Ellison Berryhill Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Ellison Berryhill

A Book Review of Matthew Clair’s Privilege and Punishment

December 18, 2020 09:00:15 am

As the political conversation in the United States increasingly scrutinizes the problems with policing and the inequities within America’s criminal justice system, many books have been published on the topic. From Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, to Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, to Ibram X. Kendi’s How to be An Anti-Racist, these books paint a [...]

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Commentary

Skitterphoto / Pixabay

Self-Defense in the No-Knock Context

Ellison Berryhill

October 6, 2020 11:49:18 am

On March 13th, 2020, Louisville police officers used a battering ram to smash down the door to Breonna Taylor’s apartment. Their purpose was to execute a search warrant related to Taylor’s potentially dangerous ex-boyfriend. Taylor was in her apartment with her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when they heard the banging at the door – they [...]

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Accused Nazi war criminal, John Demjanjuk, put on trial in Israel

On February 16, 1987, accused Nazi war criminal, John Demjanjuk, went on trial in Jerusalem, Israel. The prosecution claimed that Demjanjuk was a notorious prison guard known as "Ivan the Terrible" at the Treblinka extermination camp during World War II. On this basis, Demjanjuk was convicted by the Israeli court of crimes against humanity. However, in August 1993, the conviction was overturned by Israel's Supreme Court on a finding of reasonable doubt. After the decision by the Supreme Court of Israel, Demjanjuk was returned to the United States, where he had been moved after World War II. On December 22, 2006, the US Board of Immigration Appeals ordered him deported to Ukraine on a finding that he had been a guard at other Nazi concentration camps.

American anarchist arrested for advocating birth control

On February 16, 1916, feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested in New York City for advocating birth control. Learn more about Emma Goldman and her defense of reproductive rights from the University of California, Berkeley.