How Parole Conditions Trapped Me in Homelessness
The severe restrictions I face while on supervision effectively serve as a ban on stable housing. The terms of this arrangement have left me technically homeless, forced to live in a motel.
Wes Vaughan May 09, 2023
How Imprisoned People Forced to Pick Cotton Got ‘Prison Slavery’ Bans on the Ballot
On Election Day, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont will decide whether to close loopholes in their state constitutions allowing the forced labor of incarcerated people.
Bryce Covert Nov 07, 2022
‘It Tears Families Apart’: Lawmakers Nationwide Are Moving to End Mandatory Sentencing
Repealing state and federal mandatory minimums will help address the mass incarceration crisis, advocates hope.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Apr 15, 2021
Portland Civil Rights Activists Want A Mayor Who Can Stand Up To Police
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s popularity has declined after a summer of protests against police violence in the Oregon city.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 07, 2020
Police Violence Was a Problem In Portland Long Before Federal Agents Arrived
Local law enforcement tear-gassed and beat protesters and journalists.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 03, 2020
Children in Residential Treatment Centers Are Especially Vulnerable to COVID-19
Tens of thousands of children are in congregate care settings around the country, and some have already started to get sick.
Roxanna Asgarian May 05, 2020
Sex Offender Registry Requirements Leave Some Facing Stark Choices As Coronavirus Risks Grow
Inconsistent rules nationwide mean some people are still registering and reporting in person despite public health directives meant to control COVID-19.
Dawn R. Wolfe Apr 03, 2020
In Oregon, a Hopeful Sign for Those Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Terms as Children
The state’s attorney general decided to support resentencing hearings in two high-profile cases, though she had fought appeals in the past.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 12, 2020
For Many Serving Harsh Sentences, the Governor Becomes a Last Hope
Lawmakers are recognizing the harms of mass incarceration. But some governors are reluctant to use their clemency power to address them.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 05, 2020
The Appeal Podcast: The Cruel Rise of ‘Drug Induced Homicide’ Prosecutions
With special guest host Leo Beletsky, a professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University, and criminal justice reform advocate Morgan Godvin.
A Precarious Time For The Insanity Defense
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. This week, Rolling Stone published a harrowing portrait of how one state’s enlightened approach to mental health and criminal behavior came to be threatened by one case that went […]
Sarah Lustbader Feb 25, 2020
Louisiana Prosecutors Push To Retain Nonunanimous Jury Verdicts
In 2018, the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that requires unanimous jury verdicts in felony cases for crimes committed on or after Jan. 1, 2019. Now, the Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the nonunanimity rule—with prosecutors arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not require unanimous jury verdicts in criminal cases.
Joshua Vaughn Nov 15, 2019
A Discriminatory Rule Even Justice Kavanaugh Opposes
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. This week, the Supreme Court appeared ready to rule against convictions by nonunanimous juries. The Court heard arguments in Ramos v. Louisiana, a case that challenged the […]
Sarah Lustbader Oct 10, 2019
He Entered Prison As a ‘Whiskerless Kid.’ Will Oregon Ever Let Him Out?
Despite supporting Oregon’s new juvenile justice law, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is still fighting to keep people in prison who received life sentences as minors.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 03, 2019
Spotlight: ‘A New Wave of Prosecutorial Transparency’
Prosecutors are supremely powerful and have played an outsize role in mass incarceration. What can be done?
Sarah Lustbader Jun 07, 2019
After Victory in Louisiana, Oregon Is Now The Only State Using Split Juries to Convict People
As in Louisiana, Oregon’s practice is rooted in its own rich history of white supremacy.
George Joseph Nov 06, 2018
Rural Oregon Sheriffs Lead Charge to Repeal State’s Sanctuary Law
More than one dozen sheriffs support Measure 105 that would allow for cooperation with federal authorities even when an immigrant suspect has not been apprehended for any crime.
Mike Faulk Oct 30, 2018
Exclusive: Immigrant Detainees In an Oregon Federal Prison Are Being Held In General Population Units
As a consequence, authorities are keeping them in cells for 22 to 23 hours a day, according to Oregon’s federal public defender.
George Joseph, Max Rivlin-Nadler Jun 21, 2018
Why Would Prosecutors Refuse DNA Testing?
In this Oregon capital case, it could ensure that the state doesn’t execute the wrong man.
Jessica Pishko Oct 13, 2017
The normalization of preventable jail deaths
On August 13th, corrections officers at Portland, Oregon’s jail found 37-year-old Dee Glassmann dead in her cell during their routine morning “wake up” call. If you’re wondering what happened, you’re not alone: Multnomah County officials won’t release any information about the circumstances of her death for up to eight more weeks, when her toxicology report will be […]
Rebecca McCray Aug 29, 2017
Oregon makes drug possession a misdemeanor over prosecutor objections
The state of Oregon has made drug possession a misdemeanor over the objections of multiple district attorneys in the state. The new law went into effect as soon as Governor Kate Brown signed it earlier this month. It makes most instances of first-time simple possession of illegal drugs — including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines — a misdemeanor rather than a felony. The […]
Aug 25, 2017
Oregon prosecutors to judges: You’re Fired
District attorneys in Oregon have a new tactic to deal with judges that hand down rulings against their offices: they’re effectively getting rid of them. County circuit judges in both Lane and Multnomah counties have been disqualified from hearing criminal cases this year following accusations from district attorneys that the judges failed to be “fair […]
Rebecca McCray Jul 27, 2017