Category Archives: Criminal Justice & Punishment

Writing on policing, prisons, courts, sentencing, parole, wrongful conviction, incarceration, criminal law, punishment, and the institutions and policies of the criminal legal system.

“Violence is as American as cherry pie”

Posted on November 26, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, famously proclaimed in the ’60s that “violence is as American as cherry pie.”  Little wonder, in the aftermath of the no indictment of the Ferguson, Missouri white police officer who killed … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Race, History & American Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Mussolini of Manhattan Speaks of Ferguson, Missouri

Posted on November 25, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In light of the protests in the aftermath of the no indictment of the Ferguson, Missouri police officer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, the Mussolini of Manhattan, i.e., former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, stated that police … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Blue Knight Riders,” from my book, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats

Posted on November 18, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In light of the Governor of Missouri activating the National Guard, in anticipation of the Grand Jury not indicting the police officer who killed Michael Brown, I decided to post this poem from my book, “Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The New York Post, Commissioner Broken Windows, Chief Banks, and “Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats”

Posted on November 3, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I don’t believe anything written in The New York Post, not even the Sports Pages. Actually, I don’t read the Post.  I went to Alexander Hamilton High School (now Paul Robeson), and know that Hamilton started the Post.   I know Hamilton … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

REVIEW OF “JAILHOUSE JOURNALISM: THE FOURTH ESTATE BEHIND BARS”

Posted on July 13, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Not much has been written about the history of the prison press. Indeed, until now, according to James McGrath Morris, the author of Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars, the only book was The Penal Press by Russell Baird. … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Review of “No Man’s Land”

Posted on July 13, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Prison is a place steeped in mythology, from the outright lies about it politicians tell to promote their “crime-fighting” policies to the propaganda prison officials print in their periodicals to justify its raison d’être; even prisoners, in their writings, contribute … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Drop the Rock, that is, the argument using people convicted of violent crimes to make the case…

Posted on June 1, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The Rockefeller Drug reform movement argued its case for reform by using people convicted of violent crimes, stating that people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses were being sentenced to the same amount of time if not more than people convicted … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Research & Lived Expertise, Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We Are All on Trial with Jesus: And We Must Take a Stand (An Excerpt from a Sermon I gave years at Sing Sing Prison, and at Rye Presbyterian Church)

Posted on April 13, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In this age where one sensational trial replaces another, where we greedily consume the latest lurid details in the Lorena Bobbitt trial, the abused woman who took a pound of flesh from her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, or the trial … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“I swear I wanna lock him up. I swear I wanna lock him up.”

Posted on March 27, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The U.S. has trained its citizens well into buying into the myth that the criminal justice system, that locking people up, is a panacea for crime, and for other social ills.  Earlier today I overheard a woman talking on her … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Comparison of New York State Laws and Regulations and Slave Codes

Posted on February 21, 2014 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

A number of years ago, long before Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow,” while doing research for an essay entitled “From the Plantation to the Penitentiary,” I came across some striking similarities between New York Laws and Slave Codes. From … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Justice & Punishment, Justice Chronicles, Race, History & American Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment