Source: inquest.org 6/20/24 This article is part of a roundtable about the authors’ coedited collection, Dismantling Mass Incarceration. Next week, we will publish a set of responses from progressive prosecutors, scholars, and activists, followed by a concluding essay from Dharia. In the popular imagination, lawyers argue each side of an issue, while the judge or jury makes the decision. But when we worked as public defenders, we learned that prosecutors were often the true power brokers: They chose what charges to bring, how much discovery material to provide, and whether…
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Pentagon launches Catch program to identify serial sex offenders in the military
[stripes.com – 8/5/19] WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has launched a new program that aims to find serial sex offenders in the military by compiling information into a database submitted by sexual-assault survivors. The program, called Catch a Serial Offender, or Catch, allows survivors of sexual assault who are submitting a restricted report to provide information confidentially about the sexual assault incident as well as the accused offender to military investigators so they can try to identify serial offenders, according to the Pentagon announcement released Monday. The program was first announced…
Read MoreWhat Rape Reform Needs: More Convictions, Less Punishment [opinion]
[thecrimereport.org] In what is being called the “Post-Weinstein era,” victims of sexual assault and harassment are finally being believed. This no doubt is overdue, but in the context of rape, believing the victim will not be enough. Three reforms are essential to how we convict and punish rapists. First, the way states currently define the crime of rape does not target the conduct of unwanted sex. In the United States, rape was initially defined by unwanted sex accompanied by an element of force. The proof of force was and continues…
Read MoreTX: Jefferson Co. D.A.: Zero tolerance for sex offenders
[KFDM.com] Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham tells KFDM News that his office has zero tolerance for sex offenders and will not support a sentence of probation for anyone convicted of a sex offense. Wortham said the holiday season is a time when sex crimes often increase. He says 90 percent of the offenders know their victims. In fact, he said, of the 150 cases set for trial in Jefferson County, all but one are cases in which the offender knows the victim. Wortham urges parents to talk with their…
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