Courts

I spent years visiting prisons and courts. At every turn, facilities forced me to comply with invasive searches that left me feeling sexually violated.

Five public defenders are running for seats on the Los Angeles Superior Court. Tomorrow, voters will decide whether to elect candidates who support alternatives to incarceration—or maintain the status quo.

The city of Milwaukee lacks a plan to replace JusticePoint’s incarceration alternatives services if it succeeds in canceling its contract.

A criminal-legal reporter ventures into Night Court—the cringy sitcom reboot and the real courtroom in Manhattan.

gorodenkoff / iStock by Getty Images Over-Reliance on Plea Deals is Damaging the Criminal Legal System by Nneka Ewulonu It’s easy for the average American to envision a courtroom trial. Shows like “Law and Order” inundate us with fictional depictions of trials—from the thud of a gavel to the inquisitive eyes of a jury—with an […]

Some states have banned the controversial legal defense, but other efforts, including at the federal level, are facing challenges.

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.

The advocates describe the reopening as unsafe and unnecessary amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Memos obtained by The Appeal and anecdotes from public defenders reveal how, for a week during protests over police brutality, the NYPD stalled cases by directing officers not to testify in court.

Public defenders are working with the courts to secure release for people incarcerated in the Florida county, many of whom are jailed for low-level offenses.

Delaying trials will mean more people stay in jail while a life-threatening disease spreads throughout the state.

The Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies are intersecting with a highly contagious disease at a time when cities across the country are shutting down.

While those facing charges appear by video at arraignments, all others—attorneys, officers, the judge—are in the courtroom in close quarters, defense attorneys say.

Judicial responses to the pandemic have varied and are changing rapidly.

Reform advocates say the risk assessments are racially biased and are not effective at their key tasks: predicting the likelihood someone will return to court.

Advocates warn that the cuts could push an already overburdened system to the breaking point.

The state said Michelle Heale shook the baby to death, but some experts say her conviction was based on debunked science.

With Danielle Sered of Common Justice

Under the proposal, localities would be incentivized to significantly decrease prison populations.

The city comptroller, state lawmakers, and advocates call on the state to end its use of fines and fees in the legal system.

16-year-olds won’t have to reappear in adult criminal court if they’re arrested when youth court isn’t in session.

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Last week, court watchers from the Philadelphia Bail Fund and a journalist filed a federal lawsuit to challenge a ban on audio recording during bail hearings, arguing that […]

A man sentenced to die in prison is inciting debate over ‘felony murder’ rules in Colorado.

The tactics outlined encourage courtroom ‘dishonesty’ and ‘gamesmanship,’ legal experts argue.

The transcript calls him Mr. Meyer, or Juror №5. In October 2014, he arrived at Seattle Municipal Court, which handles misdemeanors, for the trial of Matthew Erickson. Mr. Erickson had been charged with unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest. The judge told the prospective jurors that the lawyers would question them to see […]

In 2015, New Mexico became the first state to ban civil asset forfeiture, also known as policing for profit. Law enforcement cannot take people’s valuables and use the civil court system to gain ownership of them. State law now stipulates that cash and property can only be seized by law enforcement and forfeited when the original […]

On July 23, 2014, Joseph Rudolph Wood was supposed to be executed in a quick and painless way—injected once with 50mg of midazolam and 50mg of hydromorphone. Instead, he suffered through a lethal injection protocol that lasted 117 minutes, snorting and gasping for air as he was injected with 15 doses of the drugs. Following […]

Prosecutors have an enormous amount of power, and are very rarely held accountable when that power is abused.