‘Reborn Into A Strange New World’: A Trans Woman Prepares For Release After 18 Years In Men’s Prison Jessica Phoenix Sylvia
Jeff Rosen Sought the Death Penalty For An Innocent Man. He Shouldn’t Be California’s Next AG Michael Ogul
Misdemeanor Convictions Cause Real Harm. New York Needs a New Approach Getting convicted of a “minor offense” inflicts serious, long-term harm. The state can and must divert more people to counseling, group meetings, or other interventions. Jackie Fielding, Chloe Sarnoff
State and Local Leaders Want More COVID-19 Relief It’s time for congressional Republicans to listen. Sarah Godlewski
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Public Transportation Should Be Free The COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible for us to ignore this any longer. Michelle Wu
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, Ethan Winter
Confront and Remedy the Black Community’s COVID-19 Vaccine Skepticism Decades of exploitation, abuse, and racism in medicine have cost many Black Americans their lives during the pandemic. Now the government can act to prevent further harm. Ruqaiijah Yearby
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
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
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
Brandon Bernard’s Death Sentence Should Be Commuted Immediately By President Trump A reasonable society does not meet trauma with more trauma in the name of justice. Ayanna Pressley
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
People in Prisons and Jails Should Get COVID-19 Vaccines As Early as Possible The coronavirus has ripped through our prison and jail populations, infecting and killing hundreds of thousands of people most vulnerable to COVID-19. Brendon Woods
Resentencing Units Can Rectify, Rehabilitate, and Restore A concerted effort to review, resentence, and release is the right thing to do for those who have been unjustly sentenced. It is also the right thing to do for our community. George Gascón, Marilyn Mosby
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, Danya Keene
The House Just Passed a Historic Marijuana Bill. Now the Senate Must Act. After decades of harm, wrought by the war on drugs, the federal government has finally listened to the American people by voting to decriminalize marijuana. Zachary A. Siegel
