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14 Feb, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Abolishing our criminal legal system is the opposite of “radical.” It’s completely rational & reasoned. Data driven. Sound.

What’s radical is perpetuating the system we now have. Wholly irrational. Unsupported by data & reason. Built to oppress. Driven by propaganda & fear.
An important alternative view on the use of word “radical.”
Another view: Note: I’m not thinking of one definition here. Of course abolition is “relating to the fundamental nature of something.” But so many disparage abolition as “radical” i.e. extreme, crazy, irrational. And I’m like “NO. What we have now is all those things.”
Thank you. Agreed. No intent to give the other side an inch on redefining the word “radical.” But see I’ve opened up a dialogue that may not have been super helpful on Twitter. Was going to delete the original tweet, but now just going to lift up people smarter than me. Thanks.
I agree on this definition of course of radical. And was thinking in terms of those who debase the movement using the word in a derogatory fashion. And flipping it on them. But can see how that could also be unhelpful. Or have the opposite of the intended effect. Thanks, Chris.

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Scott Hechinger Profile picture
14 Feb
Every single public defender. Every single day.
Bail arguments, motions, oral arguments, hearings. Judges don’t know, follow, or care about the law. Prosecutors are willing to take advantage of it. And mandatory minimums, withheld evidence, & pretrial detention coerces people to plead before trial. When theres a jury. A shot.
But defenders still fight. And still win. Most times wins aren’t “Justice.” It’s power of repetition of argument in front of same judges. Introducing those in power to the people they oppress. Not just a RAP sheet or words on a page. Defenders make it harder to be brutal & cruel.
Read 10 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
9 Feb
READ THIS: Meet Cassandra. Her husband Nick died in a Chicago jail from COVID. She called for help 132 times. In this powerful essay, she *slams "so-called 'progressive' leaders praised for their pandemic response," but indifferent to those they cage. More:currentaffairs.org/2021/02/covid-…
"When the coronavirus seeped into the facility, Nick was sleeping in a dormitory with 50 others, including those w/ COVID. No ability to social distance. Denied even basic sanitary products, like sanitizer or a mask. Nick had to use his shirt to cover his nose and mouth."
"I started calling Tom Dart, the beloved Democratic sheriff. Who runs the jail—moldy; infested w/ mice, cockroaches, & COVID; filled w/ predominantly Black & brown people—that killed Nick. To make sure he knew about the cramped quarters. I wanted him to help. I never heard back."
Read 18 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
30 Jan
Good morning. Texting now w/ a friend & colleague who advocates for people in solitary confinement in Michigan (solitary capital of the U.S.). I needed a reminder about one of the people we're working with on the inside. "She’s the one who didn't know her age when she came out."
Facts: There are over 3000 people in solitary in Michigan. No restriction on length of stay. 47% of people in solitary have been in over 2 years. Longest serving have been in over 40 years. Black men are 7% of MI population. 54% of prison population. 65-80% solitary population.
Working now with allies in Michigan to get the voices | words | experiences |torture | fear | hope | humanity out of this remote silence to help them end this racist cruelty once and for all. More for you to see & experience soon as possible.
Read 4 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
29 Jan
Some thoughts on the intersection between media/politics/social justice policy I've learned from people way smarter than me: People think social justice policy-from crime to education to health to housing, etc.--is made by elected officials. It's not. It's made by media.
Technically, social justice policy is made by elected officials. But really, policy is made & influenced by their *perception of their electorate & what they want. Not what is best for them. But what their constituents believe is best for them. What they believe they want.
And what people believe is best for them, what they should want, is unfortunately informed primarily by what they see on TV, what they read, what "news" tells them. But what theyre told is not what would actually make any of us healthier, safer, more productive, smarter, richer.
Read 10 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
26 Jan
HUGE NEWS TODAY: 24 people were assaulted by NYPD last spring during #BLM protests in the Bronx. Public defenders at @BronxDefenders are demanding a reparations fund for the people & communities subjected to police violence in the South Bronx. gothamist.com/news/protester…
Last spring, Mott Haven Bronx was Ground Zero for some of the NYPD's most brutal, violent tactics against BLM protestors. I watched those videos. Batons. Suffocating. Plastic cuffs. Poisonous spray. Atrocious human rights violations. Now the survivors are speaking out.
Human Rights Watch (@hrw) recently came out w/ horrifying investigation. The brutal NYPD attack on hundreds of protestors in early June in the Bronx wasn't just criminal & unconstitutional. It was *planned*. NYPD used the curfew to trap, assault, & arrest.hrw.org/news/2020/09/3…
Read 4 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
22 Jan
Proud to be a signer on this letter to Biden. “We write to you as attorneys, judges, advocates, & Americans, urging you to begin w/ an act of mercy to carry our nation closer toward justice: immediately commute sentences of all those on federal death row.”static1.squarespace.com/static/5c894b6…
“In the last six months, we bore witness to the execution of thirteen people — more Americans put to death in those months than in the last six decades of this nation’s history. These thirteen deaths stand as an affront to the very legal system we operate in every day.”
“Obama halted federal executions, but did not commute sentences of all on federal death row, leaving the door open for Trump to pursue a death spree that hasn’t been seen in well over a century. The very existence of death row leaves many susceptible to the machinery of death.”
Read 9 tweets

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