criminal justice reform
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Marilyn Mosby Shares Anonymous Racist Call, Calls Out Misogynoir During Solidarity Trip to St. Louis
The office of Baltimore’s top prosecutor Marilyn Mosby released a voicemail this week sent to Mosby after she visited St. Louis to stand in solidarity with another progressive black woman prosecutor, Kim Gardner. The St. Louis prosecutor is filing a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging city leaders and the police union have conspired to drive…
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Everyone Knows Why Inmates Are Dying in Alabama Prisons. No One Knows How to Fix It
Alabama runs the most violent prison system in America. Inmates in Alabama’s prisons are killed at nearly nine times the national rate. Families have been devastated. The state doesn’t seem to have answers. A study by a criminal justice and civil rights organization concluded that money won’t fix it. Even Donald Trump’s Justice Department called…
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Patrisse Cullors, LA Reform Jails Tackle Mental Health, Mass Incarceration with Mental Health Matters Summit + Day Party
In its commitment to addressing the failures of the prison industrial complex—as it pertains to mental health, drug dependency, chronic homelessness, and other issues—Patrisse Cullors, founder of Reform L.A. Jails, knew her organization would require a unique strategy in order to build a stronger rapport with Los Angeles residents and educate them on the unspeakable…
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Ayanna Pressley's Latest Resolution Is a Sweeping Progressive Vision That Would Transform America's Legal System
Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley introduced on Thursday a comprehensive criminal justice resolution package that would massively restructure America’s legal system—and fundamentally reshape the role prisons and jails play in American life. Titled the “the People’s Justice Guarantee,” the resolution is a progressive vision of justice that is being touted as “the most progressive and comprehensive plan…
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When NY Ended Money Bail, a Prosecutor Trained DAs to Keep People in Jail
As New York joined a handful of other states in passing sweeping criminal justice reforms, one of the state’s top prosecutors helped attorneys and legislators find loopholes to subvert laws intended to end money bail and guarantee speedy trials. In April, New York Democrats, who controlled the governorship and both legislative branches, passed measures that…
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Exonerated Five Fighting to Stop Cops From Lying, Using Innocent People’s DNA and Other Things You Probably Thought Were Already Illegal
Innocent until proven guilty is one of the foundational tenets of American jurisprudence. Even when a person is arrested and jailed for a crime, they are afforded the same presumption of innocence as Ivanka Trump, Jesus Christ, the white people in lotion commercials or any other unblemished, blue-eyed blonde American. Of course, if you’re black,…
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Not With The F@#$ery: Kamala Harris Backs Out of Presidential Forum After Trump Receives Criminal Justice Award From HBCU
Kamala Harris may be alright after all. She’s not down with the f#$% shit and she sure ain’t drinking Kanye Kardashian Kool-Aid. The Democratic presidential hopeful announced she will skip a planned appearance at South Carolina’s Benedict College—the same HBCU that honored Poor POTUS for his criminal justice efforts. Ummmmm. Yes. That is correct. On…
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‘What the Hell …’?: Trump Touts Himself as the Best to Ever Do It for Black America Before an Audience of Allies at Benedict College Criminal Justice Forum
Donald Trump kicked off a three-day criminal-justice forum at South Carolina’s Benedict College on Friday, giving a racially fraught speech before an audience predominated by Trump friendlies and including few students from the HBCU. Trump was the headliner Friday at the “Second Step Presidential Justice Forum.” Billed as a bipartisan discussion of criminal-justice issues, the forum’s…
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HBCU Benedict College Is Set to Host a Criminal Justice Forum Featuring None Other Than Donald Trump
Benedict College will play host to a criminal-justice forum this weekend, and Donald Trump is slated to be one of the speakers at the HBCU. Located in election 2020 battleground South Carolina, Benedict is hosting the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum from Friday to Sunday, and Trump is set to headline Friday’s one-day symposium,…
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21-Year-Old Florida Man Jailed for Missing Jury Service Has His Record Cleared—Now That He’s Experienced the Trauma of Prison
A 21-year-old Florida man who was locked up for 10 days for missing jury service had the rest of his sentence vacated and his record cleared Monday. Originally, Deandre Somerville was looking at a year of probation and 150 hours of community service, in addition to the 10 days he spent in jail, after a…