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Domestic Violence Awareness Month & Survivor Art

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month there was a candlelight vigil at SafeHouse, where I am a Board member. That's motivated me to finally get this post together and upload some pictures I've taken of the survivor artwork they have.The usual question is "Why Does She Stay?" but we know the real question should be "Why Is He Violent?" Still, if this is the question you have, then read Why (Some) Women (Sometimes) Stay.  The issue is changing men's behavior, so I'd suggest checking out the resources on StopViolence.com about Men Working to End Violence Against Women.  For anyone... continue reading »

Televising McVeigh's Execution (Why Is Photographing an Execution A Crime?) - mp3 lecture

Earlier this month, I was out at the ACJS meeting in Seattle and presented some new research on televising executions. I made an mp3 recording of the presentation about webcasting McVeigh's execution and added a few minutes of background information about televised executions. The talk is 24 minutes and the file is 5.3MB. (It's an early venture in audio files, so look for more and better efforts in the future.) Why Is Photographing an Execution A Crime? Once and Future Issues Raised by the Suit to Webcast McVeigh's Execution. An early edition of Death Work opens with a story about... continue reading »

Hussein Hanging Video: A Great Day for Democracy?

As I noted last month, I'm working on an article about televising McVeigh's execution: Why Is Photographing an Execution A Crime? Once and Future Issues Raised by the Suit to Webcast McVeigh's Execution. So, it's interesting to come back from eight hours on the road to see Hussein has not only been executed, but there's video footage of it. Although there's a federal law that prevents making a photographic recording of executions in the U.S., there's nothing formal that prohibits media from showing Saddam 'Butcher of Baghdad' Hussein's execution. But the U.S. media thinks it's inappropriate to do so. Why?I'm... continue reading »

Columbus Day: A Critique of Celebrating Colonialism

This is the introduction to Chapter 7 on Victims and Victimology of the Class, Race, Gender and Crime book I co-authored (available at the end of this month). Because the deprivations of some minorities have been so extensive and/or are so profound, some argue that these social relations or conditions amount to “genocide,” a powerful word used to describe extreme cases of mass violence and victimization whose derivation comes from the Latin cide (kill) and the Greek genos (race or tribe). The underlying concept of genocide involves an attempt to exterminate a group that shares common characteristics and a common identity.... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day (Part 9)

Another day with no negotiations and no word from the administration about resuming contract talks. Still, it was a very busy day around the office. Much of what we're doing now revolves around multiple levels of strategy. Obviously much of this can't be disclosed here, but there are many short-term and longer terms (days ahead) to deal with. Most immediately is getting information produced: deciding on information for the daily flyers, and getting the paper, refreshments, and stickes (I Support My Faculty) up to compus in the right places. When students moved in, we distributed thousands of flyers to get information... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day (Part 8)

After so many days at in the basement negotiating, today was a radical change of pace. No negotiations after the administration walked out, and the negotiating team got to enjoy the sunny day  EMU-AAUP negotiating team ready to finish negotiating the contract whenever management wants to return from the walkout So at the moment, there are no negotiations and no scheduled negotiations. The only contact we had with the administration today was when we offered to call of the strike and return to class if they agreed to submit to binding arbitration. It took them not more than a few... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day (Part 6)

I've removed the question mark from the earlier posts because we are on strike and it is now labor day. The question is how long after Labor Day the strike will continue, and what will happen with the administration's threat to suspend negotiations tomorrow night. How many parts will this series have? This morning, a group of us went to march in the Detroit Labor Day parade. Of course many people knew of our strike and were supportive, and I was glad to give a shout out to the Detroit teachers. As brutal as this negotiation and strike have been,... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day? (Part 5)

Today started off nicely with some picketing under nice weather. But by evening we were back to playing hardball. The administration threatened to walk out of negotiations if there was not a settlement by Tues at 10pm and they're trying to set the ground work for an injunction against the strike. In the morning, faculty passed out information to new students about the strike. I was going to take a break, but it was a nice day and I've found that wandering around the pickets is invigorating. It's a good chance to talk with colleagues and hear some of their... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day? (Part 4)

After some long days, it was great to have a break. I slept for 10 hours and had a long, hot shower. While 'feeling like a new man' is a bit of an exaggeration, I do feel reinvigorated for the next push - which will be through Wed at 8am when classes are supposed to start. My colleagues on the negotiating team feel similarly uplifted from sleep, playing with their kids and taking care of basic chores like mowing the lawn.I did have to spend some time dealing with a health care proposal I'll talk about below. But I noticed... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day? (Part 3)

Today was on the 'lighter' side - only 10 hours. As noted in the last posting, I got home last night after the strike rally about 1am and had to be back at 8am to start again. With some of the adrenalin and anxiety, it was hard to sleep - and that made getting up in the morning easy, but hurt later in the day. Although we were supposed to have an 8am session on health care as a 2 (from their team) on 2 (from our team), what meaterialized was a 3 (their team) on 2 (our team) about 9am.... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day? (Part 2)

I showed up at negotiations at 8:30am for a team session, and the negotiations themselves started at 10. We've been at it ten hours now - all in a basement with a small window and a 15 minute walk to enjoy a beautiful day.  (Yes. lunch and dinner were carry out, as too many meals have been). For all the time, there's been much sound and fury signifying nothing. As I write this, the contract expires in a little over fours hours and we need to decide whether to strike or extend the contract for 24 hours or a few... continue reading »

On Strike for Labor Day? (Part I)

In an earlier posting, I mentioned being on the negotiating team that is working on a new contract for the 667 faculty members here. With a little more than 30 hours before the contract expires, the sides are miles worlds apart. So it's likely there will be a strike that will continue through the Labor Day weekend. Being on strike and picketing is somewhat unusual, both because of declining participation in labor unions and for folks in white collar jobs. So, I'll be using this blog to discuss the experience as it unfolds over the next few days.. or as... continue reading »

Current Projects (Apologies for Light Posting Recently)

In the first posting of this blog, I used the opening from my forthcoming book, Class, Race, Gender & Crime. I've been busy going through the page proofs, which are the last chance to correct errors. It's actually difficult to look carefully at each sentence at this point because I've been through it so many times with writing, editing and copyediting (dealing with the editors questions and approving or rejecting their suggestions). But it is email off to the publisher now and we're wrapping up eveything. After what seems like hundreds of emails (but is probably a few dozen), we... continue reading »

July 15 Review & Linkfest

Many thanks to those of you stopping by to check out the blog. I've been working out a few technical bugs and hope to start posting more frequently over the next few weeks.This week is a little lighter than last week's review of terrorism, but we still have violence in the Mid East to deal with. But first, sex, drugs and CEO pay & how they profited from Sept 11. Sex-Regina Lynn writes the Sex Drive column for Wired.com (yes, work safe):  It has long been illegal in California to knowingly pass a communicable disease, venereal or otherwise, to another... continue reading »

Inequality, Justice & Protecting Liberty: A 4th of July Welcome to PaulsJusticeBlog

“Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Brandeis: “They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty” (Whitney v California, 274 US 357, 1927). The radicals who founded this country were not only brave enough to fight, but were not afraid to articulate their belief in the importance of freedom and argue it through to the logical conclusion of a government dependent on The People, who were free to change it. They wrote in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,... continue reading »