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Scott Hechinger

24 May, 10 tweets, 3 min read

@nytimes

Let me correct this for you, @nytimes: "A year after the murder of George Floyd, police budgets in every major city in the country have all increased, which should force cities to reassess why they continue to invest billions in a failed strategy that undermines health & safety!"

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1396571659356839939

Greatest trick the police ever pulled was convincing Americans that they are necessary. Vast majority calls are for public health issues/non-violent crimes. And they’re particularly bad at preventing, deescalsting & solving violent crime. Not an opinion. Data-backed fact.

Better journalism is a racial & social justice imperative. Behind every cruel & irrational policy are harmful journalistic practices. Even well-intentioned journalists routinely amplify misleading & racially coded talking points by police, prosecutors, & carceral interests

Journalists influence public opinion about those in power (i.e. police, prosecutors, judges, politicians), the way that power is used (i.e. violent, targeted policing, mass human caging), & the people targeted by those currently in power (i.e. “inmates” "criminals" “druggies”).

For over half a century, social justice policy has been shaped by journalists. A misinformed, often scared public is a public poised to support irrational and cruel policies that serve powerful interests, even if those policies are proven to undermine their own interests.

Failed & cruel policies that ignore reason & data continue to win & perpetuate bc of the dehumanization, fear, & exploitation of that fear. Public consistently overestimates crime & are convinced crime is rising when it just isn’t. This is a failure of journalism.

Just months after bail reform was enacted in NY in 2020, the reforms were rolled back after a year of relentless publication of misleading information, reliance on police and prosecutor sources, & use of dehumanizing language. "Willing collaborators." fwd.us/news/new-repor…

Today across the country, we’re seeing historic wins for fairness, racial justice, public health, & public safety. Yet prosecutors, police, & carceral interest groups are fighting back w/ the same polarizing scare tactics that created mass incarceration. Press is buying it again.

Journalists must provide necessary context, not fear & lies. No significant changes will be made if there is not a broad change in people’s basic attitudes & intuitions about what crime is, human caging, & the true investments needed for communities to flourish.

@equalityAlec

I'll end with this by @equalityAlec for now, but have a lot more to say & will in the coming weeks: "Accepting conceptions of “crime” & police data about that concept as a proxy for holistic public safety is the original sin of most writing in this topic." currentaffairs.org/2020/08/why-cr…

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

24 May

THREAD: One week ago Justice Kavanaugh (left) ruled 100s still imprisoned by an Oregon law even he admitted was "rooted in racism" were out of luck bc they were convicted too long ago. Oregon's "progressive" AG Ellen Rosenblum (right) could fix this injustice today. Refuses to.

First, a background on the law: Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Intimidation. But they also used legal & legislative process to pass laws exacting legal violence. In Oregon they pushed a law to silence jurors. "Non-unanimous juries."

In Louisiana in 1898, the KKK pushed non-unanimous juries to “establish the supremacy of the white race" & “ensure African-American juror service would be meaningless.” In 1934, Oregon joined them. At the time of the law’s passage there were *34,000+ active KKK members in Oregon.

Read 26 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

24 May

Whenever media sensationalizes "rising crime rates" & police start screaming for more money & less investment in alternatives, think: Given the historic amount we spend on police, if they actually made us safer, there shouldn't be crime at all, let alone "rising." It's a big lie.

If police, prosecutors, jails, prisons, & the range of laws discriminating against people w/ criminal records made us healthier and safer, we'd be the healthiest and safest country on planet earth, in all of history, in all of time. And guess what folks? We're far far from it.

Imagine if police departments were any other governmental agency.

Consider their abject failure to achieve any of their states goals (public health & safety) combined with the endemic & unyielding violence & destruction they cause.

They’d all have been defunded decades ago.

Read 4 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

23 May

Good morning. And welcome to this important live tweeting event. I've been working with a little scientist all morning. On a contraption to protect a fragile egg from a drop from a great height.

Follow along for the "Great Egg Drop" of May 23, 2021.

Any time we do anything "science-y" little man runs for his lab coat & "experiment glasses."

"My science outfit." It's seriously the cutest thing in the world. It came with a name tag clip, which sadly is now lost.

The beginning. Cutting open a milk carton. Why? He wanted to.

We pulled everything from recycling. Paper boxes. Cartons. Plastic bags. Decided to cut the pizza boxes into quarters & stuff each one with other stuff. "Trampolines" he called them. To break the fall. The egg itself went inside paper towels. Then zip locks with air kept inside.

Read 16 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

20 May

For years Oregon's "progressive" AG has fought to keep people imprisoned by a KKK law silencing Black jurors. While lying she lacks power to change it. Not going to work anymore. Journalists are calling her. "The responsibility falls squarely on the office of Ellen Rosenblum."

For 7 years, Ellen Rosenblum was the Attorney General of 1 of 2 states that allowed non-unanimous juries. Let them continue. Wouldn't do anything until the Supreme Court finally took up the case. She *joined Louisiana in asking the Court to keep the racist law alive & thriving.*

Fortunately, the Supreme Court didn't listen to Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum. In April 2020, they finally acknowledged this racist law was unconstitutional. Even Justice Kavanaugh.

To save face, she praised the decision. Finally, Oregon could "move beyond this embarrassing stain."

Read 13 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

19 May

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394686279682433024

If you truly think the plight of 100s still imprisoned by a KKK-era law that silenced Black jurors “should be addressed expeditiously” why did you fight in Supreme Court against them? Why are you still opposing their claims for relief? When will you use your power for good?

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394686279682433024

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394686649527717891?s=20

You could take action on your own. You yourself acknowledged the racist origins of this law. How it was critical to move beyond the embarrassing stain on Oregon. Everyone should have the shot at a fair trial. All they’re asking for. Stop passing the buck.

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394686649527717891?s=20

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394687043624603648?s=20

First you claimed you were "awaiting guidance" from the ultra-conservative Supreme Court to decide what to do even though you didn't need to. Now you want the state legislature to tell you what to do? Why won't you just use the power you have to do justice?

https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1394687043624603648?s=20

Read 8 tweets

Scott Hechinger

@ScottHech

19 May

https://twitter.com/stillinprison/status/1394816151729836034

Oregon's "progressive" AG sided w/ Louisiana in Supreme Court to maintain a KKK-law that silenced Black jurors & led to unconstitutional convictions. When even Kavanaugh disagreed she fought again in the Court to limit their ruling. She still has power to right her injustice.

https://twitter.com/stillinprison/status/1394816151729836034

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1394374130980511750?s=20

The Edwards v. Vannoy decision is the culmination of years of effort by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to maintain the racist stain of non-unanimous jury verdicts. She could have done different every step of the way. Few in Oregon have any idea.

https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1394374130980511750?s=20

@ORDOJ

There are hundreds of people still in prison in Oregon who were unconstitutionally convicted by non-unanimous juries. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum @ORDOJ can & should stop blocking people from getting new trials.