by Casey Bastian
The American justice system was premised on certain legal principles. One of its most vital foundational principles was mens rea. Mens rea is Latin and literally means “guilty mind.”
The principle that, to hold someone liable for committing a criminal act, requires that the person intended ...
by Casey Bastian
The District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences (“DFS”) is a $220 million facility built in 2012. Its construction was highly lauded and was expected to effectively process crime scene evidence. DFS is an independent agency analyzing forensic DNA, firearm, and fingerprint evidence for various law enforcement ...
by Casey Bastian
In July 2014, college student James King was walking to a job when Grand Rapids, Michigan, Detective Todd Allen and FBI Special Agent Douglas Brownback stopped King, believing he was a fugitive in a Michigan crime. Allen and Brownback were operating as part of a multi-agency task ...
by Casey Bastian
Having a criminal record, for even minor offenses, can make it very difficult to obtain housing, employment, or education and vocational training. In an effort to alleviate some of these difficulties, lawmakers in Michigan have passed bipartisan legislation titled “Clean Slate,” which expands and automates some criminal ...
by Casey Bastian
Americans are asking: What is preventing the meaningful reforms in policing that are clearly needed? The answer may be police unions. While there are a plethora of issues to be addressed, unions have become an organized force actively resisting safer, less aggressive, and more accountable policing. Members ...
by Casey Bastian
We have turned a corner in America when it comes to the public automatically trusting in the nostalgic image of law enforcement. No longer can law enforcement just assume the mantle of the “good guys” who operate with impeccable motives for the greater good of society.
Hundreds ...
by Casey Bastian
Jamilla Clark and Arwa Aziz were arrested on minor charges in 2017 by the New York Police Department (“NYPD”) – Clark in Manhattan and Aziz in Brooklyn. Clark and Aziz are devout Muslims who wear the appropriate head scarves or hijabs. Muslim women wear the hijab when ...
by Casey Bastian
When a criminal defendant enters a court of law, he or she is aware that the prosecutor intends to hold them accountable for any of their conduct alleged to have violated a law. The public implicitly trusts that prosecutors will likewise follow the law and act in ...
by Casey J. Bastian
For human beings suffering from mental illness, living a safe and productive life can be extraordinarily difficult. Far too often, and all across America, thousands end up in prison as a result of their conditions. Beginning in the 1950s, psychiatric institutions were criticized as inhumane and ...
by Casey J. Bastian
In 1966, the official Officer Friendly program was first instituted by the Chicago Police Department. Shortly after inception, the program became sponsored by the Sears-Roebuck Foundation. This educational program was designed for elementary schools, focusing on kids ages 5-8. The Department of Education notes that by 1979, the Officer Friendly program was in 233 communities. That number expanded to 350 at the height of the program’s popularity in the late 1980s, prospectively influencing upward of 1.5 million youths. The cost to the foundation had risen to $400,000 per year.
On the surface, the program’s purpose seems entirely benevolent, viz., providing safety education while positioning the police officer as a trustworthy and kind savior of the community. Plausibly accepted as who could possibly object to safety education for our children?
In reality, the Officer Friendly program is viewed very differently depending on whom you ask. So who is the real Officer Friendly? Sadly, the response seems to depend on race. Is Officer Friendly the idealized vision in the 1958 Norman Rockwell depiction, The Runaway, where a cop is seen comforting a small White child, coaxing him to return home? Or is it the 1965 photograph ...
