by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, and Charles Sloan-Hillier, JD “If we catch a drug dealer – death penalty.” President Donald J. Trump, 2018 “Lock the S.O.B.s up.” Former Senator Joe Biden, 1994 As protests and calls for police reforms continue in response to police shootings of unarmed suspects, both the Republican and Democratic parties seem
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On October 18, 2018, the Washington Supreme Court fundamentally transformed juvenile justice through State v. Bassett, categorically declaring juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) unconstitutional under the state constitution. This landmark decision didn’t merely limit these sentences—it eliminated them entirely, establishing Washington as the national leader in protecting youth offenders from irredeemable punishment. For families navigating
RAND prison education research proves education reduces recidivism and boosts employment—here’s what the data shows. The RAND Corporation’s landmark research on correctional education has fundamentally reshaped how policymakers, correctional administrators, and federal criminal defense attorneys understand the role of education in reducing recidivism and improving post-release outcomes. This analysis draws from RAND’s comprehensive meta-analysis, Government
CNN Money collected data from the Census and the Vera Institute of Justice to learn how much money is spent on an elementary/secondary school student versus housing an inmate in each state. Spoiler alert: every single state spent more money on inmates than it did on public education. Which states were the worst “offenders?” Colorado’s
On November 28, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Timbs v. Indiana, a case that could reshape civil asset forfeiture. Tyson Timbs, who attended the Court’s oral argument, is an Indiana resident who became addicted to opioids he was taking for chronic pain. To support his habit, he became a low-level drug dealer. When
On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Gamble v. United States, raising the issue of whether sometimes defendants can face separate trials, and possible conviction and sentencing, for the same violation in both state and federal courts, despite the Constitution’s provision against double jeopardy. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides,
The Prison Education Project (PEP) utilizes faculty volunteers and university students to provide education in 12 California correctional institutions. PEP has reached 6,000 inmates since 2011, making this initiative the most extensive volunteer-based prison education program in America. The ultimate goal of PEP is to flip the school-to-prison pipeline around, creating instead a prison-to-school pipeline
A federal judge in Boston has ordered officials at the Essex County House of Correction to allow an incoming inmate to take his doctor-prescribed methadone while he serves a sentence there. It was thought to be the first such order issued by an American judge. Geoffrey Pesce, a 32-year-old resident of Ipswich, Massachusetts, faces a
If it passes, the First Step Act will dramatically change life for thousands of inmates in America and will tackle, head-on, some of the problems that lead people to prison and keep them there. Many long-overdue items in the Act include banning the shackling of pregnant and postpartum women (was a woman in labor ever