Because 90% of all prisoners in the United States are in state facilities, the work that states are doing to reduce their prison populations is crucial. Attempting to end mass incarceration necessitates realizing this is a situation requiring not one national solution, but fifty state solutions. Below are current state solutions that could be effectively modeled by other states for meaningful reform.
“That’s history worth considering as the old foes of reform sing their familiar tune. Governor Cuomo, legislative leaders and Mayor Bill de Blasio, all of whom supported the reforms, should stand proudly behind them. Prosecutors and police unions trying to thwart the will of the voters and undermine the public’s trust in long-overdue reforms should instead get to work making the change.“
New York Times
November 17, 2019
Read More“The result is not only the virtual loss of the jury trial — today, 95 percent of convictions come from guilty pleas instead of jury verdicts — but also the loss of the only opportunity to confront police misconduct in criminal proceedings. In New York City, for example, less than 5 percent of all felony arrests that are prosecuted have hearings to contest police misconduct. For misdemeanor arrests that are prosecuted — a third of which are initiated by the police — less than .5 percent of cases go to a hearing. A guilty plea also has the effect of insulating police from any civil rights lawsuit asserting false arrest because a plea of guilty serves as an admission that the officers’ arrest was justified.“
New York Times
September 25, 2019
Read More“Until recently, such ideas were considered so radical in the United States that they would have been immediately dismissed even among reform-minded lawmakers. But they are now being instituted or seriously considered in cities and states across the nation. Experts say the changing debate reflects a seismic shift in how the American public views criminal justice issues.“
New York Times
August 20, 2019
Read More“Last year, Mr. Singleton began thinking more seriously about that question. He conceived of a project called Beyond Guilt, to emphasize that guilt is not an endpoint but the possible beginning of a “story of redemption.” The goal is to push for legislation to provide new avenues for early release, and to create a network of lawyers to take up individual cases.“
The New York Times
July 19, 2019
Read More“Mr. Levin highlighted measures passed recently in both red and blue states — important developments given that the vast majority of inmates are in state prisons, not federal ones. Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure downgrading some drug-related felonies to misdemeanors. New Jersey and New Mexico revised their bail systems. Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee, a Republican, has proposed several changes. “
New York Times
May 16, 2019
Read More“If the messages were similar, the messengers were far from it. The first was Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic candidate for president. The second was Mark Holden, a senior vice president of the company owned by Charles G. and David H. Koch, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting conservative causes. And if the report showed one thing, it was this: There is a new bipartisan consensus on criminal justice, and it is that the old consensus was wrong.“
The New York Times
May 16, 2019
Read More“What’s the best way to tackle America’s crisis of mass incarceration? This week on “The Argument,” Michelle Goldberg interviews Emily Bazelon, a staff writer at The Times Magazine, about her latest book, “Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration.” The book explores how prosecutors around the country are using their power to promote reform. Michelle and Emily talk about Brooklyn’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws for gun possession, Republicans on criminal justice reform and whether Kamala Harris really was a “progressive prosecutor.”“
New York Times
May 2, 2019
Read More“But recently talking about the site’s history didn’t seem like enough for Sean Kelley, senior vice president and director of interpretation. Two years ago, after discussions about how the museum addressed the rising number of people incarcerated in the United States — especially people of color — Mr. Kelley helped rewrite the museum’s mission statement, declaring that Eastern State would no longer be neutral in recognizing mass incarceration as a crisis.“
New York Times
March 12, 2019
Read More“Now Ms. Harris is running for president as a “progressive prosecutor.” She says she sees no contradiction in the term, arguing that a tough prosecutor can also be a force for reforming the criminal-justice system. But already, mere weeks into her candidacy, she is facing a chorus of skepticism, especially from the left. The death penalty episode shows the tricky crosscurrents that she has had to weather — and that are likely to intensify as she tries to square that circle.“
New York Times
February 11, 2019
Read More“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent. Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.“
New York Times
January 17, 2019
Read More“But there are sensible ways of dealing with witness safety concerns. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which has for decades made its evidence files readily available, shows that reform is possible. Likewise, the states that have left the old model behind have seen no need to go back to it. It’s time for New York lawmakers to bring the rest of the state in line with this essential notion of justice.“
New York Times
January 15, 2019
Read More“To its supporters, Amendment 4 (which would also allow former felons to serve on juries and run for public office) represents a potential civil rights triumph: It could enfranchise more people at once than any single initiative since women’s suffrage.“
New York Times
September 26, 2018
Read More"The issue is a rare one that crosses party lines. While liberals tend to fall in line for reform, and Republicans are more likely to emphasize prison over rehabilitation, the lines are not clean."
New York Times
July 11, 2018
Read More"The new law requires prosecutors to keep thorough records of all jailhouse informants they use — the nature of their testimony, the benefits they received and their criminal history. This information must be disclosed to defense lawyers, who may use it in court to challenge the informant’s reliability or honesty, particularly if the informant has testified in other cases."
New York Times
July 15, 2017
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