"Perhaps I Did Degrade the Lives of Others"

by Matt Kelley · 2009-06-02 17:05:00 UTC
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Photojournalist Steven Hirsch has a great new batch of first-person tales of crime and punishment on his blog Courthouse Confessions. If you haven't seen it in a while, or haven't seen it all, I recommend a visit.

At left is Sam, who was arrested for writing "I Believe in You" in chalk on the wall at his university. He says he enjoyed the experience:

I was tackled by three undercover police officers, had to spend the night in jail, and now I had a lovely day at court. And, you know what? It was quite an experience. I mean, it was fun, it's kinda silly....I mean, it's a bit of chalk. But I can't complain. I mean, I did write on a wall, and perhaps I did, you know, degrade the quality of others' lives, as the law seems to stipulate, however, I don't know. I'll leave it up to the judge to decide

(Maybe he's at the front lines of a movement to legalize graffiti here in the U.S.)

It's the unfiltered first-person stories brought to us by reporters like Hirsch that remind us that our criminal justice system is a big, messy jumble of personalities and perspectives. Most people did what they were charged with - but this human system treats each and every one differently.

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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