Eliminating Cash Bail in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Detention before trial is not a benign act. It severely harms indigent people by disrupting employment, risking default on loans, and separating families.
Criminal Justice
Extending Attorney-Client Privilege to Prison Email
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.
PRISON GERRYMANDERING AND THE 2020 CENSUS
Connecticut is one of close to forty states that utilizes prison gerrymandering in its state legislative districting: the practice of
Police Call It “Excited Delirium.” Civil Rights Groups Call It a Sham.
Since 2000, more than one thousand people in the U.S. have died shortly after being stunned with a Taser by
Can You See Me Now? Facial Surveillance Is a Civil Liberties Issue
Facial recognition technology is progressing faster than our laws can keep up. Unregulated, these technologies represent a threat to our privacy rights and civil liberties.
The New Poll Tax: How Wealth-Based Disenfranchisement Persists in the United States
Denying the vote is an instrument of social exclusion, a way to reinforce the perpetual marginality of people who are convicted of crimes and cannot afford the crushing fees levied upon them. It makes you feel, according to one Florida resident, “like you’re never going to fully be a part of this country anymore.”
The Answer Can Be Yes: The First Step Act and Compassionate Release
Judicial review of compassionate release requests is working, but not for everyone. Federal Sentencing Guidelines remain outdated, and frustrate attempts by judges to cohesively interpret the compassionate release provisions. An update to these guidelines is crucial.
Will History Save the Insanity Defense?
On October 7th, the Supreme Court began its term with the oral argument for Kahler v. Kansas, a case which asks whether a state violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments if it essentially abolishes the insanity defense. The test for due process is traditionally historical, so both Kahler and Kansas focused their briefs on the question of whether the insanity defense is so deeply rooted in history that its elimination would constitute a violation of due process. At oral argument, a few of the Justices probed the difficulties associated with evaluating historical claims.
Strip Searches Deny Prisoners Their Constitutional Rights
Once the court begins taking away rights from a class of people, the line of what is tolerable often keeps receding.
The Right to Eat Halal Often Stops at the Prison Gate
Religious dietary constraints should not be viewed as an additional or optional financial inconvenience for state correctional departments, but must be understood as a necessary consequence of our country’s zealous insistence on mass incarceration. Departments of Correction should resist the urge to implement policies that they know will actively discourage adherents of minority faiths from free exercise. To do so is to fly in the face of our Founders’ recognition that religion is an intrinsic part of the human experience and essential to equality in a democratic society.
New DOJ Policy Gives Genealogy Website Users Weak Privacy Protections From Law Enforcement
The DOJ guidelines are a step in the right direction, providing important restrictions on law enforcement’s use of commercial DNA databases. However, the guidelines have room for improvement, and still leave the door open for troubling privacy violations.