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NewsSpotta Volunteer Team
originally by: Women’s Refugee Commission
June 2011
Jeanne, from Haiti, is the mother of four U.S. citizen children. She was arrested in her home in the early morning hours after an abusive boyfriend made a false 911 call against her. She was sent to an immigration detention center 400 miles away from her children, without an opportunity to make care arrangements for them.
For six months, Jeanne had no idea where her children were or if they were safe. When she was finally released, she found that her children had been separated from each other and were living in extremely perilous situations. One child spent much of his time in his father’s taxicab. Another was living with an unknown family that had taken him in. Another child was placed with her abusive father, but he had kicked her out. Jeanne found her living with a school friend’s family.
Sadly, Jeanne’s situation is not uncommon for a parent who ends up in immigration detention. Because there is no requirement that parents who are apprehended by immigration be permitted to make a phone call early enough to make childcare arrangements, many children—including those who are U.S. citizens—are left alone when their parents are detained. Others needlessly end up in the child welfare system.
originally by: TruthDig
16th July 2011
In May 2010, long before Casey Anthony had become the protagonist in a national morality play and long before CNN Headline News hosts Jane Valez-Mitchell and Nancy Grace had assumed the role of a latter-day Greek chorus calling for her conviction, Anthony’s defense team brought a pretrial motion to remove the death penalty as an option in the case on grounds of gender discrimination.
Andrea Lyon, a DePaul University law school professor and a prominent critic of capital punishment, argued the motion. Lyon, who later withdrew from the defense reportedly for financial reasons, relied on the research and in-court testimony of University of New Mexico law professor Elizabeth Rapaport, a leading expert on the subject of women and the death penalty.
Lyon contended that Anthony had been charged with capital murder not because of the facts of her child’s death but because women who kill loved ones are often exposed to a higher degree of punishment than men charged with similar offenses. Judge Belvin Perry Jr. denied the motion, finding no specific evidence of gender bias.
