A Parallel Universe 2nd Edition - Six New Chapters: Not Science Fiction But You May Wish It Were

A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

NOT SCIENCE FICTION

BUT YOU MAY WISH IT WERE

2nd Edition - Six New Chapters

Here is a unique bringing together of non-fiction (the lawyer's perspective) and fiction (the writer's view) on a topic of devastating concern to victims and the accused. Alex Landon (the lawyer) and Elaine Halleck (the writer) explore a particularly difficult topic, the effect of laws enacted in the aftermath of brutal child abductions and murders on those accused of lesser sexual crimes or those falsely accused and on society as a whole.

"While Elaine Halleck's portion of the tale shows how policies of the criminal justice system might exile one person from any sustaining contact with his community and from any protection by civilizing principles that have evolved over the centuries, Alex Landon's non-fiction sections show how these policies have had severe effects on many other people and on the community at large. The ruinous expense of such policies is an important point in many of Landon's chapters."

ALEX LANDON is an attorney specializing in criminal law for over 50years. He has taught Corrections and Sentencing for 38 years at theUniversity of San Diego School of Law.Landon's concern about people convicted of sex offenses grew out ofthis core interest in civil rights. "They don't have the same civil rights asother people-that's counter to the Constitution. Laws are prejudicedagainst them. They should be able to travel and live where they need to."His involvement in Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws wassparked by ACSOL's focus on constitutional rights.He was chair of the Board of the Institute for Criminal DefenseAdvocacy at Cal Western (where the California Innocence Project wascreated), president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice andexecutive director of the Defenders Program of San Diego, Inc. andCommunity Defenders, Inc., while maintaining a law practice includingcapital cases. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and public programs.

ELAINE HALLECK is a writer, graphic designer and illustrator who cameof age during the Vietnam War and the mistrust of government it spawned.She worked under Detroit's first black mayor, Coleman Young, and forthe Detroit Metro Times, a newspaper emphasizing racial justice.While a copy editor at a Southern California newspaper in the early2000s, she was struck by the lynching atmosphere in the media and legalarenas, which was sparked by a frightful series of abduction-murders ofwhite girls. After contacting California Attorneys for Criminal Justice andAlex Landon, she embarked during the following years on collaboratingwith Landon in educating the public on sex offending, while swimmingupstream against reaction to the Catholic-priest-molestation and #MeTooscandals and other countercurrents such as proliferating bad laws and newtechnologies supporting them.She lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, for 18 years, reporting for TheGuadalajara Reporter until 2022.