Category Archives: Justice Chronicles

Writings about crime and punishment, and more punishment.

What Parts of Ourselves Are Worth Protecting at Any Cost? — The Conundrums Quotation Project — CQ-004

Posted on July 8, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Loss can occur suddenly or subtly, often going unnoticed for years. Innocence fades gradually through life’s challenges, prompting reflection on the soul’s essence. The importance lies in recognizing and protecting our true selves amidst external demands. This excerpt invites contemplation on what is truly worth safeguarding. Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction & Short Stories, Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism | Tagged Conundrums Quotation Project, Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice, Unbound Voices Publishing | 2 Comments

Prisoners of Hope: Humanity Survives Confinement — The Conundrums Quotation Project — CQ-003

Posted on July 6, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The content emphasizes that despair often associated with imprisonment is misleading; instead, it highlights endurance and the resilience of the human spirit. Despite separation from community, individuals in confinement find ways to live meaningfully, ultimately framing them as “prisoners of hope” who continue to search for purpose. Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Writing Projects, Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism | Tagged Conundrums Quotation Project, Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice | 1 Comment

Short Stories that Challenge the Legal System: A Review by Dr. Mark Chapman of “Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice” by Easy Waters

Posted on June 26, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Easy Waters’ collection “Conundrums” features humorous and insightful short stories that explore the absurdities of prison and the legal system. The engaging narratives, filled with wit and deep reflection on justice, showcase Waters’ masterful storytelling and his ability to humanize incarcerated individuals. A must-read for enthusiasts of poignant fiction. Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction & Short Stories, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged Anton Chekhov, art, books, Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice, Days in the Life of a Jailhouse Lawyer, Doing Hard Time, Easy Waters, ezwwaters, Flannery O'Connor, James Baldwin, life sentences, literature, Mark Chapman, Michelle Alexander, murder, Parole, phd, Poetry, raising black boys, remorse, Sonny's Blues, The Black Blood of Poetry, The New Jim Crow | 10 Comments

Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature – The Series

Posted on February 17, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In this series, I trace how a teenage brush with homicide headlines became a lifelong interrogation of justice. From police tape and tabloid “if it bleeds, it leads” narratives to courtrooms, prisons, and the literature that wrestles with guilt, I ask what truth survives punishment. Along the way, I revisit forgotten voices, personal losses, and hard-earned lessons—seeking a language that honors victims, confronts systems, and insists on humanity, story at a time, without flinching. Continue reading →

Posted in Education & Teaching, Genealogy, Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged being a teenager, Black History Month, Growing Up, juveniles, life sentences, Martin Luther King Jr., murder, Parole, raising black boys, remorse, Segregation, Slavery, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Blood of Poetry, urban decay | Leave a comment

Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature, Part IV

Posted on February 16, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I began writing this fourth and “final” installment of “Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature” on Martin Luther King Day. I re-read Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (16 April 1963), not for purposes of this series, but on this … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Streets of Rage | Tagged 13th, 13th Amendment, Alexis de Tocqueville, Ava DuVernay, Black Codes, Charles Hynes, Conviction Integrity Unit, Darryl Alston, De Profundis, Draft Riots of 1863, Equal Justice Initiative, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Growing Up, Gustave De Beaumont, Hillary Clinton, hyperincarceration, Johnson Crime Commission, Jonathan Fleming, Kenneth P. Thompson, Letter from Birmingham Jail, life sentences, Loic Wacquant, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., Mass Incarceration, Michael G. Pass, Nuremberg, Oscar Wilde, Post-Reconstruction, prison industrial complex, raising black boys, Reconstruction, Red Summer, Richard Nixon, Rosewood massacre, Sara Mayeux, school-to-prison pipeline, Slavery, The House of the Dead, Tulsa Race Riot, urban decay, war on crime, War on Drugs | Leave a comment

Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature, Part III

Posted on January 3, 2026 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Continued… (If you missed the second installment, then click here: Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature, Part II) The modern War on Crime, as we know it, was inaugurated with Richard Nixon’s campaign for the presidency in 1968. Nixon declared … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged Abel Meeropol, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Alexis de Tocqueville, Attica Correctional Facility, Attica Rebellion, Billie Holiday, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Class, De Profundis, Democracy in America, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Great Society, Gustave De Beaumont, Hudson Valley Black Press, hyperincarceration, Loic Wacquant, Medellin Cartel, Michelle Alexander, Nelson Rockefeller, News on a Kidnapping, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Oscar Wilde, prison industrial complex, race, revanchist America, Reynold's Magazine, Richard Nixon, Strange Fruit, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, The Four Zoas, The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, The House of the Dead, The New Jim Crow, The United States Penitentiary System and its Application in France, war on crime, War on Drugs, Watergate, William Blake | 2 Comments

Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature, Part II

Posted on December 23, 2025 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

…Continued (If you missed the first installment, then click here: Journey Through Crime and Punishment, Part I.) Crime and Punishment was first published in The Russian Messenger, a literary journal, in twelve monthly installments in 1866. I reread passages of … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged ABACADRABA! Or Notes on the War on Crime, art, Cicero, Cicero's Murder Trials, crime and punishment, Endless Punishment is a crime, Felony Murder and the Misdemeanor of Attempted Escape: A Legislative Error in Search of Correction, Fordham Urban Law Journal, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gary McGivern, Hamlet, Hicksville, juveniles, Mario Cuomo, murder, Murder Trials, New York Times, Newsday, Notes from Underground, Parole, PEN America, Peter J. McQuillan, photography, Poetry, Portia, raising black boys, remorse, The House of the Dead, The Merchant of Venice, The Russian Messenger, travel, writing | 1 Comment

Journey Through Crime, Justice & Literature

Posted on December 16, 2025 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I first became interested in the story of crime and punishment, how we tell those stories, at 16 years of age. Then, three childhood friends were arrested for two homicides. Two were immediately arrested, one was on the run for … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Streets of Rage | Tagged "Shakespeare and the Law" column, Alexandre Dumas, CPL 440.10, crime, Crime & Punishment, Dick the Butcher, Edgar Allan Poe, Eyewitness News, felony-murder, Frederick C. Hicks, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Henry VI, history, Jack Cade Rebellion, Julius Caesar, juveniles, life sentences, Mark Antony, murder, New York Law Journal, news, Nicholas Capaldi, Raskolnikov, Russell Sage College, Sybil Hart Kooper, The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, The Cask of Amontillado, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Quadrivium, The Trivium, true-crime, writing | 5 Comments

Leadership Mini-Series: Joseph, Ethics, and Leading with Conviction – Transforming Lives

Posted on December 7, 2025 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

From Prison to Purpose: Leading with Conviction Joseph in Prison in Egypt and his remarkable story of return mirror that of modern “leaders with conviction”—formerly incarcerated leaders who transform their lived experience into advocacy and change. In the last 20 … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Research & Lived Expertise, Justice Chronicles, Reentry & Community | Tagged Columbia Law School, Glenn E. Martin, Haran Tae, Joseph in Prison in Egypt, Leadership, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Susan P. Sturm | 1 Comment

I Know Why the Caged Poet Sings

Posted on October 23, 2025 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Some of my favorite poets happen to be named William – William Shakespeare, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and William Carlos Williams. When I meet most people, I often ask them what their names mean or the backstory of their names. … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice Chronicles, Literature & Cultural Criticism, Streets of Rage | Tagged Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Countee Cullen, fiction, George Washington, Growing Up, juveniles, life, NYPD, raising black boys, short-story, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Thomas Jefferson, travel, William Blake, William Carlos Williams, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, writing, Yet Do I Marvel | Leave a comment

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