STEPHEN COOPER
Off limits: Of Mice and Men and the death penalty
OPINION by STEPHEN COOPER Seventy years after its publication, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men continues to stimulate debate, pro and con, about the death penalty. But justifying capital punishment was the last thing on the mind of the author, a liberal thinker who created the character of Lennie to increase our understanding of the […]... (Continue Reading)
Prosecutors failed to provide evidence Bob Marley smoked weed
OPINION by STEPHEN COOPER In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s tapping of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Bob Marley fans and marijuana smokers, especially those planning a trip to Washington, D.C., should know about a quirky, overlooked judicial opinion issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals on Jan. 28 of this year. It was an […]... (Continue Reading)
Finding solace in Steinbeck during the time of Trump
OPINION by STEPHEN COOPER In a jittery, newly authoritarian land of hatred and hurt, chastened criminal and social justice reformers and human rights advocates can find solace and sustenance in the words and works of the incomparable John Steinbeck, one of America’s greatest writers and psychoanalysts. In his opus and Pulitzer Prize winning, The Grapes of […]... (Continue Reading)
Proposition 66: turbo-charging California’s machinery of death
OPINION by STEPHEN COOPER “Californians for Death Penalty Savings and Reform”—an advocacy group spearheaded by district attorneys and several family members of murder victims—has collected enough signatures to qualify the “Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act of 2016” for placement on the Nov. 8 ballot. On July 1, California’s Secretary of State officially certified the measure, […]... (Continue Reading)
