How the “Stranger Danger” Panic of the 1980s Helped Give Rise to Mass Incarceration

[jacobinmag.com – 5/18/20] The missing-child panic began with Etan Patz. Plenty of kids had gone missing before, but Etan’s case seemed specially designed to provoke a mass hysteria. In 1979, the six-year-old boy’s mother arranged for him to walk to the school bus stop on his own. She watched him depart from her Manhattan fire escape. Another mother was waiting two blocks away in an apartment overlooking the bus stop site, but Etan never arrived. The tragedy was and remains impossible to comprehend. His first time walking to the bus…

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Comments Sought for Draft California Tiered Registry Forms

[ACSOL] The Criminal Law Advisory Committee of the the Judicial Council of California has prepared and released four draft forms to be used when the petitioning process of the Tiered Registry Law becomes effective in July 2021.  Comments regarding the draft forms is due to the Committee no later than June 9, 2020. The four draft forms include: Petition to Terminate Sex Offender Registration (CR-415), Acknowledgment of Receipt by Law Enforcement/District Attorney (CR-416), Response by District Attorney to Petition (CR-417) and Order on Petition (CR-418).  In addition, the Council has…

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