A letter from Steve Gorelick
November 7, 2009
Dear Janice and Gene and Brandon:
I am sorry I couldn't be at the arguments. My fingers will be permanently crossed until this injustice is remedied.
And I repeat for the umpteenth time. As a Professor with a PhD in Sociology and Criminology, I am involved with the movement to free Brandon Hein because there is not any -- not one piece of -- evidence that the felony murder rule and Brandon Hein's imprisonment has made one single person in California or anywhere even slightly safer.
Seriously: Doctoral level research criminologists, as opposed to the phony experts that sometimes appear on cable television, are evidence based academics. And there is not one piece of even feeble evidence that keeping Brandon in prison is serving any useful social purpose.
I am not against punishment. I like firm and proportionate punishment. And I am not saying that society is not well served by a criminal code that punishes the guilty.
But you could wait until the cows come home before you could find one serious research criminologist who would say these words: "The Felony Murder Rule serves a useful public service, promotes public safety, and serves a demonstrable deterrent effect."
Oh you'll find prosecutors who will say it, you'll find people in law enforcement who will say it, you'll find TV pop-criminologists who will say it. But you simply will not find a research-based criminologist who will say it. Because they can't. There is no evidence. Oh, there is speculation. There is overheated political rhetoric that makes expansive claims for why we need the Felony Murder rule. But there is no evidence that it is anything other than a measure that looks tough to a scared public and that gives the politicians who support it some cover with voters who demand a system that gets tough with evil.
I am fully aware that Brandon's appeal leans on a series of persuasive and elegant legal arguments and not on the efficacy of the Felony Murder Rule. The felony murder rule is not on trial. But you might read the blog post below that I wrote about Brandon and about how in the early 1960s, not far from where oral arguments were heard, I had my own "wrong place in the wrong time" incident. But for the direction of the wind in California that day -- that's right, the wind -- I might be a 58 year-old lifer in the cell next to Brandon.
I was playing with matches and set a small fire that, on any other day with more wind and a higher temperature, might have led to tragic results. In my case, the wind blew the other way, the fire didn't reach the nearby building with people inside, and I got a warning and only a very brief brush with the juvenile justice system.
http://mediaandmayhem.com/2009/08/23/an-incredible-injustice-the-case-of-brandon-hein/
Brandon, on the other hand, was not holding a knife. But the knife, held by someone else, moved an inch or two in the wrong direction, a young man who also deserved a chance at life was killed, and Brandon spends all these years imprisoned. For me, beneficiary of the wind, life went on to include graduate degrees, faculty positions, and a University Vice Presidency. Add some wonderful kids and a wonderful wife.
Again, Brandon's case will hinge on the appellate arguments. They are strong. They should succeed. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking we as a society have accomplished anything -- ANYTHING -- by convicting and imprisoning a bystander who -- while admittedly at the wrong place at the wrong time and at a place he shouldn't have been -- did not kill anyone.
Believe me, I know the politician's arguments: We have to get tough, we have teach kids to stay away from bad people and bad situations. Some of them are sincere in their belief. But first I would like to ask every member of the legislature whether they have ever been in a situation that could have easily and quickly moved in the wrong direction and ended in tragedy.
Adolescence and young adulthood is packed with moments of thoughtlessness and plain old stupidity. Do we really want a criminal justice system that leaves no room for this? I think we are simply too smart and too merciful to allow it.
Steve Gorelick, PhD Professor City University of New York
Dear Janice and Gene and Brandon:
I am sorry I couldn't be at the arguments. My fingers will be permanently crossed until this injustice is remedied.
And I repeat for the umpteenth time. As a Professor with a PhD in Sociology and Criminology, I am involved with the movement to free Brandon Hein because there is not any -- not one piece of -- evidence that the felony murder rule and Brandon Hein's imprisonment has made one single person in California or anywhere even slightly safer.
Seriously: Doctoral level research criminologists, as opposed to the phony experts that sometimes appear on cable television, are evidence based academics. And there is not one piece of even feeble evidence that keeping Brandon in prison is serving any useful social purpose.
I am not against punishment. I like firm and proportionate punishment. And I am not saying that society is not well served by a criminal code that punishes the guilty.
But you could wait until the cows come home before you could find one serious research criminologist who would say these words: "The Felony Murder Rule serves a useful public service, promotes public safety, and serves a demonstrable deterrent effect."
Oh you'll find prosecutors who will say it, you'll find people in law enforcement who will say it, you'll find TV pop-criminologists who will say it. But you simply will not find a research-based criminologist who will say it. Because they can't. There is no evidence. Oh, there is speculation. There is overheated political rhetoric that makes expansive claims for why we need the Felony Murder rule. But there is no evidence that it is anything other than a measure that looks tough to a scared public and that gives the politicians who support it some cover with voters who demand a system that gets tough with evil.
I am fully aware that Brandon's appeal leans on a series of persuasive and elegant legal arguments and not on the efficacy of the Felony Murder Rule. The felony murder rule is not on trial. But you might read the blog post below that I wrote about Brandon and about how in the early 1960s, not far from where oral arguments were heard, I had my own "wrong place in the wrong time" incident. But for the direction of the wind in California that day -- that's right, the wind -- I might be a 58 year-old lifer in the cell next to Brandon.
I was playing with matches and set a small fire that, on any other day with more wind and a higher temperature, might have led to tragic results. In my case, the wind blew the other way, the fire didn't reach the nearby building with people inside, and I got a warning and only a very brief brush with the juvenile justice system.
http://mediaandmayhem.com/2009/08/23/an-incredible-injustice-the-case-of-brandon-hein/
Brandon, on the other hand, was not holding a knife. But the knife, held by someone else, moved an inch or two in the wrong direction, a young man who also deserved a chance at life was killed, and Brandon spends all these years imprisoned. For me, beneficiary of the wind, life went on to include graduate degrees, faculty positions, and a University Vice Presidency. Add some wonderful kids and a wonderful wife.
Again, Brandon's case will hinge on the appellate arguments. They are strong. They should succeed. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking we as a society have accomplished anything -- ANYTHING -- by convicting and imprisoning a bystander who -- while admittedly at the wrong place at the wrong time and at a place he shouldn't have been -- did not kill anyone.
Believe me, I know the politician's arguments: We have to get tough, we have teach kids to stay away from bad people and bad situations. Some of them are sincere in their belief. But first I would like to ask every member of the legislature whether they have ever been in a situation that could have easily and quickly moved in the wrong direction and ended in tragedy.
Adolescence and young adulthood is packed with moments of thoughtlessness and plain old stupidity. Do we really want a criminal justice system that leaves no room for this? I think we are simply too smart and too merciful to allow it.
Steve Gorelick, PhD Professor City University of New York
posted by Gene and Janice Hein at 10:38 AM
1 Comments:
Any news??? We are all anxiously waiting to hear the news.
kathleen
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