I saw a May 2, 2021 article by Sarah Martinson from online Law360 that stated President Joe Biden came up short on his promise to reform criminal justice. As a matter of fact, from what I saw of his plan it was a major part of his campaign platform, and he dedicated pages of website content to it. Seeing this back then, I sent him a copy of my book In the Matter of Edwin Potter to help him develop some ideas from the point of view of someone who has been through the system with SMI (serious mental illness). He sent me a thank you. What I did not expect, unlike Sarah Martinson, is that he would develop it further before June or July – early summer – and so it happened. After his inauguration, he stated that he would like to find a challenging opportunity for VP Kamala Harris. This turned the light on in my head, and I sent him another letter suggesting that she be given the opportunity to work on mental illness and criminal justice reform. Lo and Behold! Biden made the announcement that she would be working on criminal justice reform. You decide if I had anything to do with that.
These ideas of mine are outlined in the book and taken from as far back as May 1998. Many of my ideas work as demonstrated by the successful efforts at the John Jay College Institute of Justice and Opportunity to apply them: education, mentoring, job training, drug rehab, social skills, housing.
Stay with me. It will come. Just be patient.
To read more articles, access David Geiger’s blog at www.davidegeiger.com
Read Goodreads reviews of In the Matter of Edwin Potter at www.davidegeiger.com
Read the preview at In the Matter of Edwin Potter: Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Reform: Geiger, David E.: 9780692797822: Amazon.com: Books
IMOEP is available at Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and www.davidegeiger.com
David Geiger is a licensed and retired professional electrical engineer who spent 7 years in psychiatric hospitals and over 40 years since 1979 in the courts as a result of his schizophrenia.