Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.
“Sanders said, "We have something like one out of four young black men in this country end up in the criminal justice system. They may end up in jail, they may end up on parole, they may end up on probation." We hadn’t heard a one-in-four statistic exactly how Sanders said it, so we decided to check it out.“
Politifact
August 22, 2019
Read More“In a fierce dissent, Justice Neil Gorsuch slammed the Supreme Court for letting Congress ‘endow the nation’s chief prosecutor with the power to write his own criminal code governing the lives of a half-million citizens.’ Enforcing the separation of powers, he wrote, is ‘about safeguarding a structure designed to protect their liberties, minority rights, fair notice, and the rule of law’.”
Forbes
June 21, 2019
Read More“Warren is pointing out that unjust laws are only half the problem. Unjust laws on the books are nothing new. For them to do the most harm, they must be enforced as such. Warren notes that smuggling and harboring laws ‘have always been applied selectively: with aggressive prosecutions of ‘criminal’ networks but leniency for big agriculture and other politically powerful industries that employ scores of undocumented laborers’.“
The Appeal
June 11, 2019
Read More“Given the internal incentives to keep jails full, change will have to come from outside the criminal justice system. The most obvious lever available, which is picking up steam in multiple states, is bail reform. States could simply mandate that individuals accused of low-level crimes are automatically released on their own recognizance before trial. Jurisdictions that have experimented with this approach have found rates of appearing at trial in excess of 98 percent.“
Washington Post
June 6, 2019
Read More“Extreme sentencing has been justified in the name of public safety, but the evidence demonstrates it is a failed policy. Even crime victims have said long sentences don’t serve their needs, and that money could be better spent on crime prevention and victims services. Keeping someone locked up when they are elderly and infirm, in a wheelchair or on oxygen, until they die alone and far away from loved ones, doesn’t create a safe and healthy society.“
The Hill
November 24, 2018
Read More“Overcriminalization, therefore, creates a vicious circle, where trust between the public and the police is degraded and serious crime is left unchecked thus creating a less-safe society causing law-and-order conservative types to demand for more aggressive policing. This circle will not be broken until the root problem of overcriminalization is identified and addressed.“
Above the Law
October 30, 2018
Read More“If McLemore’s conviction stands, Washington would most likely be the only state to criminalize the refusal to assist police in a warrantless search.“
The Appeal
October 17, 2018
Read More"Cities can’t prosecute people for sleeping on the streets if they have nowhere else to go because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court said Tuesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with six homeless people from Boise, who sued the city in 2009 over a local ordinance that banned sleeping in public spaces. The ruling could affect several other cities across the U.S. West that have similar laws."
Idaho Statesman
September 4, 2018
Read More"At first blush, the idea might seem fringe and unreasonable; where, for instance, would all the criminals go? What happens to rapists and murderers? But the movement’s backers counter that it is the only truly humane direction we can head in as a society—that is, if we really aspire to live in a world rid of interpersonal harm and racial inequality. And they might actually be making headway."
Politico
August 15, 2018
Read More"Redefining "tough on crime" required nothing new or groundbreaking. Instead, it meant simply applying longstanding conservative principles — fiscal discipline and bureaucratic accountability, chief among them — to the criminal justice system."
Tampa Bay Times
August 10, 2018
Read More"While these laws threaten addicts with draconian penalties simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they have done nothing to deter people from doing drugs or stem the tide of overdose deaths in the U.S."
Rolling Stone
August 2, 2018
Read More"Instead, she posits, the penal power exerts social control through what she describes as marking (identifying a defendant as a real or potential lawbreaker), procedural hassle (the ordeal of processing a case) and performance (an evaluation of the defendant’s subsequent behavior). How? By identifying recidivists on the basis of previous arrests alone, rather than convictions, and then subjecting them to more stringent oversight."
New York Times
July 26, 2018
Read More"Even though there is a modicum of evidence that public registries may have some deterrent effect on potential offenders, any benefit is more than offset by the increased recidivism risk from those who are publicly listed. Public registration exacerbates known criminogenic risk factors (like poor housing, unemployment, social isolation and poverty), and larger public registries appear to result in more rather than fewer sex crimes."
The Appeal
July 20, 2018
Read More"Burdeen adds that pretrial jail fees are just one part of a constellation of fines and fees faced by people ensnared in the criminal justice system. Criminal defendants, she says, can be charged for booking, their stay in jail, medical care, even the cost of a public defender."
The Appeal
July 20, 2018
Read More"To raise revenue and make up for budget shortfalls, cities, states, courts, and prosecutors levy hefty fines at nearly every stage of the criminal justice system. People leaving prison owe on average $13,607 in fines and fees. For those who are poor, these fees can be catastrophic. An inability to pay can lead to a suspended license, additional fees, and even jail. In this Explainer, we explore all the ways the poor are regressively taxed in the justice system, and what can be done to stop these practices."
The Appeal
July 16, 2018
Read More"This is a chief concern among police technology experts: is technology defined by how it’s used in day-to-day or extreme scenarios? Gizmodo spoke with representatives from both DJI and Axon, including members of its’ newly formed Artificial Intelligence Ethics Board, and to understand a simple question: What problem does police drone surveillance actually solve? "
Gizmodo
July 11, 2018
Read More"Entrepreneurial youngsters across the country have been starting their own businesses selling water, mowing lawns and the old classic, operating lemonade stands. And the adults around them? They’re calling the cops."
New York Post
July 8, 2018
Read More