The integrity of American democracy is daily news these days. Still, voting rights have been quietly expanding for one group: those with past felony convictions. Pushback by two Nebraska officials raises questions about justice and redemption.
Read morePlea bargaining is a largely secret process that doesn’t always do justice to the defendant or the victim. But efforts are underway to bring it out of the shadows – a first step in improving it.
Read moreThe sentencing rule treating crack cocaine as 100 times worse than powder is seen by bipartisan critics as a punitive remnant of the war on drugs. The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a case that could deliver a telling blow – or a telling victory – for reform.
Read moreBreonna Taylor’s killing has heightened public concern across the ideological spectrum that the paramilitary mindset that pervades modern American policing endangers citizens rather than protects them.
Read moreChristopher Scott and Steven Phillips, two men who were wrongly imprisoned, don’t spend their days railing against the justice system. They are helping others who may have been falsely convicted.
Read moreHow do you best maintain public faith in the U.S. justice system? More prosecutors are publicizing do-not-call lists of officers whose testimony they consider tainted, raising questions about due process.
Read moreWhen it comes to conditions inside prisons, should prisoners have a voice? That’s one of the questions raised by a three-week strike by inmates in more than a dozen states.
Read moreFrom lawyers and judges to legislators and the conservative governor, nobody wants to build more prisons. But getting all those stakeholders to agree on what to do instead is proving a challenge.
Read moreFrom Texas to Florida to Illinois, many of these young prosecutors are eschewing the death penalty, talking rehabilitation as much as punishment, and often refusing to charge people for minor offenses. While their numbers are small, they are taking over DA offices at a crucial moment.
Read moreFrom prisoner education to ‘problem-solving courts,’ the US and Britain are teaching each other how to reduce incarceration and recidivism. The efforts are driven by both budgetary and moral urgency.
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