We reject the outdated view that criminal justice is a zero-sum game that pits safety versus justice against one another. Moreover, history - and countless studies, data, and lived experiences - tells us reactive policymaking driven by politics and fear in response to a specific incident, no matter how awful, leads to poor legislation that serves neither justice nor safety.
As a young man, Seth Ferranti ran a drug-dealing operation distributing vast volumes of cannabis and LSD across college campuses in the United States. It was the 1980s and US President Ronald Reagan had proclaimed that marijuana pot, grass, whatever you want to call it is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States. I didn't believe them, says Seth Ferranti, now a documentary filmmaker and director of Tortured Mind: The Reality of Post Incarceration Syndrome.
As summer ends, masked, badgeless ICE thugs and red-state National Guard militias stalk an unnaturally quiet Washington, DC. Five years ago, the city was different. After the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, massive multiracial demonstrations filled the streets. While these protests were constant, there was one we should be remembering this week. It started downtown at the Capitol One Arena, home of the NBA's Washington Wizards and was led, bullhorn in hand, by Wizards captain John Wall.
