The mayor claims that building new jails is the only safe way to close Rikers Island jail complex, but the City Council shouldn’t fall for this Faustian bargain.

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, White House counsel informed House Democrats that the White House will not cooperate with their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The letter states, in part, “You […]

The Charlotte Observer built a narrative on gun crime that relies almost exclusively on police and prosecutors, ignores the violence of incarceration, and offers zero non-carceral solutions.

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 […]

Jailhouse informants are a fixture of pop culture, helping TV prosecutors secure convictions in exchange for leniency or other favors. But the public—and by extension, juries—are largely ignorant of just how common, and how damaging, jailhouse informants are to the criminal legal system. This week, University of California, Irvine School of Law professor Alexandra Natapoff […]

Sheriff Sid Gautreaux faces two Democratic challengers in the Oct. 12 election.

Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people face restrictions, even repression, as they engage in activism to end mass incarceration.

Tondalao Hall has served 15 years for allegedly ‘failing to protect’ her kids from their father’s violence. A parole board will now decide if that’s enough.

Criminalization as a response to the overdose crisis can cost lives.

Increasing the city’s jail capacity will lead to higher incarceration rates, advocates say.

In some Alabama counties, a new investigation shows, sheriffs release people in jail who are experiencing medical emergencies to avoid liability for hospital bills.

As the presidential election approaches, reformers should focus on the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which restricts the ability of incarcerated people to protest their conditions of confinement.

Some death row prisoners will be moved to another unit with access to direct sunlight, fenced-in recreation, and contact visits, department says.

This month, nine people received commutations from life sentences, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is calling for changes to the commutations process to give more people second chances.

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. Last week, Washington D.C.’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4B voted unanimously to pass a resolution in favor of the city’s proposed second-look bill, which would let incarcerated people who committed […]

Carceral institutions are the sites of this country’s most extensive book bans.

Five Lake County, Illinois teenagers no longer face murder charges after the killing of their cousin and friend. But the rule that allowed them to be charged is still on the books.

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. “Environmentalism is now equated with social justice and civil rights,” wrote professors Robert D. Bullard and Glenn S. Johnson in the Journal of Social Issues almost 20 years ago. […]

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say.

Young people convicted as adults face a ‘life sentence’ of registry restrictions, attorneys say.

Federal policy denies incarcerated people Medicaid coverage, making re-entry a time of heightened health risks. Tracie Gardner of the Legal Action Center explains New York State’s effort to “break the cycle of justice-involvement, poor health, economic instability, and recidivism that plagues individuals and families throughout New York.”

Nearly half of all arrests in the state are drug or alcohol related, compared to just 29 percent nationally.

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. Last Friday, actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for paying thousands of dollars to have one of her daughter’s SAT scores inflated. She is the […]

Richard Rivera served more than 38 years in prison after killing an off-duty NYPD officer during a botched armed robbery. He was released in July after being denied parole five times.

A member of San Francisco’s juvenile probation commission, a citizen oversight body, talked to the Daily Appeal about her decision to spend a day and a night inside the city’s juvenile hall.

Candidates offered reforms for people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses, but more than half of U.S. prisoners have committed a violent crime.

A Pittsburgh public radio piece lacked critical reporting about the many problems with jailing children in adult facilities.

The parole board failed to comply with a new law about notifying victims, the board’s director said.

The city comptroller, state lawmakers, and advocates call on the state to end its use of fines and fees in the legal system.

People seeking commutations from life sentences encounter a steep hurdle in the state’s board of pardons. The board will convene on Sept. 13 to review more than 20 cases.

California is one of only six states that allow staff in juvenile facilities to carry pepper spray. But LA’s coming ban is still facing pushback.

In a rare move, a federal court vacated Anastazia Schmid’s murder conviction, saying she’d received ineffective assistance of counsel and had been mentally unfit to stand trial. But Schmid, who’d spent 18 years in prison, remained locked up for three months more.

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. Anyone who has ever done work combating mass incarceration has most likely been approached by family members and friends asking what they can do to join the […]

Advocates warn that overuse of ankle monitors and other forms of electronic monitoring produce consequences of their own.

South Carolina’s decision not to evacuate people in prison in the evacuation zone is consistent with an indifference to the humanity of those in prison.

Barred from other shelters, registrants were left with few options as the hurricane approached.

16-year-olds won’t have to reappear in adult criminal court if they’re arrested when youth court isn’t in session.

People who have lost loved ones to violence and to life without parole sentences are calling for an end to these sentences in Pennsylvania.

Senate Bill 136 would repeal one of California’s most frequently used sentence enhancements, which gives judges the discretion to add a year to a felony sentence for every prior felony prison or jail term.

How high or low bond is isn’t a measure of how severe the state considers a crime.