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20 Jan, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Happy inauguration day. But right next door: Maryland incarcerates more Black people than any other state in the country. Also condemns children to die in prison. 83% of juvenile lifers are Black. Tomorrow this could change. Legislation would end juvenile life sentences. More:
70% of the Maryland prison population is Black. Even though only 30% of the Maryland population is Black. Juvenile life sentences disproportionately affect black defendants. All of Maryland's neighbors have abolished life w/o parole for juveniles. But Maryland hasn’t.
The Juvenile Restoration Act (JRA) would end life sentences for juveniles in Maryland. The legislation is based on the belief that no child is born bad. Tomorrow (Thursday) there is a hearing on the bill.
Children shouldn't die in prison. Pass the Juvenile Restoration Act, Maryland! The nation is watching you. Do the right thing @LukeClippinger @SenBillFerg @willcsmithjr @SpeakerAJones!

Follow @md_juvijustice to learn more.

Visit mdjjc.org to take action.

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger Profile picture
18 Jan
On MLK Day, I always share this. Want people to know this as well as the “I Have A Dream” speech. Speechless at his wisdom and truth. "No other ethnic group has been a slave on American soil. And then color became a stigma." Transcribed remainder below.
“America freed slaves in 1863, but gave them no land or nothing to get started on. Emancipation for the negro was really freedom to hunger. Freedom to the winds & rains of heaven. Freedom w/o food to eat or land to cultivate. Therefore it was freedom & famine at the same time.”
"When white Americans tell the negro to lift himself up by his bootstraps, they don’t look at the legacy of slavery & segregation. We ought to do all we can to lift ourselves up, but it’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps.”
Read 4 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
16 Jan
"After 17 years w/o a federal execution, the Government has executed 12 people since July." Last night Dustin Higgs became the 13th. "The Federal Government executed more than 3 times as many people in the last 6 months than it had in the previous 6 decades." Justice Sotomayor:
Sotomayor names them: "Daniel Lee, Wesley Purkey, Dustin Honken, Lezmond Mitchell, Keith Nelson, William LeCroy Jr., Christopher Vialva, Orlando Hall, Brandon Bernard, Alfred Bourgeois, Lisa Montgomery, Corey
Johnson. [Just last night] Dustin Higgs became the thirteenth." Justin:
"This unprecedented rush of federal executions has predictably given rise to many difficult legal disputes. Against this backdrop of deep legal uncertainty, the DOJ
did not tread carefully. It scheduled five executions; eight would follow in the months to come."
Read 7 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
14 Jan
Death penalty isn't only way the state kills. Meet Jon Lancaster. Father. Grandfather. Suffered severe mental illness. Yet still caged in solitary. Covered in urine. Feces. Shot w/ pepper balls & pepper spray. Restrained for days. They let him “slowly die in plain sight." More: Image
Danielle Dunn, Jonathan’s sister, called repeatedly to request medical treatment for Jonathan. She called the morning of his death to inquire again & request medical treatment. She was told he was fine. Within a few hours, she received the call from an officer that he had died. Image
Jon was locked up for 7 years. For “robbery” for stealing $150 from a 7/11. Took only 2 months from the time Jon was sent to solitary for him to die. January 2019: Transferred to a punitive facility in far northern Michigan. Alger Correctional. Dead by March. Jon & his family: Image
Read 17 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
14 Jan
I always argue against calls for new harsh laws to punish even for those we despise--white, privileged, racist fascists among them. Because people who will be most affected by greater harshness are rarely if ever white, privileged, racist fascists. More:
Public defenders across the country see how the vast array of criminal laws, procedures, & practices that already exist-unique in their harshness & scope around the globe-play out in real life. Oppression, mass caging, prosecution, surveillance, policing of Black & Brown people.
So many laws get passed either in the wake of outlier high profile crimes or using outlier high profile crimes as justification. Nearly without exception these laws predominately affect non-outliers. Devastate Black and Brown communities. Undermine faith and trust in the system.
Read 11 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
14 Jan
“Giving prosecutors more authority & leverage to punish those who are despised—white racist fascists, for example—will inevitably result in more poor nonwhite people being prosecuted.” White crime often leads to harsher punishment for Black & Brown people.themarshallproject.org/2021/01/14/whi…
"Even hate crime legislation specifically intended to help prosecute crimes motivated by white supremacy & other forms of bigotry, can have a disparate negative impact on minority groups. In 2019 Black people (roughly 13% of population) were accused of nearly 24% of hate crimes."
"Half-century ago, the Mafia was seen as a pervasive, violent threat. Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO the most sweeping federal criminal law ever enacted. At the time, lawmakers weren’t talking about going after Black groups." Well?
Read 12 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
13 Jan
Every year, more than a quarter of a million people are incarcerated while awaiting trial in Illinois. Most of them are jailed only because they can't afford to pay a money bond.

Tell your legislators that Illinois wants #PretrialFairnessNow: bit.ly/PretrialFairne…
The Pretrial Fairness Act doesn’t just #EndMoneyBail in Illinois, it overhauls our entire pretrial justice system.

Call your legislators and tell them you want #PretrialFairnessNow: bit.ly/PretrialFairne…
Thousands of people are incarcerated in county jails across Illinois every year, not because they're a danger to the community but because they can't afford to pay a money bond.

Tell your legislators we want #PretrialFairnessNow: bit.ly/PretrialFairne…
Read 7 tweets

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