Login to Change.org
Create an Account
william newmiller
Colorado Springs, CO
I'm a retired Air Force pilot, former member of the FBI, and current English professor at the Air Force Academy, where I've taught for a total of 25 years. I have a passion for criminal justice reform. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Too many of them are innocent. Too many of them suffer from mental illness. All of them are warehoused in a system that nurtures recidivism. There's not space here to list all the changes that need to be made. My hope is that once people become aware of some of the changes that are needed, they'll be willing to work for those changes. If we all raise our voices together, we can make a difference.
Recent Activity
-
william signed the petition | -
william signed the petition | -
william recruited Brook to sign the petition | -
william commented on the article |The policies and conditions found at county jails often don't get the attention they deserve. Because of the numbers of people incarcerated in state and federal penitentiaries, those institutions, of course, need to be closely scrutinized, and often scrutiny reveals their significant shortcomings. However, we need to understand that too often local jails are just not on our radar the way they should be. Often those who are jailed are, in fact, not convicted of any crime. They've just been charged and have been unable to make bail. The difficult conditions such people face is one reason so many acquiesce to plea bargains for crimes they might not have convicted. It's just too hard to suffer the indignities of jail--not to mention the strains such incarceration places on jobs and families--while waiting for justice.
-
william commented on the article |Sorry, Truth, but your account of what you say happened is not documented. That is, you fail to provide sources for the claims you rely on to advance what remains unsupported opinion. You say, "there has to be other evidence." That is a supposition on your part, nothing more than a hope that there is something out there somewhere that can support your confidence in how law enforcement/the justice system handled this case.
-
william commented on the article |
What has been advanced by commenters regarding "the truth" strikes me as lacking in documentation. From sources I've read on the web, it appears that the version advanced by those critical of change.org is the narrative given by the young men who actually perpetrated the crime and then implicated the sisters in exchange for light sentences (or, more crassly, so they would not be sent a notorious Mississippi prison where they would be raped). I find the use of such coerced statements to be especially troubling for a number of reasons that should be obvious. Coercion is a poor tool for ferreting out the truth. Self-interest and self-preservation are remarkably strong forces that easily defeat scruples.
I am especially dubious of cases where individuals are convicted of "master-minding" petty crime. I'm reminded of Flip Wilson's famous line, "the devil made me do it." We all laughed at it in the 60s. But nowadays, prosecutors armed with vague conspiracy laws can and do demonize bystanders, gaining convictions that are no joke.
When we hear of cases like that of the Scott sisters, our first reaction is likely to be disbelief because we want to think that our system of criminal justice is fair and accurate. Unfortunately, the growing number of exonerations provides strong evidence that our system often gets the wrong person and lets the real perpetrator get away. We also know that many crimes are overcharged, that sentencing is often draconian, that few people emerge from prison with greater potential than they had when they entered. In other words, our desire to justify the status quo translates into support for spending enormous amounts of public money in ways that actually reduce public safety and ruin the potential of people.
A reasonable response to the story of the Scott sisters is not to try to revise it to support the current approaches to justice that we all know aren't working, but to find in it lessons that can make Mississippi--and America--a better place.
-
william commented on the article |
The suspension of the Scott sisters' sentence is an especially heartening conclusion to the year 2010. Let's hope that 2011 can bring justice to many more who are wrongly and needlessly serving prison sentences.
The crassness of Haley Barbour's reasoning is, of course, upsetting, and it speaks to the resistance offered from some quarters to the interconnectedness of progressive values and the need for enlightened change to be coordinated in many areas. Might Jaimie's need for a new kidney have arisen from substandard care in Mississippi's prisons?
I suspect that a review of Jamie's care during her incarceration could reveal a great deal.
-
william signed the petition | -
william signed the petition | -
william commented on the article |It appears that our broken criminal justice system has abandoned the pursuit of justice and truth as a goal. The courtroom is now just a stage for the theater of the absurd.
Impact
65 Actions
85 Recruits
Top Causes
|
49 Actions
70 Recruits
|
7 Actions
11 Recruits
|
|
5 Actions
13 Recruits
|
2 Actions
7 Recruits
|
Organizations
-
ACTION COMMITTEE FOR WOMEN IN PRISON4 Actions 9 Recruits -
INNOCENT0 Actions 4 Recruits -
Citizens for Legislative Change, America1 Action 0 Recruits -
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty0 Actions 0 Recruits
-
World Wildlife Fund0 Actions 0 Recruits
