Tag: criminal justice

Updates in policy for people with developmental disabilities and serious mental illness could reduce repeated cycling through the carceral system, advocates say

When young children and teenagers get into trouble, the question often comes quickly: Where were their parents? That question is again shaping public policy in communities across the country, as state and local lawmakers and prosecutors increasingly look for ways to respond to concerns about youth crime and public disorder.

Elvis Brooks’ case was an egregious example of a wrongful conviction, civil rights attorneys said. But Louisiana’s attorney general maintains that Brooks and other exonerees are guilty — and therefore don’t qualify for any money from the state.

The fatal shooting of Kohen Wiley after an alleged shoplifting call has ignited protests in Senatobia, where residents say years of police escalation and mistrust reached a breaking point.

Legal advocates and public defenders say a detained woman spent more than 24 hours in custody before giving birth on a courtroom bench in handcuffs, exposing what protesters describe as dangerous and degrading conditions in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

Now many of the city’s reform advocates have lost faith in the process and are increasingly concerned that the opportunity for lasting reform is slipping away.

A lawsuit brought by the family of an autistic teen who died while in custody found the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office destroyed the disciplinary records of a deputy involved in the case.

Indigenous women and girls in Canada continue to face disproportionate levels of violence and insecurity rooted in colonialism.

Incarcerations, brutality, and torture are common in the U.S. Activists claim that this amounts to a war waged against racially marginalized, poor, and working-class people.

The Democratic platform fails in some respects to meet the demands of the moment and misses the opportunity to provide a home for the millions of Americans looking for transformational change of a criminal legal system rooted in white supremacy and racism.