How ‘Alternatives to Incarceration’—Like Probation—Expand Criminalization In September, an Iowa judge sentenced Pieper Lewis, a Black teenager who was trafficked and sexually assaulted, to community supervision after she pleaded guilty to stabbing one of her abusers to death. Some hailed the sentence as compassionate. But facts about supervision say otherwise. Mon Mohapatra Dec 06, 2022 Can Closed Prisons Be Repurposed to Mend the Harm They’ve Done? Prince Shakur Nov 30, 2022 Youth Curfews Feed Kids into the Criminal System. But Cities Keep Expanding Them. Tara Francis Chan Nov 23, 2022 Riots Work: An interview with Alex Mingus Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 16, 2022 Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note. Americans around the country were unmoved by tough-on-crime rhetoric, and instead voted in a string of reform-minded candidates. The results show that it’s time for Democrats to rethink their approach on public safety. Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing Nov 11, 2022 Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Can Closed Prisons Be Repurposed to Mend the Harm They’ve Done? Prince Shakur Nov 30, 2022 Youth Curfews Feed Kids into the Criminal System. But Cities Keep Expanding Them. Tara Francis Chan Nov 23, 2022 Riots Work: An interview with Alex Mingus Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 16, 2022 Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note. Americans around the country were unmoved by tough-on-crime rhetoric, and instead voted in a string of reform-minded candidates. The results show that it’s time for Democrats to rethink their approach on public safety. Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing Nov 11, 2022 Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Youth Curfews Feed Kids into the Criminal System. But Cities Keep Expanding Them. Tara Francis Chan Nov 23, 2022 Riots Work: An interview with Alex Mingus Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 16, 2022 Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note. Americans around the country were unmoved by tough-on-crime rhetoric, and instead voted in a string of reform-minded candidates. The results show that it’s time for Democrats to rethink their approach on public safety. Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing Nov 11, 2022 Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Riots Work: An interview with Alex Mingus Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 16, 2022 Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note. Americans around the country were unmoved by tough-on-crime rhetoric, and instead voted in a string of reform-minded candidates. The results show that it’s time for Democrats to rethink their approach on public safety. Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing Nov 11, 2022 Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note. Americans around the country were unmoved by tough-on-crime rhetoric, and instead voted in a string of reform-minded candidates. The results show that it’s time for Democrats to rethink their approach on public safety. Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing Nov 11, 2022 Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing and Meg O'Connor Nov 09, 2022 A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
A Big Milestone for The Appeal Nick Wing Nov 02, 2022 Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli Nov 01, 2022 “The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
“The Media Emboldens a Police State”: A conversation with movement lawyer Olayemi Olurin Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 26, 2022 A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
A Star Witness Recanted. But Tasha Shelby is Still Imprisoned for ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Junk-Science. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2022 Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022 An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
An Innocent Man May Die Because of Illogical Deadlines Molly Greene Oct 05, 2022 An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
An Unprecedented Investment in Alternatives to Policing Nick Wing Sep 28, 2022 How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
How Prison Visit Restrictions Force Parents to Make Tough Decisions Patrick Stephens, a formerly incarcerated writer, explains how arbitrary, byzantine, and punitive visiting rules tear apart the families of the incarcerated—especially after the pandemic. Patrick Stephens Sep 22, 2022 How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022 New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
New School Year, Same School-to-Prison Pipeline Anna Simonton Sep 14, 2022 Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Intergenerational Partnerships are Critical to Curb Youth Violence Ras Stanford Sep 07, 2022 Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion Meg O'Connor Aug 24, 2022 Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Calls for Action After Reports of Inedible Food at Virginia Prison Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 17, 2022 Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability Incarcerated people need opportunities to learn and grow. Phillip A. Jones Aug 16, 2022 Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now? Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022 How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State Meg O'Connor Aug 02, 2022 Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Florida’s ‘Loud Car’ Ban Gives Cops a New Excuse to Harass Drivers Jerry Iannelli Jul 27, 2022 Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Stacey Abrams’ Bold New Idea is to Tack to the Center Nneka Ewulonu Jul 20, 2022 To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
To Fight Gun Violence, Kids Need Places to Play Ras Stanford Jul 13, 2022 Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests. Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022 Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Roaches, Mold, Inedible Meals: Prison Food Is Straight out of a Nightmare Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe Meg O'Connor Jun 24, 2022 Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022 More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
More Money to Police ‘Hate Crimes’ Won’t Stop Mass Shooters Nneka Ewulonu Jun 15, 2022 Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police Meg O'Connor Jun 01, 2022 It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
It’s Time to Take a Clearer Look at Bail Reform In the raucous debate over bail reform, simple facts have fallen out of sight. Bryce Covert May 09, 2022 Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day Meg O'Connor Apr 27, 2022 The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Truth About Marijuana and the Criminal Legal System Katie Jane Fernelius Apr 20, 2022 Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Florida Cops Nearly Sent a Five-Year-Old to Jail Nneka Ewulonu Apr 13, 2022 Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Does Bail Reform Lead to More Crime? Ethan Corey Apr 06, 2022 The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The New Law Enforcement Spending Spree Is Already Underway Nick Wing Mar 29, 2022 A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
A Coalition Led by Philly’s Homeless Youth Wants to Change How Cities Help the Unhoused Ras Stanford Mar 22, 2022 More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
More Black Representation on Police Forces Will Not Solve Police Violence In the wake of more horrific police killings, it’s important to remember that Black cops cannot fix America’s fundamentally broken and racist policing system. Mustafa Ali-Smith Mar 17, 2022 Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022 Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Private Tech Surveillance Companies Are Taking Over Prisons Nneka Ewulonu Mar 08, 2022 When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law Our team at the University of North Carolina analyzed death-in-custody reporting policies at every state and federal carceral entity. Data collection is a mess—and many states don’t follow the law at all. M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Mar 02, 2022 Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Police PR Departments Keep Showing Their Asses Nick Wing Mar 01, 2022 Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022 How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
How Could Police Shootings Keep Happening After We Did Nothing To Stop Them? Jerry Iannelli Feb 15, 2022 Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor Dec 21, 2021 “It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
“It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.” Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021 To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
To Understand Gun Violence, Talk to People in the Trenches Joseph Richardson, Che Bullock Dec 09, 2021 “Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
“Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU” Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor Dec 07, 2021 Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Police Disinformation Is Still Disinformation Jerry Iannelli Nov 30, 2021 Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check. Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021 Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Police Threats Over Vaccine Mandates Are Proving Empty Nick Wing Nov 16, 2021 How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
How Prison Writers Struggle to Be Heard Sky-high email and phone costs, fear of retaliation by prison staff, and isolation create roadblocks for incarcerated people to share their experience and join a growing national conversation on reforming the criminal legal system. Christopher Blackwell, Nick Hacheney Nov 15, 2021 Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’ Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 2021 America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2021 These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021 People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
People Are Being Tortured Inside New Jersey’s Prisons Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 19, 2021 Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Why the Media Won’t Stop Using ‘Officer-Involved Shootings’ Jerry Iannelli Oct 12, 2021 The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Recent Rise in Violence Should Be a Rallying Cry for Reform Nick Wing Oct 05, 2021 The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption. A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities. John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021 Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Philadelphia Police Aren’t Solving Crimes. It’s Time to Divert Their Funding This budget season, Philadelphia must hold our law enforcement accountable for their failures by redirecting resources to strategies that can help us. Kendra Brooks Apr 15, 2021 Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages. John Pollock Mar 26, 2021 Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Virtually No One is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail A common sense cost-benefit analysis of pretrial detention. Sandra Mayson, Megan Stevenson Mar 15, 2021 State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski Mar 02, 2021 Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021 The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The California District Attorneys Association Is Failing Californians After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general. Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021 This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
This Biden Nomination Is Extremely Important For Everyday People The Office of the Comptroller of Currency is responsible for ensuring the safety, soundness, and broad accessibility of financial institutions. President Biden must choose someone to lead the agency who brings expertise and relevant lived experience to the job. Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley Jan 28, 2021 Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021 L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
L.A. County Jails Are Locking People Up For Longer During the Pandemic The percentage of people held pretrial for six months or longer is up six percent from January of last year, according to a UCLA School of Law report. Amy Munro Jan 21, 2021 Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021 Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021 There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
There Are Too Many Prosecutors On the Bench. Take It From Me, a Prosecutor Courts must not overrepresent the viewpoints of the most powerful at the expense of the communities they serve. Sarah Fair George Jan 08, 2021 Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol. Jerry Iannelli Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee and Ethan Winter Jan 06, 2021 The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020 What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
What Prosecutors Should Learn from 2020’s Pandemic and Protests In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together. Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020 Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
I Was A Child In An Adult Prison System. Now I Fight For Those, Like Me, Who Deserve A Brighter Future When They’re Released As a staff member of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, I fight for all children, especially those impacted by systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Catherine Jones Dec 15, 2020 Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman Dec 09, 2020 The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Worsen America’s COVID-19 Crisis The CDC must immediately extend its emergency eviction moratorium to give the Biden administration and Congress time to provide additional emergency rental assistance. Emily Benfer, Gregg Gonsalves and Danya Keene Dec 07, 2020 To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
To Turn Election Wins Into Policy, House Progressives Need More Committee Power Progressive policies face a committee structure that distorts democracy and favors corporate-backed centrists. Zephyr Teachout Dec 04, 2020 Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush Nov 24, 2020 Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020 Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020 No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
No, Defund The Police And Medicare For All Didn’t Lead To Democratic Losses In The House Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise. Aidan Smith Nov 09, 2020 ‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020 It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
It’s Time To Lower The Voting Age To 16 Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way. David A. Love Nov 03, 2020 The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020 We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman Oct 21, 2020 Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020 For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts Oct 13, 2020 The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer Oct 09, 2020 Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss Oct 06, 2020 Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020 Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020 California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
California Needs A Community-Based Response To People In Crisis, Not Law Enforcement Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations. Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020 Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020 Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Tiffany Cabán: Why I Am Running For New York City Council In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future. Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020 The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people. Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020 A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020 The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020 President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
President Trump’s Eviction Moratorium Falls Far Short Of Calls For Rent And Mortgage Cancellation Tenants and progressive leaders who cried out for a national action must now grapple with two truths: This eviction moratorium will save lives, but everything about it is a page out of Trump’s re-election playbook. Tara Raghuveer Sep 02, 2020 Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020 The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins Aug 19, 2020 The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020 To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort Aug 03, 2020 Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil Jul 27, 2020 The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky Jul 24, 2020 Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson Jul 23, 2020 Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson Jul 22, 2020 It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch Jul 21, 2020 People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020 Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Schools Are Closed, Our Children Are Unravelling, and Our Elected Leaders Are Failing Us Public schools have long needed more funding to keep the bodies and minds of teachers, staff, and students safe. But these are not the investments our elected officials choose to make. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 16, 2020 Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy Jul 15, 2020 A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020 The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen Jul 13, 2020 Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020 The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
The Pandemic Shows It’s Time for an Alternative to American Capitalism The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system. David A. Love Jun 30, 2020 Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
