『Who Gets the Book Thrown at Them?』のカバーアート

Who Gets the Book Thrown at Them?

Who Gets the Book Thrown at Them?

無料で聴く

ポッドキャストの詳細を見る
Three names: Crystal Mason. E.L.A. Chanel Miller.Their stories are different, but each bore the brunt of injustice while others—the folks society deemed worthy of protecting—well, their futures were too promising to ruin. So they were given grace.Until the outcry became too loud to ignore.How loud can you scream?Who Gets the Book Thrown at Them?The last seven days have had my mind spinning.On September 24, Crystal Mason was finally able to breathe.You see, in 2018, Mason was convicted of illegal voting in Texas and sentenced to five years in prison after she cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election. At the time, she was still on federal supervised release for an earlier tax-fraud conviction, and she did not know being on supervised release made her ineligible to vote.Her provisional ballot was never counted, but the law came for her anyway.Think about that for a moment. A ballot that never counted. A woman who said she did not know she was ineligible. Well, that situation gave her a five-year prison sentence.After years of appeals, in March 2024, the Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed Mason’s conviction and entered a judgment of acquittal. The court found the evidence insufficient to prove that she actually knew she was ineligible to vote.But prosecutors didn’t want to take the L. They continued to try to revive the conviction.But in the last seven days, on September 24, 2026, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—the state’s highest criminal court—rejected these efforts and left Mason’s acquittal in place.Eight years after her conviction for casting a ballot, she’s finally free of the charges. I guess justice delayed is better than denied, right?Then on September 25, another court confronted the disturbing use of government power. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher found the federal government in contempt after immigration authorities deported a young asylum seeker identified as E.L.A. to El Salvador despite court orders to protect him here.E.L.A., the young minor identified in the papers, had come to the United States as an unaccompanied minor at sixteen. The government wrongly deported him, acknowledged the error and facilitated his return to the United States. Then it deported him again.Judge Gallagher has now ordered the government to facilitate his return. One wonders what will happen, to a teen imigrant who came here seeking a better life.So, you’re asking yourself, Vanessa, what do these two events mean?At first glance, perhaps nothing more than two court rulings happening within twenty-four hours of each other.But I can’t unsee who gets swept into the mashing jaws of American justice—and gets grace.Crystal Mason is a Black woman who casts a provisional ballot and was given a 5-year sentence.E.L.A. is an immigrant: a young Salvadoran asylum seeker who came to this country for asylum, and despite court orders, was deported. Twice.The woman—the Black woman, and the immigrant get the harshest penalties.Which brings me to Cornell.On September 28, a criminal investigation was reopened into allegations involving a former Cornell University student and members of Cornell’s student Greek fraternity, Chi Phi.Jane Doe has been trying to get justice since October 2024, because no one wanted to purse her case beyond school discipline.In a civil lawsuit filed this month, Doe alleges that she’d been drinking, went to the Chi Phi fraternity house, was pressured to take what she was told was ketamine, became increasingly impaired, and was sexually assaulted by multiple men over a period of hours.These are allegations. The men have not been convicted of these alleged assaults, and the reopened criminal investigation will have to determine what the evidence establishes.One particularly disturbing part of the complaint involves an alleged Snapchat group conversation among fraternity members. According to the lawsuit, messages alerted fraternity members that a woman was upstairs and available for sex. Doe alleges that additional men subsequently entered the room and that assaults continued for hours.She reported the incident to Cornell University Police. Cornell conducted its own disciplinary investigation. The university says the resulting sanctions included suspensions and expulsions, and Cornell permanently removed the Chi Phi chapter from campus.But criminal charges did not follow.Then, on September 14, 2026, Doe filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell, Chi Phi, seven former fraternity members and others, alleging negligence, sexual assault, sexual battery, breach of contract and other violations of New York law.So today, two weeks later, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced that he was reopening the criminal investigation and present evidence to a grand jury.And I couldn’t help thinking: Haven’t we been here before?White young man or men, sexual assault, no punishment. Yes, we have, with the case of Chanel Miller.In 2015, ...
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
まだレビューはありません