“A Maryland prosecutor stops seeking cash bail, Kentucky and Virginia prosecutors limit pot cases, and a Hawaii prosecutor reduces charges for driving offenses. What’s next? And why not more?“
The Appeal Political Report
September 19, 2019
Read More“U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal gave preliminary approval last week to a settlement that restructures the bail system and provides for the pretrial release of most people charged with misdemeanors in Texas’s Harris County, the nation’s third most populous county and home of Houston. And she did it over the objections of Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.“
The Appeal Political Report
September 12, 2019
Read More“Her comments flip the typical way opponents of criminal justice reform react to cases of recidivism to argue that people were not treated harshly enough. Instead she suggested that some instances of recidivism should force prosecutors to confront the failures of incarceration. “That hasn’t worked, that person is back. Maybe we need to find another way to address this particular person,” she said.“
The Appeal Political Report
August 14, 2019
Read More“George said this perspective should fuel shorter sentences, but also restrain prosecutors from seeking incarceration in the first place. ‘They spent an hour and a half there and were relieved to get out,’ she said of staff members who have already visited St. Albans as part of her initiative. ‘So let’s imagine how this might impact somebody who is there for six months or a year, and how this impacts them as a community member when they get back out. Is there a way that we can avoid that entirely, and not risk them coming out a more violent person or with some type of trauma having been in jail? Can we find another way’?“
The Appeal Political Report
August 14, 2019
Read More“Virginia’s Democratic primaries shook up the state in June, when candidates running on platforms of ending mass incarceration ousted the commonwealth’s attorneys of two of the state’s biggest counties. Will voters double down in November’s general elections?“
The Appeal Political Report
July 18, 2019
Read More“New York’s legislature reformed the state’s criminal legal system in March by adopting a slate of changes that criminal justice reformers have long championed. On paper, the 25 district attorney elections scheduled for 2019 offer the opportunity for another big overhaul, including on the very issues—bail, discovery rules, trial speed—that lawmakers just addressed.“
The Appeal Political Report
April 18, 2019
Read More“This is the fourth consecutive election where Evans is unopposed. This is a common pattern in Mississippi. In addition to the 16 incumbent DAs against whom no one filed to run against this year, there is a seventh candidate who isn’t even an incumbent and yet is now sure to win: Assistant District Attorney Daniella Shorter is the only candidate running to replace the retiring Alexander Martin in the 22nd District. It is also a common pattern nationwide. The majority of Wisconsin counties haven’t held a single contested DA election this decade, for instance.“
The Appeal: Political Report
March 7, 2019
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