Scott Hechinger
@ScottHech
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Supporting public defenders and the people & communities they serve to amplify perspective + story to end mass criminalization. Dad. Always public defender.
Brooklyn, NY
Joined May 2009
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THREAD: On how a law passed by the KKK 80+ years ago to maintain white supremacy keeps disproportionately Black people locked up in Oregon. How a jailhouse lawyer got the case to the Supreme Court. And how to topple this monument to racism. Read on & watch:https://t.co/8wMz7KRnr8
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Behind every cruel justice policy is an army of "objective" journalists who transcribe police, prosecutors, & carceral interest group talking points, dehumanize those who'd be directly impacted by the policy, & cherry-pick sensational outlier cases.https://t.co/gPoH9it1gj
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Yesterday, my wife, son, & I ate breakfast, lunch, & dinner in bed while watching three movies: Superman I and II, and the Parent Trap. We did other things too that were not in bed, but still. Should I feel guilty or really damn proud? Leaning heavily toward proud.
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
“Judges don't give a damn about us. They'll start to care when we have people power behind us.”
Qiana & Carmen grew a courtwatching force of hundreds. Including Fiona Apple. Courts now trying to shut them down. Not giving up. If you read one thing today: https://t.co/ehVvobhaYv
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He was paroled. Finally. https://t.co/AdwkVGrLdd
@ScottHech he was paroled last fall—after being denied parole 3x, that awful LASC ruling, and spending more than 20 years in prison.
https://t.co/T6jRu2a3P1
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A 63 y/o Black man will be caged the rest of his life for stealing hedge clippers. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the sentence. The lone dissent was Chief Justice Bernette Johnson. The only female & Black person on court. The rest are white men. https://t.co/9Wk2MeNiyN
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This man. Sentenced to life for stealing batteries. Served 22 yrs before sentence finally was vacated. Sentenced like this bc of "habitual offender" laws. No matter the charge, time goes up for mistakes of the past. We are sick w/ a love for punishment. https://t.co/P6ZSTo7ods
Our client, Robert Bhaner, had his life sentence vacated after spending 22 years behind bars for shoplifting some batteries. If prosecuted today, his sentence would be a maximum of 30 days in county jail. #CriminalJusticeReform https://t.co/BuMzQ636vk
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23 years in a cage for 2 t-shirts.
Its a human rights catastrophe this kind of punishment is allowed.
And a prosecutor requesting this punishment is so much more depraved than the vast majority of offenses for which people are punished.
“Habitual offender” laws must go. https://t.co/K5sA4fjkeI
New Orleans man sentenced to 23 years in prison under Louisiana's habitual offender statute *for stealing 2 T-shirts* released after 20 years. Guy Frank was freed after the Orleans DA's office withdrew the multi-bill and gave him credit for time served. https://t.co/SsIlr4WhL8
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
When reporters write about COVID outbreaks and other government malfeasance in prison, why is it relevant to note the convictions of people who died? Is the implication that some people might deserve to die of a mishandled virus behind bars?
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One year ago. Just weeks after bail reform enacted. During a pandemic. In dead of night. So no advocates could be heard. Cuomo caved to white supremacists, NYPD, Bill de Blasio, & fear. He repealed.
We said 1000s more would be caged. Sad to say, we were right. It’s a disaster: https://t.co/4ltUnC0oMl
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
We should pack the Supreme Court with a few formerly incarcerated lawyers, rather than just graduates of Yale and Harvard law schools. (But no, I wouldn't want that job.)
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
My gift to you: Along with my pals at @fivefourpod, a bracket challenge to pick the Worst Supreme Court Justice of All Time. Four regions, 32 participants, 16 matchup previews, and more than one guy who fought for the Confederacy! Get started voting: https://t.co/a79kA85Bvj https://t.co/2eriQaredh
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
“Someone on my twitter feed jokes that “quarantine is like prison” and I close my eyes. My hunger can lead me to a kitchen. My skin has access to showers whenever I choose. This is not close to mass incarceration and still, it is haunting, the absence of a heartbeat orbiting… https://t.co/5d7vGaKGOC
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
What difference can a progressive DA make? In New Orleans, progressive DA Jason Williams withdraws a habitual offender designation in a case where an elderly man has already done decades in prison for stealing two t-shirts. Man released. https://t.co/XKyIPYTK0O
New Orleans man sentenced to 23 years in prison under Louisiana's habitual offender statute *for stealing 2 T-shirts* released after 20 years. Guy Frank was freed after the Orleans DA's office withdrew the multi-bill and gave him credit for time served. https://t.co/SsIlr4WhL8
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
🚨🚨Impossible to overstate how big of a deal this is. I’ll say this for now: This fancy sounding legal term, “qualified immunity,” basically makes it impossible for cops to be held liable for even the most egregious civil rights violations. So it leads to more. Just great news. https://t.co/T79REyohCg
BREAKING: New Mexico is now the second state to ban qualified immunity — a major step toward increasing police accountability and preventing wrongful convictions. https://t.co/fdEEWRHc39
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
Was anyone ever claiming the opposite? Defund the Police activists were saying the idea was good, not that it was popular. https://t.co/3tyecqeBCY
New poll from Data for Progress and Vox finds that basically everyone — Democrat, Republican, young, old, white, black, brown — would feel safer with *more* police patrols in their neighborhoods. https://t.co/5pJecRZaYR https://t.co/eN6fyDCntM
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
@MaudMaron @TaliFarhadian Not every public defender is a jail/prison abolitionist BUT we all MUST fight to our end to ensure incarceration is the LAST resort our clients face, not the first. As a lifelong #publicdefender & Chief Defender at @legalaidnyc THAT is our value. This is not.
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
"I mean, love is great, but being useful is another kind of love." https://t.co/a6AW0qtvr3
Fiona Apple on power of courtwatch: “It feels like youre actually doing something useful. I don’t know if there’s any other feeling in the world. I mean, love is great, but being useful is another kind of love. You cant just throw them away & no one’s going to notice. We notice.” https://t.co/347UMqpLq4
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Scott Hechinger Retweeted
Restoring the right to vote to people in prison to end the silencing of their voices. @johnlegend believes everyone affected by the decisions of our democracy should have a say. https://t.co/KVvU5x5N42
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