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What You're Saying

‘...No One Thinks About How [New Research] Will Actually Be Implemented.’

A selection of recent letters from our readers.

“When the face of protest is feminine...there is a monumental problem relative to masculine protection of our communities.”

There is perverse comfort in assuming that if we just don’t engage in certain behaviors, like playing with a toy gun, we won’t be killed. It is this delusion that causes the murders to be treated as public address announcements that have a very short shelf life, particularly if the victim is female...When the face of protest is feminine, whether the victims are females or males—even the children at the pool party in McKinney, Texas said that they were going to tell their mothers—there is a monumental problem relative to masculine protection of our communities.

— J. R. Edwards, in response to The Sandra Bland Breakthrough

“States seriously need to review cases too.”

I am encouraged by Obama’s actions. Now, it is time states follow his lead...Lenny Singleton, currently incarcerated in Nottoway Correctional Center in Burkeville, Virginia, will die in prison if this reformation doesn’t take place on the state level. His case is not a federal case and therefore President Obama cannot grant him clemency. Only the governor of Virginia can do that...States seriously need to review cases too.

— Vandy Hill of Sevier, Utah, in response to Federal Prisons Could Release 1,000 Times More Drug Offenders Than Obama Did

“Everyone is so excited about new research...but no one thinks about how it will actually be implemented.”

The tool is only as good as its handler. [Probation/parole officers] who could care less about what they do or who they work with hand the offender a questionnaire, don’t explain its purpose, record the results (that are more than likely inaccurate) and then supervise the offender at an incorrect level...Everyone is so excited about new research and this and that, but no one thinks about how it will actually be implemented. The communist manifesto looked great on paper but when they tried to implement it...well you know the rest.

— Jacob Ray of Boone, North Carolina, in response to The New Science of Sentencing