The practice of gerrymandering—the manipulation of electoral district borders to the benefit of one political party over its rival—has been a feature of American democracy for centuries. Gerrymandering has had a profound effect on the political landscape nationwide at both the state and federal levels, tipping the scales in favor of those who draw electoral… Read More
As our country looks for a quick fix to the many problems plaguing our criminal justice system, some courts and police departments are trying to use artificial intelligence as a cure-all. One flawed idea is that technology could be used by courts to take bias out of the equation for fairer sentencing decisions. Police departments could… Read More
A prison sentence of life without parole is the harshest sentence our courts impose short of death, so the crimes that merit sending a person to prison for the rest of his or her life should be some pretty serious crimes. But let me introduce you to Lee Carroll Brooker, a 76-year-old disabled, decorated army veteran… Read More
Americans are increasingly learning about the problem of mass incarceration and the astronomical costs of our country’s incarceration habit – taxpayers every year pay a staggering $39 billion to keep people imprisoned. Here’s a solution to that problem that makes a lot of sense: how about simply releasing elderly inmates? The average price… Read More
For our final post in our three-part series focused on the 2016 presidential election, we take a look at the candidates’ views on mass incarceration and prison reform. We touched on this briefly in the previous post centered on the Black Lives Matter movement, but today we’ll dive a little deeper into specific initiatives regarding… Read More
With all our talk about police violence aimed at poor and minority communities, we have yet to talk about the group most likely to be killed by law enforcement: Native Americans. Native American men are incarcerated at four times the rate of white men and Native American women are sent to prison at six times the… Read More
How can it be that lots of children – about 10,000 on any given day, around 250,000 per year – are stuck in adult jails and prisons? Right there with the grown up convicts. If that doesn’t outrage you, it should. Maybe you know a young teenager (your own kid? a nephew? a neighbor?). Imagine… Read More
Mandatory minimum sentences are prison sentences set by lawmakers rather than judges, where a statute requires an automatic, minimum prison terms for certain crimes, without permitting the judge to impose a more lenient sentence when the situation warrants. Without mandatory minimum sentences, the judge can consider factors like the defendant’s prior record, a history of… Read More
