be engaging with. </p>
<p>My own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Integrated-Offender-Management-and-the-Policing-of-Prolific-Offenders/Cram/p/book/9780367254148">research</a> has focused on how police officers contribute to IOM schemes. </p>
<p>I have also spoken with offenders who were engaged with IOM in the community. A number said that, while it was initially challenging to do so, in time they were able to form working relationships with police officers. </p>
<p>And, significantly, because of this, IOM had had a positive impact on their lives. This was particularly the case when it came to IOM helping them enter employment and tackle any drug-related issues they were experiencing. </p>
<p>Broadly, IOM seemed to have a strong motivational influence and a positive impact on those who wanted to leave their criminal lifestyle behind. </p>
<p>But IOM can only fully operate when people are able to access the relevant support services in the community. People may be able to get very limited employment and substance misuse help when in prison, but IOM offers a much deeper and enduring level of support. </p>
<p>The prospect of removing sentencing discretion for prolific shoplifters from magistrates and judges and introducing mandatory jail sentences, would risk disrupting a significant criminal justice programme. IOM may be a better and more cost effective way to deal with the pressing issue of repeated shoplifting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>My original research, on Integrated Offender Management, was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. Grant number: EF/H011382/1.</span></em></p>Integrated offender management is a better way of dealing with shoplifters than prison.Frederick Cram, Lecturer in Law, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101992023-08-02T12:52:29Z2023-08-02T12:52:29ZZimbabwe’s rulers won’t tolerate opposing voices – but its writers refuse to be silenced<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539973/original/file-20230728-19-7tnmnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NoViolet Bulawayo, Zimbabwean author of the politically charged novels We Need New Names and Glory.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Levenson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has always tried to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/04/zimbabwe-43-years-independence-commemoration-marred-by-rapidly-shrinking-civic-space/">silence</a> opposing political voices and erase histories it does not wish to have aired. Although “democratic” elections have been held since 1980, the country has become what the scholar Eldred Masunungure <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24388181">calls</a> a state of “militarised, electoral authoritarianism”. </p>
<p>As Zimbabwe heads to the polls again in 2023, it’s worth considering the role that writers have played in engendering political resistance. Their voices have been important in challenging oppression, exposing social injustices and advocating for political change. </p>
<h2>The liberation struggle</h2>
<p>Literature was vital for raising awareness about the harshness of colonial rule. It was used to mobilise resistance against the white minority regime and garner international support for the liberation struggle. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with an illustration of an African man against a spider's web, a needle stitching a wound on his forehead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539976/original/file-20230728-27-n59hy5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Heinemann African Writers Series</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Texts like <a href="https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/voices-of-liberation-ndabaningi-sithole">Ndabaningi Sithole’s</a> foundational 1955 novel Umvekela wamaNdebele (The Revolution of the Ndebele) and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-dambudzo-marechera-the-letters-zimbabweans-wrote-to-a-literary-star-144299">Dambudzo Marechera</a>’s 1978 magnum opus The House of Hunger were instrumental. Many others like <a href="https://www.gale.com/intl/databases-explored/literature/charles-mungoshi">Charles Mungoshi</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tsitsi-dangarembga-and-writing-about-pain-and-loss-in-zimbabwe-144313">Tsitsi Dangarembga</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/21/chenjerai-hove">Chenjerai Hove</a> produced texts that encouraged resistance against colonial rule. </p>
<p>These works showcased the resilience of Zimbabweans in the face of adversity, inspiring the population to continue their fight for freedom.</p>
<h2>Independence</h2>
<p>Since independence in Zimbabwe, there has remained little space for dissenting voices – first under the leadership of <a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-mugabe-as-divisive-in-death-as-he-was-in-life-108103">Robert Mugabe</a> and then <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-three-barriers-blocking-zimbabwes-progress-zanu-pf-mnangagwa-and-the-military-89177">Emmerson Mnangagwa</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fairplanet.org/story/zimbabwes-genocide-an-open-wound/">Gukurahundi genocide</a>, which novelist <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Novuyo_Rosa_Tshuma/">Novuyo Rosa Tshuma</a> called the country’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/09/house-of-stone-novuyo-rosa-tshuma-review">original sin</a>”, marked the first instance in which the state quashed opposing voices. Between 1982 and 1987, the government sent a North Korean-trained brigade to quell dissenters in the provinces of Matabeleland and the Midlands. An estimated 20,000 civilians were killed. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with an illustration of an African woman looking directly ahead with traditional hairstyle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539978/original/file-20230728-15-vc4suo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1194&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Women's Press</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, despite the shrinking of the civic and political space in Zimbabwe, literary production has thrived in providing political resistance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/article/view/168612">My research</a> as a scholar of African literature has demonstrated that literature in Zimbabwe has highlighted diverse forms of state sponsored violence. Through their works, writers have raised awareness, sparked dialogue, and inspired readers to engage in opposition and activism.</p>
<h2>The turbulent ‘lost decade’ (2000-2010)</h2>
<p>From around 2000, Zimbabwe <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-inflation-idUSL1992587420070919">experienced</a> economic meltdown, coupled with an increased shrinking of the civic space. The rise of a formidable opposition, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Movement-for-Democratic-Change">Movement for Democratic Change</a>, in 1999 <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/election-violence-in-zimbabwe/movement-for-democratic-change-was-number-one-enemy-in-2000/2CB944ACBCDB63C2311FDAB85ACD8037">was met with violence</a> by the state. </p>
<p>This period also saw a flourishing in literary production. Fresh voices emerged, among them <a href="https://writersmakeworlds.com/brian-chikwava/">Brian Chikwava</a>, <a href="https://novioletbulawayo.com/about/">NoViolet Bulawayo</a>, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e1fad84a-903e-44ec-b7c5-920e88a91eac">Petina Gappah</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poets/poet/102-5757_Eppel">John Eppel</a>, <a href="https://www.icorn.org/writer/christopher-mlalazi">Christopher Mlalazi</a> and <a href="https://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/lawrence-hoba">Lawrence Hoba</a>.</p>
<p>Literature from this period captured the socioeconomic realities of the country. Gappah’s debut collection of short stories in 2009, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/faberbooks/petina-gappah-an-elegy-for">An Elegy for Easterly</a>, depicts the emotions experienced by Zimbabweans in the face of diverse challenges. Some characters express disillusionment and despair, while others maintain optimism and resilience, representing a complex reality.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with illustrative fonts spelling the words " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539979/original/file-20230728-24712-naw856.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Random House</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bulawayo’s award-winning 2013 novel We Need New Names depicts the political situation through the perspective of its teenage protagonist, Darling. The story delves into the effects of political turmoil, economic challenges and societal changes on regular lives. Her 2022 novel <a href="https://theconversation.com/noviolet-bulawayos-new-novel-is-an-instant-zimbabwean-classic-185783">Glory</a> parodies a dictatorship, protesting the irrationality of a police state.</p>
<p>White Zimbabwean writers have also criticised autocracy in books like Catherine Buckle’s <a href="https://www.google.co.za/books/edition/AFRICAN_TEARS/haxhDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">African Tears: The Zimbabwe Land Invasions</a> (2000) and Graham Lang’s <a href="https://www.google.co.za/books/edition/Place_of_Birth/TzCsAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Place%20of%20Birth%20graham%20lang">Place of Birth</a> (2006). </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with an illustration showing the portrait of a woman with butterflies instead of hair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539980/original/file-20230728-3718-jawgb2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faber and Faber</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These novels portray the emotional effects of the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/zimbabwe/ZimLand0302-02.htm">Fast Track Land Reform Programme</a> on many white Zimbabweans, who found themselves dispossessed of their farms and their sources of income.</p>
<p>Writers from the 2000s have offered multifaceted portrayals, highlighting the interconnectedness of personal lives and political realities. The stories illuminate the human cost of political decisions and the resilience of ordinary people in the face of hardships.</p>
<h2>Literature in the Second Republic</h2>
<p>Literature after the <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-state-is-the-man-and-that-man-is-mugabe-a-new-era-begins-with-his-fall-87868">demise</a> of Mugabe and his four-decade regime – a period referred to as the Second Republic – has continued to grapple with Zimbabwe’s prevailing sociopolitical environment. In the book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Zimbabwean-Crisis-after-Mugabe-Multidisciplinary-Perspectives/Mangena-Nyambi-Ncube/p/book/9781032028149">The Zimbabwean Crisis after Mugabe</a>, my colleagues and I contend that today’s Zimbabwe is similar to the Mugabe years in many ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539974/original/file-20230728-19-7nqol2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tsitsi Dangarembga was arrested in 2020 for staging a protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zinyange Autony/AFP/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.batsiraichigama.com/">Batsirai Chigama</a>’s collection of poems Gather the Children captures the vicissitudes of contemporary life in Zimbabwe. In <a href="https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/article/104-29416_On-Chigama-8217-s-Gather-the-Children">his analysis</a> of this collection, literary scholar Tinashe Mushakavanhu explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Zimbabwe’s political crisis has been a different kind of catastrophe, one that has occurred in slow motion: its mechanisms abstract and impersonal, although the economic, physical, and psychological consequences have been very real and devastating. These strictures insinuate themselves into the ambience of everyday life and language, something that Chigama observes with careful attention. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In her poem Zimbabwe, Chigama writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Like eating olives</p>
<p>we have acquired the taste of discomfort</p>
<p>over the longest time</p>
<p>it has gently settled on our tongues</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her poems highlight how Zimbabweans have normalised the abnormal.</p>
<p>Other writers from the post-Mugabe period like <a href="http://www.panashechigumadzi.com/bio">Panashe Chigumadzi</a> and <a href="https://novuyotshuma.com/about">Novuyo Rosa Tshuma</a> grapple with similar issues and themes. Writer and academic <a href="https://brittlepaper.com/2023/03/siphiwe-ndlovu-on-the-rise-and-rise-of-zimbabwean-literature/">Siphiwe Ndlovu</a> explains that in contemporary Zimbabwean fiction</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there is anger, outrage, disappointment, disillusionment, hope (and the loss of it), but most importantly, there is a call for reckoning and change that the politics of the country have failed to successfully address.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The power (and limits) of literature</h2>
<p>Despite its power, reading remains a luxury that many Zimbabweans cannot afford. Books are extremely expensive and few people have disposable income to read for pleasure. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with an illustration of birds flying into a tree and down into a red backdrop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539982/original/file-20230728-16223-8s27vs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ntombekhaya Poetry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s for this reason that, since independence, the state has not banned the many novels which are critical of the situation in the country. Writer Stanley Nyamfukudza <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:240525/FULLTEXT02.pdf">explains</a>: “It has been suggested that one of the best ways to hide information in Zimbabwe is to publish it in a book.” </p>
<p>Literature can achieve greater effects if there is a robust culture of critical thinking and reading.</p>
<p>However, despite the continued oppression and the lack of a robust reading culture, Zimbabwean writers have been unrelenting in telling the world what is really happening in Zimbabwe. They have always spoken truth to power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gibson Ncube does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Writers have challenged oppression, exposed social injustices and advocated for political change.Gibson Ncube, Lecturer, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065692023-07-24T12:16:55Z2023-07-24T12:16:55Z40 years ago, the US started sending more and more kids to prison without hope of release, but today, it’s far more rare – what happened?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538752/original/file-20230721-25-zxq7ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C12%2C2854%2C1901&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Panic over supposed 'super-predator' teens ended years ago, but its consequences did not.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bad-kid-royalty-free-image/174546155?phrase=teen+handcuff&adppopup=true">jabejon/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A South Carolina judge <a href="https://www.wyff4.com/article/judge-reduce-sentence-townville-school-shooter/43967273">heard arguments</a> in late May 2023 to reconsider the sentence for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/3ebe190981d445edbb30501aa7cd6959">Jesse Osborne</a>, who carried out a school shooting in 2016. Fourteen years old at the time, Osborne killed his father, then opened fire at Townsville Elementary School, killing a 6-year-old child and injuring others. </p>
<p>He was sentenced to life without parole, but his attorneys have asked that a judge “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/townville-school-shooting-jesse-osborne-0cd4c422fd51a4c357fb9be6caed4bd9">give Jesse some hope</a>” of leaving prison decades down the line. The judge ordered the defense to submit a detailed report by late June about abuse Osborne suffered as a child and his potential for rehabilitation. He said the prosecution would have 10 days to respond, though no decision has been announced as of mid-July.</p>
<p>At the heart of this case is whether it is appropriate to sentence children to die in prison, with no chance of being considered for release. Half a century ago, offenders in the U.S. of any age were rarely <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/u-s-sentence-children-life-prison/">sentenced to life without parole</a>, and it was not until 1978 that states began trying youths as adults. Between 1985 and 2001, however, youths convicted of murder were actually more likely to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/10/12/rest-their-lives/life-without-parole-child-offenders-united-states">enter prison with a life sentence</a> than adults convicted of the same crime.</p>
<p>Yet the use of juvenile life without parole, or JLWOP, has sharply declined over the past two decades and has been <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/articles/2018/summer2018-rejecting-harsh-sentences-children-20-yrs-sentence-reform/">condemned by the American Bar Association</a>, largely thanks to <a href="https://clbb.mgh.harvard.edu/juvenilejustice/">new research on brain development</a>.</p>
<p>As a former prosecutor, I respect the need to consider victims’ perspectives. However, I also believe it is important to recognize that a 14-year-old child’s brain <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708">is far from fully developed</a>, and that retribution and accountability must take that into account – ideas that guide my work today as <a href="https://law.richmond.edu/faculty/jm6hd/">a legal scholar</a> who defends youth offenders. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A row of swings on a playground, seen from above as dusk starts to fall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C4%2C1004%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The playground at Townville Elementary School where Jesse Osborne, then 14, shot three students and a teacher in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-playground-where-children-were-playing-when-the-news-photo/926603318?adppopup=true">Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘superpredator’ era</h2>
<p>In 1995, political scientist <a href="https://live-sas-www-polisci.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/standing-faculty/john-diiulio">John J. DiIulio Jr.</a> published <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-coming-of-the-super-predators">an influential article</a> arguing that the U.S. faced a wave of <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth">child “superpredators</a>” who “prefer murder to mischief” and “perceive no relationship between doing right (or wrong) now and being rewarded (or punished) for it later.”</p>
<p>DiIulio <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-coming-of-the-super-predators">blamed this predicted criminal conduct</a> on the “moral poverty” of not having “loving, capable, responsible adults who teach you right from wrong.” He repeatedly called attention to violence among Black youths in “inner-city neighborhoods.”</p>
<p>While DiIulio coined the phrase “superpredator,” his message resonated with many Americans used to “war on drugs” and “<a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/failure-get-tough-crime-policy">tough on crime” campaigns</a>. America’s history of marginalizing and criminalizing Black citizens primed the media and the public to accept <a href="https://cfsy.org/wp-content/uploads/Superpredator-Origins-CFSY.pdf">his theory</a>, as did several high-profile cases. The most notorious, perhaps, was that of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/television/when-they-see-us.html">the Central Park Five</a>, in which five Black teenagers were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park in 1989.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, well before DiIulio’s article, states had already been establishing harsher sentencing laws, <a href="https://law.asu.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academy_for_justice/14_Reforming-Criminal-Justice_Vol_1_Juvenile-Justice.pdf">even for minors</a>. <a href="https://eji.org/news/superpredator-myth-20-years-later/">Across the country</a>, legislatures embraced trying children as adults and rejected policies focused on <a href="https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1497&context=ndjlepp">prevention and rehabilitation</a>.</p>
<p>Between 1985 and 1994, the number of children tried as adults <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/163709.pdf">grew 71%</a>, and by 2012, 28 states had <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal-justice/miller-v-alabama-and-juvenile-life-without-parole-laws#:%7E:text=During%20the%20time%20of%20the,in%20compliance%20with%20federal%20law">mandatory life sentences</a> for capital murder for certain minors.</p>
<p>The “superpredator” theory turned out to be a myth: By the end of the 1990s, youth crime <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth">had actually decreased</a>, and that trajectory <a href="https://info.mstservices.com/blog/juvenile-crime-rates#:%7E:text=One%20proposed%20reason%20behind%20the,arrested%20for%20committing%20a%20crime">has continued</a>. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of incarcerated youths <a href="https://jjie.org/2023/01/10/its-not-just-a-jail-break-juvenile-prison-populations-reach-all-time-lows/">fell by 77%</a>.</p>
<p>By 2000, DiIulio had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/09/us/as-ex-theorist-on-young-superpredators-bush-aide-has-regrets.html">retracted the superpredator theory</a> and was advocating for reform. Many laws from the “superpredator” era, however, are still on the books. The U.S. is still <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/u-s-sentence-children-life-prison/">the only nation</a> that sentences children to life without the possibility of parole.</p>
<h2>Shifts at the Supreme Court</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, a sea change has taken place in legal thinking, as psychologists have argued that teenagers are less culpable than adults because of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412471678">the nature of adolescents’ brains</a>. </p>
<p>Starting in the 2000s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/they-were-sentenced-as-superpredators-who-were-they-really/">child offenders are different from adults</a>. In 2005, the court <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZS.html">banned the death penalty</a> for people under 18, and in 2010 <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-7412.ZO.html">outlawed life sentences</a> for juveniles convicted of nonhomicide offenses.</p>
<p>Two years later, in Miller v. Alabama, the court ruled that, even in homicide cases, mandatory sentences of life without parole for minors <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/10-9646">violate the Eighth Amendment</a>’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The justices did not ban life sentences completely, however – simply mandatory sentencing laws that require them for juvenile homicide offenders, without consideration of the particular mitigating factors of each case.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/03-633">each of these decisions</a>, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2009/08-7412">the Supreme Court</a> recognized that a lack of brain development makes adolescents, even those <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/567/460/">who commit serious and violent offenses</a>, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-280">less culpable and more capable of change than adults</a>. In Miller v. Alabama, the court emphasized that teenagers are impulsive, cannot escape abusive home environments, cannot properly assist their attorneys and have inherent capacity for rehabilitation.</p>
<h2>State-by-state change</h2>
<p>This change in attitudes has had <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9debc3bdc7034ad2a68e62911fba0d85">clear impact on state laws</a>. Today, a majority of states <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/22/michigan-leads-juveniles-life-without-parole-bill-to-ban/70245687007/">have now banned</a> or have no one serving JLWOP.</p>
<p>More than 500 people who received their sentences before these SCOTUS cases are still serving life without parole for crimes they committed as children. However, another 1,000 individuals <a href="https://cfsy.org/get-involved/1000-releases/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20June%206%2C%202023,advocates%20to%20reach%20this%20landmark">have been released</a> because laws changed to override their original sentencing, according to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, which advocates against JLWOP.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man with buzz-cut hair and black glasses wipes his eye, while wearing a button-up shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jesse Osborne wipes tears after being sentenced to life in prison in 2019 in Anderson, S.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YESouthCarolina/5f7a9dfb9e2c4d88b55263646a796649/photo?Query=%22jesse%20osborne%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=1">Ken Ruinard/The Independent-Mail via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Virginia, for example, <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB35">passed legislation</a> in 2020 to allow people sentenced as youth offenders who have already served 20 years in prison to seek parole consideration. Approximately 17 have been reviewed and <a href="https://vpb.virginia.gov/parole-decisions/">granted parole</a> so far, including seven rehabilitated individuals whom my law students and I <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol25/iss2/5/">have assisted</a>.</p>
<p>Another aspect of adolescent development that research has emphasized is young offenders’ potential for rehabilitation, challenging the idea that they are irredeemably dangerous. <a href="https://www.montclair.edu/newscenter/2020/04/30/new-study-finds-1-recidivism-rate-among-released-philly-juvenile-lifers/">One 2020 study</a> found that only 1.14% of people who had been sentenced to life without parole in Philadelphia and eventually released were re-convicted of any offense. Similarly, out of 142 individuals released in Michigan after the Supreme Court’s Miller decision, only one <a href="https://imprintnews.org/news-briefs/michigan-released-juvenile-lifers-rarely-reoffend/58122">had been rearrested</a> as of 2021.</p>
<h2>The path ahead</h2>
<p>Nothing can bring back lives cut short. But in my more than 25 years working in the juvenile legal system, I have seen repeatedly that our society fails both defendants and victims by not helping them to resolve their conflicts before they get to that point. Those I assist as a defense attorney often come from the same environments and tragic backgrounds as the victims I served as a prosecutor.</p>
<p>Increasingly, however, it seems schools, courts and communities are turning to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250142.pdf">approaches besides life without parole</a> to help young people move past the worst things they have ever done, or prevent them in the first place.</p>
<p>The primary focus of the juvenile court has always been rehabilitation rather than punishment. Courts now have improved assessment tools, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.56">effective intervention programs</a>, a recognition of the roles lack of brain development and trauma play in delinquent behavior, and treatments for underlying psychiatric disorders that can help achieve that purpose – if our society has the will to invest in these resources as early as possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Ellen McConnell is affiliated with Housing Opportunities Made Equal as a Board member and volunteer</span></em></p>Research on developing brains has helped bring about a sea change in attitudes toward juvenile life without parole. But many people who committed crimes as minors are still serving such sentences.Julie Ellen McConnell, Professor of Law, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2097402023-07-17T14:08:21Z2023-07-17T14:08:21ZIt’s time for Ghana to enshrine its respect for the right to life – by abolishing the death penalty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537450/original/file-20230714-17-ymm8xc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The death penalty has not been enforced in Ghana for over three decades</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thirty years have now gone by since Ghana used its gallows, a fact that indicates the country’s respect for human life. It also means that Ghana is one of <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/international/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries">about 42 nations</a> – many of which are in Africa – that the United Nations calls <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/field/field_document/56_hood_roger_libro_homenaje.pdf">abolitionist de facto</a> because they have not executed anyone for at least a decade. </p>
<p>However, there is a paradox. Not only does Ghana retain the death penalty as a sentence for three crimes (murder, treason and genocide), death is the mandatory punishment for them. The law gives the judges no choice in sentencing for these crimes. Last year, the courts sentenced seven people to death. At the end of 2022, there were <a href="https://ghanaprisons.gov.gh/about-us/statistics.cits">176 inmates</a> on death row, and the list grows every year. </p>
<p>It could be argued that by continuing to hand down mandatory death sentences, Ghana’s courts are unusually harsh, for, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/6548/2023/en/#page=4">according</a> to Amnesty International, only ten countries did so last year. </p>
<p>But Ghanaian policymakers and civil society are making a renewed effort to resolve the contradictions on the death penalty. These efforts have led to <a href="http://ir.parliament.gh/bitstream/handle/123456789/2385/Criminal%20Offence%20%28Amendment%29Bill%2c2022.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">two new bills</a> due to be debated by parliament. They would enable Ghana to abolish capital punishment in law, as well as in practice. </p>
<p>As academic and legal experts on capital punishment for more than 30 years, we have been assisting Ghanaian policymakers and civil society groups. The latest initiative to end the use of the death penalty is firmly rooted in human rights principles and evidence based research. </p>
<p>A broad engagement in Ghana over a sustained period with a diverse range of stakeholders has enabled members of parliament to consider key aspects of capital punishment objectively. Previous attempts to abolish the death penalty in Ghana have involved complex constitutional amendments. The current moves require only amendments to criminal statutes: a majority of MPs need to vote for abolition. </p>
<h2>A chance for change</h2>
<p>The two new bills before parliament create a golden opportunity to bring the contradictions to an end. One covers the military, the other the civilian courts. </p>
<p>This opportunity follows a recent wave of abolition across sub-Saharan Africa. In the last ten years, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Madagascar, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Zambia have all abolished the death penalty. Despite their vastly different histories and legal contexts, through political will and leadership these countries all reached a recognition of the cruelty, inhumanity and injustice inherent in capital punishment. In doing so, they joined over 100 other countries worldwide which have now fully abolished. </p>
<p>Ghana’s <a href="https://www.parliament.gh/committees?com=15">Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs</a>, assisted by senior justice officials, has been scrutinising the new bills carefully. We also had the privilege of being able to offer the committee advice. Its reports are now in, recommending that the House should pass the bills and replace the sentence of death with life imprisonment.</p>
<p>The committee’s reports note a further contradiction in Ghana’s current stance: it has ratified international human rights treaties and conventions, including the <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36390-treaty-0011_-_african_charter_on_human_and_peoples_rights_e.pdf">African Charter on Human Rights</a> and the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a>. These, the committee says, “oblige the country to guarantee its citizens the right to life, and to live free from torture or cruelty.” </p>
<p>The reports deploy further, persuasive arguments. </p>
<p>One is that no criminal process can ever achieve certainty or perfection, so that retaining the death penalty will always carry the risk that an innocent person could be executed. </p>
<p>Another examines the claim that capital punishment is a deterrent to offending. The committee says there is no empirical evidence for this. In the United States, the murder rate is <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/states-with-no-death-penalty-share-lower-homicide-rates">consistently higher</a> in states that use capital punishment than in those that don’t. The seven <a href="https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/#/">least violent</a> countries in the world have all abolished it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-kenya-not-abolished-the-death-penalty-habit-and-inertia-189955">Why has Kenya not abolished the death penalty? Habit and inertia</a>
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<p>It is now up to parliament. Abolishing the death penalty in law would place Ghana squarely within a worldwide trend, which is especially noticeable in Africa at the moment. <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ACT5011622019ENGLISH.pdf#page=9">Movements</a> to do the same are gathering pace in other jurisdictions on the continent. </p>
<h2>A willing public</h2>
<p>The latest effort at abolishing the death penalty is not the first. In 2012, Ghana came close to abolishing the death penalty altogether, following a <a href="https://rodra.co.za/images/countries/ghana/research/WHITE%20PAPER%20%20ON%20THE%20REPORT%20OF%20THE%20CONSTITUTION%20REVIEW%20COMMISSION%20PRESENTED%20TO%20THE%20PRESIDENT%20.pdf#page=42">recommendation</a> by the Constitution Review Commission that was accepted by the then-government. Unfortunately, the path it tried to adopt, amending the constitution, is complex and challenging and in the end it failed.</p>
<p>Although its courts are still sentencing people to death, Ghana supported a UN General Assembly <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N22/764/50/PDF/N2276450.pdf?OpenElement">resolution</a> last December calling for an indefinite, worldwide moratorium on the death penalty “with a view to abolition”. Similar resolutions have been carried repeatedly with steadily increasing majorities since 2007. In 2022, almost two-thirds of the world’s nations voted in favour. For the first time, Ghana was among them, having abstained previously.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, although politicians sometimes <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/death-penalty-appeals-more-to-victims-families-than-life-imprisonment-cletus-avoka.html#:%7E:text=In%20a%20radio%20interview%20monitored,family%20than%20the%20life%20imprisonment.%22">express</a> the fear that abolishing the death penalty would be unpopular, there is good evidence that in Ghana the opposite is true. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/702009/1/Public-Opinion-on-the-Death-Penalty-in-Ghana-Final.pdf">study</a> published in 2015, there are clear majorities against the death penalty for all three of the crimes to which it is applicable. Just 8.6% of those surveyed said they were “strongly in favour” of it. In all, 71% were against. Based on interviews with more than 2,000 people who reflected Ghana’s socio-economic and ethnic composition, this survey was described by the late Professor Roger Hood of the University of Oxford in his <a href="https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/702009/1/Public-Opinion-on-the-Death-Penalty-in-Ghana-Final.pdf">foreword</a> to the report as</p>
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<p>the first methodologically sound study of public opinion on the death penalty in an African state.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some might argue that since Ghana is an abolitionist de facto nation, there is no pressing need for legal abolition. In practice, what difference would it make? To this argument, we would say: look at Myanmar, which having been abolitionist de facto since the 1980s, resumed executions last year. No state can ever be entirely immune from the political upheaval that caused this shift. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyan-prisoners-on-death-row-werent-deterred-by-the-threat-of-the-death-penalty-new-research-findings-197701">Kenyan prisoners on death row weren’t deterred by the threat of the death penalty: new research findings</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Back in 1992, Ghana’s <a href="https://constitutionnet.org/vl/item/political-developmental-constitution-report-constitutional-review-commission-ghana-2011">Constitutional Review Commission</a> observed that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the sanctity of life is a value so much engrained in the Ghanaian social psyche that it cannot be gambled away with judicial uncertainties. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The best way to protect that value now is for parliament to accept the committee’s reports, and vote for abolition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana is a signatory to several international conventions that oblige it to guarantee the right to life.Saul Lehrfreund, Visiting Professor, School of Law, University of ReadingCarolyn Hoyle, Director of the University of Oxford Death Penalty Research Unit, Centre for Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086122023-07-03T14:52:11Z2023-07-03T14:52:11ZSenegal: behind the protests is a fight for democratic freedoms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534405/original/file-20230627-19-529c19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Clashes erupted in Senegal following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison for "corrupting the youth" in June 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annika Hammerschlag/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a late evening <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegal-president-sall-says-he-will-not-seek-third-term-2024-election-2023-07-03/">announcement</a> on 3 July, <a href="https://www.presidence.sn/en/presidency/biography">President Macky Sall</a> put an end to speculations that he would seek a third term in office by contesting in 2024.</p>
<p>Prior to that announcement, Sall’s unwillingness to confirm he would not run for a third term, and the targeting of political opponents, created a political powder keg in Senegal.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegals-protest-hit-capital-left-with-looted-shops-debris-2023-06-03/">Protests broke out</a> in many cities across the country on 1 June 2023, following the conviction of leading opposition figure <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/01/senegal-ousmane-sonko-trial-conviction-protests-macky-sall-election/#:%7E:text=On%20Thursday%2C%20Sonko%20was%20convicted,allowed%20to%20appeal%20the%20decision.">Ousmane Sonko</a> for “corruption of the youth”. He was acquitted on charges of rape and death threats.</p>
<p>Sonko’s conviction marked the culmination of a <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2023/06/01/senegalese-opponent-sonko-sentenced-to-2-years-for-corrupting-youth_6028733_124.html">two-year legal saga</a> that crystallised the attention of a large segment of the Senegalese population against the government. An increasingly autocratic regime continues to curtail civil liberties and violate human rights.</p>
<p>Violence ensued in several towns, particularly in Dakar and Ziguinchor, where Sonko is mayor. </p>
<p>According to government officials, 16 people were <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1180013963/senegal-protests-sonko-opposition-leader">killed</a> in clashes between riot police and protesters. Amnesty International and opposition parties reported close to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/senegal-amnesty-international-demande-une-enquete-independante-sur-la-repression-meurtriere-lors-des-manifestations/">two dozen</a> fatalities, most of them with gunshot wounds.</p>
<p>Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison and is <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/02/senegal-erupts-in-anger-after-conviction-of-opponent-ousmane-sonko_6028868_4.html">prohibited</a> from running for the presidential elections in February 2024. But the verdict is only the most recent indicator of what’s fuelling political violence in Senegal. </p>
<p>Our expertise is in <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachel-beatty-riedl-1376019">institutional development</a> in new democracies, patterns of democratic backsliding, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bamba-ndiaye-1376085">social movements and political protests</a> in Africa. We argue that the drivers of political violence in Senegal today are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the previous ambiguity of Sall’s potential third-term bid and what it means for democracy</p></li>
<li><p>perceptions that the justice system is being used as a weapon against opposition</p></li>
<li><p>arbitrary detentions</p></li>
<li><p>a crackdown on journalists.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The Sall administration has dismissed concerns about democratic backsliding. </p>
<p>Our conversations with protesters in Dakar on 2 June showed that the outburst of violence went beyond the Sonko verdict. </p>
<p>Demonstrators were not necessarily Sonko fanatics, <a href="https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/senegal/senegal-trois-questions-sur-les-affrontements-qui-ont-fait-16-morts-a-dakar-aa0b6c9a-02f6-11ee-9ca8-165c5bcfd065">as many</a> commentators made it seem. Instead, they support a free and impartial justice system and the rule of law. They sought to resist the democratic backsliding of a country that was a model in the region.</p>
<h2>Weaponised justice system</h2>
<p>Concerns over the use of the justice system against opponents of the regime are at the core of Senegalese political tensions. Samira Daoud, director of Amnesty West & Central Africa, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkIDYJEMkH4">called</a> for the regime to “restore the fundamental principles of the rule of law by safeguarding an independent and impartial justice system.” </p>
<p>The partiality of the Senegalese justice system remains conspicuous in the regime’s efforts to sideline and isolate Sonko through legal prosecutions. </p>
<p>A defamation case <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/09/senegal-court-increases-sentence-to-six-months-against-opposition-figure-ousmane-sonko//">ruling</a> against Sonko in May 2023 found him guilty of libel against the former tourism minister, Mame Mbaye Niang. </p>
<p>For many observers, this ruling was further evidence that Sall’s control over the courts was being used to eliminate Sonko from the presidential race. The same pattern was seen in the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senegals-opposition-supporters-bang-pots-pans-noisy-protest-2022-06-22/">2022 legislative election</a>. </p>
<p>It’s also evident in the <a href="https://www.dakarmatin.com/affectation-de-greffiers-luntj-denonce-un-reglement-de-comptes/">systemic rotations</a> of magistrates between courts and the transfer of “disloyal” judicial officials outside the capital city.</p>
<p>An example is the <a href="https://www.pressafrik.com/Me-Ngagne-Demba-Toure-affecte-a-Matam-par-le-ministre-de-la-Justice_a258733.html">recent transfer</a> of court clerk Ngagne Demba Touré, a charismatic and vocal member of <a href="https://pastef.org/">PASTEF</a>, the political party founded by Sonko, from Dakar to Matam, a rural area 500km away. </p>
<h2>Arbitrary arrests</h2>
<p>In addition to Sonko, there have been hundreds of arbitrary <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147678892/the-arrest-of-a-prominent-journalist-in-senegal-has-sparked-unrest-and-fears">detentions of journalists</a> (Pape Niang, Serigne Saliou Guèye), activists (Ndèye Fatou Fall, Abdou Karim Guèye, Cheikh Oumar Diagne), <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/senegal-protests-dozens-arrested-in-latest-flare-up-/7029304.html">protesters</a> and <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/senegal/">members of opposition parties</a>. Many were jailed for expressing opinions deemed “subversive” by the state.</p>
<p>Detentions of members of Sonko’s political party, such as Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Fadilou Keita, are seen as the result of a <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2023/05/gatsa-gatsa-ousmane-sonko-and-senegals-politics-of-retaliation/">two-faced judicial system</a> – one that favours regime allies and is harsh on opponents.</p>
<h2>A speculated third term bid</h2>
<p>The current political violence in Senegal is also fuelled by Sall’s previously unclear commitment to stand down after two terms in office. Since his infamous “ni oui, ni non” (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/yerimpost/videos/macky-sall-sur-le-3e-mandat-je-ne-r%C3%A9pondrai-ni-par-oui-ni-par-non/2691523460932621/">neither yes nor no</a>) response to whether he would run in 2024, citizens became increasingly concerned. </p>
<p>78 African journalists and press freedom organisations recently <a href="https://www.rsf.org/en/78-african-journalists-and-press-freedom-organisations-urge-senegal-free-reporter-respect-press">called</a> on Sall to free detained reporters, respect press freedom, respect the constitution and preserve the country’s sociopolitical stability. </p>
<p>In 2012 the courts <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/senegals-top-court-allows-incumbent-presidents-run-for-third-term-138237869/151242.html">allowed</a> incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade to run for a “third term” because of a change to the constitution. </p>
<p>Yet the majority of Senegalese voters disagreed and elected Sall. He had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/18/senegal-leader-macky-sall-offers-to-reduce-presidential-term-as-example-to-africa">promised</a> to return to five-year presidential terms from the previous seven-year term. </p>
<p>Sall also said he would ensure that no leader could serve for more than <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17215803">two terms</a>.</p>
<p>Senegalese legal experts agree that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDpT4URkWw0">Article 27</a> of the constitution precludes Sall from bidding for the presidency next year. He and his current justice minister, Ismaila Major Fall, repeatedly stated this themselves. </p>
<p>That was until Sall’s <a href="https://aps.sn/la-nouvelle-declaration-de-macky-sall-au-sujet-de-la-presidentielle-de-2024-a-la-une/">recent speech</a> in Paris to supporters seemed to have indicated that he would run in 2024. </p>
<p>In March 2023, he <a href="https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/senegal-dans-un-entretien-lexpress-macky-sall-nexclut-pas-detre-candidat-un-troisieme">declared</a> in an interview with L’Express that the legality of a third term candidacy was a judicial issue that the Constitutional Court had clarified before the 2016 constitutional reform. “Now,” he continued, “should I be a candidate for a third term or not? That is a political debate, <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20230321-s%C3%A9n%C3%A9gal-dans-un-entretien-%C3%A0-l-express-macky-sall-maintient-le-flou-sur-un-3e-mandat">I admit</a>.” </p>
<p>Until he made it clear on 3 July that he would not be standing for re-election in 2024, that political question loomed large for Senegal along with suggested <a href="https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2022/04/15/questions-of-justice-governance-and-rule-of-law-surround-the-local-elections-in-senegal/">reforms</a> for judicial independence. Senegalese protesters were expressing their commitment to judicial autonomy, and Senegalese voters have previously demonstrated their commitment to two terms.</p>
<h2>Concerns about the future</h2>
<p>Sall’s increasingly <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/19421/senegals-president-uses-political-tools-to-mask-authoritarian-tactics/">authoritarian tactics</a> against opposition and activists raise concerns about human rights, rule of law and civil liberties. </p>
<p>A national dialogue <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/31/president-of-senegal-launches-national-dialogue-amid-rising-tensions/">initiated</a> by the government has been boycotted by the majority of opposition parties and civil society organisations. </p>
<p>Eliminating key opposition candidates and journalists makes it increasingly difficult for voters to have their say and defend democracy.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen how reassuring Sall’s move to dispel rumours of a third term bid would be for Senegalese who feared democratic backsliding. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated to reflect President Macky Sall’s announcement that he would not stand for re-election in 2024.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208612/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Macky Sall’s previous ambiguity on a third-term bid, perception of a weaponised justice system and arbitrary detention of opposition are the drivers of political violence in Senegal.Rachel Beatty Riedl, Professor of International Studies, Cornell UniversityBamba Ndiaye, Assistant Professor, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077692023-07-02T09:17:26Z2023-07-02T09:17:26ZZondo at Your Fingertips: new book offers an accessible and condensed version of South Africa’s ambitious corruption inquiry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534104/original/file-20230626-25-j2fluj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Ramaphosa, right, receives the final report of the State Capture Commission from Judge Zondo in 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anti-corruption activist <a href="https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/team_member/paul-holden/">Paul Holden</a> has done South Africa a great favour by summarising the work of the judicial commission that probed massive corruption under former president Jacob Zuma. No one except academics will read the commission’s 4,750 page report, but many will read Holden’s book, <a href="https://jacana.co.za/product/zondo-at-your-fingertips/">Zondo at your Fingertips</a>.</p>
<p>Holden is a former director of investigations at <a href="https://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/">Corruption Watch</a>, the South African corruption watchdog. He has worked with the investigative organisations <a href="https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/">Shadow World</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org.za/">Open Secrets</a> for many years. He seeks to expose how corrupt individuals, aided by auditors and banks, not only looted the state but came to control it and pervert it into a kleptocracy.</p>
<p>The author, who has also lived in the UK, tells us that the Zondo commission was globally unique:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are only a handful of examples of any state or quasi-judicial inquiry being given the task and resources to delve so deeply into the corruption of the ruling party … something like the scale, importance and independence of the Zondo Commission could never happen in the United Kingdom. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Holden has written a good and solid book, selecting and explaining the significant Zondo findings. It is useful for South Africans in getting a grasp of the commission’s report. Overall, this book is recommended for your bookshelf and every library.</p>
<p>If South Africans are lucky, the multi-volume report will be read through by prosecutors, who have the power to formulate charges and get the courts to issue warrants of arrest.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Book cover with the words: Zondo at your fingertips" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the historical odds are stacked against this. The country has had over a dozen big commissions of inquiry. Not many people landed up in jail as a consequence. </p>
<h2>How the story is told</h2>
<p>Holden starts by telling us that the commission, headed by then deputy chief justice <a href="https://www.concourt.org.za/index.php/13-current-judges/72-deputy-chief-justice-ray-zondo">Raymond Zondo</a>, heard 1,731,106 pages of documentary evidence, which it summarised in a transcript of 75,099 pages. The commission’s 19-volume report totals 4,750 pages. It heard 300 witnesses over 400 days of hearings, spread over four and a half years between 2018 and 2021. </p>
<p>Only the report of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, which probed human rights abuses by both the apartheid regime and the liberation movement during the struggle for freedom in South Africa, has been comparable in <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/">length and scope</a>. It sat from 1996 and submitted its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission-South-Africa">final report in October 2003</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-democracy-or-a-kleptocracy-how-south-africa-stacks-up-111101">A democracy or a kleptocracy? How South Africa stacks up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The book is well structured in 10 parts. These include a chapter on the capture of state institutions such as the South African Revenue Service, the capture of state-owned enterprises such as South African Airways, the failures of the president, the African National Congress, and parliament, and a chapter on what money went where.</p>
<h2>Commissions of inquiry</h2>
<p>The most ambitious commission of inquiry set up in South Africa was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Set up in 1996 after the end of apartheid, it offered amnesty in exchange for information about atrocities.</p>
<p>No one who refused to apply for amnesty, or whose amnesty application was refused by the commission, was in fact prosecuted. A quarter of a century lapsed before the families of some detainees who’d been tortured to death found pro bono lawyers who <a href="https://www.newframe.com/long-read-the-unfinished-business-of-the-trc/">instituted the reopening of inquests and other litigation</a> – with zero support from the government.</p>
<p>The great majority of the recommendations of commissions of inquiry, such as the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/comm-mrk/docs/20150710-gg38978_gen699_3_MarikanaReport.pdf">Farlam Commission</a> into the massacre of striking miners and other killings at Marikana, North West province in 2012, remain unimplemented and ignored by the government. Sceptics argue that commissions of inquiry merely provide governments with a pretext to <a href="https://www.enca.com/opinion/parking-hot-potato-are-commissions-inquiry-ineffective">stall any remedial actions for years</a>, until the politics of the front page has moved onto other issues.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-new-chief-justice-an-introduction-to-raymond-zondo-179315">South Africa has a new Chief Justice: an introduction to Raymond Zondo</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Holden notes that Judge Zondo ordered the government to lay charges with the police against Dudu Myeni, former chair of South African Airways, for revealing the identity of a witness. But no arrest or prosecution has yet occurred. Likewise, the commission’s recommendations to the <a href="https://lpc.org.za/">Legal Practice Council</a>, to explore whether certain lawyers who enabled corruption should be struck off the roll, and to the auditors’ regulatory entity, to do the same with some auditors, have not yet resulted in action.</p>
<p>However, the author concludes, on the positive side, the <a href="https://www.npa.gov.za/asset-forfeiture-unit#:%7E:text=Empowered%20by%20the%20Prevention%20of,the%20private%20and%20public%20sector.">Asset Forfeiture Unit</a>, which is empowered to seize assets which are the proceeds of crime, successfully froze the Optimum coal mine to prevent it being sold on to cronies of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48980964">Guptas</a>, the Indian family accused of orchestrating mass corruption in South Africa. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.siu.org.za/">Special Investigating Unit</a> took up numerous cases against multinational companies to recoup state funds and got billions of rand refunded. The <a href="https://www.parliament.gov.za/news/investigative-directorate-move-npa-says-president">Investigative Directorate</a> of the <a href="https://www.npa.gov.za/">National Prosecuting Authority</a> made numerous arrests; prosecutions are pending.</p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>Holden notes that the Zondo Commission made a number of recommendations. Key among these are to professionalise all appointments to the boards of state-owned enterprises, and prevent cabinet ministers from appointing political cronies and other unqualified or compromised persons. The same applies to <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-plan-to-make-its-public-service-professional-its-time-to-act-on-it-187706">professionalising civil service</a>, provincial, and municipal procurement officials.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whistleblowers-are-key-to-fighting-corruption-in-south-africa-it-shouldnt-be-at-their-peril-168134">Whistleblowers are key to fighting corruption in South Africa. It shouldn't be at their peril</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Holden also summarises the commission’s enhanced proposed protection for whistle blowers, and to grant them compensation for losses they suffered. He notes that Zondo also flagged the deployment of party loyalists to key state positions as a violation of the constitution’s section 197 (3).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Gottschalk is a member of the ANC, but writes this review in his professional capacity as a political scientist.</span></em></p>The Zondo Commission was globally unique in scope and scale. The book selects and explains its key findings and recommendations.Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2081572023-06-26T12:20:38Z2023-06-26T12:20:38ZSupreme Court has not committed to a major innovation in transparency it started during the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533746/original/file-20230623-2068-cqanj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After the Supreme Court began livestreaming its oral arguments in 2020, the public could listen in real time to the justices as they interact with attorneys.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/959323050/photo/washington-d-c-scenes.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=Tadm5LYt9sTimniKbu35C4YioAwaFYPuKLFafs4n8cI=">Robert Alexander/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Supreme Court began livestreaming audio of oral arguments <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/5/21246566/supreme-court-teleconference-live-stream-hearings-patent-booking-com">in May 2020</a>, it was because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the justices from convening in person.</p>
<p>But since then, even as pandemic-era restrictions eased, the Supreme Court has continued livestreaming, uninterrupted. The Supreme Court initially approved the practice on <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_09-16-20">a month-by-month basis</a>, then <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_09-29-21">three months</a> at a time, and most recently for an <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_09-28-22">entire term</a>, stretching from October 2022 through April 2023, when it last met to hear arguments.</p>
<p>But the Supreme Court has not announced whether it will continue livestreaming <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/pressreleases/pr_09-28-22">beyond its 2022 term</a>, which ends in June 2023.</p>
<h2>Reactions to livestreaming</h2>
<p>The practice has become popular among legal observers, media and some members of the general public.</p>
<p>When the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</a>, which considered the federal right to get an abortion, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRe4mYcEqBM">hundreds of thousands</a> of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/05/04/847785015/supreme-court-arguments-resume-but-with-a-twist">people tuned in remotely</a> in December 2021 to listen to the deliberations. </p>
<p>News media outlets also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/01/us/abortion-mississippi-supreme-court">provided commentary in real time</a> during oral arguments, which are the only public portion of the Supreme Court’s decision-making process.</p>
<p>While the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/opinions.aspx">publishes written opinions</a> explaining its rulings, most of its work takes place behind closed doors.</p>
<p>Before May 2020, people could attend oral argument sessions in person, but <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/04/courtroom-access-the-nuts-and-bolts-of-courtroom-seating-and-the-lines-to-gain-access-to-the-courtroom/">the courtroom</a> only has seating for about 50 public observers. In contrast, livestreamed audio allows anyone interested to hear the Supreme Court at work in real time. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZC09tH0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">We are</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tYMiatIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars of</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=dWTuMMIAAAAJ">the U.S. Supreme Court</a>. Our 2023 book, “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538172612/SCOTUS-and-COVID-How-the-Media-Reacted-to-the-Livestreaming-of-Supreme-Court-Oral-Arguments">SCOTUS and COVID: How the Media Reacted to the Livestreaming of Supreme Court Oral Arguments</a>,” examines whether news media coverage of the oral arguments changed after the Supreme Court began to livestream its proceedings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a dress walks behind a wooden podium. She is flanked by two men in suits and all three people are wearing masks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533747/original/file-20230623-25-6np9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee during the height of the pandemic, in October 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1229044034/photo/senate-holds-confirmation-hearing-for-amy-coney-barrett-to-be-supreme-court-justice.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=AK5CJKMy6jpZ83yzlhWG6dP-0E3tob8AD_J63C2RM30=">Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Does livestreaming change news coverage?</h2>
<p>Our research shows that news media coverage before and after livestreaming looks very similar.</p>
<p>Reporting on the Supreme Court is vital to the public, which relies on news coverage to understand decisions on <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">abortion rights</a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/20-1199_6537.pdf">affirmative action</a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf">voting rights</a> and <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/22-506_22p3.pdf">student loan forgiveness</a>.</p>
<p>News outlets’ decisions about what part of the oral arguments they cover, for example, may help <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.7835032">shape public perceptions</a> of the Supreme Court and justices’ decisions.</p>
<p>The number of news stories about a particular case – as well as the length of those stories and the use of direct quotes from justices or attorneys – spiked when livestreaming first started in May 2020. But the increase was temporary.</p>
<p>The only substantial, long-term change we detected after the Supreme Court began livestreaming is the use of embedded audio clips within news stories.</p>
<p>Including audio clips in news stories allows people to hear what justices and attorneys said as they discussed cases. But audio clips can only convey small slices of discussions.</p>
<p>Prior to livestreaming, the Supreme Court did not release oral argument audio in time for audio clips to be included in breaking news coverage.</p>
<p>When the Supreme Court opened the door to livestreaming, we also observed a short-term spike in the number of news stories containing oral argument audio clips of justices and attorneys speaking to one another. But it did not last.</p>
<p>In general, we have found that media outlets use audio clips sparingly, rather than as a core feature of a new type of reporting about the Supreme Court.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A laptop screen shows an audio recording and a page that has a photo of Justice Clarence Thomas and the words 'oral arguments' regarding a trademark and patents case." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533749/original/file-20230623-21-p33knr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks during oral arguments in May 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1211709669/photo/supreme-court-live-streams-audio-of-oral-arguments-for-first-time-in-its-history.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=WODpAwsK3x-1gr4Je98LzrvYBpe0NCWglWidHyHphTc=">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A temporary measure?</h2>
<p>The public has expressed interest in the Supreme Court’s proceedings by tuning in by the hundreds and, in some cases, the thousands to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xVF5fXoz9TZEiHiQoaKGGisAn8Y0YWGi/view?usp=sharing">listen to livestreamed audio</a> in the last three years, particularly in controversial cases.</p>
<p><a href="https://fixthecourt.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Practitioners-live-audio-letter.pdf">Lawyers</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/02/supreme-court-audio-broadcasts-cameras-video/">media outlets</a> and <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2020-05-29%20CEG,%20Leahy%20to%20SCOTUS%20-%20Transparency%20Following%20Pandemic.pdf">members of Congress</a> have asked the Supreme Court to make livestreaming a permanent fixture, noting benefits such as that this practice allows the public to “<a href="https://fixthecourt.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Practitioners-live-audio-letter.pdf">hear directly from the justices, unfiltered and in real time</a>.” </p>
<p>Yet, despite the public interest, the Supreme Court has not committed to continuing livestreaming.</p>
<p>Some justices, including retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, have <a href="https://www.c-span.org/supremeCourt/camerasInTheCourt">expressed concern</a> that increased access, including via video cameras during oral arguments, would incentivize grandstanding by lawyers or justices and that “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/03/case-allowing-cameras-supreme-court-proceedings/316876/">sound bites</a>” taken out of context could compromise the Supreme Court’s legitimacy in the eyes of the public.</p>
<p>Kennedy also said he does not want the Supreme Court to become part of the <a href="https://www.rcfp.org/journals/news-media-and-law-spring-2014/holding-out-against-cameras/">national entertainment network</a>.</p>
<p>Our findings indicate that increased access provided by livestreaming oral argument audio did not, on the whole, permanently alter news media coverage of the Supreme Court. This suggests that it is possible for the Supreme Court to remain more transparent without creating risks for misinterpretation.</p>
<p>Public access allows individuals to observe, know and understand how government institutions function. Such <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381609090379">transparency promotes trust</a> in, and the legitimacy of, such institutions.</p>
<p>Since oral arguments are the only public part of the Supreme Court’s work before a decision is announced, we think that access to these proceedings is a critical component of the Supreme Court’s transparency and, ultimately, its legitimacy as a coequal branch of the federal government.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court has not yet committed to making livestreaming oral arguments a permanent part of its work. But this measure could lead to more transparency and possibly confidence in the court.Eve Ringsmuth, Associate Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State UniversityRachael Houston, Assistant Professor of American judicial politics, Texas Christian UniversityTimothy Johnson, Horace T. Morse Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Law, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062592023-06-01T15:37:24Z2023-06-01T15:37:24ZListen: Trans scholar and activist explains why trans rights are under attack<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/e2ecabe1-cf01-433c-bd7e-7aac7f1d241a?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>This year we’ve seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the United States. There are currently more than <a href="https://translegislation.com/">400 active anti-trans</a> bills across the country. </p>
<p>Some of the legislation <a href="https://time.com/6265755/gender-affirm-care-bans-u-s/">denies gender-affirming care to youth</a> – and criminalizes those health-care providers that attempt to do so. Other bills <a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-nonbinary-hormone-puberty-missouri-lawmakers-5a8922430ffab9e43cf9b7ce254bff9f#:%7E:text=Charlie%20Riedel%2C%20File">block trans students from participating in sports</a> and still others have banned books with trans content. </p>
<p>These bills have at least two things in common. They all aim to make being trans harder in an already hostile society and they are being spearheaded by the far-right. </p>
<p>Where does anti-trans sentiment come from? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Lives Matter activists organize a sit-in at Yonge Street and College Street during the Trans Pride March, in Toronto, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima)</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/transphobia-white-supremacy/">enforcement of a gender binary</a> likely has much to do with the preservation of white power. And, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2022/5/20/through-line-critical-race-dont-say-gay-great-replacement">violence</a> against trans people continues as a result. </p>
<h2>Is Canada better?</h2>
<p>What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following some of the same trends?</p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/us-transgender-asylum-petition-1.6779692">petition</a> signed by <a href="https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4268">over 160,000 people</a> asked the Canadian government to extend asylum to trans and gender non-conforming people from nations in the West, previously considered safe. </p>
<p>To get a better understanding of trans histories in Canada, <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">we are joined by Syrus Marcus Ware</a>, an artist, activist and assistant professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He is a co-curator of Blockorama/Blackness Yes! and a co-editor of <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/U/Until-We-Are-Free"><em>Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada</em></a>.</p>
<p>We discuss the history of anti-trans and queer actions in Canada. We also speak about backlash and ways to move forward.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person with a rainbow on their shirt holds up a hand with a pointed finger and a sign in the other hand. They appear to be yelling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brenna Thompson protests this month against an abortion ban and restrictions on gender-affirming care for children in Lincoln, Neb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP/KOLN-TV OUT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3814961">All Power to All People? Black LGBTTI2QQ Activism, Remembrance, and Archiving in Toronto</a> (<em>Transgender Studies Quarterly</em>) by Syrus Marcus Ware </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/05/30/pride-flag-wont-fly-at-york-catholic-schools-after-board-votes-against-the-motion.html">‘A travesty’: Outrage swells over York Catholic board’s rejection of Pride flag</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/10/05/supreme-court-cant-ignore-equality-rights-claims-of-refugees.html">Supreme Court can’t ignore equality rights claims of refugees</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/toronto-bathhouse-raids-40-years-194590">Everything you need to know about the Toronto bathhouse raids</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/what-the-national-inquiry-into-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-means-for-two-spirit-canadians-158992">What the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls means for Two-Spirit people</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-2009-015">Settler Homonationalism: Theorizing Settler Colonialism within Queer Modernities</a> (<em>Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</em>) by Scott Lauria Morgensen </p>
<p><a href="https://blockorama.ca/">Blockorama/Blackness Yes!</a></p>
<h2>From the archives - in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transgender-hate-crimes-are-on-the-rise-even-in-canada-121541">Transgender hate crimes are on the rise even in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cuts-to-telehealth-in-ontario-mean-fewer-trans-and-non-binary-people-will-have-access-to-life-saving-health-care-198502">Cuts to telehealth in Ontario mean fewer trans and non-binary people will have access to life-saving health care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-went-to-cpac-to-take-maga-supporters-pulse-china-and-transgender-people-are-among-the-top-demons-they-say-are-ruining-the-country-201442">I went to CPAC to take MAGA supporters' pulse – China and transgender people are among the top 'demons' they say are ruining the country</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/right-to-party-20-years-of-black-queer-love-and-resilience-80040">Right to party: 20 years of Black Queer love and resilience</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This year, there are more than 400 active anti-trans bills across the U.S. What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following those same trends?Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064942023-05-31T23:00:02Z2023-05-31T23:00:02ZDid ‘wokeness’ cancel Police Ten 7? New research suggests racial stereotyping was the real culprit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529191/original/file-20230530-21-j9826h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C2266%2C1234&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When TVNZ cancelled reality TV show Police Ten 7 earlier this year, it certainly rattled some law-and-order cages. </p>
<p>The show’s former host Graham Bell, who described suspects variously as “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300868852/everybody-remembers-what-they-loved-and-hated-about-police-ten-7-except-tvnz">creeps, halfwits, low-lifes, mongrels and lunatics</a>”, <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/wokeness-political-correctness-killed-police-10-7-graham-bell-speaks-out-5-million-quest-for-new-news-outlet-pr-director-stepping-down/Y6BTLOJ4YFFS3MCQ6RM74VUITE/">claimed</a> “wokeness killed Police Ten 7”. New Zealand First leader <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-ten-7-cancelled-winston-peter-blasts-sociological-loonies-blames-decision-on-woke-cancel-culture/JNHEKJLW3FHFHEPHY3QIJH5OHU/">Winston Peters blamed</a> “cancel culture”. One <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/opinion/heather-du-plessis-allan-the-whingers-have-won-police-ten-7-is-over/">radio host said</a> “the whingers have won”. </p>
<p>But Police Ten 7 – TVNZ’s longest-running reality series – was already controversial for its depiction of criminal behaviour as popular entertainment, and for an alleged over-representation of Māori and Pacific offenders or suspects. </p>
<p>In 2021, Auckland Councillor Efeso Collins was <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/25-07-2021/god-not-my-girls-auckland-councillor-receives-bomb-threat-following-tv-show-criticism">threatened</a> after <a href="https://twitter.com/efesocollins/status/1373364800797822978?lang=en">tweeting</a> that the show should be scrapped because it “<a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438838/police-ten-7-show-feeds-racial-stereotypes-auckland-councillor">feeds on racial stereotypes</a>”. TVNZ subsequently commissioned an <a href="https://corporate.tvnz.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Police+Ten+7+Review+FINAL.pdf">independent review</a> of the show and renamed it Ten 7 Aotearoa, but eventually decided to end its run.</p>
<p>The controversy inspired us to analyse Police Ten 7 more closely and measure its treatment of Māori, Pasifika and European suspects – as well as police officers. Our <a href="https://www.journalofglobalindigeneity.com/article/77757-young-brown-men-being-brutish-how-police-ten-7-portrays-maori-and-pacifica-people-as-violent-and-criminal-in-aotearoa-new-zealand">recently published findings</a> support claims the show was not evenhanded in its depiction of these groups. </p>
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<h2>Framing the ‘bad guys’</h2>
<p>We focused on the calendar year previous to Collins’ criticism of Police Ten 7, and critically analysed 12 episodes that aired between September and December 2020. Among other data, we recorded the range of alleged offences and the airtime spent on each suspect. </p>
<p>Because people tend to recognise faces more readily when they belong to the same racial group (so-called “cross-race bias”), one of the two Māori members on the research team recorded the racial identity of suspects and officers. </p>
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<p>He identified “brown people” based on information provided directly in the show (“our offender tonight is of Polynesian descent”) or by making a holistic assessment of people’s looks, names, culturally significant tattoos, accents and so on. </p>
<p>We then compared our data with 2020 <a href="https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publications-statistics/data-and-statistics/policedatanz/proceedings-offender-demographics">police data</a> on types of crime and ethnicity (including ethnicity of officers). Our findings confirm <a href="https://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/_files/ugd/b93dd4_46164302ccd345f0bf1ef82783a0ae28.pdf">US research</a> on reality TV police shows, which has found a tendency to portray non-white people as the “bad guys”. </p>
<p>While TVNZ’s independent review found Police Ten 7 was “reflective of the reality of patterns of crime and offending in Aotearoa”, our analysis found otherwise.</p>
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<h2>Suspect airtime</h2>
<p>Of all actual New Zealand police suspects in 2020, 53% were Polynesian. However, Māori and Pasifika made up 71% of suspects featured in the episodes of Police Ten 7 we sampled. </p>
<p>In comparison, Europeans made up 36% of actual police proceedings, and 29% of suspects on the show. (The remaining 11% in police statistics covers other ethnicities.)</p>
<p>We also looked at the airtime Police Ten 7 gave different suspects, compared to how often police dealt with them according to the data. Of the total airtime spent on suspects, 62% was spent on Māori or Pasifika, compared to 53% of total police proceedings in 2020. </p>
<p>In comparison, the portion of airtime spent on European suspects (38%) more closely reflected how often police proceeded against Europeans in 2020 (36%).</p>
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<h2>Types of crime</h2>
<p>Police Ten 7 also portrayed Māori and Pasifika as more violent than police statistics show. Over the 12 episodes sampled, 100% of those suspected of violent crime (homicide, sexual assault, endangering persons, property damage) were Polynesian. This compares to 40% in police statistics. </p>
<p>By contrast, police statistics show Māori and Pasifika made up 43% of traffic offence suspects, compared to only 6% on Police Ten 7.</p>
<p>Police data show Europeans made up 34% of suspects for violent crime. Yet Police Ten 7 tended to disproportionately portray Europeans as lower-level offenders or suspects. </p>
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<p>According to police statistics, Europeans made up 26% of traffic offence suspects compared to 41% on the show. Europeans constituted 35% of public order offenders, compared to 67% on Police Ten 7. </p>
<p>We argue that over-representing Europeans in less serious offence categories suggests to TV audiences that any harm Europeans cause is somewhat unintended or easily explained.</p>
<p>Finally, we found the same disparities applied to the police officers featured in the sampled episodes. While Māori and Pasifika officers constitute nearly <a href="https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/annual-report-2019-2020.pdf">20% of the NZ police force</a>, they made up only 6% of the officers on Police Ten 7. </p>
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<h2>Others and ourselves</h2>
<p>Most people have <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/crime-and-the-media/print">little first-hand experience</a> of crime and rely on media for information. Consequently, news and entertainment programmes help shape views of the criminal justice system and those involved in it. </p>
<p>Based on our sampled episodes, a case can be made that Police Ten 7 did reinforce racial stereotypes of Māori and Pasifika as more criminal and violent. We argue this stereotyping was exacerbated by the under-representation of violent European suspects.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cop-shows-serve-to-reinforce-the-racism-at-the-heart-of-our-culture-142506">How cop shows serve to reinforce the racism at the heart of our culture</a>
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<p>We also suggest the under-represention of Māori and Pasifika police officers would not have helped <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/128981158/police-launch-first-recruitment-campaign-targeting-whine-mori">police recruitment efforts</a>, given the police themselves later acknowledged the need to remove barriers to wahine Māori in particular.</p>
<p>After all, the media shape not only how we see others, but also how we see ourselves. Any future New Zealand reality TV crime or police show would need to be mindful of these pitfalls and effects.</p>
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<p><em>The authors acknowledge the assistance of postgraduate student Wairua Busby-Pukeiti in gathering the data for this article.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206494/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study finds sample episodes of the recently cancelled Police Ten 7 TV show disproportionately featured Māori and Pasifika suspects or offenders. It also under-represented Polynesian officers.Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of TechnologyJuan Marcellus Tauri, Adjunct Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047082023-05-02T12:12:11Z2023-05-02T12:12:11ZRejected Oklahoma plea for death penalty commutation highlights clemency’s changing role in US death penalty system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523625/original/file-20230501-22-61xeda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C3000%2C1953&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters demonstrate against the conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anti-death-penalty-activists-including-members-of-moveon-news-photo/490575204">Larry French/Getty Images for MoveOn.org</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/04/27/richard-glossip-execution-parole-board/">decided not to recommend clemency</a> for death row inmate Richard Glossip, the case highlighted the role clemency plays in the death penalty system.</p>
<p>Glossip had asked the board to commute the sentence he had been given for his role in an alleged murder-for-hire plot. He was convicted of paying his co-defendant, Justin Sneed, to kill Barry Van Treese in 1997. Van Treese owned the motel where Glossip was the manager. </p>
<p>The board, which met April 26, 2023, was split 2-2 over recommending that Glossip’s sentence be changed to life in prison. The fifth member of the board recused himself because his <a href="https://kfor.com/news/local/why-was-glossips-clemency-denied-if-the-pardon-and-parole-board-voted-2-2/">spouse was involved</a> in Glossip’s prosecution. A majority vote of three is required for a favorable clemency recommendation.</p>
<p>Because Oklahoma law <a href="https://www.ok.gov/ppb/Pardons_and_Commutations/index.html">does not permit clemency</a> without a positive recommendation from the board, its decision sets the stage for Glossip’s <a href="https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/oklahoma-court-wont-overturn-richard-glossips-conviction-execution-date-set/article_526d14a0-df80-11ed-b3a2-2f2253d04e6c.html">execution on May 18</a>.</p>
<p>From the start, Glossip, who had never before been arrested for any crime, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/richard-glossip-death-row-oklahoma-1213122/">maintained his innocence</a>. His case has attracted wide attention, <a href="https://www.kgou.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-01/deeply-tainted-oklahoma-conservatives-call-for-moratorium-abolition-of-the-death-penalty">including from some of Oklahoma’s most conservative Republican legislators</a>, who contend that if the state puts him to death it will be <a href="https://saverichardglossip.com">executing an innocent man</a>.</p>
<p>Oklahoma’s case against Glossip <a href="https://saverichardglossip.com/facts/">rested on the testimony</a> of Sneed, who was induced to be a witness with a promise of a reduced sentence. In addition, the <a href="https://okcfox.com/archive/fox-25-investigation-state-destroyed-evidence-in-glossip-case-before-any-appeal-was-decided">prosecution destroyed evidence</a> that would have supported Glossip’s claim of innocence, and new witnesses have come forward who further undermine confidence in the verdict. </p>
<p>An independent investigation by a law firm engaged by state legislators concluded that “<a href="https://www.reedsmith.com/en/news/2022/06/reed-smith-investigation-into-glossip-death-row-case-raises-grave-concerns">no reasonable juror</a> hearing the complete record would have convicted Richard Glossip of first-degree murder” and that his trial <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/richard-glossip-oklahoma-execution">could not</a> “provide a basis for the government to take … [his] life.”</p>
<p>Even the state’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/us/oklahoma-clemency-richard-glossip.html">has said</a> Glossip is probably innocent and that “it would be a grave injustice to allow the execution of a man whose trial was plagued by many errors.” </p>
<p>Drummond asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-execution-richard-glossip-82b2c417dcd9dd63bfb46aafff458729">vacate Glossip’s conviction</a> and grant him a new trial. The court refused on April 20, 2023, which led to the parole board hearing the following week.</p>
<p>As someone who <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691133997/mercy-on-trial">has studied the history of clemency in capital cases</a>, I see three elements that make this case noteworthy: Attorney General Drummond’s actions, the attempt to use clemency to prevent a miscarriage of justice, and the fact that grants of clemency in death cases are today quite rare.</p>
<h2>The role of the attorney general</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit and tie." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523626/original/file-20230501-26-6t8wjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OklahomaExecutionGlossip/f40b6cc876da4fa0aef9a0d80f1b9feb/photo">AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki</a></span>
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<p>Clemency hearings like Glossip’s <a href="https://www.ok.gov/ppb/documents/Chapter%2010%20Clemency%20Administrative%20Rules.pdf">are proceedings</a> in which opposing sides – representing the condemned and the government prosecutors – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2008.00338.x">present evidence and arguments</a>. In Oklahoma, family members of the victim are also given time to make their views known.</p>
<p>In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to that kind of procedure when it held that <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/272/">clemency hearings must afford due process</a> to the participants. The court said the condemned person must be given an opportunity to convince a clemency board that the government should not put them to death – just as the government gets to defend its decision to do so.</p>
<p>And, as my research indicates, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691133997/mercy-on-trial">that is what the government has almost always done</a> when its representatives participate in such a process.</p>
<p>But not in the Glossip case. Drummond, his state’s top prosecutor, took the unprecedented step of siding with the petitioner – even against other state officials.</p>
<p>“I want to acknowledge how unusual it is for the state to support a clemency application of a death row inmate,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/us/richard-glossip-oklahoma-execution-parole-board/index.html">Drummond told</a> the Pardon and Parole Board. “I’m not aware of any time in our history that an attorney general has appeared before this board and argued for clemency. I’m also not aware of any time in the history of Oklahoma when justice would require it.”</p>
<h2>Clemency as grace – or justice</h2>
<p>I believe Drummond’s reference to justice would have surprised many of this country’s founders. </p>
<p>For them, doing justice was a <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/alexander-hamilton-federalist-no-78-1788">matter for the courts</a>. Clemency was about something else.</p>
<p>In United States v. Wilson, a decision from 1833 and the first case about clemency to be decided by the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Marshall <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/32/150/">made that distinction clear</a>. Instead of equating clemency and justice, he called clemency an “act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws.”</p>
<p>Clemency, Marshall continued, “<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/32/150/">exempts the individual</a> on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. It is … delivered to the individual for whose benefit it is intended, and not communicated officially to the court.”</p>
<p>A little more than 20 years after Marshall wrote that, another Supreme Court justice, James Wayne, reinforced this separation of clemency and justice. He <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/59/307/">noted</a> that clemency was about “forgiveness, release and remission.” Wayne said it was a “work of mercy … [that] forgiveth any crime, offense, punishment, execution, right, title, debt or duty, temporal or ecclesiastical.”</p>
<p>But over the course of American history, both public and judicial understandings of the purpose of clemency have changed, with grace, forgiveness and mercy <a href="https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3175&context=cklawreview">being replaced</a> by justice.</p>
<p>Clemency, especially in capital cases, has come to be associated almost exclusively with correcting errors made in trials and other legal proceedings. Clemency hearings are now generally just another arena to which inmates like Richard Glossip can appeal for justice.</p>
<p>This view reached its height in the 1989 Supreme Court decision Herrera v. Collins, in which the court said that “A proper remedy for the claim of actual innocence … <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/506/390/">would be executive clemency</a>” – a commutation or a pardon granted by a governor or the president.</p>
<p>Clemency, the court continued – using language that neither Marshall nor Wayne would have recognized – “is the historic remedy for preventing miscarriages of justice where judicial process has been exhausted.” </p>
<p>One example of this use of clemency occurred in 1998, when Gov. George W. Bush <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-commutes-death-sentence/">commuted the death sentence of Henry Lee Lewis</a> after what Bush said were “serious concerns … about his guilt in this case.”</p>
<h2>Clemency is rare in capital cases</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a T-shirt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523627/original/file-20230501-14-xizo1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Richard Glossip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OklahomaExecutionGlossip/8880cc0cb1f149c7bdc578072be450de/photo">Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP</a></span>
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<p>Glossip, joined by Attorney General Drummond, sought clemency in the hope of preventing a miscarriage of justice like the one Bush cited as a reason to save Lewis’ life. Given the facts of Glossip’s case, what the Pardon and Parole Board did <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/04/27/richard-glossip-execution-parole-board/">shocked many observers</a>. But, from the perspective of clemency’s recent record in capital cases, the result should not have been surprising.</p>
<p>As my research <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691133997/mercy-on-trial">has shown</a>, a century ago clemency was granted in about 25% of capital cases. But in more recent years, <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/clemency">according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center</a>, clemencies in capital cases have been “rare.” The center notes, “Aside from the occasional blanket grants of clemency by governors concerned about the overall fairness of the death penalty, less than two have been granted on average per year since 1976. In the same period, more than 1,500 cases have proceeded to execution.” </p>
<p>While the center does not indicate how often clemency was sought in those cases, requesting clemency <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2008.00338.x">is often a standard part of the efforts death penalty defense lawyers make</a> to try to save their clients. </p>
<p>It is hard to get clemency in capital cases because, as the center explains, “Governors are subject to political influence, and even granting a single clemency can result in harsh attacks.” As a result, “clemencies in death penalty cases have been unpredictable and immune from review.”</p>
<p>And what is true nationwide is also true in Oklahoma where during the past half-century there <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/clemency">have been only five grants of clemency in capital cases</a>.</p>
<p>Following the denial of clemency, Glossip’s lawyers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/us/oklahoma-clemency-richard-glossip.html">have promised</a> to keeping fighting and are asking both state and federal courts to stay his execution. Meanwhile Gov. Kevin Stitt <a href="https://tulsaworld.com/video/news/gov-kevin-stitt-indicates-he-wont-intervene-ahead-of-richard-glossips-execution/video_233a949b-f13f-55b0-8b44-84f101dec7a0.html">has said</a> he will do nothing to delay Glossip’s date with death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Austin Sarat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite support for clemency from Oklahoma’s top prosecutor, a death row inmate appears set to die on May 18.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032532023-04-16T07:18:36Z2023-04-16T07:18:36ZJuvenile offenders in Ghana aren’t prepared for rejoining society - how the system is failing them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520498/original/file-20230412-20-ggiujw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Juvenile offenders face stigma once released</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Globally, about <a href="https://www.penalreform.org/issues/children/key-facts/">one million children</a> are held in police custody annually; 410,000 of them are held in detention and remand centres. On any day, it is <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-56227-4_11">estimated</a>, remand homes around the world hold about 160,000 to 250,000 children. </p>
<p>Time in prison can have lasting impacts on the lives of young offenders. It can affect social, emotional and other areas of development. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child">Convention on the Rights of Children</a> requires that incarceration should be a measure of last resort. The <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36804-treaty-african_charter_on_rights_welfare_of_the_child.pdf">African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child</a> also provides guidelines; <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36804-treaty-african_charter_on_rights_welfare_of_the_child.pdf#page=17">article 17</a> specifically deals with juvenile justice.</p>
<p>In Ghana, correctional centres are intended to help juvenile offenders gain vocational skills to help them become productive citizens after serving their sentence periods. They also receive religious and moral guidance. But there’s little follow-up of what happens to them.</p>
<p>As a social work researcher and volunteer in Accra, Ghana, I constantly interact with the senior correctional centre and remand home. I became worried about the number of male teenagers I encountered there and the sometimes seemingly trivial offences that had got them into trouble. Ghana as at April 2023 had 254 male juvenile offenders in <a href="https://ghanaprisons.gov.gh/about-us/statistics.cits">detention</a>. I wondered about what the future held for these teenagers once they rejoined society. </p>
<p>The literature says very little about the experiences of juvenile offenders in Ghana after their release. I therefore conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10509674.2023.2182864">study</a> to explore this. I wanted to know more about the challenges they encountered and what had contributed to these challenges. </p>
<p>Knowledge about their experiences may be useful in designing policies and
effective strategies to mitigate the harmful impacts of imprisonment on young people’s lives.</p>
<p>In my view the results of my study highlight the need for a more effective and holistic approach to juvenile justice reform – one that considers the long-term impact of detention on young offenders. Ghana needs a more rigorous and comprehensive reintegration programme. And existing policies must be put into practice.</p>
<h2>Life after detention</h2>
<p>I interviewed 12 young men who had completed their sentence at Ghana’s senior correctional centre. I wanted to understand, in a qualitative way, the varied challenges they faced post-release and how that affected their lives. </p>
<p>The age range of participants at the time of the interview was between 19 and 28 years (average 22). All of them had entered the correctional centre as juveniles (some as young as 15) and exited as adults. They served an average of two years at the correctional centre.</p>
<p>Eight participants received skills training and education while at the centre – skills like general electrical, ceramics, carpentry and tailoring. The other four attended school while at the correctional centre.</p>
<p>Six participants had been charged with defilement, three with stealing, two with assault and one with unlawful entry. </p>
<p>One participant had a diploma, six had either started or completed junior high school, and five had either started or completed senior high school.</p>
<p>The study participants told me that they faced stigma after their release. Constant reminders of their offending history from friends and family led to feelings of shame, guilt and isolation. Indirectly, the confidence of these youths was challenged. They felt people saw them as beyond redemption and unsuitable for society. This feeling affected their social relationships with friends. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People are saying many things about me. I don’t have friends anymore in the area. So, though I live with my parents comfortably, I feel very sad and alone in that area.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The participants had given up on continuing their education. Some felt it was better to do something else. Others could not afford schooling in financial terms. </p>
<p>The correctional centre didn’t offer formal transitional programmes and support. This is one of the major threats to the successful reintegration of released juvenile offenders into society. Ghana has a Justice for Children <a href="https://www.mogcsp.gov.gh/mdocs-posts/justice-for-children-policy/">policy</a>, which outlines strategies such as the use of district probation officers and social workers to reintegrate young offenders, but it lacks proper implementation. </p>
<p>When released, the young men in my study returned to a background of poverty. This seemed to be what was contributing to the initial offence committed. Poverty limited the kind of help a family could provide for them. And they were unable to get work because employers were not willing to give them a chance.</p>
<p>For those who had acquired certain skills at the senior correctional centre, financial limitations made it hard to start a business. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have plans to open my shop to start an electrical business but I have got no help. It has been very difficult and disturbing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It meant they were unable to break the cycle of poverty, making reintegration even more difficult.</p>
<h2>A call to do better</h2>
<p>The successful reintegration of released juvenile offenders into society requires the implementation of formal transitional programmes and support such as Ghana’s Justice for Children Policy. </p>
<p>Comprehensive strategies for education, employment and financial support must be put in place to ensure that these youths can establish meaningful lives after release. They need opportunities to start businesses or gain vocational skills that allow them to break free from poverty cycles. </p>
<p>Justice should not end with detention. Reintegrating ex-offenders should be an essential part of restorative justice efforts aimed at reducing recidivism and increasing public safety and social cohesion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ebenezer Bosomprah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana needs a more effective approach to juvenile justice reform that considers the long-term impact of detention on youth offenders.Ebenezer Bosomprah, PhD Candidate, Institute of African Studies, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946182023-03-10T13:40:54Z2023-03-10T13:40:54ZBiggest racial gap in prison is among violent offenders – focusing on intervention instead of incarceration could change the numbers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514323/original/file-20230308-1134-uk6k7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C184%2C3230%2C2187&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black men disproportionately make up the US prison population.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CriminalJusticeRacialDivide/8233901987644f12a3b849a880a5a4a4/photo?Query=Black%20prison%20U.S.&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=758&currentItemNo=259">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Racial disparities in state imprisonment rates dropped significantly during the first two decades of the 21st century. </p>
<p>That’s one of the main findings <a href="https://counciloncj.foleon.com/reports/racial-disparities/national-trends">from a report</a> published by one of us in late 2022, along with Georgia State University colleague <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/william-sabol/">William Sabol</a>, for the Council on Criminal Justice, nonpartisan think tank.</p>
<p>But that headline decline tells only half the story. The narrowing is significant – down some 40% in the 20 years to 2020 – but Black adults were still being imprisoned at 4.9 times the rate of white adults in 2020, compared with 8.2 times at the turn of the century.</p>
<p>Of equal concern to us, as Black Americans and <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">scholars of</a> <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">criminal justice</a>, is where the largest gaps exist in imprisonment rates once you break down the data. With a steep decline in the drug imprisonment gap between Black and white Americans – <a href="https://counciloncj.foleon.com/reports/racial-disparities/national-trends">from 15 to 1 in 2000 to just under 4 to 1 in 2019</a> – the biggest racial disparity now exists among people incarcerated for violent felony offenses. These violent offenses cover a range of criminal behavior from rape to robbery to murder.</p>
<p><iframe id="gP3WH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gP3WH/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The <a href="https://counciloncj.foleon.com/reports/racial-disparities/national-trends">Council on Criminal Justice report</a> shows that states incarcerated Black adults for violent offenses at a rate over six times that of white adults by 2019, the most recent year for which offense-specific data is available.</p>
<h2>Both victims and offenders</h2>
<p>It has long been accepted that the racial disparity in incarceration rates for drug offenses is the <a href="https://doi.org//10.1177/0022042616678614">result of bias in the system</a>. Black people <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/3/17/8227569/war-on-drugs-racism">do not use</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2009.9721270">traffic</a> drugs more than their white counterparts. Rather, Black communities have borne the brunt of drug imprisonment because of discriminatory enforcement. </p>
<p>But this does not seem to be the case when it comes to felony violence. There is evidence to suggest that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9357-6">relatively higher Black incarceration rates</a> for violent crimes, especially homicides, are due to an <a href="https://counciloncj.foleon.com/reports/racial-disparities/national-trends">overrepresentation of violent offenders and victims</a> in Black communities.</p>
<p>The homicide rate for Black Americans (29.3 per 100,000) was about <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/">seven and a half times higher</a> than the white homicide rate (3.9 per 100,000) in 2020. Black Americans were also about <a href="https://ncvs.bjs.ojp.gov/multi-year-trends/crimeType">twice as likely</a> to report receiving medical treatment for physical injuries sustained from an assault. </p>
<p>Most acts of violence involve a victim and offender of the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/29/fact-check-meme-shows-incorrect-homicide-stats-race/5739522002/">same race</a>. According to the most recent data available, despite accounting for roughly <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/Bridged-Race-v2020.HTML">14% of the U.S. population</a>, Black Americans comprise over half of the known <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/asp/off_selection.asp">homicide offenders</a> and more than a <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/revcoa18.pdf">third of rape, robbery and aggravated assault offenders</a> identified by victims.</p>
<h2>Structural racism and violent crime</h2>
<p>The evidence suggests that Black Americans both commit and suffer the bulk of serious violent crimes. </p>
<p>Of course, this should not be misconstrued as suggesting Black people are inherently more violent. Rather, it demonstrates the structural and economic barriers that Black Americans continue to face.</p>
<p>Striking racial gaps, rooted in a legacy of structural racism, have left generations of Black people with disproportionately <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBAL-RACE/USA/nmopajawjva/#0">less wealth and education, lower access to health care</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs41996-022-00109-5">less stable housing</a> and differential <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf4491">exposure</a> to environmental harms like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab059">air pollution</a>. Such factors <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.699049">contribute</a> to concentrated poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2021.100052">community conditions tied to violent offending</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://crim.sas.upenn.edu/fact-check/violent-crime-increasing">recent rise in violent crime</a> has affected all demographics, but especially Black Americans. Data from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw an <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html">average of 10</a> more Black lives lost each day to homicide than the year before. During this same period, the average number of white homicide victims increased by nearly three per day.</p>
<p>This increase was not evenly distributed across Black communities. Most Black homicide victims were young males. The <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates</a> that Black men ages 15 to 34 represented nearly a third of all U.S. homicide deaths in 2021 and over a quarter since 2000.</p>
<h2>‘Throwing away the key’ hasn’t worked</h2>
<p>Mass incarceration and the tough-on-crime policies of the past have been unable to fix the problem. </p>
<p>Those who victimize others should undoubtedly be held accountable, but violent offenders already serve substantial prison terms in the U.S. A <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/recidivism-prisoners-released-24-states-2008-10-year-follow-period-2008-2018">Bureau of Justice Statistics study</a> of 24 state prison systems reported that convicted murderers released in 2008 had spent an average of almost 18 years in prison. Nearly all violent offenders (96%) served 10 to 20 years of their full sentences. In comparison with other countries, the U.S. tends to <a href="https://counciloncj.foleon.com/tfls/long-sentences-by-the-numbers/an-international-perspective">lock up offenders for more extended periods</a>.</p>
<p>We believe simply incarcerating more people for longer periods is not a sustainable or efficient public safety strategy. Lengthy prison sentences temporarily stop criminals from victimizing communities while they are under confinement. However, <a href="https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2007/2007.10268.pdf">no clear-cut evidence</a> exists that locking up convicted offenders and “throwing away the key” provides lasting public safety benefits.</p>
<p>Indeed, research suggests harsher sentences offer diminishing public safety returns for two main reasons. First, people tend to “age out” of crime, in that most criminals <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/sunday-review/too-old-to-commit-crime.html">stop lawbreaking activities by middle age</a>. Secondly, a relatively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00127-013-0783-y">small share of individuals</a> commit a disproportionate amount of crime in their communities.</p>
<p>The effects of stiffer sentences are also weakened by the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09555-z">replacement effect</a>” common in criminal activities, by which incarcerating offenders leads to other offenders <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb02076.x">taking their place on the streets</a> – this is true especially when it comes to violent crime involving gangs and drug dealers.</p>
<h2>Incarceration leads to community harm</h2>
<p>Moreover, a reliance on mass incarceration as a solution to crime has perpetuated the historical disadvantages faced by Black Americans. </p>
<p>Studies have consistently revealed a <a href="https://issues.org/effects-mass-incarceration-communities-color/">host of collateral damages</a> linked to incarceration that disproportionately affects Black families. The imprisonment of a family member can cause households significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12699">emotional and psychological distress</a>, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/americas-broken-criminal-legal-system-contributes-to-wealth-inequality/">financial hardship</a> from the loss of income and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-022-09550-z">residential instability</a>. </p>
<p>High levels of imprisonment in the community also <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/18613/chapter/12">undermine</a> employment and community relationships necessary to reduce the likelihood of criminal activity. Reflecting both the causes and consequences of disproportionate incarceration, neighborhoods with the highest rates of incarcerated residents tend to be characterized by <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/18613">high rates</a> of poverty and racial segregation.</p>
<p>As such, by simply implementing stricter laws and practices, legislative leadership risks further contributing to crime and social inequities.</p>
<h2>A new, targeted approach?</h2>
<p>So if lengthy incarceration isn’t the answer, what is? All indications suggest that improving public safety requires intervening in the lives of, in particular, young Black men. Research shows that most young Black men involved in violent crime are traumatized from being victimized or <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2004.044560">afraid of being victimized themselves</a>. They turn to violence or carry weapons for survival, largely because of a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2016.1227293">lack of faith in the justice system</a>.</p>
<p>This all points to the need for a targeted and holistic approach to reducing violent crime, which combines policing strategies focused on the offenders and places most susceptible to serious violence, with initiatives addressing the root causes of both individual and community violence.</p>
<p>Solving core problems through improved access to adequate education, health care, housing, services targeting at-risk youth and habitual offenders, and job training and placement is challenging but, we believe, necessary to keep Americans safer.</p>
<p>Research shows that interventions targeting risk factors, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12072">unemployment</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxy004">substance abuse</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0093854820942285">housing</a> problems, can significantly improve reentry and rehabilitation outcomes, even among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16645083">high-risk individuals</a>. </p>
<p>For example, in Oakland, California, community partners have worked with law enforcement to combine focused policing efforts with broad-ranging outreach and social supports to enhance trust in the system. From <a href="https://giffords.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Giffords-Law-Center-A-Case-Study-in-Hope.pdf">2012 to 2018</a>, the city achieved a nearly 50% reduction in shootings and homicides. However, as seen with other interventions across the U.S., much of Oakland’s progress was lost largely because the pandemic lockdowns and social distancing restrictions starting in 2020 <a href="https://secondpress.substack.com/p/giffords-law-center-the-ultimate-264#details">upended</a> the existing network of relationships and services.</p>
<p>Community partnership-oriented interventions able to withstand the toll of the pandemic continued to see reductions in violence and recidivism. The READI violence intervention program in Chicago, for instance, provides those most affected by gun violence with subsidized employment alongside cognitive behavioral therapy and personal development services. <a href="https://urbanlabs.uchicago.edu/attachments/a62ee6577262a53b83e54b14ba4a1995bccbe9be/store/8b89a14e657c8ae9268ef3c72333c7043cca2bbc29c57478f24720b00cb6/READI+01.2023.pdf">Early reports</a> show an encouraging decline in arrests and gun assaults among READI Chicago participants.</p>
<p>In our view, these efforts suggest that while there will, of course, remain a need for consequences for violent offending, the focus needs to be more on intervention rather than incarceration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus L. Johnson is affiliated with the Council on Criminal Justice. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha N. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. When it comes to violent offenders and the Black community, the system isn’t working, argue criminologists.Thaddeus L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityNatasha N. Johnson, Clinical Instructor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2000412023-03-02T13:23:59Z2023-03-02T13:23:59ZUnderstanding mass incarceration in the US is the first step to reducing a swollen prison population<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513014/original/file-20230301-30-1c9olo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=238%2C157%2C2573%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People incarcerated at a county jail in North Dakota gather together. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/174524045/photo/oil-boom-shifts-the-landscape-of-rural-north-dakota.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=FaIkb2CLNjUOxOoWX521IPpa5BfsgYTnAMVCQrDFXnI=">Andrew Burton/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/16/americas-incarceration-rate-lowest-since-1995/">The incarceration rate</a> in the United States fell in 2021 to its lowest levels since 1995 – but the U.S. continues to imprison a higher percentage of its population than almost every <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All">other country</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/correctional-populations-united-states-2021-statistical-tables">The U.S. incarcerates</a> 530 people for every 100,000 in its population, making it one of the world’s biggest jailers – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-begins-transfers-mega-prison-amid-gang-crackdown-2023-02-24/">just below El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the-most-prisoners-per-100-000-inhabitants/">Rwanda and Turkmenistan.</a> </p>
<p>The U.S. actually had the greatest percentage of its population imprisoned until 2019. This followed steady growth in prison and jail populations in the 1970s, after a wave of <a href="https://www.owu.edu/news-media/from-our-perspective/tough-questions-for-tough-on-crime-policies/">“tough on crime” laws</a> and policies swept the nation. </p>
<p>While there has been a <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/,">growing recognition</a> of the need to reduce <a href="https://joebiden.com/justice/#,%20https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/07/15/president-obama-our-criminal-justice-system-isnt-smart-it-should-be">mass incarceration</a>, experts <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/">do not</a> agree on <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/rafael-mangual-discusses-new-book-criminal-in-justice">what caused the ballooning prison population</a> or the best path to reducing it.</p>
<p>As a former prosecutor and a researcher who studies the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VxvW--wAAAAJ&hl=en">criminal justice system</a>, I have found that understanding how the U.S. incarceration rate grew over the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mass-Incarceration-Nation-Jeffrey-Bellin/dp/1009267558/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0">last few decades</a> is the key to understanding its root causes – and what it will take to return to lower rates. </p>
<p>As I <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/criminal-law/mass-incarceration-nation-how-united-states-became-addicted-prisons-and-jails-and-how-it-can-recover?format=PB&isbn=9781009267557">show in my new book</a>, “Mass Incarceration Nation, How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover,” people tend to talk past one another when they discuss crime and punishment in the U.S. I think the public debate can improve if people develop a better understanding of how mass incarceration arose – and its tenuous connection to crime. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person wearing a bright orange outfit is seen walking into gates towards a beige building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While the U.S. prison population has dipped recently, the rate remains higher than those of most countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/539898510/photo/usa-crime-overcrowding-of-california-prison-system.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=iXtRdZscYW5liMp5Li6ez7mWwHU94JASFEYl2rO7Lus=">Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A growing prison population</h2>
<p>The growth in mass incarceration began with a crime spike. Homicides, which averaged around <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_20/sr20_006acc.pdf">5,000 per year in the 1960s</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/187592/death-rate-from-homicide-in-the-us-since-1950/">shot up in the 1970s,</a> reaching over 24,000 in 1991. </p>
<p>The crime spike sparked a bipartisan wave of punitive laws, the hiring of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/nyregion/dinkins-on-crime-dinkins-proposes-record-expansion-of-police-forces.html">thousands of police officers</a> and a <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/rethinking-prison-as-a-deterrent-to-future-crime/">“tough on crime” mindset</a> that permeated every aspect of American criminal law. The system became more punitive, generating longer sentences, especially for repeat and violent offenses, as I show in my book. </p>
<p>Over time, this led to today’s <a href="https://nicic.gov/projects/aging-prison">aging prison population</a> and many people being held long past the time they would have been released in other countries and at other times <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/02/20/aging-prison-populations-drive-up-costs">in this country’s history</a>. </p>
<p>The number of people 55 or older in state and federal prisons increased 280% from 1999 to 2016, <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/02/20/aging-prison-populations-drive-up-costs">according to Pew research.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men in bright orange outfits and face masks sit in what looks like an empty classroom with white bars on the windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Men incarcerated in Washington, D.C., participate in a computer science program in September 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1243186427/photo/students-from-the-brave-behind-bars-program-an-introductory-computer-science-program-for.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=lVKEnRJ9FBQ5GZSwwxMcHCV3HaKvXpvDudkR9vMMDWw=">Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Different kinds of crime</h2>
<p>But longer sentences are only one factor in America’s supersized incarceration rates. </p>
<p>There has also been a <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2022/02/drug-arrests-stayed-high-even-as-imprisonment-fell-from-2009-to-2019">dramatic expansion of the kinds of crimes</a> for which U.S. courts imprison people. </p>
<p>After the 1970s, more and more people went to prison for drug crimes and other offenses that rarely used to lead to prison time. </p>
<p>Serious violent crime, meanwhile, went <a href="https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004.pdf">back down in the 1990s</a>. The crimes – like armed robbery and murder – that had sparked the march toward mass incarceration plummeted. </p>
<p>But prison populations didn’t drop. </p>
<p>As a prosecutor in Washington, D.C. in the early 2000s, I saw this change firsthand. Our caseloads were increasingly dominated by drug sales, drug possession and gun possession cases – cases which, not coincidentally, are typically the easiest to detect and prove. These changes were happening on a national level.</p>
<p><iframe id="A7bZk" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/A7bZk/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The number of people incarcerated in state prisons for homicide increased by over 300% between 1980 and 2010, reflecting the temporary spike in homicides and longer sentences for those convicted of that offense. </p>
<p>But the scale of the increases for other offenses, like drug crimes, is even larger – rising 1,147% over this time frame.</p>
<h2>Speaking the same language</h2>
<p>While prison populations are finally starting to go down, progress is slow. At the current rate, it will take decades to reach the low incarceration rates the U.S. had for most of its history. </p>
<p>This dip is partially <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/impact-covid-19-state-and-federal-prisons-march-2020-february-2021">because of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, which prompted some states to release prisoners to avoid overcrowding and health risks. It is not clear that these recent reductions in the incarcerated population will continue. </p>
<p>I think that substantially reducing prison and jail populations will require better understanding of the link between incarceration and crime. It is not simply the case that incarceration goes up because people commit crime; instead, the story is much more complicated. That is because we use incarceration for two purposes: to obtain justice on behalf of victims and to try to change people’s behavior. </p>
<p>This distinction results in two kinds of cases flowing into this nation’s criminal courts.</p>
<p>First, there are cases that involve the most serious harm to individuals, like crimes of sexual violence and murder. Second, there are cases like drug offenses and weapons possession, which are not typically about obtaining justice for victims but are supposed to further policy goals like preventing drug use.</p>
<p>Changes in how we treat both kinds of cases contributed to the nation’s sky-high incarceration rate. American mass incarceration is a result of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/12/06/u-s-public-divided-over-whether-people-convicted-of-crimes-spend-too-much-or-too-little-time-in-prison/">increasing sentence lengths</a> for people who commit serious violent crimes. But it is also a product of a stunning expansion of the system’s reach in the form of more and more crimes leading to prison and jail. </p>
<p>Substantial progress at reducing the incarcerated population will require reversing both trends. First, returning sentence lengths for all offenses, including serious violent crime, to their historical norms. And second, resisting this country’s growing habit of relying on incarceration as a tool for achieving policy goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Bellin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Experts still disagree about why the US prison population has grown so much over the last few decades. But crime is only one part of the problem.Jeffrey Bellin, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, William & Mary Law SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982022023-01-30T13:13:10Z2023-01-30T13:13:10ZWhy are there prisons? An expert explains the history of using ‘correctional’ facilities to punish people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505667/original/file-20230120-6022-zao2ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C6%2C2105%2C1408&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cells at Alcatraz, a famous former prison on an island off the coast of California.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/alcatraz-cellhouse-in-san-francisco-royalty-free-image/10070645?phrase=alcatraz&adppopup=true">Andrea Pistolesi/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<blockquote>
<p><strong>Why are there prisons? – Andrew H., age 8</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>When people are found guilty of committing a crime, a judge will decide how they should be punished. Sometimes they are allowed to live in their own homes and they have to pay a fine or serve their communities, but sometimes they are incarcerated, which means they are ordered to live in a jail or a prison. During this time, they cannot leave and they have to follow the rules of the facility.</p>
<p>Jails and prisons are called correctional facilities because they are meant to help correct the person’s behavior so that person does not commit any more crimes. But as <a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/criminal-justice/faculty/long-joshua.aspx">a criminologist</a> – someone who studies crime and prisons – I often wonder how people decided that incarceration was a good way to “correct” people.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-history-of-the-prison-9780195118148?cc=us&lang=en&">a long history</a> of using jails and prisons as punishment for breaking the law, and to keep communities safe. But there is also debate about how well those systems work, how fair they are and how to improve them.</p>
<h2>Jail vs. prison</h2>
<p>Although jails and prisons are similar, they usually have <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/jail-vs-prison-difference">different purposes</a>. Most of the people living in jail have not been convicted of a crime yet and are waiting for the court to decide if they are guilty. A person who is found guilty can be sent to live in the jail as punishment, but they typically stay for less than one year.</p>
<p>If the judge sentences someone to be incarcerated for a longer period of time, that person is normally sent to a prison in another part of the state. Sometimes the prison is far away from their home, and it can be difficult for their families to visit. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in an orange top puts his head in his hands as a woman makes a heart sign with her hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes people visiting loved ones in prison must talk on a phone, with a piece of glass separating them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/male-prisoner-sharing-love-with-wife-in-prison-royalty-free-image/1250157575?phrase=%22prison%20visit%22&adppopup=true">South_agency/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prison then vs. prison now</h2>
<p>In the past, people were not sent to jails and prisons as a legal punishment. Instead, these places were used <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-invention-of-incarceration/">to contain people</a> who were suspected of a crime, to keep them from escaping before their punishment was decided.</p>
<p>If they were found guilty, sometimes they were punished with physical pain, such as being whipped. Sometimes they were forced to work without pay or for very low wages. Others might be sent far away from their communities and not allowed to come back. The most serious punishment was execution, and many people were killed for their crimes.</p>
<p>Over time, most countries decided that these types of punishment were cruel or ineffective, so they <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23307878">started using jails and prisons</a> as places where people could be punished by losing their freedom for a specific amount of time. Judges could give some people longer sentences if their crimes were more serious, and shorter sentences if their crimes did not deserve a long punishment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white sketch shows a grumpy-looking man in stocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stocks were an old-fashioned form of punishment where someone had to sit with their legs sticking through the holes for a while.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-in-stocks-from-the-illustrated-library-shakspeare-news-photo/188005368?phrase=stocks%20punishment&adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People expected that some prisoners would learn a lesson from their prison experience. If they were scared of going back to prison, hopefully they would be less likely to break the law in the future. Some prisons tried to “rehabilitate” people by giving them an education, job training or therapy that might help them prepare to return home.</p>
<h2>Longer sentences</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, there was <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates">an increase</a> in the number of crimes reported in the United States, and many people were scared. They thought that society would be safer if more people were <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/correctional-theory/book244021">sent to prison</a>. The size of the prison population increased from <a href="https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-web-report/american-history-race-and-prison#:%7E:text=The%20numbers%20are%20stunning.,it%20had%20grown%20to%20481%2C616.">around 200,000 people</a> in the 1970s to <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2022.html">around 2 million people</a> in recent years.</p>
<p>People started spending very long periods of time in prison, and more people were given <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/02/life-sentences-growing/">life sentences</a>, meaning that they could never return home. Before, those punishments had been reserved for very serious crimes, but new laws passed during this time made them more common.</p>
<p>Prisons <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/21/overcrowding/">became overcrowded</a>, which <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/wajlp22&div=24&g_sent=1&casa_token=7UULMYy7JzUAAAAA:k3niXJcHR0c3X3Uz-ck8mC8vWQgxN9GE9QfJauy7CNVq-Ox3oTUYfNEORYMxnnM4qR1YWkA&collection=journals">spread resources more thinly</a>, including programs to help prisoners prepare to return to society. More people wound up <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-warehouse-prison-9780195330472?cc=us&lang=en&">committing crimes again</a> after they returned home. </p>
<h2>Improving prisons</h2>
<p>People who study correctional facilities, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=k14M84kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">like me</a>, have found many problems to fix. Some have to do with the large number of people in prisons. Many nondangerous people <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-many-americans-are-unnecessarily-incarcerated">wind up serving time there</a>, when they could serve a different punishment and receive therapy in their communities instead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A few men sit at classroom desks in a simple room with a blue floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prisoners in France wait to receive computers they will be allowed to keep in their cells to do schoolwork.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prisoners-wait-to-get-a-computer-in-the-prison-of-news-photo/1232073840?phrase=degree%20prison&adppopup=true">Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Another major problem is <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/">racial discrimination</a>. Many researchers have found that Black, Hispanic and Native American people are <a href="https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/demographic-differences-sentencing">more likely to be sent to prison</a> than people from other racial and ethnic groups, even if they were convicted of the same crimes. This can cause a lot of serious problems for their families and communities.</p>
<p>Societies might always need to incarcerate some people who have committed serious crimes or who pose a danger to others. Perhaps the system can become safer, fairer and more successful in punishing crimes while rehabilitating.</p>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prisons and jails have a long history, but they weren’t always used for the same kinds of punishment.Joshua Long, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975562023-01-11T10:22:00Z2023-01-11T10:22:00ZThe Banshees of Inisherin: competing concepts of justice wage war in Martin McDonagh’s Irish tragicomedy<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers.</em></p>
<p>Countries at war can reach settlements, civil war factions can proclaim truces and paramilitaries can be accommodated at the negotiating table. But it can sometimes be more difficult to find a way to cease hostilities in battles between friends, partners and family members. </p>
<p>This is the territory of writer and director Martin McDonagh’s black comedy The Banshees of Inisherin. The film is set on an island off the west coast of Ireland in 1923, towards the end of the gruesome civil war that pitched friends and siblings against each other. But its focus is more domestic. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Banshees of Inisherin.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Out of the blue, local man Colm (Brendan Gleeson) decides that his lifelong friendship with his neighbour Pádraic (Colin Farrell) has run its course, much to Pádraic’s bewilderment.</p>
<p>Colm’s abrupt ending of this friendship is an assertion of his need to focus on playing his fiddle and composing music, not – as he explains to Pádric – to waste what is left of his life on dreary pub conversation.</p>
<h2>A new take on justice</h2>
<p>Pádraic is unlike many of the gargoyle-like characters <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/03/13/blood-simple">that populate McDonagh’s work</a>, where dysfunctional couplings and longstanding grudges are commonplace.</p>
<p>McDonagh’s characters are generally self-obsessed and take delight in the suffering of others. But here, his focus is on what prompts someone to move from decency towards destructiveness. Pádraic is non-combative and friendly, making his descent into chaotic vengeance all the more compelling.</p>
<p>Many of McDonagh’s plays and films focus on toxic couplings, such as the mother and daughter in The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996), or the face-off between a bereaved mother and corrupt police officer in Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017). The director likes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09670882.2012.731263">transgressive characters</a> and morally complex situations.</p>
<p>Though boring, Pádraic is devoted to his island’s community. He has done little to set his former friend on this path and his lack of culpability is reinforced by the compassion shown by his sister, Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and by a progressing connection with Dominic (Barry Keoghan), the son of a sexually abusive and authority-exploiting police officer.</p>
<p>Pádraic’s distress and incomprehension around Colm’s rejection allows McDonagh to explore not only the grief experienced when adult friends decouple, but also vicariously the collapse of childhood friendships or family estrangements. A future without a loved one is often unforeseen and feels un-embraceable.</p>
<p>The interpersonal plot swells to take on <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230276086_12">the reach of a fairy tale</a>, where the ogre that needs embracing or slaying is as much within as without.</p>
<p>Colm delivers a grisly ultimatum – he will cut off a finger each time Pádraic speaks to him. The macabre threat is counter intuitive for a musician. In fairy tales we associate heroic action with courage and self-fulfilment, not self-destruction.</p>
<p>Macabre forms of self-harm litter McDonagh’s work, ranging from the plunging of hands into molten fibreglass in The Lonesome West (1997), to Billy Bickle’s obsession with shootouts in Seven Psychopaths (2012). Suicide as punishment is what Ray wishes for in In Bruges (2008), while Ken opts for suicide as sacrifice to save the life of his friend. In Hangmen (2015), Mooney induces a lynch mob to take his life.</p>
<p>Destructiveness is always nearby and characters do not dwell on their own self-preservation.</p>
<h2>Justice as revenge</h2>
<p>Once Pádraic is deprived of his sister, who leaves the island to work as a librarian on the mainland and his other true companion (Jenny the little donkey) dies, the film ricochets into familiar McDonagh territory about the fragility of justice.</p>
<p>Pádraic sees no alternative than to take justice into his own hands. This happens in <a href="https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/iur.2018.0357">many of McDonagh’s plays and films</a> – characters pivot to vengeful chaos, surprising themselves with the lengths they might go.</p>
<p>Under the weight of a tragicomic need to avenge, self-endangerment becomes inconsequential. This is also evident in Seven Psychopaths, in the story of Hans and Myra, two pacifist Quakers who stalk their daughter’s killer.</p>
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<p>In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the inciting incident is a horrific crime, followed by an inadequate investigation and arson. In The Pillowman (2003) it is child murders.</p>
<p>Suffering and justice are presented in Banshees without the irony his work is generally associated with. <a href="https://www.estudiosirlandeses.org/reviews/seven-psychopaths-martin-mcdonagh-2012/">McDonagh has previously acknowledged</a> that Seven Psychopaths over-relied on layering and citation of other work. It was too self-conscious and self-aware. Banshees is better served by being relatively free from such impulses.</p>
<h2>Rewriting justice</h2>
<p>Justice is typically associated with rationality and proportionality. But Pádraic’s vigilantism is driven by a frenzied, if calculated, need to retaliate and then destroy.</p>
<p>As the tensions between Pádraic and Colm play out, distinctions between antagonist and protagonist, friend and enemy, perpetrator and victim, the innocent and guilty collapse. The punishment (arson and attempted murder) no longer befits the offence but has its own grim righteousness regardless.</p>
<p>As Colm’s home burns, revenge is not just done and seen to be done, but is the perverse measure of Pádraic’s newfound resilience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eamonn Jordan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Award season favourite The Banshees of Inisherin is a compelling exploration of justice and the chaotic extremes some will go to to get it.Eamonn Jordan, Professor in Drama Studies, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973922023-01-08T17:56:08Z2023-01-08T17:56:08ZFirst grader who shot teacher in Virginia is among the youngest school shooters in US history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503494/original/file-20230108-19-ebm248.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C12%2C2733%2C1822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A school sign wishing students a Happy New Year stands outside Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 7, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, where a 6-year-old boy reportedly shot his teacher after an altercation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-tape-hangs-from-a-sign-post-outside-richneck-news-photo/1246066061?phrase=newport+news+shooting&adppopup=true">Jay Paul / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Barely a week into the new year, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/newport-news-school-shooting-virginia.html">6-year-old boy shot his teacher</a> at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, becoming one of the youngest school shooters in the nation’s history. While <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/us/virginia-shooting-richneck-elementary.html">details of the case are still emerging</a>, his teacher remains hospitalized with serious injuries. David Riedman, creator of the <a href="https://k12ssdb.org/">K-12 School Shooting Database</a>, discusses the relative rarity of school shooters under age 10 and the likely aftermath of the event.</em></p>
<h2>How rare is it to have a school shooter this young?</h2>
<p>This is the 17th shooting involving a student under the age of 10 at a school since 1970 – the first year for which my database keeps track. Most of these shootings were not intentional. But in 1975, a 9-year-old student at the Pitcher School in Detroit was in a fight with a 13-year-old, left campus, got a rifle from his house and came back to the school and shot the student in the head, killing him. </p>
<p>In 2000, a <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2020/02/first-grader-kayla-rolland-was-fatally-shot-at-school-20-years-ago-heres-how-it-happened.html">6-year-old boy fatally shot his 6-year-old classmate, Kayla Rolland</a>, in their classroom at Buell Elementary School in Michigan while their teacher lined up other students in the hallway. The shooting <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rUsqghKKBfsC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=kayla+rolland+playground+fight&source=bl&ots=S6A2xBTk5G&sig=ACfU3U2dIuDHD1ukKTBNTWXfPRo0OzSrSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiipOfp27X8AhW1lGoFHc-gDwM4ChDoAXoECAMQAw#v=onepage&q=kayla%20rolland%20playground%20fight&f=falseon">followed a dispute on the playground</a>.</p>
<h2>How do kids this young typically get guns?</h2>
<p>In most school shootings, the gun is taken from the student’s home or from the house of a friend or relative. In the 2000 shooting at Buell Elementary, the student’s uncle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/e4d184e6ebb0d5859636d05963c2daba">sentenced to prison for a minimum of two years</a> for leaving a firearm in an easily accessible place. </p>
<p>The 6-year-old shooter did not face charges due to his age.</p>
<h2>What stands out about this recent case?</h2>
<p>The most striking part of this shooting is that it appears to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/06/virginia-school-student-shot-teacher">intentional</a>. While many details remain unknown, it is likely that the student had the gun with him the entire day, possibly multiple days, before shooting his teacher. In many states, the legal system assumes that young children are not capable of the thought and planning that goes into committing a violent crime. In Virginia, the <a href="https://virginiarules.org/varules_topics/introduction-to-juvenile-justice-in-virginia/">minimum age</a> to charge someone with a felony is 14 years old.</p>
<h2>Do schools need to start searching first graders?</h2>
<p>Despite the attention that they generated, school shootings at any age are relatively rare. There have been 17 shootings involving kids under 10 publicly reported across a 52-year period. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=55">More than 50 million students</a> attend schools every year, and fewer than 300 of them shoot someone on campus.</p>
<p>When most guns that end up in schools come from the home, I’d argue it is the responsibility of parents, relatives and older siblings to make sure that every firearm is locked, secured and accounted for.</p>
<p>The use of metal detectors has been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124510380717">increase students’ anxiety</a> and are only effective with constant maintenance, training, staffing and screening procedures. Some of the incidents involving children have resulted from adults putting a firearm in the kid’s bag and the child firing it when they find the gun at school. </p>
<h2>What’s next for this boy?</h2>
<p>This remains unclear, and due to juvenile privacy laws, we may never know. The 6-year-old who killed his classmate at Buell Elementary in 2000 was not charged with a crime. In 2021 in Rigby, Idaho, a 12-year-old girl shot three people during a planned attack at Rigby Middle School. Based on her written plan, this young girl intended to <a href="https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2022/04/07/documents-shed-light-on-rigby-middle-school-shooting/">kill 20 students and wound 40 to 60 others</a>. She is <a href="https://www.idahoednews.org/news/rigby-school-shooter-still-in-state-custody/">being held in juvenile custody</a> until she turns 19 – and possibly until age 21 if she is not deemed fully rehabilitated – following a guilty plea to three counts of first-degree murder.</p>
<h2>What’s next for the school?</h2>
<p>While much attention is focused on the shooter and teacher, a classroom full of first graders witnessed their classmate shoot the teacher. She was <a href="https://www.wsaz.com/video/2023/01/07/teacher-critical-after-newport-news-school-shooting/">critically injured</a>, which means that it was likely a gruesome scene. These students will all need extensive counseling to understand and deal with this trauma. For the other students, teachers and parents, this is also a traumatic experience, and many students may no longer want to go to school. </p>
<h2>What does this case suggest for school safety in the US broadly?</h2>
<p>There were 302 shootings in school property in 2022, more than in any other year since 1970. Since 2017, the number of shootings each year has significantly increased. This pattern matches the <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-recent-rise-in-violent-crime-is-driven-by-gun-violence/">spiking rates of violent crime and gun crime</a> across the country. It is important to remember that most shootings at schools are committed by current or former students, not outsiders breaking into the building. Because of this, school security plans need to include all levels of schools and shootings by all ages of students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Riedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Extremely young school shooters are not believed to be capable of forming criminal intent.David Riedman, Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, University of Central FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1957382022-12-01T12:22:26Z2022-12-01T12:22:26ZSouth Africa’s President Ramaphosa could be impeached - 3 essential reads on the Phala Phala scandal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498464/original/file-20221201-24-bknlao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa may have <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-11-30-sa-politics-in-turmoil-as-panel-says-president-ramaphosa-must-face-impeachment/">an impeachment case to answer</a>. This was the finding of the independent parliamentary panel probing the scandal over the theft of thousands of US dollars stashed illegally on his farm, Phala Phala. The three person panel, headed by former chief justice <a href="https://www.concourt.org.za/index.php/judges/former-judges/11-former-judges/66-chief-justice-sandile-ngcobo">Sandile Ngcobo</a>, found that the president might have breached the constitution and engaged in corrupt activities.</p>
<p>The panel handed its report to the speaker of parliament for the National Assembly to debate ahead of the president’s possible impeachment at a special sitting of parliament. </p>
<p>The Phala Phala affair threatens to derail Ramaphosa’s chances of winning a second term as president of the African National Congress (ANC) at its <a href="https://www.anc1912.org.za/#">national conference</a> in December – and then becoming national president again. </p>
<p>Academics writing for The Conversation Africa have explored the issues.</p>
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<p>Dirk Kotze argues that the Phala Phala scandal has seriously dented Ramaphosa’s credibility. He sets out how Ramaphosa’s business interests are threatening to jeopardise his presidency, with dire consequences for the country given the important economic and political reforms he is pursuing. </p>
<p>Ramaphosa’s first reform agenda is an economic reconstruction and <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-south-africa%E2%80%99s-economic-reconstruction-and-recovery-plan-15-oct">recovery plan</a>. This includes solving persistent power cuts that have devastated the country’s economy. The second task is to unite the highly <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-01-09-ancs-106th-ramaphosas-push-for-unity-continues/">factionalised governing party</a>, the African National Congress, which he leads. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-president-cyril-ramaphosas-credibility-has-been-dented-putting-his-reform-agenda-in-jeopardy-189802">South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s credibility has been dented, putting his reform agenda in jeopardy</a>
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<p>The Phala Phala scandal is not just a threat for Ramaphosa, but could seriously hurt his party’s prospects as it faces gruelling national and provincial elections in 2024. </p>
<p>Support for the party, which has dominated South Africa’s politics since democracy in 1994, has been sliding steadily in the last two decades. According to Susan Booysen, the ANC contested the last general elections in 2019 with only Ramaphosa as the trump card. “The ANC built its 2019 election campaign around Ramaphosa, after polls showed that he was the only leader who continued to enjoy substantial credibility among voters.” </p>
<p>But his image as anti-corruption champion – and vote winner – is now in doubt because of the Phala Phala scandal. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ramaphosa-scandal-looks-set-to-intensify-the-ancs-slide-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-politics-185719">Ramaphosa scandal looks set to intensify the ANC's slide, ushering in a new era of politics</a>
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<p>Richard Calland says this is a historic moment for the country. It would be the first time a president’s fitness for office was assessed since parliament adopted the rules for impeachment in 2018, following a Constitutional Court judgment. He explains the impeachment process, observing that the way the panel applies the law will set an important precedent. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-impeach-a-president-ramaphosa-case-puts-new-rules-to-the-test-in-south-africa-195390">How to impeach a president: Ramaphosa case puts new rules to the test in South Africa</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The impeachment process could derail Ramaphosa’s political career and seriously hurt the governing ANC’s electoral prospects in 2024.Thabo Leshilo, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.