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21 Apr Chauvin Verdict Rare, Important Example of Police Accountability

Posted at 10:00h in Prosecutors

Something extraordinarily rare happened yesterday: the Chauvin verdict. It's just the 7th murder conviction for a police killing since 2005.

20 Apr Q & A: Why Sen. Jay Chaudhuri Wants To Legalize Marijuana In North Carolina

Posted at 16:18h in Ending Mass Incarceration

State Senator and Senate Minority Whip Jay Chaudhuri (D-15) made headlines at the beginning of April when he introduced SB 646, a bill that would legalize marijuana for recreational use in North Carolina. The bill is the first of its kind in the state.

20 Apr Breaking Down ‘Defund the Police’ and Community Supervision Programs

Posted at 09:26h in Decriminalizing Mental Illness

Phrases like “abolish the police” and “defund the police” may be common, but not everyone has a firm grasp on what these phrases mean.

Despite justice reforms police accountability remains low.

19 Apr Police Accountability Remains an Issue Despite Justice Reform Efforts

Posted at 16:45h in Prosecutors

Police accountability is an essential part of justice reform if legislators want meaningful ways to investigate officer-involved shootings.

Women's incarceration will get an upgrade in Mississippi if lawmakers pass HB 196.

19 Apr New Bill In Mississippi Looks To Tackle Women’s Incarceration Issues

Posted at 14:32h in Prisons

Women often face issues that are unique to them in jails and prisons. These issues, such as lack of access to essential medical supplies, are often overlooked. Now, a new bill in Mississippi looks to confront some of the issues with women's incarceration in the

16 Apr Chauvin’s Choice of Force Versus Police Use of Force Training

Posted at 10:00h in Prosecutors

The video of Floyd’s death shows him losing consciousness and posing no threat to officers. The Chauvin trial brings into question the training capabilities of police departments and the choices officers make outside of their training.

Contraband kept coming into Texas prisons despite a lockdown.

16 Apr Texas Prisons Find Some Answers About Where Contraband Comes From

Posted at 10:00h in Prisons

After Texas tried to put a hard stop to contraband in prisons, specifically drugs, there ended up being more than before inside the state's correctional facilities. This increase in contraband, despite more regulations, made Texas a kind of controlled experiment about where contraband in prisons

The defense for Derek Chauvin has said that he used force appropriately.

15 Apr Chauvin Defense Raises Questions About Police Training, Use-of-Force

Posted at 16:30h in Prosecutors

Witnesses have called it murder. Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with Floyd’s death, calls it reasonable use of force. Now, his defense is arguing that Chauvin did what he was trained to do. In other words, the defense maintains that the police department trained Chauvin

A trio of bills in the Iowa legislature are based on the "Back the Blue Act."

15 Apr Bills Born From Controversial “Back the Blue Act” Advance In Iowa

Posted at 11:17h in Excessive Fines

The "Back the Blue Act" received opposition from both civil rights groups and police associations. As a result, lawmakers broke the bill down into a trio of bills. Most of the legislation from SSB 1140 made it into Senate Files 479, 534 and 476. One

14 Apr What The People’s Justice Guarantee Does (And Doesn’t Do)

Posted at 10:00h in Ending Mass Incarceration

On March 11, Rep. Pressley reintroduced the People's Justice Guarantee. With the current wave of justice reform around the country, will the outcome be different this time around? And if it passes, what would that even mean?