Month: April 2021

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Krasner leads us towards justice

  By 2021 DA Race, Politics

This is a response to Wilfredo Rojas, a critic of Larry Krasner who complains about Krasner’s efforts to pursue justice in the loss of his son, a Temple student who was murdered. Wilfredo, first, let me say that I’m very sorry for your loss. I was talking with a friend yesterday about families, like my own, where parents have had to see their children die about how this is the most devastating that can happen to a person. Nothing the criminal justice system can do will stop the ache in your heart. And that is not its purpose. Its purpose is to provide justice for our communities. As I said to others, human civilization is based on recognizing that injuries to individuals have to be answered by the community not by individual or family revenge. That idea is the most enduring legacy of Greek thought and practice and was immortalized… Continue reading

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The FY2021-22 PA State Budget: The People’s Budget & Tracking ARP Funds in PA

  By American Rescue Plan, Federal Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Video

This is a recording of a Zoom meeting hosted by the PA Budget & Policy Center on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to provide updates related to PA’s state budget and the allocation of the $7.3 billion in assistance that the American Rescue Plan delivered to PA’s state government. PBPC director Marc Stier talks about the fiscal challenges facing the Commonwealth and discusses the “People’s Budget,” an effort by several legislators to propose a way to raise the revenue necessary to make long-overdue investments in important programs and priorities. The video also features PBPC’s senior policy analyst Diana Polson presenting recently updated information about how American Rescue Act funds will be distributed in PA, highlighting an online spreadsheet for tracking these allocations: Tracking American Rescue Plan Funding Distribution in PA.    Continue reading

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Mass Incarceration is on the Ballot in Philadlephia in May

  By Criminal Justice, Elections, Public Policy

Almost every time someone is arrested for murder in Philadelphia, he has a criminal record of some kind. In many cases it is for minor drug dealing or for possession of a gun. So, the tough on crime crowd that supports Carlos Vega for DA crowd blames the criminal justice system in general and the DA, Larry Krasner, in particular for the murder saying that if only the guy arrested for murder were in jail, the crime would not have been committed.  What people who advance this idea forget is how many people in this city are involved in minor drug dealing and are carrying illegal guns. Most of them will not murder anyone. We can’t just arrest the corner drug dealers with guns who are likely to commit murder in the future. We don’t know who they are. If we throw the book at every one corner drug dealer… Continue reading

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Cancel Culture or Course Correction?

  By Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, Philosophy, Uncategorized

For pretty much all of American history Black people have had to be very careful about what they said in front of white people, out of fear that they might be hurt for what they said. The wrong remark at the wrong time could lead to them being ridiculed or denigrated or excluded from something important to them at work or in their community. Or it could lead to them losing their job. Or their life. For pretty much all of American history women have had to be very careful about what they said in front of men, out of fear that they might be hurt for what they said. The wrong remark at the wrong time could lead to them being ridiculed or denigrated or excluded from something important to them at work or in their community. Or it could lead to them losing their job. Or to being… Continue reading