Archive: Jan 2006

rick ruddell sends word of voting in canadian prisons on friday. incarcerated citizens have been eligible to vote in that nation since 2002, when the supreme court of canada ruled that barring prisoners from voting was contrary to the canadian charter of rights and freedoms. according to ctv, about 25 percent of 35,000 eligible prisoners were expected to cast ballots.

the story quotes conservative leader steven harper as saying, “no, I don’t agree with prisoner voting.” manitoba inmate jeff power (shown in the ctv photo at left) shaved a maple leaf and liberal ‘L’ into the side of his head. “We’re all voting for the Liberals, just because we want to keep our vote.”

here in the states, i’d imagine the republicans would adopt the canadian conservative position and the democrats would be … skittish. only maine and vermont permit prisoners to vote today and the u.s. supreme court has generally permitted states to disenfranchise prison inmates, probationers, parolees, and even former felons who have completed their sentences.

rick ruddell sends word of voting in canadian prisons on friday. incarcerated citizens have been eligible to vote in that nation since 2002, when the supreme court of canada ruled that barring prisoners from voting was contrary to the canadian charter of rights and freedoms. according to ctv, about 25 percent of 35,000 eligible prisoners were expected to cast ballots.

the story quotes conservative leader steven harper as saying, “no, I don’t agree with prisoner voting.” manitoba inmate jeff power (shown in the ctv photo at left) shaved a maple leaf and liberal ‘L’ into the side of his head. “We’re all voting for the Liberals, just because we want to keep our vote.”

here in the states, i’d imagine the republicans would adopt the canadian conservative position and the democrats would be … skittish. only maine and vermont permit prisoners to vote today and the u.s. supreme court has generally permitted states to disenfranchise prison inmates, probationers, parolees, and even former felons who have completed their sentences.

here’s an update on a minntalk this week and a small minnconference (minnminiconference?) next week:

1. i’m speaking with shelly schaefer on voting and the civic reintegration of former prisoners this tuesday as part of the sociology department workshop series. this one was bumped last semester for a really impressive roster of job candidates. the workshops are held in 1109 social sciences from 4-5:15 and all are welcome.

2. those interested in racial disparities in punishment and felon voting research might be more interested in silenced voices: the constitutionality and legality of felon disenfranchisement provisions on saturday, january 28 at the university of minnesota law school. law school professor carl warren is organizing the conference as part of the national civil rights moot court competition, which this year will examine johnson v. bush. all are welcome and attendance is free. attorneys can even get continuing legal education credit* if they contact the organizers in advance.

this should be really good — i know i’ll learn a lot. marc mauer of the sentencing project and race to incarcerate will be speaking on racial disparities. i’m especially eager to meet rep. keith ellison, who has introduced legislation to reenfranchise probationers and parolees. other speakers include catherine weiss of the brennan center, art eisenberg of the nyclu, and gary dickey, counsel and advisor to iowa governor tom vilsack. i’ll be doing an overview in the morning session, which will overlap with my department talk. events will be held at the minnesota law school from 9-3, but i don’t have the specific rooms yet. here’s the tentative schedule:

9:00 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.
Welcome and brief description of the facts and procedural posture of Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida, 405 F. 3d 1214 (11th Cir. 2005).

9:10 a.m. to 9:50 a.m.
Overview: Felon Disenfranchisement and Democracy. Prof. Christopher Uggen, Associate Chair, University of Minnesota, Department of Sociology.

9:50 a.m. to Noon. Silenced Voices
Panelists will examine the legal, constitutional, societal and policy-making implications of felon disenfranchisement provisions; measures that have been taken to address them, e.g. executive orders, legislation; and litigation that has challenged them, e.g. Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida; ­Muntaqim v. Coombe­­, 366 F. 3d 102 (2nd Cir. 2004) and Farrakhan v. Washington, 338 F. 3d 1009 (9th Cir. 2003). The panel will consist of:

• Catherine Weiss, Associate Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The Brennan Center represents the plaintiff’s class in the Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida;
• Art Eisenberg Litigation Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. The NYCLU submitted an Amicus brief in support of the Plaintiff’s position in ­Muntaqim v. Coombe­­;
• Rep. Keith Ellison of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The author of legislation to restore the voting rights of people who have been convicted of felonies and who are on probation or parole;
• Gary Dickey, Jr., General Counsel and Policy Advisor to Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa who by executive order restored the voting rights of ex-felons in Iowa;
• Marc Mauer, Executive Director, Sentencing Project, Washington DC; and
• Clinical Prof. Carl M. Warren, faculty advisor to the University of Minnesota Law School’s Wm. E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, will moderate the panel.

Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Break

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Catherine Weiss , Esq. will discuss the standards and appropriate legal analysis of the 14th Amendment and Voting Rights Act issues in Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida.

1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Marc Mauer author of ­Race To Incarcerate and Invisible Punishment will examine the staggering racial disparity in incarceration.

*5.6 hours of continuing legal education and judicial education credits (4.6 hours regular credit and 1.0 hours of Elimination of Bias credit) are available.

here’s an update on a minntalk this week and a small minnconference (minnminiconference?) next week:

1. i’m speaking with shelly schaefer on voting and the civic reintegration of former prisoners this tuesday as part of the sociology department workshop series. this one was bumped last semester for a really impressive roster of job candidates. the workshops are held in 1109 social sciences from 4-5:15 and all are welcome.

2. those interested in racial disparities in punishment and felon voting research might be more interested in silenced voices: the constitutionality and legality of felon disenfranchisement provisions on saturday, january 28 at the university of minnesota law school. law school professor carl warren is organizing the conference as part of the national civil rights moot court competition, which this year will examine johnson v. bush. all are welcome and attendance is free. attorneys can even get continuing legal education credit* if they contact the organizers in advance.

this should be really good — i know i’ll learn a lot. marc mauer of the sentencing project and race to incarcerate will be speaking on racial disparities. i’m especially eager to meet rep. keith ellison, who has introduced legislation to reenfranchise probationers and parolees. other speakers include catherine weiss of the brennan center, art eisenberg of the nyclu, and gary dickey, counsel and advisor to iowa governor tom vilsack. i’ll be doing an overview in the morning session, which will overlap with my department talk. events will be held at the minnesota law school from 9-3, but i don’t have the specific rooms yet. here’s the tentative schedule:

9:00 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.
Welcome and brief description of the facts and procedural posture of Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida, 405 F. 3d 1214 (11th Cir. 2005).

9:10 a.m. to 9:50 a.m.
Overview: Felon Disenfranchisement and Democracy. Prof. Christopher Uggen, Associate Chair, University of Minnesota, Department of Sociology.

9:50 a.m. to Noon. Silenced Voices
Panelists will examine the legal, constitutional, societal and policy-making implications of felon disenfranchisement provisions; measures that have been taken to address them, e.g. executive orders, legislation; and litigation that has challenged them, e.g. Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida; ­Muntaqim v. Coombe­­, 366 F. 3d 102 (2nd Cir. 2004) and Farrakhan v. Washington, 338 F. 3d 1009 (9th Cir. 2003). The panel will consist of:

• Catherine Weiss, Associate Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The Brennan Center represents the plaintiff’s class in the Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida;
• Art Eisenberg Litigation Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. The NYCLU submitted an Amicus brief in support of the Plaintiff’s position in ­Muntaqim v. Coombe­­;
• Rep. Keith Ellison of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The author of legislation to restore the voting rights of people who have been convicted of felonies and who are on probation or parole;
• Gary Dickey, Jr., General Counsel and Policy Advisor to Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa who by executive order restored the voting rights of ex-felons in Iowa;
• Marc Mauer, Executive Director, Sentencing Project, Washington DC; and
• Clinical Prof. Carl M. Warren, faculty advisor to the University of Minnesota Law School’s Wm. E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, will moderate the panel.

Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Break

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Catherine Weiss , Esq. will discuss the standards and appropriate legal analysis of the 14th Amendment and Voting Rights Act issues in Johnson v. Governor of State of Florida.

1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Marc Mauer author of ­Race To Incarcerate and Invisible Punishment will examine the staggering racial disparity in incarceration.

*5.6 hours of continuing legal education and judicial education credits (4.6 hours regular credit and 1.0 hours of Elimination of Bias credit) are available.

james frey is under siege for fabricating big chunks of his monster-selling memoir, a million little pieces. the minneapolis strib had questioned his accounts of surgery without anesthesia and a northwest airlines flight in which he was bleeding, with a hole in his cheek, and covered with “a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.” as the smoking gun reports, frey represented the memoir as non-fiction but, to put it charitably, seems to have seriously exaggerated his experiences. here’s the short version:

“When recalling criminal activities, looming prison sentences, and jailhouse rituals, Frey writes with a swaggering machismo and bravado that absolutely crackles. Which is truly impressive considering that, as TSG discovered, he made much of it up. The closest Frey has ever come to a jail cell was the few unshackled hours he once spent in a small Ohio police headquarters waiting for a buddy to post $733 cash bond.”

i think we should give folks a little wiggle-room on their memoirs, so i feel bad for mr. frey. of course, misrepresenting one’s criminal history probably seems like a pathetic way to do masculinity, at least for those over 25. still, i won’t deny the seductions of embellishing such experiences. my juvenile delinquency students know that i’ll sometimes refer to my experiences in the system. i’ve never hidden the fact that i was arrested several times at 16 and 17 (mostly for fighting and disorderly conduct) or that i had sleepovers in jails and other secure facilities. it can be useful in showing the discrepancy between the clean flow-chart picture of the system in textbooks and the messy experience of things like juvenile intake from a kid’s perspective. but whenever i feel any semblance of “swaggering machismo” in telling such stories, i know i’m starting to embellish — because it was never like that.

the first and most important reality checks are that i never did time (and certainly not hard time in a state penitentiary), that i’ve only seen prisons as a visitor or professor, and that i felt and was perceived as a nerd at the time or, more charitably, a hipster doofus or confused kid rather than a badass or tough guy. my guess is that frey has a similar history. this is important because the real badasses sniff out a phony in a second. when i interview men and women in prison, i represent myself as a dork professor rather than someone who has “been there.” even if i wanted to sell myself as an ex-con, i couldn’t pull it off. similarly, none of my publications on crime make any mention of my own history — i’m not embarrassed, it is just way too “thin” to be of any use. it certainly affects the kinds of questions i ask and the perspectives i adopt, but it would be the height of phoniness to trade on it.

also, the memory plays tricks. for example, i think i was arrested at 17 for stupidly attacking a bouncer at the cabooze, right down cedar avenue from my current office in minneapolis. if i were writing an account of the evening for my memoirs (or blog, i suppose), it would be tempting to embellish this “fight” (which was probably over in 2.4 seconds) as some sort of gladiator-style struggle and half-remember all sorts of details from all sorts of sources. just like mr. frey, i could see myself writing about being covered with “a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.” after 24 years, though, all i can really remember is that the band was wilma and the wilburs. i think i was handcuffed for a long time that night/morning and that it hurt, but that could have been a different night altogether. if the smoking gun investigated my blogoirs, they might discover that it was bullwinkles rather than the cabooze or, worse, that i was not arrested in hennepin county that night (hmm. was it ryan’s in ramsey county?).

i’m thinking about embellishment because my son is now a wrestler and musician — two activities that i explored at 14 too. i thought i was a pretty scrappy wrestler, but had to ask my dad whether i was really any good at it (verdict: fought like hell, but lost as much as i won). i know that i was never a good guitar player (“scrappy” probably applies here as well), though i’m sometimes tempted to embellish my experiences or abilities here too. my delinquent history hasn’t really been questioned, though those who knew me at 16 love my little joke about preparing a lifetime to “teach a course in juvenile delinquency.”

so, even if mr. frey was never the badass of a million little pieces, he probably had some experiences that were something like the events described in the book. or maybe they were stories he heard in treatment. why do we embellish our deviance? hmmm. edwin lemert noted long ago (1951) that rewards as well as penalties derive from deviant roles. rw connell explains the general swagger and jack katz explicated the specific ways of the badass. now that he’s apparently been busted, the arc of frey’s story fits goffman’s (1961) sad tale, and shadd maruna‘s redemption scripts might help us figure out his next move.

prediction: his next book is gonna be huge.

james frey is under siege for fabricating big chunks of his monster-selling memoir, a million little pieces. the minneapolis strib had questioned his accounts of surgery without anesthesia and a northwest airlines flight in which he was bleeding, with a hole in his cheek, and covered with “a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.” as the smoking gun reports, frey represented the memoir as non-fiction but, to put it charitably, seems to have seriously exaggerated his experiences. here’s the short version:

“When recalling criminal activities, looming prison sentences, and jailhouse rituals, Frey writes with a swaggering machismo and bravado that absolutely crackles. Which is truly impressive considering that, as TSG discovered, he made much of it up. The closest Frey has ever come to a jail cell was the few unshackled hours he once spent in a small Ohio police headquarters waiting for a buddy to post $733 cash bond.”

i think we should give folks a little wiggle-room on their memoirs, so i feel bad for mr. frey. of course, misrepresenting one’s criminal history probably seems like a pathetic way to do masculinity, at least for those over 25. still, i won’t deny the seductions of embellishing such experiences. my juvenile delinquency students know that i’ll sometimes refer to my experiences in the system. i’ve never hidden the fact that i was arrested several times at 16 and 17 (mostly for fighting and disorderly conduct) or that i had sleepovers in jails and other secure facilities. it can be useful in showing the discrepancy between the clean flow-chart picture of the system in textbooks and the messy experience of things like juvenile intake from a kid’s perspective. but whenever i feel any semblance of “swaggering machismo” in telling such stories, i know i’m starting to embellish — because it was never like that.

the first and most important reality checks are that i never did time (and certainly not hard time in a state penitentiary), that i’ve only seen prisons as a visitor or professor, and that i felt and was perceived as a nerd at the time or, more charitably, a hipster doofus or confused kid rather than a badass or tough guy. my guess is that frey has a similar history. this is important because the real badasses sniff out a phony in a second. when i interview men and women in prison, i represent myself as a dork professor rather than someone who has “been there.” even if i wanted to sell myself as an ex-con, i couldn’t pull it off. similarly, none of my publications on crime make any mention of my own history — i’m not embarrassed, it is just way too “thin” to be of any use. it certainly affects the kinds of questions i ask and the perspectives i adopt, but it would be the height of phoniness to trade on it.

also, the memory plays tricks. for example, i think i was arrested at 17 for stupidly attacking a bouncer at the cabooze, right down cedar avenue from my current office in minneapolis. if i were writing an account of the evening for my memoirs (or blog, i suppose), it would be tempting to embellish this “fight” (which was probably over in 2.4 seconds) as some sort of gladiator-style struggle and half-remember all sorts of details from all sorts of sources. just like mr. frey, i could see myself writing about being covered with “a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.” after 24 years, though, all i can really remember is that the band was wilma and the wilburs. i think i was handcuffed for a long time that night/morning and that it hurt, but that could have been a different night altogether. if the smoking gun investigated my blogoirs, they might discover that it was bullwinkles rather than the cabooze or, worse, that i was not arrested in hennepin county that night (hmm. was it ryan’s in ramsey county?).

i’m thinking about embellishment because my son is now a wrestler and musician — two activities that i explored at 14 too. i thought i was a pretty scrappy wrestler, but had to ask my dad whether i was really any good at it (verdict: fought like hell, but lost as much as i won). i know that i was never a good guitar player (“scrappy” probably applies here as well), though i’m sometimes tempted to embellish my experiences or abilities here too. my delinquent history hasn’t really been questioned, though those who knew me at 16 love my little joke about preparing a lifetime to “teach a course in juvenile delinquency.”

so, even if mr. frey was never the badass of a million little pieces, he probably had some experiences that were something like the events described in the book. or maybe they were stories he heard in treatment. why do we embellish our deviance? hmmm. edwin lemert noted long ago (1951) that rewards as well as penalties derive from deviant roles. rw connell explains the general swagger and jack katz explicated the specific ways of the badass. now that he’s apparently been busted, the arc of frey’s story fits goffman’s (1961) sad tale, and shadd maruna‘s redemption scripts might help us figure out his next move.

prediction: his next book is gonna be huge.

i recently received an email from the homeland security institute, a federally funded interdisciplinary think tank for the department of homeland security. they did not ask me to keep the request confidential, so i’ll reproduce the main text here:

We are currently working on a project for the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, in which we are cataloging consequence assessment tools/methodologies/suites in an attempt to assess those that have homeland security applications. Political Consequences Methodology has been selected for inclusion into our report. Since this report impinges on matters of national security, we are attempting to make all information as accurate as possible. Would you be so kind as to fill in the table provided and return it to me at the email address below?

the questions in the table seemed designed for researchers who had developed software or other tools far beyond anything i’ve done (i.e., geographical information systems stuff). i had never thought of my felon voting project with jeff as having homeland security applications, so i don’t know why this project was selected. i just did my best with the table and returned it to the institute. the national science foundation funded the research and i’m glad to provide any information i can about it.

i’ve always sought to do “engaged” scholarship that would somehow be useful. once the work is public, however, i’m always surprised at how it is used. for example, the republican party in washington cited my work in challenging a closely-contested democratic victory. i’ve heard anecdotally that my study showing job training success among older ex-prisoners was used to cut funding for job training among younger ex-prisoners, which wasn’t quite what i’d intended. still, i’m happy as long as the work provides decent social facts that allow for better informed decisions, even if the outcome isn’t consistent with my preferences as a citizen. in this case, i’d like to think that the institute’s interests have something to do with protecting the integrity of national elections, though i can, of course, think of less virtuous reasons.

when i was just out of college, some of my other work was put to far-flung purposes. i was 22 and working in a madison social service agency when i helped develop software to track the employment and training experiences of people on public assistance. when wisconsin-style “welfare reform” went national, ibm and some locals tried to market the software to all sorts of organizations (including, as i recall, fire departments). i felt a little cheated that i didn’t get paid on that venture, since i was making about seven dollars per hour when i did the screen shots with the coders. to be fair, the ibm folks did buy me a nice lunch at pedro’s (mmm…chimi) and say nice things about me to my boss.

of course, i’m relieved i didn’t have to kill myself rewriting code to somehow satisfy the poor fire department that actually bought the software. i guess the lesson here is mostly caveat emptor for those using our research. still, public sociologists and criminologists would do well to heed warnings of caveat venditor as well.

i recently received an email from the homeland security institute, a federally funded interdisciplinary think tank for the department of homeland security. they did not ask me to keep the request confidential, so i’ll reproduce the main text here:

We are currently working on a project for the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, in which we are cataloging consequence assessment tools/methodologies/suites in an attempt to assess those that have homeland security applications. Political Consequences Methodology has been selected for inclusion into our report. Since this report impinges on matters of national security, we are attempting to make all information as accurate as possible. Would you be so kind as to fill in the table provided and return it to me at the email address below?

the questions in the table seemed designed for researchers who had developed software or other tools far beyond anything i’ve done (i.e., geographical information systems stuff). i had never thought of my felon voting project with jeff as having homeland security applications, so i don’t know why this project was selected. i just did my best with the table and returned it to the institute. the national science foundation funded the research and i’m glad to provide any information i can about it.

i’ve always sought to do “engaged” scholarship that would somehow be useful. once the work is public, however, i’m always surprised at how it is used. for example, the republican party in washington cited my work in challenging a closely-contested democratic victory. i’ve heard anecdotally that my study showing job training success among older ex-prisoners was used to cut funding for job training among younger ex-prisoners, which wasn’t quite what i’d intended. still, i’m happy as long as the work provides decent social facts that allow for better informed decisions, even if the outcome isn’t consistent with my preferences as a citizen. in this case, i’d like to think that the institute’s interests have something to do with protecting the integrity of national elections, though i can, of course, think of less virtuous reasons.

when i was just out of college, some of my other work was put to far-flung purposes. i was 22 and working in a madison social service agency when i helped develop software to track the employment and training experiences of people on public assistance. when wisconsin-style “welfare reform” went national, ibm and some locals tried to market the software to all sorts of organizations (including, as i recall, fire departments). i felt a little cheated that i didn’t get paid on that venture, since i was making about seven dollars per hour when i did the screen shots with the coders. to be fair, the ibm folks did buy me a nice lunch at pedro’s (mmm…chimi) and say nice things about me to my boss.

of course, i’m relieved i didn’t have to kill myself rewriting code to somehow satisfy the poor fire department that actually bought the software. i guess the lesson here is mostly caveat emptor for those using our research. still, public sociologists and criminologists would do well to heed warnings of caveat venditor as well.

when michelle makes a post, she can include a link to a cool west coast story in the seattle times. then, she can include a photo . if she doesn’t want to post it right away, she can just save it as a draft.