The public defender and district attorney both directed their staffs to keep individuals who are more vulnerable to the virus out of jail.

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. In late January, the Public Security Department of China’s Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan, announced that carriers of the novel coronavirus may face criminal charges if they intentionally […]

More than 100 people signed an open letter to Eric Holcomb requesting that he begin releasing people most likely to be seriously harmed or killed by the coronavirus.

A complaint filed in 2013 on behalf of 500 currently and formerly incarcerated youth alleged that they were assaulted and harassed by incarcerated adults and corrections staff in adult prisons and jails across the state.

Lawmakers are recognizing the harms of mass incarceration. But some governors are reluctant to use their clemency power to address them.

Incumbent District Attorneys faced challenges from reform candidates in California and Texas

The U.S. representative said her husband helped her realize that when one person is incarcerated, many more are affected.

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. Today, voters in 14 states and one territory will have the option of selecting a candidate to be the Democratic presidential nominee. They will choose among four […]

The Appeal and Oregon Justice Resource Center announce “Left Behind,” firsthand accounts of growing-up in prison from individuals sentenced as children.

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.

Prison-based gerrymandering takes political power away from Black and Latinx communities—power that could be used to push for more funding for schools, social services, infrastructure, and other important reforms.

A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative and VOCAL-NY analyzes residence data for incarcerated people and uses it to look at how incarceration relates to community well-being

A survey of roughly 1,000 people found that 1 in 5 had been turned down for a diversion program because they couldn’t afford the costs of drug tests and monitoring devices.

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. Yesterday in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, hundreds gathered to call on state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to “show mercy” and increase his support for clemency. The state’s clemency process allows even a […]

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 […]

Josh Norman was one of the 17 people to die in Mississippi prisons so far this year. His death raises important questions about the state’s failures.

A new survey shows support across political lines for second-look legislation and sentence review by prosecutors

The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act allows judges to consider shorter sentences, as well as non-prison sentences, if abuse factored significantly in the crime.

The Democratic candidate also pledged to expunge prior criminal convictions for marijuana and invest in the communities most affected by the war on drugs.

Advocates say the narrowing field of Democratic candidates did not seize an opportunity to lay out clear visions on criminal justice reform to contrast the former New York City mayor’s record on policing.

Prisoners avoid admitting they are sick because they don’t want to be put in solitary, so nurses go cell to cell to take their temperatures.

A culture of violence and resistance to reform in the corrections department set the stage for a recent lockdown

The court found that a law that critics described as a poll tax violates the Constitution.

A Department of Corrections official knew the extrajudicial practice was going on but little has been done to correct it.

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.  When the Justice Department rescinded its recommendation this week that Trump ally Roger Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years, it seemed to lose whatever remaining […]

In November 2018, Democrats won control of the state Senate in New York. And they did so with authority. Vivian Wang of the New York Times reported after the election: “Democrats had needed to flip only one seat to erase the Republicans’ razor-thin majority. They blew past that number, unseating five incumbents and winning three open seats.” […]

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.

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.  “Under pressure from law enforcement, state lawmakers say they are now willing to make significant changes to the bail reform laws that have been in effect for less than […]

An Appeal documentary on life without the possibility of parole—and its impact on loved ones—in the state.

Leaving power with the same actors, who equate safety with mass criminalization and detention, will yield the same results.

Advocates say junk science was used to convict Jimenez. DA Margaret Moore has not yet decided whether she will drop charges or retry her.

Mistaken identifications have been involved in nearly 70 percent of post-conviction exonerations based on DNA evidence.

A review of charging dockets in Lebanon County shows Ashley Menser was the only person charged with felony retail theft in 2018 to receive a 7-year maximum sentence.

A small school district spent $1.4 million to equip surveillance cameras with the technology.

A year after Alfonzo Riley returned from prison, he’s helping to vet innocence claims.

Elmer Daniels served nearly 40 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2018. He’s one of at least three people who could receive $50,000 for every year spent behind bars.

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.

A fiery debate outlined what’s at stake in the race to lead the largest prosecutor’s office in the country.

On Sunday, news that basketball legend Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter and seven others overtook the impeachment trial as the top news story. “A generation lost a hero on Sunday, thousands of basketball players who grew up spinning along baselines and firing up picture-perfect midrange jump shots lost […]

Legislators are considering giving the DEA dangerous authority, harm reduction advocates say.