Criminal Justice Reform Loses a Champion

by Matt Kelley · 2008-12-17 12:06:00 UTC
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The collapse of Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion PONZI scheme is a blow to criminal justice reform in the United States , as it has led to the closure of the JEHT Foundation, a longtime champion of criminal justice causes.

The funds of the JEHT Foundation (the acronym stands for Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance) were invested with Madoff, and the foundation announced this week that it will close in January. The group previously gave $25-$30 million a year to dozens of worthy causes around the world. Among the groups receiving part of their funding from JEHT were the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the Death Penalty Information Center, and the Innocence Project (my employer when I’m not blogging here). The list of progressive, important organizations goes on and on.

Today we learned that Madoff will be under house arrest while a trial is pending. It’ll be tough for him to decide which house to be under arrest in – he’s got places on Long Island and in Palm Beach , Florida . So he'll be enjoying the cushy treatment of a white-collar criminal while JEHT disappears, and the dozens of groups it supported will have to keep fighting the odds to help clients in the daily grind of the life-and-death justice system apparently reserved only for the rest of us.

(My work on change.org does not, in any way, represent the views or positions of the Innocence Project)

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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