The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/viewpoints/)
In 2009, New York State finally abandoned one of the toughest drug laws in the nation. But according to one of the individuals trapped by the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the country still has a long way to go before ending its punitive approach.
The nation’s top police chiefs recently decided to stop distributing semi-annual data about violent crimes. That’s a worrying mistake, says a leading criminologist.
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.
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.
Many U.S. jurisdictions have addressed opoid addiction through the justice system. But Indiana’s Hamilton County has begun a different approach, using quick response teams of first responders and “recovery specialists.”
The death penalty system depends on the jury’s capacity to deliver an “individualized moral judgment” on whether a defendant merits execution. But it can’t guarantee the accurate portrait of the defendant that such a judgment requires, writes TCR’s legal columnist.
Can integrity and ethical decision-making be an integral part of police officers’ training? Can it be sustained in the hard realities of police work? In a new podcast on policing, researchers and officers themselves offer candid assessments.
Prosecutors’ pursuit of convictions at any cost and public defenders’ insufficient resources have too often combined to thwart defendants’ chances of a fair trial. Here’s an alternative approach proposed by Miami’s public defender and a former deputy assistant attorney general.
The murder of alleged Gambino crime boss “Frankie Boy” Cali outside his Staten Island home this month fanned speculation about a new Mafia war. But there are three sides to every mob story, writes a veteran observer of U.S. organized crime.
Under federal law, an 18-year-old found guilty of trafficking in sexual images of a minor can face a 15-year prison term. A reform advocate says Maine’s 2016 decision to apply more lenient punishment to juveniles caught “sexting” offers a more humane alternative.