Sarah Lustbader

People in nearly every state are under some form of a stay-at-home order because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But today in Wisconsin, residents must decide whether they want to protect their health or participate in democracy. The state’s Democratic governor tried to postpone in-person voting in the presidential primary and local elections, but Republican legislators and a […]

Everyone, it seems, is telling us that we are all “in this together”: The World Health Organization, the First Minister of Scotland, LL Cool J, and Gayle King among them. This seems to mean, for most, that people should think of others when deciding whether to cancel events, whether to go to the beach, and exactly how much toilet […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Democrats who hope to retake the White House in November are seeking to turn out voters—a lot of them. According to one information systems professor who worked for President […]

Special Edition Coronavirus: Sentenced to COVID-19 These days, I spend a lot of energy thinking about how to keep my child and my parents safe from the coronavirus. But if my child, or one of my parents, were incarcerated, I couldn’t do this. I would have no control. Corrections officers, sheriffs, and wardens decide whether […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. These days, I spend a lot of energy thinking about how to keep my child and my parents safe from the coronavirus. But if my child, or […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. In late January, the Public Security Department of China’s Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan, announced that carriers of the novel coronavirus may face criminal charges if they intentionally […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Today, voters in 14 states and one territory will have the option of selecting a candidate to be the Democratic presidential nominee. They will choose among four […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Police exploit coronavirus fears to make easy arrests High cost of prison diversion programs leave ‘too many people’ imprisoned in Alabama Florida’s HIV criminalization laws target sex workers. A reform bill offers little relief. San Francisco DA plans sweeping changes in sentencing and police stops Political Report: Progressives see Super Tuesday as a chance to transform Los Angeles Pennsylvania county fires […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. As the country braces itself for the “all but certain” global pandemic of the coronavirus, some people are stocking up on food and surgical masks, many are […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: In Texas, prosecution gets privatized In a Florida courtroom, people charged with probation violations face humiliation from judge Justice in America: police accountability Commentary: Missouri attorney general’s lack of courage in Lamar Johnson case is a miscarriage of justice Commentary: My friend spent many of his formative years in prison. He didn’t have to die there Federal judge […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Yesterday, criminal justice advocates protested the Harris County district attorney’s office for using pro bono law firm attorneys to help prosecute misdemeanor cases in the Justice of […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. This week, Rolling Stone published a harrowing portrait of how one state’s enlightened approach to mental health and criminal behavior came to be threatened by one case that went […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal.  When the Justice Department rescinded its recommendation this week that Trump ally Roger Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years, it seemed to lose whatever remaining […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal.  “Under pressure from law enforcement, state lawmakers say they are now willing to make significant changes to the bail reform laws that have been in effect for less than […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. When I was working as a public defender, I was once preparing a trial with another attorney in my office. Our client was facing felony charges, and […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. “Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump,” said Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary. […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. It was no secret that President Trump was planning to run an ad during the Super Bowl this year; the question was only what the particular message […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Case workers at the Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine report that they counseled 503 people who said they were survivors of sex crimes last year. […]

State court is where everyday criminal justice gets meted out. Generally speaking, if you’re arrested for robbery, or assault, you’re getting arrested by local police and prosecuted in a state court, under state law. What does it matter what happens in fancy federal courts across the country? And what could be less relevant to the […]

On Sunday, news that basketball legend Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter and seven others overtook the impeachment trial as the top news story. “A generation lost a hero on Sunday, thousands of basketball players who grew up spinning along baselines and firing up picture-perfect midrange jump shots lost […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Every American law student gets to know, and usually comes to dislike, a person called “the reasonable person.” The reasonable person is everywhere: negligence cases in torts […]

The most productive solution would be to allow prisoners and formerly incarcerated people to vote, but until that happens, the least we can do is stop giving their voting power to the towns that profit from their imprisonment.

On Thursday, the state of Georgia is set to execute a 58-year-old man for a crime that would not receive the death penalty today. Jimmy Meders was convicted of murder and sentenced to die for the October 1987 killing of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. His lawyers want the state parole board to […]

“New York Democrats have blood on their hands,” Nick Langworthy, the chairman of the state’s Republican Party, said in a news conference this week. “They rushed this dangerous, reckless law through, despite warnings from law enforcement.” Langworthy was referring to a recent attack on a rabbi’s house in Monsey, and his implication is that somehow bail reform […]

“When New York State created a network of 12 Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, criminal justice professionals hailed it as an innovation,” writes Christina Goldbaum for the New York Times. “The courts send people into counseling sessions to help them leave the multibillion-dollar sex trade while dismissing their charges and sealing their records.” New York’s court isn’t alone. Courts […]

“Tens of thousands of people, some covered in Israeli flags and others singing Hebrew songs, poured into Lower Manhattan on Sunday in a show of solidarity for New York’s Jewish community in the wake of a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the region in the last month,” reports the New York Times. “The most recent attack […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. The new year means, for many, political transitions. In Kentucky, Matt Bevin, a Republican governor whose administration was fraught with conflict, lost re-election in November in a deep […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: A conservative judge changes his mind In one California city, police kill with near impunity Chicago’s gang database can have ‘devastating’ consequences, but there’s no way to be removed from it Political Report: New Jersey and Kentucky restore voting rights to more than 200,000 Oregon’s Supreme Court limits police questioning during traffic stops Georgia legislature will not enfranchise anyone with […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. When John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2005, he assured the nation that his decisions would be guided by something loftier than his own […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. “Ours is an unforgiving age.” This is the first sentence of law professor Martha Minow’s recent book, “When Should Law Forgive?” The U.S., she writes, “is particularly punitive in […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Contemporary debtors prisons Ohio jail faces $2.8 million lawsuit after claims of abuse are made by dozens of men Curtis Flowers released on bail Bill that would enfranchise those on parole and probation in New Jersey heads to governor’s desk In the Spotlight Contemporary debtors prisons “Ours is an unforgiving age.” This is the first sentence […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: When McKinsey aids ICE and Rikers, is it amoral or immoral? Harris County DA candidate Audia Jones says she won’t prosecute sex work New Orleans jail staff supplied fentanyl that killed incarcerated man, lawsuit says Upstate New York county elects a reformist district attorney Dallas has been sending social workers to respond to 911 calls; the results are promising In […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. McKinsey & Company is a prestigious management consulting firm known more for being excellent than for being good. Which is to say, only the most die-hard free […]

Special Edition What is the purpose of sex offender registries? Two days ago, the Union-Recorder in Georgia published a bizarre editorial. The editorial board noted that the state’s sex offender registry system drives people into homelessness and deprived them of counseling and employment opportunities, but laments this fact only insofar as it allows registrants to “fly […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Two days ago, the Union-Recorder in Georgia published a bizarre editorial. The editorial board noted that the state’s sex offender registry system drives people into homelessness and deprived […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Police play the victim when voters choose reform Working Families Party endorses José Garza for Travis County DA Chicago police torture: explained Supreme Court denies DOJ attempt to bypass appellate court and execute prisoners Selective enforcement of Bay Area public transit rules targets Black riders In the Spotlight Police play the victim when voters choose reform Last […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Last month, longtime public defender Chesa Boudin was elected San Francisco’s next district attorney. His victory was not merely an upset over an interim incumbent with establishment […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a 40-year-old Navy SEAL who has completed eight combat deployments, was known for seeking out the toughest assignments, where gunfire and gore were almost […]

The criminal legal system is unequal. Technology was supposed to help. But most of the time, technological advances end up magnifying inequality instead. Consider an example as simple as security cameras. When I was a public defender, I arraigned a case where a young man––we’ll call him Peter––was charged with felony assault on a police […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. The criminal legal system is unequal. Technology was supposed to help. But most of the time, technological advances end up magnifying inequality instead. Consider an example as […]