The Power of Sheriffs: Explained - The Appeal
Jan 4, 2019 · Sheriffs and ICE. Because sheriffs have the power to detain people, they often play a role in immigration enforcement. Ex-Sheriff Arpaio was found in contempt of court in 2017 after refusing to follow a federal judge’s order to stop profiling and detaining Latinx people during traffic stops and immigration raids.
The Criminalization of Homelessness: Explained - The Appeal
Jun 29, 2018 · The most straightforward path to ending the criminalization of homelessness runs through state legislatures. State and local officials should refrain from passing new laws that target homeless individuals, and they should repeal existing laws that criminalize life-sustaining and necessary behaviors.
Qualified Immunity: Explained - The Appeal
Jun 19, 2019 · Qualified Immunity: Explained. How a 60-year-old legal doctrine lets law enforcement officers off the hook for violating civil rights. On the morning of Nov. 23, 2004, Malaika Brooks was driving her 11-year-old son to school when Seattle police pulled her over for speeding. When the officers gave her a ticket and asked her to sign it, Brooks ...
People Of Color Receive The Harshest Punishments, And The …
Dec 4, 2019 · Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice takes a close look at the rates of incarceration for different racial groups. While disparities have gone down, Black and Latinx people continue to be incarcerated at ...
The Movement to Decriminalize Psilocybin, Explained
Mar 1, 2021 · Over the last two years, several U.S. cities have decriminalized psilocybin either through ballot initiative or city council vote. In May 2019, Denver became the first city in the country to decriminalize “the use and possession of mushrooms containing the psychedelic compound psilocybin.”. Since then, a decentralized organization known as ...
Public Defenders Run for Judge to Reduce Mass Incarceration
Mar 4, 2024 · Newsrooms and voters tend to overlook judicial elections—despite the tremendous power judges hold in the criminal legal system. Los Angeles elected its first Black public defender, Holly Hancock, as a Superior Court judge in 2022, after Hancock promised to prioritize community well-being by supporting alternatives to incarceration.. Now, five …
False Confessions, Explained - The Appeal
Jun 7, 2021 · A false confession is a statement given by a person that incriminates them in a crime they did not commit. Scientists who study this phenomenon group false confessions into three general categories: (1) voluntary; (2) coerced-compliant, and (3) coerced-internalized. ( ( (There are, of course, myriad of cases where a confession was presented at ...
Felony Murder, Explained - The Appeal
Mar 4, 2021 · Felony Murder, Explained. The felony murder rule has a long and complicated history that is worth examining precisely because it’s not that simple. The sight of the United States Capitol shrouded in tear gas, besieged by rioters marauding toward a joint session of Congress, shocked the national conscience. Five people died at the riot, and in ...
The Epidemic of Brady Violations: Explained
Apr 25, 2018 · Illustration by Hisashi Okawa. Jessica Brand. Apr 25, 2018. In 2003, Brooklyn prosecutors charged John Giuca with killing a 19-year-old college student to earn “street cred” with the Ghetto Mafia gang. A jailhouse informant’s testimony claiming that Giuca confessed to him in prison formed a critical piece of the government’s case.
Tens of thousands of people are raped in prisons each year - The …
Apr 18, 2022 · Cynthia Alvarado Photo by Val Kiebala Women Silenced Behind Prison Walls . For incarcerated women, sexual assault often comes on top of a long history of abuse. More than 90 percent of incarcerated women experienced sexual assault or physical trauma before their incarceration, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.Unaddressed trauma is often what leads people into the criminal legal ...