Posts in Overcriminalization
How Private Equity Is Turning Public Prisons Into Big Profits

“Bianca Tylek, the founder of Worth Rises, an advocacy group that tracks commercial interests in corrections, has catalogued 3,100 companies with a financial stake in mass incarceration. Her findings were released last April in a Corrections Accountability Project report and include not only the well-known, publicly traded private-prison contractors but also divisions within companies with household names like Amazon, General Electric, and Stanley Black & Decker.“

The Nation

April 30, 2019

Read More
Personalism, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesThe NationComment
Tammie Hedges and the Overcriminalization of America

“States’ criminal codes are three to ten times longer than the Model Penal Code promulgated by the august collection of scholars and practitioners at the American Law Institute. More than 77 percent of new crimes are codified outside the criminal code. And a large fraction of state crimes are never voted on by elected representatives, because criminal-lawmaking power is regularly delegated to bureaucrats or even private licensing boards.“

National Review

October 11, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyNational Review, North Carolina Comment
The Terrible Cost of The Sentence

“Shank’s incarceration not only altered her life, but that of her family, including her husband, parents, the three little girls who would grow up without her, and her brother, Rudy Valdez, a teacher whose initial plan to shoot home video of his nieces to send to Shank transformed him into a documentary filmmaker and prison reform activist.“

The Marshall Project

October 11, 2018

Read More
Overcriminalization, Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesThe Marshall Project, Mandatory Minimums Comment
Saving pets without a permit: Good Samaritan arrested after helping animals survive Florence

“The owner of Crazy's Claws N Paws, a donation-based animal rescue center, was in the process of converting a warehouse space into a proper animal shelter when she decided to use the building to help keep pets dry. However, her facility was not legally registered as a shelter.“

First Coast News

September 23, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesFirst Coast News, North CarolinaComment
Do ex-cons ever really finish serving their debt to society?

"We need not only the  change that comes with prison reform but a change in fundamental correctional beliefs. The stigma of prison remains after an offender serves their debt to society and needs to be seen as a debt fulfilled. Presently, we are like a lender that demands payment even after the debt is paid in full.  That must change and change quickly if we are to embrace real reform."

Right on Crime

August 22, 2018

Read More
Overcriminalization, Mass IncarcerationAnthony BradleyRight on Crime
Why Sex Offender Registries Keep Growing Even as Sexual Violence Rates Fall

"Rules like that aren’t unique—22 other states keep out-of-state visitors on their registries for life, according to a study released last November. It’s one reason state lists misrepresent the actual number of people with sex-crime records living in communities. As already-bloated lists keep ballooning, they feed the impression of a growing population of dangerous people who require ever-more-extreme laws to monitor and control."

Criminal Legal News

August 17, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyCriminal Legal News, Florida, Sex Offenders
Opinion | Voters putting faith in criminal justice reform

"A recent nationwide Barna Group survey, commissioned by Prison Fellowship, found that 74 percent of practicing Christians say that a candidate’s criminal justice platform influences their vote. Seventy-seven percent say their beliefs compel them to advocate in support of criminal justice reforms to make the system more fair, safe, and humane."

Memphis Commercial Appeal

August 13, 2018

Read More
Mass Incarceration, OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyMemphis Commercial Appeal, Christianity
The Changing State of Recidivism: Fewer People Going Back to Prison

"Pew analyzed publicly accessible data from the 23 states that reported reliable prison admissions and release data to BJS from 2005 through 2015. Among prisoners released in 2005, 48 percent returned to prison by the end of 2008. By comparison, among those released in those states in 2012, 37 percent had at least one new prison admission by the end of 2015."

Pew Charitable Trusts

August 1, 2018

Read More
Mass Incarceration, OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyPew Charitable Trusts, Recidivism
Dial T for Tyranny: While America Feuds, the Police State Shifts Into High Gear

"Yet behind the footlights, those who really run the show are putting into place policies which erode our freedoms and undermine our attempts at contributing to the workings of our government, leaving us none the wiser and bereft of any opportunity to voice our discontent or engage in any kind of discourse until it’s too late."

Criminal Legal News

July 20, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyCriminal Legal News
Responses to Violence Must Move Beyond Policing

"Responses operating outside the institution of policing and in the interest of the material well-being of the people are needed. This means not relying on police to solve conflict or social problems but instead pushing to divest funding from them and putting those funds into education, mental health, and other resources for the places we live."

The Appeal

June 19, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyPolice, Violence, Surveillance, Diversion, The Appeal
Overcriminalizing America

"Over the years, the number of state and federal rules which carry criminal penalties has exploded. At the federal level alone, there are already more than 300,000 laws and regulations whose violation can lead to prison time. But the list of criminal laws and regulations by which we are bound is much bigger than that. And it’s growing."

Manhattan Institute

January 10, 2018

Read More
OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyOvercriminalization, Manhattan Institute