Law enforcement for profit roundup
“When you find yourself threatening to find more reasons to put even more citizens in jail in order to protect your revenue stream, it’s maybe time to take a step back and think about what you’re...
View ArticleAlabama law enables sheriff to eat well
Under an Alabama law passed before World War II, many county sheriffs can keep what are deemed extra sums allocated for inmate meals but not used for that purpose. Some large counties require the...
View ArticleOpioids roundup
Prisoners die of drug overdoses at a high rate in their first week after release. That’s in part a prohibition-related problem [Jeffrey Miron, Cato] “Drug testing kits can detect the presence of...
View ArticleFirst Step Act becomes law
President Trump has signed into law, Congress having passed by wide margins, the First Step Act, which will make substantial changes to incarceration practices at the federal level and lesser but still...
View ArticleCrime and punishment roundup
Bloodstain analysis convinced a jury Julie Rea killed her 10-year-old son. It took four years for her to be acquitted on retrial, and another four to be exonerated. Has anything been learned? [Pamela...
View ArticleMay 15 roundup
“Banana Costume Copyright Assailed at Third Circuit” [Emilee Larkin, Courthouse News, earlier] In a new piece for The Bulwark, I sort through some comments by presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg...
View ArticleFive myths about prisons
5 widely circulated myths about prisons: * U.S. prisons are full of nonviolent drug offenders; * private prisons drive mass incarceration; * long sentences are causing our prison population to age; *...
View ArticlePoints for creativity dept.: back from the dead
“A man convicted of murder was rushed from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the hospital in 2015 where his heart was restarted five times. Now he claims his life sentence was fulfilled in his short-lived...
View ArticleDiscrimination law roundup
More boxes get banned: Connecticut measure will ban asking age on job applications [Daniel Schwartz] In closely divided en banc ruling, Ninth Circuit rules it cruel and unusual punishment for prison...
View ArticleFrom prison, Tiger King star seeks $94 million
The former owner of a roadside exotic-animal zoo, currently serving a 22 year prison sentence after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot targeting an animal rights activist as well as other...
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