‘Habitual Offender’ Laws Imprison Thousands for Small Crimes—Sometimes for Life Data obtained by The Appeal show nearly 2,000 people in Mississippi and Louisiana are serving long—and sometimes life—sentences after they were labeled “habitual offenders." But most are behind bars for small crimes like drug possession. Tana Ganeva
Unless The Biden Administration Acts, Thousands Could Go Back to Federal Prison A Department of Justice memo from January could have a devastating effect on many federal prisoners who have been released on home confinement. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The U.S. Economy Won’t Recover Until Black Workers Do Biden’s American Rescue Plan is a start, but more public investment is needed to address racial inequality in the labor market. Ashley Mitchell
State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski
Trump Turned the Justice System Into a Black Box. Biden Could Fix It The Bureau of Justice Statistics has suffered from years of poor funding and political interference by the Trump administration. Fixing it could be one of the most important tasks on Biden’s criminal justice reform agenda. Ethan Corey
Why The Biden Administration’s Choice To Lead The Bureau of Prisons Matters The attorney general could pick a new head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. That person should have public health experience, formerly incarcerated activists say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Members of Congress Call on Biden to Commute Everyone on Federal Death Row More than 35 members of Congress signed a letter asking Biden to commute the sentences of the remaining 50 people on federal death row. Meg O'Connor
Lawmakers Calling for “Unity” Should Support Policies Voters Actually Want Americans largely support progressive policies—despite objections from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Now is the time to pass them. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s Legacy of Empty Promises There may be one reason for local progressives to support Walsh for the U.S. secretary of labor: He’ll leave town. Jerry Iannelli
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
As Support For The Death Penalty Plummets, The Trump Administration Embraces Executions While bans on capital punishment progress at the state level, the federal government is racing to carry out three more executions before President Trump's term end. Ten people have been put to death since July, the first such executions since 2003. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Advocates Call On Biden To Change the Narrative on Immigration and Then Change Policy President-elect Biden has a tough road ahead in reversing the Trump administration’s damage to the immigration system. Advocates say they’ll make sure he fulfills his promises. Liz Robbins
What Biden Can Do To Address The Student Debt Crisis Civil rights organizations and Democrats in Congress are calling on the president-elect to provide relief to millions of borrowers once he takes office. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
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
Why Los Angeles Activists Don’t Want Their Mayor In Biden’s Cabinet Eric Garcetti, who may be considered for a position in the administration, is out of touch with the city’s working class and poor people, activists say. And they fear he’ll bring that sensibility to national politics. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
We Can’t Restore The Soul Of The Nation With Rahm Emanuel In Public Office It doesn’t matter whether it’s Transportation Secretary or Assistant to the Transportation Secretary, Rahm doesn’t belong in any of D.C.’s halls of power. Jamaal Bowman
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
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
For Illinois Democrat Marie Newman, Progressive Is ‘Practical’ Newman, who is running for a U.S. House seat, wants Medicare for all, green jobs, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Cinnamon Janzer
Joe Biden Should Use Federal Dollars to Fund Alternatives to Police If he becomes president and Democrats win the Senate, Biden should push a federal spending bill that includes money for civilian first-responder programs. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort
Yes, Pack The Court – Pack It With Public Interest Lawyers No intellect or doctrine can overcome a judiciary inclined to favor government and the powerful against the accused and the vulnerable. And that is the federal judiciary we now have. Matthew Segal
Atlanta’s Mayor Wants $13 Million More For Police. Four Officers Were Just Fired For Using Excessive Force. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for the budget increase amid ongoing local and national reports of police violence against protesters. Ko Bragg
A Heroin Case With ‘Breaking Bad’ References Ensnares a Small-Time Dealer Dennis Sica struggled with substance use disorder and sold small amounts of heroin that prosecutors connected to overdose deaths. Because of an 1980s-era federal law, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Jon Campbell
Someone Tell Joe Biden: Marijuana Is Not a Gateway Drug Biden believes that the jury is still out on the question of whether marijuana is a gateway to other illicit substances. But the truth is that it is not—and this has long been a matter of settled science. Paul Armentano
The 1994 Crime Law Hogs The Legal Reform Spotlight. But A Lesser-Known Law Deserves More Attention. As the presidential election approaches, reformers should focus on the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which restricts the ability of incarcerated people to protest their conditions of confinement. John Pfaff
Joe Biden’s ‘Crack House’ Crusade Nearly 20 years ago, Biden urged prosecutors to wield the ‘crack house‘ statute against rave promoters. Now it’s being used to stamp out public health responses to the opioid crisis. Zachary A. Siegel
A No-Holds-Barred Assault on Prosecutors Attorney General William Barr pushed back against reforms by progressive prosecutors—but perhaps his greatest vitriol was reserved for the Boston DA’s attempt to rein in police. John Pfaff
San Francisco Is Paying For Jamal Trulove’s Wrongful Conviction. Will Kamala Harris? Police and prosecutors framed a father of four in a 2007 murder case with local and national political implications. Kyle C. Barry
Drug Testing Organizations Save Lives, So Why Haven’t Rave and Concert Organizers Embraced Them? Groups like the Loop and DanceSafe test drugs like Ecstasy and warn users of high dosages and adulterants, but federal legislation from the early 2000s has live music promoters wary of their brand of harm reduction. Zachary A. Siegel
