The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/reforming-the-system/)
Prison Policy Initiative has released a report saying those convicted of violent offenses are being categorically excluded from criminal justice reforms, limiting what can be done.
In Tennessee, the coronavirus has “definitely caused the entire criminal justice system to act in one accord in a way that it doesn’t normally,” said Josh Spickler of the criminal justice advocacy group Just City Memphis.
Some 3,000 fewer people on average are jailed in Chicago’s Cook County since bail policies were changed, while crime rates have continued falling, a new report finds.
Many critics have argued that America needs to radically rethink how prisons are constructed so they can function as rehabilitative environments. But a Colombian researcher finds that even modest changes in prison infrastructure can produce significant results.
The Measures for Justice (MFJ) project, which collects comparative data on the operation of local criminal justice systems nationwide, says it’s doubling down on its efforts so policymakers “can be in a better position to tackle all the same problems, and the new ones the coronavirus has left in its wake.” Data from a dozen more states will be published this year.
Although Curtis Lovelace was acquitted in the 2006 murder of his wife, he was still saddled with a hefty county administrative fee. Local court systems across the country depend on such fees for badly needed revenue, but are they fair?
Kim Kardashian West, 39, has successfully lobbied President Trump, spent time on the phone with governors and legislators, written letters in support of clemency petitions and paid legal bills for people trying to get out of prison,
How are criminal justice agencies adapting to the coronavirus pandemic? Aubrey Fox, head of New York’s Criminal Justice Agency, and Greg Berman, former head of the Center for Court Innovation, recently discussed the challenge in an email conversation. They invited The Crime Report to post their discussion.
Prisoners in Washington State have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jay Inslee and state corrections chief Steven Sinclair asking for the release of elderly inmates to halt the spread of the coronavirus. This and similar actions elsewhere are adding long-needed momentum to the movement to reduce mass incarceration, writes an inmate.
As courts across the country grapple with the pandemic, they might take a lesson from Arizona’s Maricopa County, which has dramatically reduced in-person court appearances. The “temporary” measure is working so well that the courts might decide to keep it after the crisis is over, writes a Scottsdale defense attorney.