CrimProf Blog

Robert McClendon Says Hello to Freedom

Shortly after sunrise, the inmates in the stark prison yard cheered wildly and pumped their fists for Robert McClendon as he took his final steps toward freedom.

The Columbus man grinned as he walked past the concrete-block walls and curls of barbed wire, no longer condemned for a child rape that DNA shows he didn't commit.

Still, there would be a full day of paperwork and technicalities before the 52-year-old was released from handcuffs and leg shackles.

Grandchildren and a throng of family members and supporters nearly tackled him when he finally appeared -- a free man after 18 years -- in a back entrance of the Downtown county jail at 5 p.m.

"I'm just glad to be here with my family, who's supported me all these years," McClendon said. Of the time lost, he added: "You can't make it up. All you can do is move forward."

Shouted one woman, "Thank you, everybody! Thank you, God!"

Franklin County Judge Charles A. Schneider freed McClendon yesterday. He and Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien wished McClendon well and expressed gratitude that technology and the legal process were able to right a wrong.

"Eighteen years is an awful long period of time," Schneider said afterward. "But nonetheless, the ship got righted. I wish him the best of luck."

O'Brien said: "Hopefully, after all this, he lives with his family and rejoices. I don't want anybody in jail who doesn't belong there."

The judge's decision came after the Ohio Innocence Project and O'Brien reached agreement on a motion seeking a new trial -- a legal device that allowed McClendon to be released on his own recognizance.

The Innocence Project, a legal clinic based at the University of Cincinnati, represented McClendon.

"It's fantastic. It shows the DNA testing law can work," said Jennifer Paschen Bergeron, McClendon's lead attorney. "It's a great day for McClendon and the Innocence Project."

The prosecutor said that his office has turned its focus to finding out who actually raped the girl. The judge set a hearing for Aug. 26 to discuss how to move forward.

The sperm samples collected from the victim's underwear have not yet been put in the national database of DNA collected from criminals, the prosecutor said. [Mark Godsey]

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Cross Dressing and the Criminal

Drawing upon cultural studies, literary theory, and criminal law, Cross Dressing and the Criminal argues that cross dressing as a metaphor, as a sign, as a practice has the potential to subvert not only expectations about gender, but also about race, sexuality, class, and status. Taking up Judith Butler's suggestion that we could all benefit from serious play, and turning to the criminal arena, this essay conceptualizes a justice system in which officers, prosecutors, jurors, and judges engage in imaginative acts of cross dressing in cases where implicit biases may be present. Such imaginative acts, the essay argues, would not only have the salutary effect of foregrounding such biases. It would also allow decision-makers to override them. [Mark Godsey]

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Crime, Legitimacy, and Testilying

Crime, Legitimacy, and Testilying draws upon Tom Tyler's highly influential legitimacy theory (that perceptions of legitimacy play a crucial role in inducing voluntary compliance with the law) to make the novel but utilitarian argument that more policing of the police - by holding officers accountable for sanctionable and criminal conduct - is likely to have the counter-intuitive effect of reducing crime in the general population. The Article makes this argument by following Mari Matsuda's suggestion and looking to the bottom, i.e., adopting the perspective of those in minority and poor communities. From this (disad)vantage point, police actions that are normally associated with over-enforcement, such as racial profiling and the use of excessive force, also signal a type of under-enforcement. Except in the most egregious cases, law enforcement officers can engage in otherwise sanctionable conduct usually without fear of consequences; in short, officers themselves often operate in and benefit from a zone of under-enforcement. This in turn undermines police legitimacy and induces non-compliance with the law.

As a case in point, the Article turns its focus on "testilying" (the name given to police perjury), the paucity of prosecutions, and the resulting legitimacy failure. The Article then proposes reforms to reduce the occurrence of "testilying" and punish its offenders. The Article's conclusion, which should be acceptable to civil libertarians and law and order advocates alike, is that the collateral benefits of such increased policing of the police far outweigh the drawbacks. In fact, increased policing of the police would not only have the collateral consequence of reducing crime across the board. It would also benefit the police themselves by leading to safer and better policing. [Mark Godsey]

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