criminal justice

While most criminal justice overhauls require action from local officials or legislation, reforming the federal prison system is something President Joe Biden and his Justice Department control.

Multiple dating apps are planning to add background checks in an effort to root out sex offenders or other potentially dangerous people. But a blanket ban on all people with prior convictions could disproportionately harm Black people and people with prior drug offenses who have recovered, says Keri Blakinger of The Marshall Project.

Many dating apps prohibit users with a criminal record, but don’t enforce that policy until there’s a complaint. Now a background check process could result in banning many people with a nonviolent record.

Under the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act — which would not be implemented until January 2023, after a two-year rollout plan — charged individuals will either be held or not held, eliminating any element of money. Along with the end of cash bond, there will be a new, strictly defined process to guide the decision-making for detention, NBC News reports.

Reality television star Kim Kardashian surprised a class of criminal justice students over Zoom at a northwest Indiana university Thursday.

In his final weeks in the White House, President Trump is rushing to approve execution methods such as firing squads and hanging for federal death-row inmates. The Marshall Project’s Keri Blakinger explains what these new rules really mean for prisoners.

In many states across the country, people with felony convictions are prohibited from voting, or only allowed to vote under certain conditions, even after they’ve served their sentence. Jay Jordan, who served time in prison as a young man and is currently the Director for Californians for Safety and Justice, explains how limiting their rights hurts more than just former...

An anonymous grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case has revealed that the jury was never asked to consider charges directly linked to her death. Attorney Michael Starr Hopkins joined LX News to discuss what may come next in the case, and said more charges against the police officers involved in her shooting are still possible.

In Florida, African Americans make up 16% of the voting population but account for more than 20% of those who have lost their right to vote due to prior felony convictions. Even after a permanent ban on voting was lifted for people with felonies on their records, the state continues to bar them from casting ballots until they have paid...

A Kentucky grand jury has decided not to indict any of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor with homicide or manslaughter, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be additional charges in the future to hold the officers responsible for her death. Attorney Michael Starr Hopkins explains that federal charges could still be possible under a...

Incidents of racism have become more visible due to cell phone cameras and social media, but hate crimes are still underreported across the U.S., according to Roy L. Austin, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. The reasons include distrust between the Black community and law enforcement, and a lack of incentive for officials to report...

Roc Nation’s philanthropy arm, Team Roc, filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections earlier this year on behalf of over 150 inmates in the state’s Parchman prison in response to conditions described as “barbaric.” Attorney Jessica Rice, who is working with Team Roc, explains why this case is important in Mississippi and details the long history of...

Cyntoia Brown Long says sex trafficking is often not “black and white” and there is no “perfect victim,” as evidenced by her own case and the ongoing case of Chrystul Kizer, a teenager who is accused of killing her alleged sex trafficker and was released on bond last week.

Andrea Ritchie of the Barnard Center for Research on Women says Black women are more likely to be killed by police than Black men, as evidenced by the shooting of Breonna Taylor. She says Breonna’s Law, while a positive step, doesn’t do enough to protect them.

Months before Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by a police officer outside a Wendy’s in Atlanta, Georgia, he spoke about his experience with the U.S. criminal justice system and the struggles he faced after being incarcerated, NBC News reports. Brooks’ interview in February 2020 was conducted by Reconnect, a Maine-based public benefit corporation, as part of a project about...

Rayshard Brooks, the man who was shot and killed by police last week at an Atlanta, Georgia, drive-through, gave an interview in February about the inequalities of the U.S. criminal justice system. Brooks’ interview was conducted by Reconnect as part of a project about individuals on probation or parole.

California judicial leaders on Wednesday ended a statewide policy of imposing $0 bail for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies that reduced jail populations by more than 20,000 suspects during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The state’s Judicial Council said the policy helped ease crowding in jails, which are potential hot spots for spreading the virus. But it said a…

Louis Reed, a national organizer for #CUT50 who served almost 14 years in federal prison, explained the harsh long-term consequences suffered by exonerated and released convicts.

Adam Brundage went missing in 2004. This month, his former roommate admitted to beating him in the head with a baseball bat and burying his body at a Bucks County quarry.

The next police commissioner of Philadelphia will be Portland, Oregon, Police Chief Danielle Outlaw. Outlaw, 44, has served as the top-ranking police official for the West Coast city for a little over two years, since October 2017. She was the first black woman to hold the position, according to her biography on the Portland city website. She will also be...