Reforming the System
Investigating the Puzzles Behind American Mass Shootings
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Experts gathered at Virginia’s George Mason University to discuss how to analyze mass violence incidents, react to them and possibly to stop them from happening.
Reforming the System
Fixing America’s Parole System: “Behavior Doesn’t Change Overnight,” Panel Told
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The way to reduce the number of Americans in prisons–and on parole–is to acknowledge that behavior doesn’t change overnight, experts say.
Rural Justice Crisis
Virginia’s Tangled Politics of Jail Reform
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The Hampton Roads Regional Jail in historic coastal Virginia has been struggling with inmate deaths, staff shortages, and funding issues for more than a decade. But getting help from local and state politicians has been an uphill battle.
Reforming the System
How Small Errors Combine to Send Innocent People to Prison
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A series of preventable mistakes sent George Cortez to prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Philadelphia’s police, legal and judicial community used a groundbreaking DOJ initiative to come up with ways to make sure it never happens again.
Reforming the System
Does College Education in Prison Work? Ask the 8,800 Inmates Who Got Pell Grants
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During the now-condemned “tough-on-crime” era, federal higher education assistance was made off limits to anyone in prison. But a pilot $35 million effort to revive it is now in its fourth year—and apparently flourishing—in 26 states.
Exonerations
The Price of Wrongful Convictions: 1,639 Years Behind Bars
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The 151 men and women released from U.S. prisons last year after their cases were dismissed spent a total of 1,639 years incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit, the National Registry of Exonerations said in its annual report. The Registry called it a “record.”
Viewpoints
Florida’s Conviction Integrity Unit Scores First Win; Can It Keep Working?
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A murder conviction that sent two Florida men to prison for 43 years was reversed last month. The victory illustrates why more prosecutors—and legislators—need to support the still-fragile efforts of conviction integrity units to bring justice to the wrongfully accused, writes a former prosecutor.
Viewpoints
Reducing the Justice Footprint: How Three NYC Programs Improve Fairness
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Meaningful alternatives to conventional sanctions are among several ways to reform the justice system while protecting public safety. The director of the Center for Court Innovation provides examples from the Center’s work in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Reforming the System
Racial Disparities in NJ Bail Persist Despite Reforms: Report
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Despite reductions in the state’s pretrial population, the “over-representation of black males” needs attention, according to New Jersey’s Administrative Office of the Courts.
Reforming the System
Report Calls on States, Cities to Cut ‘Excessive Penalties’ for Violent Offenses
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Long sentences for violent crimes will continue to fuel mass incarceration unless legislators begin developing “more effective, fiscally sound, and morally just responses” to violence, says The Sentencing Project in a new report.