These November Elections Could Dramatically Change Local Police Departments Anna Simonton Oct 26, 2021
‘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
Virginia Governor Candidate Says It’s Time To ‘Treat Poverty Like the Emergency It Is’ Jennifer Carroll Foy is a former public defender and state legislator who wants to overhaul school funding and extend an eviction moratorium until the end of 2022. Eoin Higgins Feb 24, 2021
Virginia Bans Mental Health Evidence in Trials. Lawmakers Could Soon Change This Proposed legislation would allow people accused of crimes to tell juries if they had a mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, or an intellectual or developmental disability at the time of a crime. The bill could have helped individuals like Matthew Rushin. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
A Virginia Prison Held A Man In Solitary Confinement For Over 600 Days Virginia’s Department of Corrections has recently settled two lawsuits over its use of solitary confinement—a practice lawmakers are moving closer to abolishing. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Feb 05, 2021
Victims’ Families Want Virginia to End The Death Penalty Virginia may soon become the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 29, 2021
Terry McAuliffe’s Record on the Death Penalty Is Out of Step With National Trends McAuliffe is running to become Virginia governor a second time. If he wins, he would be the only active Democratic governor to have carried out executions in office. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 11, 2020
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Today’s update focuses on major outbreaks in two state prisons in tiny Buckingham County, Virginia that in June gave it one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S. Whet Moser Jul 15, 2020
As Coronavirus Spread, Dozens Of Law Enforcement Agents Raided Virginia Housing Projects Over Alleged Small Drug Deals Despite distancing warnings, more than 80 state and federal agents fanned out in an anti-drug operation that, The Appeal has learned, was based on a series of retail-level drug sales. Jerry Iannelli Apr 16, 2020
Prosecutors In This Virginia County Are Letting People Go To Jail for Low-Level Offenses In The Middle of a Pandemic Public defenders in Fairfax County say their clients are being sent into harm’s way. Kira Lerner Apr 02, 2020
Tuesday’s Election Boosts Voting Rights for People With Past Convictions A claimed victory in Kentucky and wins in Virginia mean hundreds of thousands of people could have their right to vote restored. Kira Lerner, Daniel Nichanian Nov 06, 2019
The Appeal Podcast: When Police Officers Double as Prosecutors With Appeal contributors Julia Rock and Harry August Adam H. Johnson Oct 31, 2019
Virginia Sheriff Seeking Re-election Took Campaign Donations From Healthcare Provider For Jail He Oversees Sheriff Mike Chapman, who runs the Loudoun County jail, has received close to $15,000 in contributions from the provider since taking office in 2012. Aaron Morrison Oct 17, 2019
Rhode Island Police Don’t Just Make Arrests. Some Also Act As Prosecutors. The state is one of eight that allow cops to arraign people on misdemeanor charges. Advocates and academics say the practice is unjust. Julia Rock, Harry August Oct 10, 2019
Virginia Teen Was Detained and Prosecuted for Saying ‘Oink Oink’ to Cop Critics say that Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney Theo Stamos, who is being challenged in a June primary, has a pattern of treating children too harshly. Kira Lerner Jun 04, 2019
‘They’re Trying To Kill Us In Here’ At Virginia’s Hampton Roads Regional Jail, reform has been slow even after high-profile tragedies including the death of mentally disabled man incarcerated who allegedly stole $5 worth of snacks. Aaron Morrison Apr 16, 2019
Virginia Jail Accused of Favoring Christians Who Agree To Live In ‘God Pod’ Muslim prisoners, meanwhile, say they were starved during Ramadan and deprived of religious texts. Kira Lerner Dec 06, 2018
Case Of Intellectually Disabled Teen Falsely Accused of Sex Offense Reveals Registry Flaws Before Edgar Coker was exonerated in a rape case, he underwent therapy meant to prevent sexual reoffenses. Thousands of kids involved in sexual offenses are forced into therapies like “relapse prevention” that experts say are ineffective. Joseph Darius Jaafari Aug 27, 2018
Caretaker Faces Deportation Over Dubious ‘Shaken Baby’ Conviction After being released from prison, her only chance is a pardon from the governor. Jessica Pishko Aug 14, 2018
Pretrial Detainees Are Being Billed For Their Stay in Jail In jurisdictions across the country, people incarcerated before they've ever been convicted of a crime are charged a daily fee just for sitting in jail—and several courts have ruled that the practice is legal. Steven Hale Jul 20, 2018
Prosecutor pushes for Virginia man’s execution despite signs of serious mental illness Larry Hannan Jun 29, 2017
