Jonathan Simon: Prison sentences must have limits to be rational and just and almost everyone agrees that California’s years of penal populism led legislators and prosecutors to produce sentences that having little relationship to either moral desert or risk.
The Prison Industrial Complex
For-profit prison companies, businesses that supply goods and services to prisons, politicians who benefit by trying to appear "tough on crime", a misdirected "war on drugs" and other forces have merged to create the largest incarcerated population in human history right here in the land of the free - the United States of America. The articles on this page explore this issue.
In Black and White: African-Americans in the Criminal Justice System
Justice is supposed to be color blind, especially in America. But is this really true? Blacks in the U.S. face overwhelming prejudice within the criminal justice system.
Movement Building and Challenging Mass Incarceration
Raj Jayadev: Is it time for community members to work with an often overwhelmed public defender system to keep people out of prison in the U.S.? One organizer in California says, “Yes.”
California’s Radical De-Incarceration Experiment
De-Incarceration: By managing offenders at the local level, California’s counties can develop solutions rooted in best practices.
Gavin Newsom for Criminal Justice Reform
Lt Gov Gavin Newsom boldly offered a blistering critique of the criminal justice system and the willingness of too many in California to simply abide by the status quo
Children in Solitary Confinement
Youth in Solitary: The U.S. is still the only country willing to allow its citizens to die in prison for crimes they commit as minors.
States Are Regretting Prisons for Profit
Private Prisons Failing — If the private prison industry is being called out in Idaho, Arizona and Texas, it’s happening elsewhere.
Confession of a Drug Dealer
Drug Dealer — My vision for post-prison was to help negotiate the peace. It is not a war on drugs, but a war against people.
41 Years in Solitary Confinement, Despite Three Overturned Convictions
Albert Woodfox has been confined to solitary for over 40 years: animal rights advocates would be outraged if animals got such treatment.
3 Ways to Successfully Reform Criminal Justice
California Policy Reform — In 2014, policymakers should develop solutions that reflect California’s most vulnerable populations.
New Laws to Help Californians Clean Up Their Records
Criminal Justice Realignment : Having a criminal history can result in crippling and indefinite barriers.
Mass Incarceration, Mass Deportation
Governing Through Crime — We must demand a full dismantling of both these legacies of the era of governing through crime.
How False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions Are Betraying U.S. Justice System
It does not advance justice or public safety for an innocent person to go to prison and a guilty party to go free. Interrogations must be recorded from beginning to end to prevent false confessions and end this tragic flaw in our criminal justice system.
