A sustained examination of the law or logos at its limits. Is Justice possible? How do words legislate our society?
Russell Brand & Due Process
Recent allegations against entertainer Russell Brand have reawakened debates about due process of law, justice, punishment, the production of truth-values in relation to such allegations, & government/corporate control over what information is true and what is not-true. In this video we ask the question, how much process is due Russell Brand by: the state, corporations, and the public at-large? (VIEW FULL ARTICLE)
So-called sovereign citizens, like the Waukesha Parade attacker Darrell Brooks, frequently ask very silly questions during court proceedings. For instance, “Is that a lawful law?” a statement which, judicially, is meaningless. But, philosophically, it’s worth asking what makes a law lawful? (view full article)
Your Utterances Are No Good Here: Darrell Brooks & the Sovereign Citizen Movement
In this episode of strange logic, we’re going to talk about so-called sovereign citizen Darrell Brooks and why he doesn’t know how to do things with words. Or, more specifically, how he doesn’t know how to make things happen with words. I’m not just talking about statements describing something; these statements do things. We call these performative utterances, because in making the utterance something is performed. The best example of performative utterances is the justice system. (view full article)
Supreme Court Likely to Overturn Roe v. Wade
A draft copy of a Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v Wade was leaked to POLITICO. The draft copy, written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, was an extremely rare example of documents being released from the Supreme Court, an anti-democratic highly secretive institution. (view full article)
Community Emergency Services & Support Act (CESSA)
CESSA stands for the Community Emergency Services & Support Act. CESSA addresses the health needs of people who are not violent and who are not violating the law by sending support instead of police. Instead of attempting to command, control or criminalize the situation (which is what is seen from police responses), the goal of alt-responders is to resolve the conflict or crisis occurring in a way that empowers the individual facing said crisis. CESSA stresses against incarcerating or institutionalizing people against their will. (view full article)
Official Guidance on SAFE-T Act and Virtual Town Hall
The Central Illinois Research Collective (CIRC) supports the new criminal justice reform law, HB 3653, signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2021. Our organization strongly supports the principles of this law like police transparency, accountability, and alternatives to policing. We are releasing this guidance to assist local municipalities in properly interpreting & implementing HB 3653. (view full article)
Illinois Police Reform & Next Steps
The Illinois Legislature passed a Police Reform Bill (HB 3653) through their lame duck session. The bill is currently awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature. He is expected to sign it. This legislation was spear-headed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. It passed the General Assembly 60-50, and the State Senate 32-23. (view full article)
Every year, more than 250,000 people are incarcerated BEFORE TRIAL in Illinois. Most are locked up simply because they cannot afford to post bail to secure their freedom. It’s as if our legal system is holding them for ransom. (view full article)
The consequences of this decision–to Adult or Not to Adult–is no trivial matter. Possible sentencing if convicted varies drastically between the two. On the one hand, if convicted as a juvenile, Zaveon Marks could be sentenced to an indeterminate amount of time in detention with the focus on rehabilitation but would be released from Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) when he ages out of the juvenile system at 21. On the other hand, conviction as an adult could leave Zaveon in prison practically for the rest of his life. Zaveon would be imprisoned at JDC until he turns 21, then transferred to an adult prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. (View More)
Due Process & It’s Limits: A R.Kelly Story
The article isn’t about completely delegitimizing due process. Due process is a worthy thing to fight for, especially as our rights are increasingly infringed upon by an increasingly large state apparatus. But R. Kelly’s history of abusive behavior towards young black girls shouldn’t be ignored just because his previous court case found him not guilty. Despite its ability to create truths, a court room is far from perfect and far from the final say on what is true or false. Any argument placing his accuser’s facts in a state of epistemological limbo until they’ve been tested in court fails to recognize the obvious limitations of the judicial system. (view more)
