Criminal procedure plays a large role in creating an imbalance of power between prosecutors and defendants. Changing the rules can help make the plea bargaining (and trial) process less unfair by forcing prosecutors to choose what they want to charge more carefully.
The ongoing criminal legal reform movement comes after decades of falling crime rates. That raises concerns about the movement’s viability: What would happen if crime went up? Reformers must prepare a response that protects their policy achievements and further advances the movement. A successful strategy will focus on the immense benefits of reform.
Detention before trial is not a benign act. It severely harms indigent people by disrupting employment, risking default on loans, and separating families.
Gun control has been a prominent focus of the Democratic primary debates, reflecting a larger national trend. 2017 saw an
Welcome to this week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. This week, the Supreme Court will hear a case that
When gun control measures stalled at the national level, advocates took a page out of the conservative playbook: they focused
Community bail funds are an innovative challenge to a trenchant problem in the American criminal legal system: pretrial detention of people who have not yet been convicted of crimes.
This week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s right to prevent immigrants from accessing public assistance, The Fifth Circuit struck down Mississippi’s fetal heartbeat abortion ban, and the Eleventh Circuit ruled that ex-felons in Florida cannot be barred from voting over unpaid court fees. Meanwhile, California issued an apology for its role in Japanese internment, and the ACLU decried a slew of bills targeting trans youth in state legislatures.
To ensure that those in prison have equitable and fair access to representation, both the legislature and courts should direct the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to revise this system. Prisoners should be legally entitled to maintain confidentiality in their communications with attorneys.
This week, the White House released its legal justification for the Soleimani strike, pressured the DOJ to lower its own sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, lost a court battle over a Medicaid work requirement, and deployed tactical Border Patrol agents to sanctuary jurisdictions across the country. A new lawsuit challenges roadblocks to insurance coverage for abortion, while criminal justice reform measures in California and New York are implemented and North Dakota tribes achieve a voting rights victory. And, a New York Times reporter asks, “is this the end of privacy as we know it?”
Clemency will certainly not solve mass incarceration, but right now it is a vastly under-utilized tool for chipping away at the injustices the criminal legal system creates and perpetuates. Presidents, and even state governors, who often also have clemency power, should begin exercising this power to curb the legal system’s excesses.
