More from The Appeal:
After more than a year in office—and despite pushback—the San Francisco DA’s policies have kept people out of jails and prisons.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | March 18, 2021
Two progressive candidates will move on to the general election, while Lewis Reed, a figure in St. Louis’s Democratic party establishment since 1999, couldn’t carry a single ward.
Meg O'Connor | March 16, 2021
Ensuring renters have representation in housing court would help close a “justice gap” and be a life-saving intervention for those at risk of losing their homes.
Emily Benfer | March 10, 2021
As Texas lifts its COVID-19 restrictions, the city’s jail remains overcrowded and its police and prosecutors continue to operate as normal.
Jerry Iannelli | March 9, 2021
New evidence suggests more accounting troubles for the CDAA.
Jerry Iannelli | March 5, 2021
A coalition of environmental groups urges the legislature to force the repayment and dissociate from the CDAA.
Jerry Iannelli | February 23, 2021
In many of America’s major cities, the early efforts to reduce incarceration during the pandemic have been reversed.
Jerry Iannelli | February 3, 2021
After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general.
Sydney Kamlager | February 1, 2021
Virginia may soon become the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | January 29, 2021
It is impossible for the government to espouse a policy of “family unity” while immigrant detention still exists.
Andrea Meza | January 28, 2021
A look at the organization’s past actions suggests that this lawsuit is part of a longstanding pattern of ideologically motivated advocacy and commitment to tough-on-crime policies, rather than a show of blind allegiance to the law.
Piper French | January 27, 2021
On Tuesday, Harris County Commissioners will decide if the D.A. and Sheriff will get more money to continue their neglect in the face of a public-health crisis.
Jerry Iannelli | January 25, 2021
State Attorney Melissa Nelson is pushing for a death sentence even as more prosecutors reject capital punishment.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | January 22, 2021
The move is part of a broader criminal justice reform bill that also ends prison gerrymandering, and mandates body cameras for all police departments.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | January 14, 2021
Police and prosecutors routinely treat white domestic terrorists with kid gloves, but use the full force of the law against protesters calling for an end to police violence against Black people.
Meg O'Connor | January 14, 2021
The case illustrates the importance of keeping lists of police officers with histories of misconduct or dishonesty, the defense lawyer in the case says.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | December 18, 2020
Many of the 230,000 women and girls in U.S. jails and prisons were abuse survivors before they entered the system. Research for The Appeal shows that at least 30 percent of those serving time on murder or manslaughter charges were protecting themselves or a loved one from physical or sexual violence.
Justine van der Leun | December 17, 2020
More than 20 women accused Harry Morel, a longtime district attorney in Louisiana, of sexual misconduct. But Morel pleaded guilty to just a single obstruction of justice count while Mike Zummer, the FBI agent who investigated him, was fired. Now, Zummer is speaking about what he says is a grave injustice—at the hands of the Justice Department.
Jerry Iannelli | December 15, 2020
U.S Attorney William McSwain denies he’s targeted the social justice leader, but experts say prosecutors’ use of the man’s clothing and social media to argue that he should be detained pretrial is unusual.
Rachel M. Cohen | December 9, 2020
Rachel Barkow, a respected legal scholar, expert on executive clemency, and former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia would be an ideal choice to start and lead a powerful new program inside the Biden White House.
Emily Galvin-Almanza | December 1, 2020
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Keva Landrum violated the Constitution when, as a judge, she permitted nearly a dozen Black people to be struck from serving on a jury in a high-profile murder case.
Jerry Iannelli | November 24, 2020
Voters decided to keep Adel in charge of the third-largest prosecuting agency in the country. She is recovering from emergency surgery for bleeding in her brain.
Meg O'Connor | November 11, 2020
Los Angeles County, with the country’s largest jail system and largest local prosecutor office, is considered a crown jewel in a nationwide push for criminal justice reform.
Eliyahu Kamisher | November 6, 2020
The DA’s office has been home to bribery, corruption, and more since it was formed 170 years ago. What could a progressive prosecutor do to change that?
Incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is backed by police unions and has declined to charge officers in high-profile killings. Challenger Julie Gunnigle says she wants to create an independent unit to review police use-of-force cases.
Meg O'Connor | October 23, 2020
One candidate for Maricopa County attorney says she’ll make clearing past marijuana convictions ‘universal and automatic’ if elected. The other has not said she would do anything to support expunging criminal records.
Meg O'Connor | October 21, 2020
The state’s pre-Roe abortion ban includes mandatory prison time for people who provide or obtain abortions. Candidates for top prosecutor in Maricopa County differ on whether they would prosecute such cases.
Meg O'Connor | October 15, 2020
DA Jackie Lacey and challenger George Gascón outlined diverging visions for the top prosecutor’s office in the nation’s most populous county.
Kira Lerner | October 9, 2020
Allister Adel paints herself as a reformer, but her record shows otherwise.
Meg O'Connor | October 5, 2020
While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored.
Jerry Iannelli | October 2, 2020
Late-stage donations to the Los Angeles DA race increase concerns about the influence of law enforcement money on politics.
Piper French | September 24, 2020
Documents obtained by The Appeal raise questions about a Pittsburgh-area mass shooting case that fell apart due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Jerry Iannelli | September 16, 2020
Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old with chronic respiratory problems, has struggled with substance use for decades. Police and prosecutors sought the harshest sentence possible after he failed to return the car.
Meg O'Connor | September 16, 2020
After testing positive for COVID-19, Tommy Zeigler, whose case inspired legislation and multiple investigative reports, is missing in a Florida prison; advocates for women inside Oklahoma’s Eddie Warrior Correctional Center want to hear from Gov. Kevin Stitt; and men quarantined in a previously shuttered prison say they’re being forced to pee in cups.
Kelly Davis | September 14, 2020
Its decades-long commitment to upholding convictions—even those marred by police or prosecutorial misconduct—has left Missourians languishing in prison for years.
Emily Hoerner | September 11, 2020
Women at California’s Folsom prison fear that men with COVID-19 will be transferred into their building, a new report looks at the shockingly high rate of COVID-19 deaths among incarcerated people, and we update our ongoing case tracker map.
Kelly Davis | September 4, 2020
Prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Utah are using decades-old gang laws to target participants in the largest uprising against police brutality in U.S. history.
Ali Winston | September 1, 2020
Removing police union influence from the prosecutor’s office is a critical first step towards building a system that is safe, just, and fair for all.
A state investigation found that Detroit police officers fabricated evidence that helped convict a 14-year-old boy. A judge threw out his conviction after he spent nine years in prison, but the officers are still on the job and haven’t been flagged as unreliable to testify in court.
Kira Lerner | August 19, 2020
A deadly pandemic should not be used as a bargaining chip against poor, detained people charged with crimes.
Amanda Woog | August 4, 2020
Julie Gunnigle, who is running in Maricopa County, says she supports alternatives to incarceration. But a decade ago in Illinois, she prosecuted a woman for recording phone calls and helped put her in jail for 18 months.
Meg O'Connor | August 3, 2020
Lawyers and activists are calling on prosecutor Kym Worthy to dismiss charges against those who have been arrested. As of July 29, 451 Detroiters had been arrested for violating Michigan’s concealed carry law, an increase of 190 percent compared to July 2019.
Dawn R. Wolfe | August 3, 2020
Though domestic violence is often cited as a reason to maintain the carceral status quo, advocates say there are more humane—and effective—alternatives.
Jessica Pishko | July 28, 2020
Excessive force against people being arrested, falsification of evidence against suspects, and brutality by guards against prisoners — these are all just different forms of the same problem.
Vernon Horn | July 20, 2020
Through this mechanism, communities can accept accountability for the racism they allow to flourish by failing to disrupt it.
Monica C. Bell | July 17, 2020
How governors respond to this pandemic will define their legacy. They all face a choice: save lives in prisons now, or hand down potential death sentences with their inaction and watch harm ripple through communities and exacerbate inequities into future generations.
Democrats in Congress must still their impulse to legislate restrictions on clemency. Not only would such a law be unconstitutional, but it may deter future presidents from using clemency the way that the framers intended.
Mark Osler | July 15, 2020
A late-night Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, despite his claims of innocence and his attorneys’ belief that DNA testing could show he was wrongly convicted.
Lauren Gill | July 14, 2020
An Appeal analysis shows that the percentage of people held without bond remains steady, at roughly 33%, although arrests are down during the pandemic.
Jerry Iannelli | July 14, 2020
As a ‘heat dome’ descends on much of the country and local governments scramble to provide safe refuges, concern grows over the effect of a disease that has ‘totally demolished the homeless people.’
Daniel Moritz-Rabson | July 13, 2020
Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty.
Ben Cohen | July 13, 2020
You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm.
Daveen Trentman | July 7, 2020
From grocery store workers to nurses, from home care workers to janitors, from teachers to delivery workers to domestic workers -- there is an invisible, undervalued army of people who make our lives possible. Their work is essential, and it always has been.
Ai-jen Poo | June 29, 2020
Prosecutors wanted to make an example of Justin Dixon, who has been in an Arizona prison for 14 years, with 37 ahead of him. Now, as COVID-19 spreads in the facility where he’s being held, his family is desperate for him to be released.
Meg O'Connor | June 25, 2020
This historical moment is crying out for a re-examination of our institutions, and law schools are no exception.
Federal prosecutors argue that damaging a police vehicle is a violation of federal statutes in part because the police department receives federal funding. Former prosecutors and law professors say it’s an absurd rationale driven by politics of the Justice Department.
Jerry Iannelli | June 23, 2020
Lamar Burks has maintained his innocence for nearly 25 years in a murder case that has been marked by conflicting eyewitness accounts and the conviction of a DEA agent on corruption charges.
Mike Hayes | June 22, 2020
In 1998, Toforest Johnson was sentenced to die for the 1995 shooting death of an off-duty sheriff’s deputy. Now, the city’s district attorney is advocating for a new trial.
Lauren Gill | June 12, 2020
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis | June 4, 2020
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and others say the money creates ethical conflicts when police are prosecuted for misconduct.
Eliyahu Kamisher | June 3, 2020
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis | May 29, 2020
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office waited four years to charge Danielle Sutherland for one of the DUIs. After serving time for the others, she received treatment for her substance use issues and pursued a degree.
Meg O'Connor | May 29, 2020
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus -- a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis | May 29, 2020
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus -- a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis | May 27, 2020
Both incarcerated brothers are at an increased risk of complications from COVID-19—and one has tested positive.
Chris Gelardi | May 27, 2020
During a Boston radio show where Rachael Rollins accused defenders of harming Black and Brown communities, the DA demonstrated that she misunderstands the role that prosecutors play in the criminal legal system: caging those very people.
As COVID-19 deaths mount in Michigan prisons, the review of questionable convictions has slowed, leaving prisoners vulnerable to the disease.
Aaron Miguel Cantú | May 21, 2020
We did it in San Francisco. If we are smart about how we respond to COVID-19 in the criminal legal system, then we can simultaneously tackle two crises.
Cristine Soto DeBerry | May 12, 2020
Several states and the District of Columbia have postponed their bar exams because of the pandemic, creating a deadly delay for poor people in need of public defenders.
Attorneys say the prosecution’s theory of the murder case was ‘concocted out of whole cloth’ and based on ‘outdated racial stereotyping.’
Steven Hale | April 29, 2020
The state’s law enforcement agencies failed to implement a 2018 data-sharing law. Now officials are struggling to identify high-risk people to release from county jails.
Ethan Corey | April 22, 2020
The current coronavirus crisis underscores our urgent need to look hard at our pretrial justice system. Eliminating money bail is a necessary first step.
People behind bars are too often forgotten and treated as expendable. We cannot afford to forget them. Our shared survival and shared humanity demand action.
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 | April 16, 2020
His attorney says the Suffolk County DA’s office tried to send “an innocent man to his death.”
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | April 15, 2020
For many people across the U.S. who need methadone treatment, sheltering in place during the coronavirus outbreak is impossible.
Elizabeth Brico | April 15, 2020
Doing so will save countless lives, and in the process, they may show us by example how to begin, finally, to dismantle mass incarceration for good.
Sharon Dolovich | April 10, 2020
District attorneys in the state could decarcerate quickly by dropping unnecessary cases.
Will Isenberg | April 8, 2020
To leave hundreds of people in mass congregate shelters could be a death sentence for many of our vulnerable neighbors.
Quiver Watts | April 6, 2020
Incarcerated people, corrections officers, and their families and communities are bound together by the threat of a deadly and fast-moving disease. The sooner we recognize this, and take decisive action, the more lives we will save.
Cyrus Ahalt | April 3, 2020
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 | April 3, 2020
As the novel coronavirus spread in the state, a Solano County judge denied numerous motions to continue a troubled double kidnapping and rape case marred by allegations that a Vallejo police detective withheld exculpatory evidence.
Brian Krans | April 2, 2020
Public defenders in Fairfax County say their clients are being sent into harm’s way.
Kira Lerner | April 2, 2020
The ruling is a setback for the state's so-called junk science statute.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | April 1, 2020
Decisive action by governors and the President now can save lives -- of incarcerated people, correctional and medical personnel, and nearby community members. Business as usual will not.
Jason Brown, who has worked in several parish DA's offices, was accused of using illegal tactics to win at least one case before arriving in Calcasieu Parish, where he was terminated over alleged dishonesty in a continuance motion. Now, The Appeal has learned that he had segregation-era signs in an art studio he owned.
Jon Campbell | March 26, 2020
In a joint statement, they emphasized the need to reduce the number of people currently incarcerated in order to contain the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Jessica Pishko | March 17, 2020
Activists are calling on the governor, district attorneys, sheriffs, and judges to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | March 16, 2020
With one term under her belt as Chicago's top prosecutor, Foxx says she has more work to do to right a system that has been "unfair, and totally unjust."
Mari Cohen | March 16, 2020
With few exceptions, news outlets in Harris County, Texas, spotlight singular instances of crime to allege that legal reform policy is a threat to the public.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem | March 13, 2020
Andrew Cuomo, who recently announced the state would employ prisoners to make hand sanitizer, must prepare for the particular vulnerabilities of the state’s prison population to COVID-19, advocates say.
Bryce Covert | March 11, 2020
The public defender and district attorney both directed their staffs to keep individuals who are more vulnerable to the virus out of jail.
Darwin BondGraham | March 11, 2020
In California, a Vallejo detective and a Solano County prosecutor concealed exculpatory evidence from a man facing murder charges. They went on to face accusations of misconduct in other high-profile cases.
Between solidarity actions and political efforts, Jewish communities have a wide range of options to stop antisemitic violence without relying on a criminal legal system that harms communities of color.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem | March 6, 2020
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 | March 5, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | March 4, 2020
She withstood challenges from two of her former assistant district attorneys who wanted to reform the office and reduce prosecutions of low-level offenses.
Jay Willis | March 4, 2020
The U.S. representative said her husband helped her realize that when one person is incarcerated, many more are affected.
Kira Lerner | March 4, 2020
The city is ramping up a cleanup program that activists fear will worsen the criminalization of homelessness.
Eliyahu Kamisher | March 3, 2020
In Travis County, thousands of people continue to be prosecuted for low-level drug possession charges that reform-minded district attorneys elsewhere have committed to dropping.
Kira Lerner | March 2, 2020
As a candidate, Chesa Boudin condemned gang enhancements as racist. Now as DA he plans to significantly limit, if not eliminate, their use.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | February 28, 2020
67% of people arrested under state laws that criminalize HIV exposure and transmission are sex workers. But new legislation meant to modernize these laws would retain harsh penalties against them.
Molly Minta | February 28, 2020
Sarah Lustbader | February 27, 2020
Critics say there may be systemic problems with how the unit is run within the Los Angeles County DA’s office.
Jessica Pishko | February 27, 2020
Probation officers in the state’s 13th Judicial Circuit file thousands of violations, and they’re heard by a judge known for his harsh, punitive style.
Samantha Schuyler | February 26, 2020
Eric Schmitt should follow the lead of a Pennsylvania prosecutor who acknowledged that a man deserved a new trial, even when it meant reversing a murder conviction.
Ben Miller | February 25, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | February 20, 2020
The attitude behind the Harris County district attorney’s message to ‘put down your gun and pick up an employment application’ is outdated.
Jessica Pishko | February 19, 2020
Prosecutors in Hennepin County, Minnesota, used jailhouse informants and an unreliable gang expert, and ignored evidence of innocence to send a Black teenager to prison for life.
Kyle C. Barry | February 19, 2020
Across the country, the death penalty is in steep decline. But in September, the state’s attorney general sought execution dates for nine men, and its Supreme Court set dates for two of them.
Steven Hale | February 18, 2020
Arthur’s story speaks to a troubling tendency in the legal system, reform advocates say: to treat mental health crises as criminal matters, rather than matters of public health.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | February 14, 2020
Jones is challenging incumbent Kim Ogg in the 2020 election.
Jay Willis | February 13, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | February 12, 2020
Advocates say junk science was used to convict Jimenez. DA Margaret Moore has not yet decided whether she will drop charges or retry her.
Around one-third of counties in the United States use the tools when making release decisions, but few monitor whether they work as intended.
Ethan Corey | February 7, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | February 5, 2020
Jails in New Orleans and Cleveland have had significant population drops, yet conditions of confinement remain poor. Communities harmed by these jails should experiment with new accountability measures to maintain political pressure against jail administrators.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem | February 5, 2020
A lawsuit alleges Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office created bogus "subpoenas" to secure reluctant witnesses' cooperation—and even used them to jail crime victims.
Jay Willis | February 5, 2020
Brittany Smith will most likely go to trial, where she faces up to a life sentence.
Lauren Gill | February 4, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 31, 2020
In his run for president, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been forced to address his consulting past. Kennedy should do the same about his work.
Will Isenberg | January 31, 2020
A fiery debate outlined what’s at stake in the race to lead the largest prosecutor’s office in the country.
Eliyahu Kamisher | January 30, 2020
A Texas judge approved a Batson motion, then overruled it. But a transcript shows that a Black man was struck unfairly, the attorney said.
Aaron Morrison | January 30, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 29, 2020
Garza has promised to end cash bail and address racial inequities in the legal system.
Kira Lerner | January 28, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 27, 2020
Lack of evidence does not stop opponents of former San Francisco DA George Gascón from making the claim that the city’s criminal justice reforms unleashed a crime wave.
Alex Sherman | January 27, 2020
Activists hope Chesa Boudin will press charges, and push for systemic changes to address the criminalization of mental illness.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | January 22, 2020
Advocates warn that the cuts could push an already overburdened system to the breaking point.
Jay Willis | January 22, 2020
The influx of cash shows the police union’s determination to stop the reform-minded district attorney candidate.
Eliyahu Kamisher | January 20, 2020
Brittany Smith, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a man she says brutally raped her, argued in court this week that she acted in self-defense and should be immune from prosecution.
Lauren Gill | January 17, 2020
Top prosecutors in Baltimore, Chicago, and New York City are supporting Kim Gardner over the “entrenched interests” that they say seek to undermine reforms and police accountability.
Aaron Morrison | January 17, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 15, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 13, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli | January 10, 2020
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez of Texas told The Appeal about her vision for a complete overhaul of her state’s legal system.
Kira Lerner | January 9, 2020
The former deputy public defender promised that his office would immediately end cash bail and stop seeking three-strikes sentencing enhancements.
Jay Willis | January 8, 2020
The rise of progressive prosecutors and the #MeToo movement has meant an increased focus on sexual assault. But justice cannot be measured in more prosecution or long sentences.
Marissa Hoechstetter | January 8, 2020
Melinda Katz, who was inaugurated Monday, is facing criticism over what some say is a broken campaign promise.
Aaron Morrison | January 7, 2020
Josh Shapiro has warned that changing the state’s sex offense registry requirements threatens public safety. But experts say his fears are unfounded and the registry provides little to no public safety benefit.
Joshua Vaughn | January 7, 2020
As a form of punishment, incarceration does not enhance public safety when it is not balanced against its tendency to make a person’s unfortunate situation worse.
Alex Sherman | January 3, 2020
Cyrus Vance says he sent Governor Cuomo a letter about the issue in April 2018; Cuomo's office says it never got it. In the intervening months, critics say Vance's messaging on the issue discouraged survivors of rape from coming forward.
Meg O'Connor | December 23, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | December 20, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | December 13, 2019
District Attorney Rachael Rollins ran as a reformer who would work to increase transparency, but her office and the police department have been fighting the order.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | December 13, 2019
After two terms at the helm of the nation’s largest prosecutor office, Lacey has drawn pointed criticism from community advocates who say she is standing in the way of criminal justice reform.
Aaron Morrison | December 12, 2019
Convicted in 1982 in a murder case in which exculpatory evidence was not shared with his attorneys, Wendell Griffin now calls on State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to clear his name.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | December 12, 2019
The incumbent in the race, Jones’s former boss Kim Ogg, will not support a blanket refusal to prosecute sex workers, her office says.
Kira Lerner | December 11, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | December 11, 2019
The former San Francisco DA got the nod over incumbent Jackie Lacey, whose tenure advocates and activists have long criticized as lackluster.
Jessica Pishko | December 10, 2019
More prosecutors are trying to root out wrongful convictions and restore trust in the legal system. They’re meeting opposition on all sides.
Prosecutor Jessica Cooper of Oakland County, Michigan, has aggressively pursued life without the possibility of parole for children, critics say. She recommended the sentence for Barbara Hernández, who at 16 was a ‘slave’ to an abusive boyfriend who drew her into a plan that ended in murder.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | December 9, 2019
The Austin-based labor and immigrant rights attorney, who has pledged to end money bail and nonviolent drug prosecutions, is looking to unseat incumbent District Attorney Margaret Moore.
Aaron Morrison | December 6, 2019
Carvana Cloud, until recently the chief of the Special Victims Bureau, is entering the race to unseat her former boss.
Roxanna Asgarian | December 5, 2019
In Franklin County, experts say Ron O’Brien’s capital cases—which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars— amount to ‘just taxpayer money being lit on fire.’
Joshua Vaughn | December 5, 2019
District Attorney Margaret Moore continues to face accusations that her office mishandles the prosecution of sex crimes.
Kira Lerner | December 4, 2019
Harris’s record as a prosecutor was representative of a politics of the past. The nation has moved on.
Lara Bazelon | December 4, 2019
Critics say the list, which would apply to defendants in St. Louis County, Missouri, would infringe on people’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Lauren Gill | November 26, 2019
Sarah Lustbader | November 25, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | November 22, 2019
Some officers have recently boasted about breaking state law and collaborating with ICE, according to messages posted in the group and obtained by The Appeal.
Darwin BondGraham | November 22, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | November 18, 2019
The state’s parole board has recommended that Willie Mae Harris, convicted of killing her husband in 1985, be freed five times. Now 72 and completely blind, her fate lies with Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Lauren Gill | November 18, 2019
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and MacArthur Justice Center are filing a class action lawsuit against Doug Evans on behalf of every potential Black juror in the district.
Kira Lerner | November 18, 2019
Rather than separating families, child ‘welfare’ agencies should help families get access to the care they need.
Elizabeth Brico | November 15, 2019
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 | November 15, 2019
On a host of issues—including police shootings, bail reform, marijuana legalization, and the death penalty—critics say Lacey, once seen as a reformer, has sought to preserve the status quo.
Jessica Pishko | November 12, 2019
Son of incarcerated parents, backed by Black Lives Matter co-founders, Boudin will be the next DA of San Francisco.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 9, 2019
Chesa Boudin is just 240 votes behind Suzy Loftus, even after local law enforcement spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat him.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 6, 2019
Report attempts to discredit decades of research on the adolescent mind.
Kira Lerner | November 1, 2019
Interim San Francisco D.A. Suzy Loftus claims to be a "progressive," but her long record as a prosecutor reveals an all-too-familiar path chosen by establishment-types who have little interest in disrupting the status quo.
Patrisse Cullors | November 1, 2019
Ahead of the city’s district attorney election on Tuesday, the alleged baton beating last month of Dacari Spiers has renewed debate over police accountability.
Darwin BondGraham | November 1, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | October 30, 2019
Cabán, the career public defender who lost a primary bid for district attorney in Queens County, New York, will help the political party build nationwide support in criminal justice elections.
Aaron Morrison | October 30, 2019
The attorneys said they did nothing wrong by finding a victim in a rape case who had disappeared, but a judge accused them of making her unavailable.
Joshua Vaughn | October 29, 2019
Neither agency had written policies on how to capture or store the location data without violating privacy rights.
Emily Lane | October 23, 2019
Advocates say that despite the election of several progressive prosecutors in the state, there’s a substantial increase in such detentions, which are stymieing gains made through policies to limit cash bail.
Joshua Vaughn | October 23, 2019
District Attorney Michael O’Malley’s 2016 election was viewed by some as a win for Black Lives Matter, but the number of children transferred to adult court in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has increased more than 100 percent.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 22, 2019
Two years ago, the state passed ‘raise the age’ legislation that goes into effect in December. A judge’s decision regarding a teen charged in 2015 raises the possibility of relief for other young people charged since the law’s passage.
Roxanna Asgarian | October 22, 2019
A federal lawsuit claims that Asheville, North Carolina's interim chief, Robert C. White, prevented a rape victim from filing a complaint against an officer when he led the Louisville, Kentucky, department.
Meg O'Connor | October 16, 2019
The officers who killed Joshua Pawlik in 2018 are asking a state judge to block a federally appointed monitor’s decision that they violated policies on use of force.
Darwin BondGraham | October 16, 2019
An EEOC complaint documents allegations against Owens, former managing attorney in the Jackson office of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Kira Lerner | October 11, 2019
The state is one of eight that allow cops to arraign people on misdemeanor charges. Advocates and academics say the practice is unjust.
After more than two decades, Terrance Lewis was exonerated and released from prison earlier this year. He is now an advocate for other innocent people caught up in the criminal legal system.
Joshua Vaughn | October 9, 2019
The results of record-sealing legislation enacted in 2017 shows the need for automatic expungement, advocates say.
Aaron Morrison | October 8, 2019
The gang database in the state gives police increased authority to approach and harass people for virtually no reason at all.
Emily Galvin-Almanza | October 4, 2019
Loftus led the San Francisco Police Commission through a bloody and turbulent era.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | October 4, 2019
The state’s narrow interpretation gives too much weight to voices that support a punitive criminal legal system, advocates say.
Joshua Vaughn | October 4, 2019
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood and District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer intend to openly defy a 1975 state Supreme Court precedent that says law enforcement cannot intentionally discriminate against a person or group of people.
Kate Chatfield | October 3, 2019
His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case.
Lauren Gill | October 2, 2019
In March, Coley McCraney was arrested and charged with capital murder in the 1999 killings of two teenage girls. But his attorneys say he’s innocent, and are now seeking information related to alleged police involvement in the homicides.
Lauren Gill | October 1, 2019
Miller's victim impact statement was centered in a recent '60 Minutes' segment on the Brock Turner case. But such statements do not heal victims, and Miller's unfavorable comparison of Turner's sentence to drug offenders only reinforces carceral logic.
Meaghan Ybos | September 30, 2019
Rather than encouraging more faith in the police, true reform requires dismantling the system that empowers them.
Alex S. Vitale | September 27, 2019
Rodney Reed, set to be executed on Nov. 20, is innocent of a rape and murder, his lawyers say, and untested evidence will prove it. But prosecutors have pushed back, arguing the evidence is contaminated.
Lauren Gill | September 26, 2019
Derek Harris awaits arguments in the state Supreme Court about the sentencing, which one judge called ‘unconscionable.’
Aaron Morrison | September 24, 2019
Informants are highly motivated to lie. But jurors don’t always have the information or skills to discern the truth.
Alexandra Natapoff | September 23, 2019
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has gotten into the surveillance game, but advocates say that raises questions about his role.
Kira Lerner | September 20, 2019
Also today: Cooperation with ICE is at stake in Louisiana's October elections.
Daniel Nichanian | September 19, 2019
A narrow ruling on Brady lists ensures that protecting the police will continue to prevail over due process.
Kyle C. Barry | September 18, 2019
In 2017, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala prosecuted more than 1,700 low-level drug possession cases. More than $2 million in court-imposed debt was levied on people who were charged in these cases.
Joshua Vaughn | September 18, 2019
Court records and interviews with former prosecutors show that internal assessments of police dishonesty are rarely memorialized, potentially violating the rights of people charged in criminal cases and sometimes keeping the records of bad cops clean.
Vaidya Gullapalli | September 16, 2019
Also today: Michigan advocates push for expungement reform
Daniel Nichanian | September 13, 2019
Sarah Lustbader | September 12, 2019
Henri Lyles is challenging his life sentence under a statute that penalizes people for prior convictions. A favorable decision by the state Supreme Court would mean that he and a dozen people sentenced to life could one day be freed.
Aaron Morrison | September 12, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | September 11, 2019
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 | September 11, 2019
Kim Ogg ran as a reform-minded district attorney candidate, but her office has sought two death warrants for Dexter Johnson, whose lawyer says cannot name everyday objects and has an IQ of 70.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | September 10, 2019
Even in states where use is decriminalized, child welfare systems continue to treat it as a sign of neglectful parenting, particularly among families of color.
Sarah Lustbader | September 7, 2019
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 | September 3, 2019
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is partnering with a technology nonprofit to expunge tens of thousands of minor marijuana convictions. Other jurisdictions could follow.
Kira Lerner | August 30, 2019
The decline under DA Larry Krasner, who took office in 2018, marks a significant change in juvenile justice in Pennsylvania.
Joshua Vaughn | August 30, 2019
Our response to crime should focus on healing and accountability, not punishment and retribution.
Chesa Boudin | August 30, 2019
Law enforcement’s old guard claims that policing low-level crime protects communities. That’s not just wrong; it’s dangerous.
Rachael Rollins | August 29, 2019
At 16, Larry Rosser was imprisoned for killing a woman who sexually and physically abused him. He served 22 years in the California prison system before being released in 2017, after parole commissioners became convinced he was a rehabilitated victim.
Aaron Morrison | August 28, 2019
A statewide pattern of discrimination in jury selection has gone largely uncorrected, while lives remain in the balance, advocates say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | August 26, 2019
A 10-year-old was charged with assault for throwing a ball at a classmate. The case was dropped, but its effect is still felt.
Raven Rakia | August 22, 2019
A federal prosecutor in Pennsylvania blamed DA Larry Krasner for a bloody standoff, but the suspect has a long relationship with the government that includes a sentence reduction because of his cooperation.
Joshua Vaughn | August 21, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | August 19, 2019
Murder rates are at an all-time low in Brooklyn, but one would hardly know it reading the New York Times.
Adam H. Johnson | August 16, 2019
Also today: Colorado organizers prepare for the 2020 legislative session
Daniel Nichanian | August 15, 2019
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 | August 13, 2019
Last year, lawmakers repealed the felony murder rule, which allowed prosecutors to charge defendants with murders they didn‘t commit. Prosecutors are trying to overturn the new law, but AG Xavier Becerra believes that the reform should stand.
Darwin BondGraham | August 5, 2019
When it comes to criminal justice, advocates say, Attorney General Josh Shapiro seems intent on maintaining the status quo.
Joshua Vaughn | August 2, 2019
Establishment candidate Melinda Katz declared a narrow victory in the New York City borough’s district attorney primary, but progressive Tiffany Cabán pushed the race to the left on issues like marijuana and sex work.
Aaron Morrison | July 30, 2019
In California, Texas and Florida, advocates sent letters to district attorneys, demanding that they refuse to work with officers with histories of misconduct.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | July 29, 2019
In 2017, the Manhattan district attorney pledged not to pursue criminal charges for subway fare evasion. Now the MTA is increasing the system’s police presence.
Bryce Covert | July 29, 2019
Lawmakers say Republicans used deceptive tactics to pass the controversial bill. The legislative record tells a different story.
Joshua Vaughn | July 25, 2019
Lawyers and advocates in Miami-Dade County will roll out a new plan to counter the disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions.
Police in Ozark said they solved the 1999 murders of two teenage girls using a genealogy database. But Coley McCraney‘s attorneys say that the case against their client is far from certain.
Lauren Gill | July 24, 2019
An organizer in the effort to close New York City’s Rikers Island jails is challenging Cyrus Vance Jr., whom he calls ‘the city’s leading jailer.’
Aaron Morrison | July 22, 2019
The backlash is underway against a recent wave of prosecutors who champion criminal justice reform. Here are some methods of attack.
Adam H. Johnson | July 19, 2019
As public servants, prosecutors should be willing to put their cases before anyone in the communities they serve.
Vida B. Johnson | July 18, 2019
Larry Krasner says the punishment is ‘really about poverty’ and race.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | July 15, 2019
Nineteen academics published a letter to the newspaper over its coverage of the Suffolk County DA.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | July 12, 2019
Republican Mike Dunleavy was elected on a platform to ‘Make Alaska Safe Again’ and has rolled back recent changes.
Zachary A. Siegel | July 11, 2019
A new DA in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, is treating the overdose crisis as a criminal matter rather than a community health issue.
Joshua Vaughn | July 10, 2019
The office of Paul Howard supported early release for a woman convicted of armed robbery. But a judge and advocates questioned the move since thousands of others don’t get that consideration.
Aaron Morrison | July 9, 2019
Police and prosecutors framed a father of four in a 2007 murder case with local and national political implications.
Kyle C. Barry | July 2, 2019
The legislation also makes it illegal for many ex-offenders to be alone with their own children.
Steven Yoder | June 28, 2019
In rhetoric reminiscent of the ‘superpredator‘ scare of the 1990s, the New Orleans District Attorney warned of ‘a brazen population of delinquent teens.‘ But advocates and crime analysts alike say the data doesn't support his fearmongering claims about kids and crime.
Mike Hayes | June 27, 2019
Krasner’s office acknowledges ‘there’s room to move forward and do more.’
Bryce Covert | June 25, 2019
Over a three-year period, Alachua County prosecutors closed 236 sexual battery cases: 115 were dropped, 92 were offered plea deals, and seven went to trial.
Molly Minta | June 24, 2019
James Stewart, Caddo Parish’s DA, continues to defend controversial death sentences that originated with his predecessors.
Joshua Vaughn | June 21, 2019
The public defender has garnered big-name endorsements and gained momentum heading into Tuesday’s primary.
Aaron Morrison | June 20, 2019
A new report charges the Los Angeles DA with seeking the death penalty in unjust and harsh ways.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | June 19, 2019
A nearly 30-year-old New York Times Magazine profile of the infamous prosecutor may reveal as much about Linda Fairstein as Ava DuVernay‘s acclaimed new Netflix series.
Meaghan Ybos | June 19, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli | June 17, 2019
Also today: Colorado's Democratic governor opposed banning ICE contracts
Daniel Nichanian | June 13, 2019
Records show Kim Ogg’s office appeared to misrepresent felony prosecutor caseloads in its $21 million budget request.
Keri Blakinger | June 10, 2019
Advocates and attorneys say Jackie Lacey’s rhetoric doesn’t match her actions.
Raven Rakia | June 7, 2019
Carlton Roman has been stuck in prison for nearly 30 years for a murder he has long denied. Now, with a crowded primary for Queens district attorney weeks away, he could finally get a chance to go free.
Aaron Morrison | June 5, 2019
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 | June 4, 2019
An autopsy blamed the sleeping situation, but forensic experts aren’t so sure. And the same Ohio county just charged another mom in a similar case.
Cassi Feldman | May 28, 2019
DA Leon Cannizzarro used jailhouse informant Ronnie Morgan to convict a man in the killing of five teenagers, but the case was overturned. Now, Morgan is petitioning for a prison transfer, reviving the murder case.
Lauren Gill | May 24, 2019
U.S. attorneys in D.C. have opposed the resentencing of all 14 people who have petitioned for early release under a local law.
Kira Lerner | May 23, 2019
The ACLU of Arizona is suing Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office over its alleged lack of transparency.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | May 22, 2019
Imprisoned as a teen, Amer Zada is now eligible for release but can’t find approved housing—and a proposed law could make the problem worse.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | May 17, 2019
California’s expansive registry law forces people to pay for crimes they didn’t personally commit.
Kyle C. Barry | May 13, 2019
‘The bill forces attorneys to choose between violating our ethical mandates or going to jail for following them.’
Kira Lerner | May 10, 2019
The Orleans district attorney has said that violent youth are the city’s biggest crime problem.
Kira Lerner | April 26, 2019
Tina Rodriguez was sent to prison in Texas for allegedly starving her son to death. But recent discoveries about the medical examiner who conducted the baby’s autopsy raise questions about her case.
Debbie Nathan | April 22, 2019
In recent years, the number of people federally charged with smuggling and harboring has jumped nearly a third.
Debbie Nathan | April 17, 2019
A new documentary explores the ‘Bronx 120’ raid, and what it says about the evolution of policing in New York City.
Simon Davis-Cohen | April 17, 2019
Advocates say laws that land people with HIV on the sex offender registry are outdated and dangerous.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | April 11, 2019
Former prosecutor and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro inspires Trump’s rhetoric of dehumanization and incarceration.
Kyle C. Barry | April 10, 2019
In 2018, Brittany Smith killed a man who she said brutally raped her. Smith was charged with murder and she now faces life in prison as well as challenges getting adequate treatment at a state psychiatric hospital.
Lauren Gill | April 10, 2019
As the borough’s district attorney race takes shape, advocates press for changes to the office’s approach to people who reoffend.
Aaron Morrison | April 9, 2019
In 2000, Lamar Burks was convicted of murder and given a 70-year sentence. But the federal indictment of a DEA agent and witnesses who say Burks is innocent have raised new questions about his case.
Mike Hayes | April 3, 2019
Vindication and compensation remain elusive for Tennessee’s wrongly convicted, in part because of the state’s parole board.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | March 29, 2019
Senate Bill 1437 virtually eliminated the ‘felony-murder rule,’ but district attorneys aren’t ready to let it go.
Jessica Pishko | March 25, 2019
Activists suspect the investigation was tainted by the close relationship between the police and prosecutors.
Aaron Morrison | March 22, 2019
State bar organizations have the power to discipline prosecutors, but they studiously ignore bad behavior.
Washington detains more children for status offenses such as truancy and running away than any other state in the country. State lawmakers want to change that.
Charlotte West | March 19, 2019
Darcel Clark’s approach to overdose deaths continue the criminalization of drug users and put her on the wrong side of history, advocates say.
Raven Rakia | March 15, 2019
A 22-year-old woman overdosed and died in jail. A 24-year-old faces first-degree murder charges. Did the system fail them both?
Tana Ganeva | March 8, 2019
Audia Jones pledges to tackle ‘brokenness in the system’ by unseating Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Roxanna Asgarian | March 7, 2019
Opponents of the law say it unfairly targets people who need knives for work, and are battling it on multiple fronts.
Jon Campbell | March 6, 2019
Critics say the state's policy of keeping non-residents registered bloats the list—and harms public safety.
Steven Yoder | March 1, 2019
Tammy Scheurich, who lost three biological children in the Hart family crash last year, tells her story for the first time.
Roxanna Asgarian | February 26, 2019
In 1996, Michele Benjamin was sentenced to life without parole for killing a man who she said solicited her for sex and menaced her with a weapon in New Orleans. A Supreme Court decision led her to be re-sentenced to life with a chance at parole in 2016. Today, a parole hearing brings the possibility of freedom.
Josie Duffy Rice | February 11, 2019
‘How are we making sure that we’re not just building and building a system that we know is not necessarily effective?’
Roxanna Asgarian | February 8, 2019
Boston’s top prosecutor says big changes are in the works; advocates plan to keep pushing.
Emma Whitford | February 6, 2019
A Florida woman with substance use disorder allegedly brokered a drug sale that ended in a fatal overdose; she faces 15 years in prison.
Zachary A. Siegel | February 5, 2019
California amended its felony murder law, which holds accomplices responsible for murder. But reform won’t reach a man sentenced to death in a deadly robbery—even though he was never accused of firing a shot.
Maura Ewing | February 4, 2019
The Department of Justice is leaving Shelby County, but discrimination against Black children in court continues, a federal monitor says.
Raven Rakia | February 1, 2019
In a wide-ranging interview, Boudin, a progressive reform candidate, told The Appeal he wants to redefine ‘public safety’ to encompass the rights of both victims and defendants.
Melissa Gira Grant | January 15, 2019
Under Pennsylvania’s drug delivery resulting in death statute, a man faces up to 40 years in prison for sharing heroin with a woman who overdosed.
Joshua Vaughn | January 15, 2019
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam just granted clemency to Brown, who was forced to trade sex for money, but Ohio’s governor declined this week to do the same for Martin.
Melissa Gira Grant | January 11, 2019
Our staff picks 12 stories worth reading (or rereading) before the new year.
December 27, 2018
A series of electoral victories signals a nationwide shift.
Daniel Nichanian | December 24, 2018
But more than 1,100 others are still serving sentences that voters decided were too harsh.
Kira Lerner | December 19, 2018
An Oklahoma woman is serving 18 months in prison after being accused of failing to protect her daughter from the girl’s dad.
Roxanna Asgarian | December 18, 2018
Darius Jacob Taylor wasn’t in the state when a robbery he was allegedly involved with ended in murder. But because of the felony murder rule, he’s charged with criminal homicide and faces life imprisonment.
Joshua Vaughn | December 13, 2018
Under Raise the Age, ‘there are kids similarly situated who are being treated totally differently.’
Cassi Feldman | December 4, 2018
The departing governor has chosen to pardon immigrants whose past criminal offenses put them in danger of deportation.
Melissa Gira Grant | November 29, 2018
Advocates noted that bail gives prosecutors leverage to get guilty pleas from people who can’t afford to buy their way out of jail.
Raven Rakia | November 28, 2018
In 2016 and 2017, more than 80 percent of children charged as adults by the Allegheny County district attorney were Black.
Joshua Vaughn | November 27, 2018
In 2016, the office said it dismissed such cases, but Legal Aid says that’s not what’s happening.
Melissa Gira Grant | November 26, 2018
The program was supposed to target ‘leading’ violent offenders. Today it’s sweeping up low-level, and disproportionately Black, defendants.
George Joseph | November 21, 2018
A petition argues that people seeking to escape the sex offender registry, including those put on it as children, deserve more than a single shot.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg | November 19, 2018
People caught vaping marijuana oil face the same charge as for low-level heroin possession.
Raven Rakia | November 16, 2018
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s promise to decline to prosecute several offenses is a rejection of the punitive tradition of prosecutors and perhaps signals a new kind of reform that spurns criminal justice as a solution to public health problems.
John Pfaff | November 14, 2018
Victims’ rights campaign spent more than $70 million nationwide, with more than half of that spent in Florida.
Melissa Gira Grant | November 7, 2018
As in Louisiana, Oregon’s practice is rooted in its own rich history of white supremacy.
George Joseph | November 6, 2018
Republican misdemeanor judges in Houston have clung to an unconstitutional bail system. But their intransigence could cost them their seats.
Maura Ewing | November 4, 2018
The rocky implementation of New York’s Raise the Age law shows that young people in detention need love, not force.
Rubén Austria | November 1, 2018
Terrance has been jailed repeatedly over court debt for fishing to feed his family.
Maura Ewing | November 1, 2018
Despite looming questions about what happened, Jhenea Pratt is now facing life without parole.
Joshua Vaughn | October 30, 2018
After the state cut funds for capital defense, there’s a growing wait list of people in jail without a lawyer.
Emma Whitford | October 29, 2018
Decision-making by prosecutors in such cases, says one attorney, ‘compounds, entrenches, and ultimately authorizes the initial act of violence by prosecuting the victim.’
Aviva Stahl | October 24, 2018
The office has criticized the NYPD for shielding officers’ misconduct histories, but it won’t share its own information on police dishonesty.
A judge’s decision could end the practice of jailing people for soliciting money along streets and highways, but DA Spencer Merriweather has been slow to embrace the change.
Steven Yoder | October 16, 2018
Todd Spitzer blasted Global Tel Link for recording attorney-client phone calls, but his campaign won’t call on a PAC supporting his candidacy to return the company’s lobbyist’s donation.
George Joseph | October 16, 2018
Two teenagers are facing life without parole sentences for capital murder, though it’s not clear they pulled the trigger.
George Joseph | October 4, 2018
About 51 percent of the people charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana in Allegheny County are Black.
Joshua Vaughn | October 3, 2018
Protesters blasting everything from punitive prosecutors to police brutality should be remembered for their role in upsetting the Windy City's political status quo.
Kelly Hayes | October 2, 2018
Washington case raises questions about the role of court appointed special advocates.
Roxanna Asgarian | September 28, 2018
Since 2015, police in Adams County have taken dozens of reports of rape, yet charges were filed in just two cases.
Joshua Vaughn | September 25, 2018
Arrests that result in dropped charges and dismissals are supposed to be sealed. But until recently, the NYPD used these records to target turnstile jumpers.
Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson prosecuted Crystal Mason for casting an illegal ballot. But Wilson escaped charges for a possible election violation of her own.
Steven Yoder | September 18, 2018
A man sentenced to die in prison is inciting debate over ‘felony murder’ rules in Colorado.
Katie Rose Quandt | September 18, 2018
As the federal government vows to pursue ‘swift and aggressive action’ against the sites, experts weigh in on what’s likely to happen next.
Maura Ewing | September 13, 2018
City Council Member Rory Lancman, who was debating Assistant District Attorney James Quinn over the future of Rikers Island, blasted Quinn's comments on Browder, who spent three years incarcerated without a trial.
George Joseph | September 10, 2018
Legislation in California would provide a direct route to resentencing, and a new tool for activists.
Kyle C. Barry | September 7, 2018
Jacqueline Smalls was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing a boyfriend whose ‘hands were his weapons.’ She now joins the ranks of criminalized survivors seeking clemency from Governor Cuomo.
Victoria Law | September 5, 2018
The state’s “theft of leased property” statute allows prosecutors to seek felony charges for Pennsylvanians who miss payments on rental items.
Joshua Vaughn | September 5, 2018
Prosecutors can subject those convicted of sexual offenses—and sometimes, those with no conviction at all—to an indefinite period of civil punishment at the end of their criminal sentence.
Guy Hamilton-Smith | September 4, 2018
A single training document uncovered in a prosecutor’s files could save Russell William Tucker’s life.
Jacob Biba | September 4, 2018
An 11-month prosecution of a ‘forcible touching’ case in Manhattan sharply diverges from the office’s treatment of Harvey Weinstein, defense attorneys say.
The ‘plea fee’ stems from a state law passed in the 1980s and can cost nearly $200, depending on the county.
Joshua Vaughn | August 29, 2018
Experts say New York’s Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct is an important first step, but the problem isn’t just misconduct—it’s the way prosecutors wield their discretion every day.
Maura Ewing | August 28, 2018
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 | August 27, 2018
In these cases, the state is moving to punish people who say they were charged before regulations were clear.
Michael Sainato | August 24, 2018
Jacqueline Dixon shot her husband to death in Alabama, "Stand Your Ground" state, after she said he charged at her. He had a history of domestic violence.
William C. Anderson | August 23, 2018
The passage of Senate Bill 10 would decimate the bail industry, but many advocates say it falls short of true reform.
Max Rivlin-Nadler | August 22, 2018
Daniel Pantaleo remains with the NYPD four years after Garner's death.
Raven Rakia | August 17, 2018
Public health advocates are concerned that ‘Kristen's Law,’ meant to punish drug dealers, will criminalize users and fail to stem the opioid crisis.
‘Operation Streamline’ speeds up immigration prosecutions.
Max Rivlin-Nadler | August 10, 2018
As the potential demise of Roe v. Wade looms, past and current prosecutions of pregnant women illustrate what lies ahead.
Rebecca McCray | August 10, 2018
An email obtained by The Appeal shows Kim Ogg’s office is intentionally asking for unaffordable bail amounts to hold certain people in jail in Texas.
Alex Hannaford | August 9, 2018
The City Council member now eyeing a run for Queens DA has a record of supporting reform, but some critics aren’t convinced.
Theodore Hamm | August 7, 2018
His opponent in Tuesday’s primary helped establish new police accountability and court reforms in Ferguson after the police shooting of Michael Brown.
Amanda Sakuma | August 6, 2018
First, look to local prosecutor elections.
The tactics outlined encourage courtroom ‘dishonesty’ and ‘gamesmanship,’ legal experts argue.
In one Pennsylvania county, more than three times as many people on the registry were charged in 2016 with failing to follow registry requirements than were charged with a new sexual offense
Joshua Vaughn | August 1, 2018
Their attorneys say the new video-teleconferencing policy is exacerbating backlogs and prolonging detention.
Emma Whitford | July 31, 2018
Prosecutors on the "J20" case faced grave allegations of misconduct after withholding exculpatory evidence contained in videos from defense attorneys. But this is far from the first time that this office has found itself in hot water.
Catina Curley suffered physical abuse at the hands of her husband for more than a decade. When she turned a revolver on him, she was charged with murder and sentenced to life. Now, thanks to a court ruling, she has a chance at freedom.
Josie Duffy Rice | July 27, 2018
York County resident Aaron Hinds overdosed on heroin with a friend. The friend died, and Hinds now faces a 'drug delivery resulting in death' charge and a 40-year prison sentence.
Joshua Vaughn | July 24, 2018
Pedro Hernandez’s case has inspired calls for reform, but he’s still being targeted for an alleged cell phone theft.
Legislation passed in Massachusetts and pending in California would set a minimum age for children to enter the juvenile justice system.
Jeremy Loudenback | July 17, 2018
Prosecutors and judges across the country are starting to feel eyes on them.
Bryce Covert | July 16, 2018
A teenage girl spent weeks in jail, and her mother is still locked up on a $150,000 bond.
Jessica Pishko | July 13, 2018
The Hart family’s apparent murder-suicide drew headlines, but the path to the tragedy started much earlier—in Texas.
Roxanna Asgarian | July 12, 2018
Unfortunately for millions of Americans, only one case matters: Trump's.
Josie Duffy Rice | July 11, 2018
In overdose-wracked Franklin County, Pennsylvania, a small-time dealer is denied bail, while the number of drug induced homicide cases has skyrocketed.
Joshua Vaughn | July 9, 2018
Defense attorneys say they’ll have only minutes to meet with their clients before the immigrants are convicted en masse.
Max Rivlin-Nadler | July 6, 2018
Did a Louisiana police chief and a prosecutor cross a line when they issued televised threats to a man who'd just been granted relief by a federal appeals court in a child killing?
Max Rivlin-Nadler | July 3, 2018
Lists that include out-of-state visitors are inflating the numbers and keeping fear at a boil.
Steven Yoder | July 3, 2018
When Caddo voters booted their infamous district attorney, some of his toughest prosecutors found a home in Calcasieu.
Josie Duffy Rice | June 29, 2018
Human rights groups, sex worker rights activists, a digital archive and others say they are already facing censorship.
Melissa Gira Grant | June 28, 2018
Advocates in Philadelphia say a new tool to assist judges in sentencing could perpetuate bias.
Maura Ewing | June 27, 2018
Advocates decry court's shift to using teleconferencing for hearings.
Emma Whitford | June 27, 2018
In the Berkshire County DA race, the establishment is resorting to extreme measures to ensure it maintains power and avoids change.
Eoin Higgins | June 26, 2018
As anticipated, district attorney finds no misconduct in raid that led to Yang Song’s fatal fall.