Following America’s failed experiment with mass incarceration and over-criminalization, an estimated 70 million to 100 million Americans now have some type of criminal record. While felony records carry the greatest stigma, in the digital era, any record—no matter how old or minor—can stand in the way of reentry, economic stability, and full participation in society. Continue reading “A Criminal Record Shouldn’t Be a Life Sentence to Poverty”
The U.S. Sentencing Commission on Monday said the number of federal criminal cases dropped by more than 15% in 2020 compared with the prior year, a sign of the COVID-19 pandemic’s outsized effect on federal criminal proceedings. Continue reading “Federal Criminal Cases Dropped In 2020”
Noem has also signs 13 criminal justice bills into law: Continue reading “Noem signs 13 criminal justice bills into law”
The Supreme Court on Monday indicated serious reservations about the ambiguity and scope of the nation’s only major cybercrime law, hinting it may narrow the law’s applicability to avoid criminalizing such acts as checking social media at work. Continue reading “Cybercrime Law: Justices express qualms about sweeping computer”
Criminal Justice Reform – The United States’ criminal justice system is broken. We have less than 5 percent of the world’s population but nearly 25 percent of its prisoners. Mass incarceration has crushing consequences: racial, social, and economic. It reinforces systemic patterns of racial inequity across our society, with vastly unequal treatment at every step. And it is not necessary to keep our communities safe. Continue reading “Federal Agenda for Criminal Justice Reform”
Two days before the Legislature returned to Iowa’s Capitol, while nightly vigils were being waged against the senseless Minneapolis police killing of an unarmed black man, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a new law that will expand racial disparities in Iowa. Continue reading “Reynolds signs a law that will expand racial disparities in IA”
The news that more than 80% of the incarcerated 2,500 prisoners held in Ohio’s Marion Correctional Institution have tested positive for COVID-19 was perhaps the most shocking of many recent stories addressing the connection between the global pandemic and American prisons and jails. Continue reading “Coronavirus crisis, lessons in humanity toward America’s incarcerated”
As residents of in the Corridor have shifted their routines in response to social distancing guidelines and closure orders from Gov. Kim Reynolds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, area law enforcement agencies are adapting, too. Continue reading “Iowa law enforcement shifting priorities during pandemic”
At least three states passed laws putting new criminal penalties on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure in just the past two weeks amid the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading “States quietly pass laws criminalizing fossil fuel protests”