An ideal world is one in which the perceived harms and dangers of someone’s behavior aren’t met with life-threatening punishment, nor with actions that leave children parent-less. An ideal world is one without mass incarceration, where people are given the tools they need to heal and thrive without imprisonment.
Justice System
How a First of Its Kind Settlement Account is Empowering Survivors of Sexual Assault
For survivors of sexual assault, a prolonged legal battle is often a source of retraumatization, and even after winning a settlement, the barrage of new decisions that need to be made over how to handle the money can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, Milestone Consulting created a first-of-its-kind national qualified settlement fund solely for survivors of sexual assault. By structuring payments over a fixed period of time, The Settlement Account empowers survivors to explore their options and tend to their post-trial needs.
An Effort to Abolish Court Fees Grows in California
In February, the L.A.-based Youth Justice Coalition successfully lobbied the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to vote to eliminate most court-related fines and fees, including probation. Three other counties in California’s Bay Area—San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa—have passed similar measures since 2018. But L.A. courts have continued to collect probation fees and other court-related debts.
“We’ve been trying to collect money from people who don’t have it, and they often end up in jail, or harassed or shaken down. We’re trying to fund our governments on the backs of communities of color, and in a post-COVID world, that is just going to be impossible. I shudder to think of the more draconian collection practices to come.”
The Military Failed Vanessa Guillen and Others. It Must Do Better.
Right before her death, Vanessa Guillén told her family that she had been sexually harassed by superiors. She didn’t report it, fearing retribution. Reporting sexual harassment and sexual assaults in the military goes up the chain of command—particularly useless if the perpetrator is a superior.
Since Guillén’s murder was confirmed, current and past service members who experienced sexual assault and harassment have shared their own stories with the viral #IAmVanessaGuillen.
June Medical Services: A Precarious Victory
After yesterday’s fractured opinion, legislatures will continue passing ever-more restrictive laws, and states will press hard to get them back in front of this unsettled Supreme Court.
June Medical Services presented the Court with a second bite at the apple. Louisiana couldn’t get Roberts to bite this time. But there’s a lot of the apples in the tree, and it only takes one.
Harvey Weinstein’s Verdict is a Victory. But Is It Enough to Open Our Eyes to the Epidemic of Sexual Assault?
Harvey Weinstein’s conviction is a step in the right direction, but it took powerful, well-resourced women to take down Mr. Weinstein. In order to end the epidemic of sexual violence, we need to invest in research and to support all survivors by creating evidence-based programs to help them to lead full, healthy lives.