Criminal Justice
Articles focusing on prison reform and the criminal justice system.
A defendant is shackled, handcuffed, and marched past cameras. Before prosecutors present any evidence, the public sees a defendant as already guilty. This practice undermines one of our legal system’s longstanding principles: the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.
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The Ohio Four were convicted in the 1991 killing of Marsha Blakely; all four have maintained their innocence to date.
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In Kahler, the Court did not merely uphold Kansas' interpretation of a vital protection; it allowed Kansas to, in effect, eviscerate the protection entirely.
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Some states offer sex offenders castration as an alternative punishment. Is it too cruel and unusual?
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Oscar Pistorius, South African Olympic runner, will receive his prison sentence next month for murdering his girlfriend back in 2013.
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A recent report reveals that the mentally ill and African American citizens of Los Angeles are involved in police shootings by the LAPD at a disproportionately higher number.
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The use of judicial override in capital cases is emerging as an issue in Florida and Alabama after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s death penalty sentencing scheme.
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Kansas Supreme Court ruled it is a Fourth Amendment violation to criminally charge a person for refusing to submit to a DUI test when pulled over.
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Budget cuts in funding for public defenders in New Orleans have caused many indigent citizens to be denied their Sixth Amendment constitutional right to appointed counsel.
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In late January, Indiana joined other US states in the recent trend of restricting the use of solitary confinement by prohibiting seriously mentally ill inmates from being held in restrictive housing.
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Juveniles are psychologically susceptible to being coerced into false confessions and yet there are few safeguards in place to prevent these confessions.
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Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, announced a new policy to be implemented consisting of providing more accessible Tasers to police officers and better training of police officers when dealing with confrontational situations with suspects.
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The Department of Corrections (DOC) in Washington State has come under fire after a computer glitch in its system led to the early release of more than 3,000 inmates in the state since 2002. The Department has been aware of the glitch since 2012.
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The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a spouse crying was not a “communication” covered under martial privilege for purposes of determining whether a spouse could testify that her spouse cried in reaction to reading a newspaper article.
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Should the standard for excessive force be different for when police encounters a child?
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