Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

themarshallproject.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 152 posts

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#101

Post by pc86 »

pyre wrote: post #79
pc86 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She absolutely is and should not have any impediments from the state in moving on with her life. Private individuals and institutions are under no such obligation, though.

So, you're stating that I'm not allowed to have an opinion that disapproves of the actions of Harvard in this instance? No one is stating that Harvard had an obligation to accept her. People are expressing their dissatisfaction with Harvard's actions. That's still allowed, right? [As a side note: If all private individuals/institutions impose additional hardships on ex-cons, then it's highly hypocritical for any of t…

Nothing I said could be reasonably interpreted to mean that you're not allowed to disagree with Harvard's decision. Stop trying to be argumentative.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#102

Post by santoshalper »

danso wrote: post #22

I've been less of a fan of "Shawshank Redemption" as I've grown older, cynically seeing it as being overly Pollyannish, but this sounds like a scene right out of it: > Incarcerated in 1996, Jones worked for five years in the law library at Indiana Women’s Prison, and got certified as a paralegal. She received a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in 2004, and audited graduate-level classes at Indiana Univers…

Except, she actually did kill a child in a way that was undoubtedly agonizing and terrorizing. She did not suffocate him in his sleep, and she did not poison him, she beat a small child to death. Can you imagine the terror and pain they went through?

To the extent I believe her backstory (we are only hearing her account of things), I am incredibly sympathetic about the damage done to her, but I am also sympathetic to the child she brutally killed. I don't know that something like that is ever forgivable to me.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#104

Post by santoshalper »

ubik wrote: post #35

She beat her toddler son and left him to slowly die alone. The fact that people with such warped judgement are in charge of influential institutions such as Harvard is disconcerting to say the least.

What do you mean? When faculty uncovered more information about the crime (it strongly implies she minimized it), they refused to admit her. That sounds right to me.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#105

Post by santoshalper »

jackmott wrote: post #3

I don't understand why we let people out of prison if we aren't prepared to actually let them out of prison. I'm not really bleeding heart about this, I'd be fine with any murder of this sort meaning life in prison. What does not make sense is letting someone out and then not treating them as normal humans again. It only encourages people to revert to evil.

I agree. She beat a child to death. Instinctively, we all know she is a monster - even if she was created by her upbringing - and she probably should never have been let out of prison. There is no rehabilitation for what she did.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#106

Post by santoshalper »

wallace_f wrote: post #65
jackmott wrote: post #3

I don't understand why we let people out of prison if we aren't prepared to actually let them out of prison. I'm not really bleeding heart about this, I'd be fine with any murder of this sort meaning life in prison. What does not make sense is letting someone out and then not treating them as normal humans again. It only encourages people to revert to evil.

Going against the herd here and going to say that people are losing their minds. If I intentionally, over days and weeks, repeatedly beat, tortured and murdered a defenseless child? I would do the honor of killing myself so someone else wouldn't be burdened with it. It is simply horrendous and unacceptable. The amount of degeneracy we're being taught to accept, and even appreciate, is starting to be awful. Her resear…

But she was raped, don't you understand? She now has a free life pass to do anything to anyone. Rape is now a morally worse crime in the United States than child torture.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#107

Post by santoshalper »

CossieRay wrote: post #87
wallace_f wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing wrong with choosing to put chemicals in your body as long as you aren't hurting anybody else in the process. There is something horribly wrong with torture and murder of a 4 year old. How many good and decent people work hard labor most of their lives simply because they were born on the wrong side of some arbitrarily drawn border? Because they happen to be born into a world where their intellectual…

At what point will she simply be referred to as Michelle Jones as opposed to "this child murderer"? It's just not right to blatantly disregard all her twenty years of transformation

I think it is. I do not believe there is anything she can ever do to balance that scale. Not in 20 years, or 200. She should never have been released from prison. Like it or not, torturing a small child to death is the defining feature of her life.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#108

Post by biotech »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #93
biotech wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is murdering a 4 year old child a "fairly minor" felony??

That in itself isn't. But we do jail folks for years over drug charges, don't we? And let that follow them around for the rest of their lives? It can disqualify you from a lot of stuff. It doesn't matter what the crime is when folks are wondering why we let folks out of jail at all. It isn't so much the crime that was committed at that point.

I think it absolutely matters what the charge is. In this case, we are talking about someone who murdered a 4 year old. I don't have too much sympathy for someone who does this.

If you want to talk about people who are in jail for drug charges, that is a different discussion entirely.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#109

Post by solotronics »

pc86 wrote: post #43
Geekette wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse, he's apparently a scholar on antislavery and professor of African American Studies, i.e. a demographic supposedly more cognizant of barriers minorities face and importance of their getting opportunities like admission to Harvard.

I imagine there are plenty of very highly qualified scholars who, to use the professor's own words, "happen to be a minority," that never killed their infant child.

I think they were trying to say that if this person was not a minority there would have been no way they would even be considered.

Re: From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones

#110

Post by new299 »

jackmott wrote: post #3

I don't understand why we let people out of prison if we aren't prepared to actually let them out of prison. I'm not really bleeding heart about this, I'd be fine with any murder of this sort meaning life in prison. What does not make sense is letting someone out and then not treating them as normal humans again. It only encourages people to revert to evil.

I'm not sure I understand why it doesn't make sense.

Punishment/prison can serve a few purposes:

1. To serve as a deterrent to others.

2. To remove an individual from society, so they can't cause harm.

3. To reform an individual.

Given this:

The system might think that 20 years in prison is a sufficient deterrent.

That by removing the individual from society during this time period, they have sufficiently safeguarded society.

That it is enough time to reform an individual to the degree that they don't pose significant risk.

Given the above, I don't see why /every/ crime might result in individuals released into society being given the full rights of normal citizens. For example, you might want to continuously monitor their progress, or not allow them to enter certain occupations (such as child care) in order to continue to safeguard society...

Certain crimes, will no doubt limit your future activities permanently. But that alone doesn't seem like a reason to keep people in prison for ever. The hope is that they might be able to find some niche in which they can make a viable life for themselves in society perhaps.

Post reply on HN