In 1980, Kathy Boudin took part in an planned armed robbery in connection with the radical political groups the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army. In 1984 she pleaded guilty for her role in the armed robbery and murder and was sentenced to twenty years to life in New York State. She was the getaway driver; during the robbery of a Brinks armored car Peter Paige, a security guard, was killed. Later, when officers caught the group of offenders in a van two police officers, Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown, were killed in a second later shootout. After over twenty years of incarceration she was granted parole by the state of New York in 2003. Her release was the result of her remorse, taking responsibility for the deaths and the “distorted and disturbed” views of the world that she held at the time. The parole commissioners reviewed the positive work she had done while incarcerated including earning a masters degree, setting up different types of counseling programs and establishing education programs. Now at the age of 69, nearly ten years after her release, she has been named the Sheinberg Scholar-in-Residence at NYU Law School. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and has been working their since 2008. Additionally, according to their website, she works at an HIV/AIDS Center at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center. Her work is focused on criminal justice and the various issues facing individuals after they are released from prison. As can be expected after taking part in a horrific offence opinions are varied as to whether she deserved a second chance in society.
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