Osler's Razor

[Click on the photo to enlarge the photo of the already very large land shark]

On haiku Friday, there was a contribution from one of my most frequent posters, Anonymous, which really caught my eye:

In my dreams, life is
Bold, out-loud, full of passion
Oh, please don't wake me.

I love the word "bold." Of course, I am very often not bold in the things that are most important, but I am working on that this year. I am being bold for those things that I am passionate about, and I want that to include being out-loud for social justice where I can see it clearly. A few posts ago, I talked about Matthew 15:11, which reminds us that it is not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, but that which comes out. Isn't there a duty, too, to use words for change and good when we have the chance?

Here is what I am working on, all of which tie into my goal of filing off the roughest retributive edges of our criminal law system, and none of which I am doing alone:

1) I will continue to challenge the death penalty, in what I hope is the same thoughtful, contemplative way that Christ did in John 8. Part of that will be going back to something I have not done in a long time-- on Palm Sunday weekend I will be creating the trial of Christ twice under modern procedures, once in Minneapolis and once in Richmond, Virginia.

2) In my continuing work on the sentencing guidelines, I am unveiling a big idea on March 24 in Washington DC. This idea could change the corrupting fundamental dynamic of the current guidelines, which set the positive values of uniformity and judicial discretion in zero-sum opposition to one another.

3) I am continuing to work on commutations, and in the near future will finish the petition for Percy Dillon, the man whose case caught the attention of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy last year.

4) Best of all, I get to teach future prosecutors and defense attorneys every day, from the central principle that the entire criminal law apparatus is useless (or worse) if it is not solving a problem.

There is a lot of joy in me these days-- I feel a sharp sense of mission. All of this I am getting to do with the help of wonderful colleagues and collaborators, including some of the most remarkable people I have ever known. Those of you who are my friends, I hope that you will support me if you can, let me rest if I need to, and love me despite my mistakes. It could be quite a ride.