The saga of the commutation of Reginald McFadden is a tortuous story of blunders, coincidences, and numerous instances of governmental officials tempting fate. It has the makings of a Serial true-crime podcast. In states throughout the country, there are lifers who are unfairly paying the price for the actions of one person who should never have had her or his life sentence commuted. This is the first in a series of two essays that explore Reginald McFadden's commutation.
The saga of the commutation of Reginald McFadden is a tortuous story of blunders, coincidences, and numerous instances of governmental officials tempting fate. It has the makings of a Serial true-crime podcast. In states throughout the country, there are lifers who are unfairly paying the price for the actions of one person who should never have had her or his life sentence commuted. This is the second in a series of two essays that explore Reginald McFadden's commutation. This Part considers whether, in hindsight, there was any sound basis for McFadden's release given the policy grounds for commutations and describes the ample indications in McFadden's record that his sentence should not have been commuted, the changes in Pennsylvania's commutation process that make it unlike that the mistakes that led to his release will reoccur, and the further reforms required to restore confidence and efficacy to the commutation process.
As a person who pays only passing attention to formal black electoral politics, let alone the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court's attempts to decimate it, it is a privilege and a daunting challenge to respond to Professor Karlan's Article, Loss and Redemption: Voting Rights at the Turn of a Century. At the outset, I felt inadequate to the task. My research has largely focused on informal black socioeconomic development and discourse, most of which occurs far from the spotlight of the political mainstream., The only formal politics with which I am concerned occurs primarily at the local, grass- roots level. Nonetheless, I do not for a minute think that blacks should forego any opportunity to hold government and industry, at every level, accountable and responsible for the abysmal quality of life experienced by many black people, particularly the very young. I also realize that mainstream electoral politics is one avenue through which accountability can be achieved. Yet, any financial assistance government and business provide beleaguered blacks should be funneled through organizations and associations that the blacks them- selves control. This will reduce the likelihood that scarce resources will be siphoned off by elite functionaries who have no real contribution to make. Indeed, lasting gains in the well-being of the least well- off blacks are only possible if the gains are made permanent through the establishment of institutions and organizations that they control and that outlive the genuine concern any social problem generates. That explains in part why I focus on the law as it relates to black, small-scale or micro-institution building. For example, I have written about the black informal economy and informal economic discourse. But Professor Karlan's insightful work forced me to consider the relationship between black socioeconomic advancement and the achievement of blacks' political agenda. Or, to put it another way, to consider the significance of the entire black public sphere to majoritarian ...
