The title of this post is the title of a new paper from Robert J. Smith from the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. It looks closely at the undeniable role that prosecutors play in the racially disparate criminal justice system. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Prosecutors are the ones really running the [...]

An interesting paper entitled The Ballot as a Bulwark: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement on Recidivism from Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith and Matthew Vogel is available on SSRN and offers an interesting look at how removing voting rights from felons can impact their reintegration into society as productive members. The paper doesn’t just provide compelling data, it provides some thought provoking [...]

In other good news (twice in a single day, crazy I know), Mississippi Circuit Judge Prentiss Herrell approved a plea agreement in the case of Cory Maye which will ultimately get him released “in a matter of days”, according to Radley Balko formerly of Reason. I’ve touched on Maye’s case here but covered the story in greater detail at Change.org [...]

It’s rare I blog about good news and it’s not because I’m irrationally negative (hardly)–it’s just that the system makes mistakes that I believe should be brought to light. However, today I am pretty darn happy to blog about the U.S. Sentencing Commissions decision to make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive to Federal inmates sentenced under the former crack-cocaine sentencing [...]

Cleaning out the bookmarks again and there are several stories worth sharing. Some more recent than others but all noteworthy… A brief piece over at the New York Times summarizing some of the online registries that lawmakers across the country are pushing for (DWI registries, violent offender registries, etc.). Here’s a quick post with my take on it too. Five [...]

Imagine you’re in your home, settling down after working the night shift. Your wife and toddler are also in the house and your wife awakens you—saying she hears something outside. Two members of her family were killed just a year ago during a home invasion, so your immediate reaction is one of defense. You quickly tell your wife and son [...]

The Palm Beach Post launched an investigation into the use of antipsychotic drugs for locked up juveniles in the state of Florida. What they found was remarkable and disturbing, that the state was buying more of these potent medications than they were over the counter meds and that they were being prescribed by doctors who had received gifts and speakers [...]

I’ve been watching this unfold in the headlines for the past several months but it seems the feds are injecting themselves into the medical marijuana happenings across the country more and more. I blogged about a series of recent raids into dispensaries here, and discussed how since Attorney General Holder announced in late 2009 that hassling dispensaries and others acting within [...]

I’ve been struggling to find time to blog lately but have managed to stockpile some worthy topics in my bookmarks. Everyday I find time to read other people’s blogs but often end up having to purge those noteworthy topics before I get around to writing about them myself. Anyways, in an effort to share what may have been missed–here are [...]

Though it’s not likely this is a title many people in Vegas are proud of, the District Attorney of Clark County has worked to make the area tops in number of death penalty cases per capita. There are currently 80 people awaiting trial in the County on charges that could get them a death sentence. Obviously not all of these [...]