A Face In Judgment

Retired judge Devin Odell’s essay “A Face in Judgment” [September 2023] reassured me that we have judges in this country who consider the humanity of the people coming before their bench.

Unless one has the misfortune of crossing paths with the law or is tasked with the administration of it, the machinations of the U.S. justice system can be mysterious. In Washington State the judiciary are elected. Campaign signs and a brief paragraph in the voters’ pamphlet reveal next to nothing about an incumbent’s record and offer scant information about their challengers. I regularly vote, but I rarely make a selection for the judicial positions on my ballot, because I believe that an uninformed vote can do more harm than no vote at all. If, however, I were certain a candidate was of Judge Odell’s mind in sentencing, I’d definitely cast my vote for them.

Devin Odell’s essay brought me to tears. Fifteen years ago I was a social worker in Trenton, New Jersey, where I worked in a middle school and ran an after-school program at a nearby family resource center. The school was decrepit and underfunded, and I was the only social worker for the 450 students.

Kids from the middle school, generally twelve- and thirteen-year-olds, would come to the center in the afternoon, and I would set up activities for them and do some impromptu counseling. Once, I overheard a group of boys on the front porch bragging to each other. They weren’t bragging about what kind of cars they were going to drive or how fast they could run. They were bragging about how nobody was going to take advantage of them when they were in prison because they were so tough. Many of the men in their lives had gone to prison. To these boys it seemed inevitable that they would, too.

After reading Devin Odell’s essay, I admired and respected him. When I read on the Contributors page that he is planning to explore the Salish Sea by sailboat for a year, I envied him, too. I hope to read about his adventure in a future issue of The Sun.