Cops Having Sex With Detainees Should Always Be Considered Rape, Say New York Politicians
A member of the New York City Council is trying to change the law. Will it be enough?
Natasha Lennard
Natasha Lennard is a columnist for The Intercept. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Bookforum, and the New York Times, among others. She is the associate director of the Creative Publishing & Critical Journalism graduate program at the New School for Social Research in New York. She is the author of “Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life.”
Contacts:
- @natashalennard on X
Posts:
How #MeToo Can Graduate from Moment to Movement
Yes, the hashtag puts the burden on the oppressed, but it gives them a forum for solidarity — and to attack the patriarchy.
Police Reportedly Claim a Brooklyn Teen Consented to Sex in Custody. That’s Impossible.
There are no laws that prevent cops from having consensual sex with people in their custody, but it should always be considered rape.
Five Years After the Brooklyn Bridge Arrests, the Occupy Wall Street Worth Remembering
We miss a useful lesson in radical political history if we confine Occupy’s memory to the thing that laid the ground for Bernie Sanders’s campaign and “changed the conversation.”
In Recent Trials of Violent Cops, the Broader Police Force Gets a Pass
After decades of impunity, an officer's conviction is understandably seen as a step toward accountability. But even prosecutors make arguments that deny systemic racism in policing.
Election Year Anti-Crime Posturing Could Derail Even Limited Sentencing Reform
Contemporary technologies have made decarceration more palatable for tough-on-crime politicians by extending the carceral state beyond brick and mortar. But 2016 could sideline even the most muted reform bills.
Tragic Farce of Anti-Refugee Threats: U.S. Was No Sanctuary for Syrians in the First Place
Perhaps the most pernicious effect of the governors’ stance against Syrian refugees is that Obama must defend offering to admit just 10,000 people. The political space to push for more is being foreclosed.
The Lesson of CISA’s Success, or How to Fight a Zombie
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, passed by the Senate, is lumbering, imprecise, and — like many fictional zombies — a monstrous manifestation of a popular social anxiety.