Sarah Lustbader

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Neighborhood crime apps stoke fears, reinforce racist stereotypes, and trick people into performing police surveillance Indefinite solitary confinement in New York is finally put to the test New Orleans police appear to use surveillance to initiate investigations D.C. could become the first jurisdiction to restore voting rights to people while […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Memorial Day shootings prompt calls for more police—but why? ‘I was in constant fear’: Immigrant faces deportation after prison for domestic dispute It’s time to make Chicago police pay for their misdeeds—out of their own budget New Hampshire abolishes the death penalty Bill to prevent police shootings advances in California […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Baltimore police union’s tweet tells cops to ‘protect each other’ and reminds them that some children are ‘criminals’ Notorious jailhouse informant case resurfaces as New Orleans DA race nears Washington State ends its legislative session by reforming youth detention, prison gerrymandering Philadelphia judge declines to resentence juvenile lifer; instead, she […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: ‘If you build it, they will come’: How jail beds drive incarceration New York prisons offer ‘tough love’ boot camp programs. But prisoners say they’re ‘torture’ and ‘hell.’ Instagram photos offer glimpse inside notorious Georgia jail City prosecutors’ changing stances might lead to repeal of discriminatory ‘gravity knife’ law in […]

Recently, prosecutors have begun to use their discretion to stop enforcing laws they consider unjust.

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Prosecutors become unlikely line of defense against abortion bans Wisconsin’s ‘constitutional crisis’ is forcing people to sit in jail without a lawyer State trooper said man took bag from a Fentanyl supplier, but video showed that deal never happened Border patrol agent accused of running a migrant down with his […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: In domestic violence cases, prosecutors seek a way around the Sixth Amendment Atlanta bail reform is leaving behind homeless and mentally ill people Johns Hopkins University’s private police force would bring more cops to an overpoliced Baltimore Sherry Boston, DeKalb County district attorney, will not prosecute anyone under Georgia’s new […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: U.S. drug companies won’t help execute people, so the DOJ will allow prisons to buy from other countries Incarceration is always a policy failure Judge says Seattle’s contract with police union undermines public trust in police accountability Massachusetts law would ban cell phones while driving but also monitor for racial […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Harvard professor loses post for defending an unpopular client Simon Liu isn’t a sex offender. But he’s still on the registry for life. Queens DA candidates compete for ‘most progressive’ Klobuchar will push for hundreds of millions of dollars for police Indiana law will compensate wrongly convicted people In the […]

Special Edition What abolitionism looks like Try telling someone that you’re a prison abolitionist. The response, most likely, will be a sympathetic but condescending chuckle with an expression that says, “You’re incorrigible.” Or else it will be an earnest nose crinkle, followed by the inevitable question: “But what will we do with all of them?” […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: LAPD retreats from ‘predictive policing,’ for now ‘They sent him to his cell to die’ ‘I can’t afford it and I never will be able to’ New York has become the first major U.S. city to provide free phone calls from jails No reduction in court appearances after Philadelphia DA […]

Special Edition From ‘civil death’ to ‘civic bonds’: There is no (good) reason prisoners can’t vote There are various arguments for why people in prison should not be allowed to vote; none of them is persuasive. Recently, when CNN hosted town halls with contenders for the Democratic nomination for president and some were asked whether […]

Special Edition: The Contenders Editor’s Note: The Daily Appeal is occasionally examining the 2020 presidential contenders’ records, platforms, and rhetoric on issues relating to criminal justice. You can find past installments here. Joe Biden’s role in mass incarceration was no ‘mistake’: It was politics. Of all the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination who have helped to make […]

This is the seventh installment of the Daily Appeal series “The Contenders 2020: Criminal Justice in the Race for President.”

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Good news: NYC prosecutors are keeping track of unreliable cops. Bad news: The list is secret. How jails are replacing visits with video A baby’s death, a flawed autopsy, and a mother locked up for life Oklahoma’s “juvenile lifers” sit and wait Oregon sets record for prosecuting people with mental […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Eradicating bias from jury selection is only half the battle: What if the jury pool is skewed? Good Samaritans punished for offering lifesaving help to migrants California cities have shredded decades of police misconduct records No evidence that hardening schools prevents gun violence Michigan prosecutor accused of using money confiscated from […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Why do we hide sentences from jurors? New Orleans wants to make its notorious jail bigger Supreme Court refuses to hear case of man who says he was sentenced to death because he is gay What are the prospects for ending cooperation with ICE in New York? Appeals might be […]

This article is part of the series The Contenders 2020: Criminal Justice in the Race for President. It was published in the Daily Appeal newsletter. “On questions of immigration policy, Democrats know what they’re against,” writes Eric Levitz for Intelligencer. “The party has said, in no uncertain terms, that building medieval walls … and separating migrant children […]

Michael Brown’s mother lost her bid for City Council, but is one of many bringing personal experience with the criminal system to politics.

What you’ll read today Spotlight: If you think the war on drugs is over, just look to the most recent drug task force corruption scandal New York lawmakers want to ban sex offenders from the subway. That won’t solve anything. Drug companies fear their products could be used in executions if Arkansas secrecy bill passes […]

None of Trump’s confirmed or pending judicial nominees has worked as a full-time public defenders.

Arkansas lawmaker wants to make it a felony to identify makers of its execution drugs.

This is the fourth installment in the series “The Contenders 2020: Criminal Justice in the Race for President.”

Klobuchar implemented the kind of policies that today’s progressives are working hard to dismantle, and she doesn’t seem to see her record as problematic.

Long after the American public became aware mass incarceration was a failed experiment, Harris failed to support progressive measures to alleviate some of its impact.

New York would benefit from looking at Texas, which is surprisingly progressive on various criminal justice issues. But while legislative reforms are necessary, they are in no way sufficient.

These outlets have bought into and perpetuated a zero-sum view of social justice that is false and pernicious.

If Border Patrol agents should refuse to tear gas children at the border, should prosecutors, police, and judges not refuse some of their duties too?

Referendums, proseutors, sheriffs: A walk-through the November 6 results

Ballot measure would change law that currently makes it nearly impossible to hold police officers accountable for excessive force.

People laughed when Kanye called for abolishing the “trap door” in the 13th Amendment. Now Coloradans are voting on theirs.

Ohio’s Issue 1 ballot initiative could ‘deal a blow’ to mass incarceration

Case seemed to many like a second chance at McCleskey v. Kemp, a U.S. Supreme Court case that severely restricted the ability for minority plaintiffs to succeed on equal protection claims.

What it’s like to take part in New York City’s Mass Bailout.

What you’ll read today Spotlight: What Kavanaugh could learn about criminal justice from yesterday’s ordeal House of cards The Appeal Podcast Episode 16: Why police accountability is as elusive as ever Museum of Broken Windows expresses the pain inflicted by policing Proposed bills would impose oversight on NYPD Mistrial in Texas police shooting of fleeing unarmed Black man In the Spotlight What Kavanaugh should learn about criminal justice […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: What Kavanaugh should learn about criminal justice from yesterday’s ordeal House of cards The Appeal Podcast Episode 16: Why police accountability is as elusive as ever Museum of Broken Windows expresses the pain inflicted by policing Proposed bills would impose oversight on NYPD Mistrial in Texas police shooting of fleeing […]

What you’ll read today Spotlight: Kavanaugh debate, on the left and the right, shows inability to see outside the criminal justice system In one Pennsylvania county, rape victims rarely find justice Activists brace for further retaliation in the wake of the national prison strike Prosecutors in El Chapo case move to bar defense from quoting […]

Many reform advocates believe that declining to prosecute cases is an effective way for prosecutors to shrink the system and break cycles of incarceration that disproportionately ensnare people of color.