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Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Review: “Reforming the Shadow Carceral State” by In an academic paper published in the November 2024 issue of Theoretical Criminology, researchers Brittany Friedman, Gabriela Kirk-Werner, and April D. Fernandes examined efforts to reform what they termed the “shadow carceral state.” While the carceral state encompasses the criminal legal system—jails, prison, …
Former Prisoner Informant Appointed Deputy Director of BOP by On June 5, 2025, Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) tapped Tennessee businessman Joshua J. Smith, 50, to serve as Deputy Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Smith, whom Trump pardoned in his first term, is the first former prisoner …
Washington DOC On Hot Seat Over “Unexpected Fatalities,” Missed Autopsies by A report released on January 10, 2025, by the Office of the Corrections Ombuds (OCO) of the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) counted 26 “unexpected fatalities” during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2024. A report released …
PPI Releases 10th Anniversary Report on Mass Incarceration in the U.S. by On March 14, 2024, the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), a Massachusetts-­based non-­profit known for its data-­driven research on criminal justice, published its 10th annual report detailing how many people are locked up in the U.S. among all the …
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Nailing Down “Top Cop” Kamala Harris on Criminal Justice Reform by After becoming the surprise new Democratic nominee for the presidency in July 2024, U.S. Vice-Pres. Kamala Harris has leaned into her credentials as a former California prosecutor. But her record has enough to alienate both progressives and law-and-order voters. …
Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024
Bruce Johnson 1950–2024 by Paul Wright by Paul Wright On August 20, 2024, the free speech rights of all Americans suffered a devastating loss. Bruce Johnson, 74, was a long-time partner at the Seattle law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine. He spent his entire, nearly half century career as a …
Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024
Massachusetts Prison Closure Reflects Success of Criminal Justice Reforms by On January 24, 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) announced it was closing the Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI) in Concord, and a report released the same month by a pair of local nonprofits celebrated the decision for reflecting the …
Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024
BOP Hires Sentencing Reform Advocate by In a strange-but-true story—like a fox asking a hen to help raid the coop—the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced on October 20, 2023, that its Office of Legislative Affairs has a new attorney advisor: Molly Gill, a long-time official at sentencing reform nonprofit …
Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024
Virginia Legislature Tables “Second-Look” Bills by Virginia’s General Assembly tabled a pair of bills that would have provided a path to early release for state prisoners after serving at least 15 years with good behavior, with Senators continuing S.B. 427 to next year’s session on February 28, 2024, and the …
Sentencing Project Proposes Remedies for Racial Disparities Behind Bars by In a report published on October 11, 2023, the nonprofit Sentencing Project noted that the lifetime risk of incarceration for Black men in the U.S. fell from one in three in 1981 to one in five in 2021. However, all …
DeSantis Axes Florida Criminal Justice Reform by Stuck in distant second place in the race for the GOP Presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed a new criminal justice reform measure on June 27, 2023, even though it was passed by most members of his own party in the …
New York Bail Reform Laws Reduced Recidivism, Contrary to Critics’ Claims by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman A study released on March 14, 2023, revealed that New York’s controversial new bail laws have not led to more rearrests of offenders, as some politicians claimed. In fact, according to the study’s …
Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023
Ohio Makes Sweeping Changes to Criminal Justice by On January 3, 2023, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed Senate Bill 288 (SB288), making sweeping reforms from heavier penalties for crimes plaguing the state to increased chance for early release, either through the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) or …
Predatory Probation Still Alive in Georgia, Other States by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In a January 2022 report by the Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC), a national hub for the movement to reform criminal justice fines and fees, researchers documented the costs of private probation and found …
Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023
Massive Price Tags and Meager Results: The Legacy of Federal Monitors in New York City by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tschirhart From payoffs to teachers over biased tests to oversight for excessive force in New York City jails, there’s money in being a federal monitor for New York City agencies. …
Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022
Activists Play Whack-a-Mole Closing ICE Detention Centers by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A Bloomberg Equality report published on January 11, 2022, gave little hope that the omicron variant behind a resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic would spare immigrant detainees held for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with …
Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021
Modest Decline in Prison and Jail Populations in Spring 2021 by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke In June 2021, the Vera Institute of Justice issued a report entitled People in Jail and Prison in Spring 2021, detailing the changes in jail and prison populations through the end of March 2021. …
Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021
Criminal Justice System Encourages Racism According to MIT Study by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss Michigan Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Economics professor Peter Temin released a report last April titled “Mass Incarceration Retards Racial Integration.” He says that it was systemic racial prejudice which initiated the move toward …
Article • August 1, 2021 • from PLN August, 2021
Ohio Enacts Criminal Justice Reform in 2020 by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Criminal justice reform advocates scored multiple wins in the closing weeks of the 2020 session of Ohio’s General Assembly. The new laws end the shackling of pregnant prisoners giving birth, allow people to do community service …
Article • July 8, 2021
Debunking the ‘Superpredator’ Myth by Kevin Bliss Report Suggests Lock ‘Em Up Mentality Counterproductive to Public Safety by Kevin Bliss The Sentencing Project of Washington, D.C. issued a report in May of 2021 titled “A Second Look at Injustice.” This report stated that the justice system should have goals of …
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