Reforming the System
How Neuroscience is Reforming Criminal Justice
|
New research into how the brain works is contributing to innovative strategies for reducing recidivism and developing alternatives to incarceration.
Reforming the System
Homelessness Called ‘Crisis’ for the Formerly Incarcerated
|
In a report issued Tuesday, the Prison Policy Initiative found that people who have been to prison are 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public. Recommended policy initiatives include barring housing discrimination against returning citizens.
Viewpoints
Trapped: How Fee-Based GPS Monitoring Puts a ‘Price Tag on Freedom’
|
William Edwards, released from jail with a GPS tracking device that he has to pay for, is one of thousands of poor defendants left at the mercy of an ‘E-carceration” system increasingly run by for-profit services, writes an attorney who is leading a class action lawsuit combating the practice.
Reforming the System
A ‘Holistic’ Approach to Wrongful Convictions
|
The “piecemeal” approach by state and federal court approach to addressing trial-level errors fails to account for the complex ways that seemingly independent errors interact with one another, writes a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law.
Reforming the System
Participatory Defense: Shifting the Courtroom ‘Balance of Power’
|
A Brooklyn, N.Y,-based grassroots group is teaching people with substance abuse disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system. Organizer Jason Del Aguila says the first step is empowering individuals in their encounters with the courts and police.
Reforming the System
Trump Meets on Sentencing Reform, Seeks Compromise
|
President Trump held a second meeting within two weeks to discuss prison and sentencing reform. His aides are working with Congress on a compromise bill that would reduce some federal mandatory minimum sentences and attack recidivism. “People I would least suspect are behind it, 100 percent,” Trump said.
Reforming the System
Memo to Prosecutors: Listen to the People You Punish
|
While there are good constitutional reasons for barring prosecutors from speaking directly with defendants without their attorneys’ permission, it shouldn’t prevent them from trying to understand the lives and perspectives of those most affected by what they do, writes a former assistant district attorney.
Reforming the System
Graham Hopes for Prison Compromise With Trump
|
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a key Senate Judiciary Committee member, is optimistic about getting an agreement with the Trump administration on prison and sentencing reform.
Reforming the System
Attorneys Recommend Reforms of Crippling Court Fines, Fees
|
The American Bar Association urges courts to adopt a set of 10 guidelines aimed at stopping the incarceration of people solely because they can’t pay fines and fees. “This criminalization of poverty must end,” said one attorney.
Reforming the System
How the Justice System Can Learn From ‘Frequent Fliers’
|
For some Americans, health care and criminal justice are not two separate systems, but components of one big system that too often fails them. Frustrated cops call them “frequent fliers” because they regularly cycle between jail and hospital, so why do we think we can fix one without the other?