Criminal Justice

January 7, 2025

The Local Elections That Will Define Criminal Justice Policy in 2025

 Daniel Nichanian,
Daniel Nichanian,
Big-city mayor, prosecutor, and sheriff elections this year could carry high stakes for policing and punishment.
December 18, 2024

How Michigan Stopped Saddling Children with Millions in Court Debt

 Lauren Gill,
January 9, 2025

Terminally Ill People Languish in North Carolina Prisons, Even After Reforms

 Phillip Vance Smith II,
January 23, 2025

How Chicago’s Immigrant Rights Groups Plan to Hold the Line on Sanctuary Policies

 Pascal Sabino,
January 15, 2025

This Pennsylvania County Wiped Out Millions in Jail Debt

 Alex Burness,

The Latest

How Michigan Stopped Saddling Children with Millions in Court Debt

 Lauren Gill,

On Solitary Confinement, California Officials Side With the Prison System—Again

 Piper French,

In Illinois, a Private Prison Company’s Long Trail of Deaths and High-Dollar Contracts

 Shawn Mulcahy,

In Alabama, Prison Guards Accused of Violence and Misconduct Carry Out Secretive Executions

 Lauren Gill, , Daniel Moritz-Rabson,

“A Vote Against Democracy”: Missouri Forces One City to Lock In More Money for Police

 Daniel Nichanian,

Chicago Police Made Nearly 200,000 Secret Traffic Stops Last Year

 Pascal Sabino,

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Long Reads

A Future for Susanville
Plans to shutter a California prison offer halting glimpses of a different world: an economy that doesn’t revolve around incarceration, a country where losing your job isn’t tantamount to ruin, and an opening for abolition.
Piper French,

“I’m Just Another Traffic Stop”
Chicago built a new police team to rebuild community trust. It harassed drivers of color instead.
Pascal Sabino,

Vacancies and Zombie Commissioners Leave Opening for Parole Reform in New York
Upcoming appointments by Governor Kathy Hochul could push New York’s parole board away from a culture of perpetual punishment
Nick Pinto,

The Big Lie Messengers Who Carry a Badge and Gun
Arizona’s Mark Lamb and a network of far-right sheriffs around the country are partnering with leading purveyors of election fraud conspiracies, part of an escalating campaign to police the vote.
Jessica Pishko,

Spotlight on jail deaths

Out of Sight

 Michael Barajas,

His Shock Win Flipped a Pennsylvania County. Now He Vows to Raise Hell over Its Lethal Jail.

 Alex Burness,

As Los Angeles Politicians Trade Barbs, Jail Deaths Keep Mounting

 Piper French,

Reentry

November 17, 2023

Michigan Law Is First to Automatically Register People to Vote As They Leave Prison

 Alex Burness,

Prison Conditions

December 1, 2023

New Jersey Prisons Isolate Trans Women Even After Reforms to Reduce Solitary Confinement

 Adam M. Rhodes,

Restorative Justice

December 1, 2022

Rhode Island Pair, Once Dogged by Criminal Legal System, Elected to Statehouse

 Alex Burness,

Criminalizing Pregnancy

For Thousands of Georgians, Freely Traveling Across State Lines for an Abortion Is Not an Option

 Piper French,

With Abortion Bans, a Bewildering New Reality for Courts and Law Enforcement

 Chris Geidner,

California Prosecutions for Pregnancy Loss Spark Outrage, and a Bill to Stop Future Investigations

 Jessica Pishko,

Immigration enforcement

Immigration Hardliners Lose Sheriff Races in Massachusetts and Beyond

 Alex Burness,

“You Never Really Felt Safe”: Resistance to Far-Right Maryland Sheriff Builds in Election Lead-Up

 Manuel Madrid,

Cape Cod Will Decide Whether to “Rip Up” Agreement for ICE Collaboration

 Alex Burness,

Who Elects their Prosecutors and Sheriffs in 2024?

Our Bolts resource has the answers. Despite being an odd year, 2024 will shape criminal legal institutions around the nation with roughly 2,000 elections for prosecutor and sheriff.

Rights Restoration

After “Glimmer of a Moment,” Mississippi Once Again Shuts Out Aspiring Voters

 Alex Burness,

Kentucky Activists Step In to Deliver on the Promise of Voting Rights Restoration

 Alex Burness,

Tennessee Puts Voting Rights at the Whims of State Officials

 Daniel Nichanian,

“Back to 1902”: Virginia Governor Revives Lifetime Ban on Voting

 Alex Burness,

In North Carolina, a Rush to “Restore Hope in the Vote” in People with Felony Convictions

 Kelan Lyons,

In French Presidential Election, Thousands More Vote from Prison

 Cole Stangler,

Policing Democracy

The Big Lie Messengers Who Carry a Badge and Gun

 Jessica Pishko,

Texas Conservatives Want Private Cops to Police Elections

 Michael Barajas,

Right-Wing Task Force Will Police Elections in the Texas GOP’s Last Urban Stronghold

 Jessica Pishko,

Calls from prison and jail

January 8, 2024

San Francisco Expands Free Jail Communications by Adding Tablet Services
The move is part of a recent wave of jails and prisons starting to decouple carceral communications from a profit motive.
Kalena Thomhave,
August 4, 2023

Massachusetts Is Making Communications Free for Incarcerated People
The reform would eliminate the exorbitant charges people face to keep in touch with loved ones in jail and prison, removing a heavy financial burden for thousands.
Alex Burness,

Judges and courts

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About State Supreme Courts

 Daniel Nichanian, , Quinn Yeargain,

New Jersey Is Poised for Its First Ever Public Defender Justice

 Chris Geidner,

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2022 Supreme Court Elections

 Daniel Nichanian,

Despite Federal Gains, Public Defenders Largely Missing from State Supreme Courts

 Rachel M. Cohen,

Decarcerating from the Bench

 Michael Barajas,

The Movement to Decarcerate Los Angeles Targets Judicial Elections

 Piper French,

Parole and Pardons

“Nobody Knows What That Means”: The Murky Decisions of New York’s Parole Board

 Nathan Porceng,

In Alabama, an “Out of Control Board” Cuts Chances for Parole

 Lauren Gill,

Connecticut’s New Commutation Policy Raises the Bar for Second Chances

 Kelan Lyons,

Connecticut Governor Scrambles Pardons Board and Halts Clemency

 Kelan Lyons,

California Passes Bill to Expand Prison Releases for Terminally Ill People

 Piper French,

Chances for Parole Go from Bad to Worse Under Virginia’s New GOP Leadership

 Isabela Dias,

Prison Officials Routinely Deny Hearings to Terminally Ill New Yorkers

 Victoria Law,

Vacancies and Zombie Commissioners Leave Opening for Parole Reform in New York

 Nick Pinto,

New Pardon Board Official Wants to Expand Clemency in Pennsylvania, Where Thousands Are Sentenced to Die in Prison

 Daniel Nichanian,

Policing

“I’m Just Another Traffic Stop”

 Pascal Sabino,

A Police Stop Is Enough to Make Someone Less Likely to Vote

 Jonathan Ben-Menachem,

In San Francisco, “No Intention to Seek Justice”

 Piper French,

Auditing the Status Quo in Los Angeles

 Piper French,

“Fool Me Once”: Scandals and Abuses Fuel Unease Toward ‘Reform’ Talk in Los Angeles Sheriff Race

 Piper French,

Activists Monitor the Revival of New York’s Notorious Plainclothes Police Squads

 Tana Ganeva,