Criminal Law

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on September 19, 2008
Alabama: Inmate Voter Registration Efforts Halted National: Disenfranchisement Gets National Attention, Gains Momentum Mississippi: Lawsuit Demands Right to Vote South Carolina: Elections Officials in Need of More Training Oklahoma: Election Board Passing on Faulty Information, ACLU Survey Documents Tennessee: Excitement About Election, Elections Officials See Registration Increase Florida: Statewide Ad Campaign Targets Individuals with Felony Offenses Virginia: Increase in Vote Restoration Posted Date:9/19/2008 9:09:07 PM

Read News: FBI REPORT INDICATES DECLINE IN VIOLENT CRIME

Posted on September 16, 2008
A new report released by the FBI indicates that violent crime in the U.S. declined slightly in 2007, after small increases in the previous two years. Overall, crime rates have declined significantly since the early 1990s. Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project stated that, “We’ve learned that variations in crime rates by city or region are often a function of local circumstances that should be addressed through targeted initiatives...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on September 12, 2008
New York: Voting Rights Education Hits the Road Nevada: Automatically Eligible, but You Have to Know the Rules North Carolina: Campaigning off the Beaten Path Tennessee: NAACP Offers Restoration Assistance Posted Date:9/12/2008 1:51:30 PM

Read News: Overcharged

Posted on September 08, 2008
“Paying a debt to society now means more than doing time. In addition to prison sentences or alternatives to incarceration such as drug programs, fees and surcharges are being imposed on criminal offenders throughout the country. In some states, offender-based revenues start to accumulate upon arrest, without a wait for conviction...

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Read Publication: Letter to U.S. Sentencing Commission Recommending Future Priorities

Posted on September 05, 2008
Comments to the United States Sentencing Commission regarding priorities for the Commission's focus for 2008-09. 5 pages Posted Date:9/5/2008 3:48:41 PM

Read News: The Sentencing Project Submits Letter to U.S. Sentencing Commission Recommending Future Priorities

Posted on September 05, 2008
The Sentencing Project has submitted comments to the United States Sentencing Commission regarding priorities for the Commission’s focus for 2008-09. The letter recommends that the Commission address the following: continue to work with Congress to promote reform of crack cocaine sentences; engage in a comprehensive assessment of the effects of mandatory minimum sentencing in the federal courts; pursue consideration of expanded options for alternatives to incarceration; and, follow the lead of states such as Iowa, Connecticut, and Minnesota in establishing policies to forecast the racial impact of proposed policy changes...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on September 04, 2008
Florida: Executive Order Aimed to Speed Up Process New York: Personal Fulfillment Includes the Right to Vote Michigan: Attempting to Correct False Information Wisconsin: State Representative Thinks Law Should Change - for the Better National: Voter Awareness Program Unveiled; Research Offers Judges' Views on Collateral Consequences National: New York Review of Books Features Disenfranchisement Publication Posted Date:9/4/2008 6:26:13 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on August 28, 2008
Florida: ‘Bureaucratic Shuffle’ Disappointing Virginia: Officials Working to Restore Rights of Hundreds by September Kentucky: Advocates Mobilize for 11 Weeks of Registration, Education Alabama: No Advocate in Attorney General National: BET Documentary on Disenfranchisement Airs Friday, Sunday Pennsylvania: 'Felons Can Vote' Sign at Campaign Headquarters Causes Minor Stir Posted Date:8/28/2008 8:02:34 PM

Read News: Government estimates nearly 810,000 inmates in U.S. prisons were parents to more than 1.7 million minor children at midyear 2007

Posted on August 27, 2008
An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation's prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Fifty-two percent of state inmates and 63 percent of federal inmates reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on August 22, 2008
Alabama: Moral Turpitude ‘Vastly Inferior’ California: County Jail Inmates Educated About their Right to Vote in Upcoming Election Indiana: Advocacy Organization to Recruit 500 Volunteers to Register Voters Florida: Committee Supports Restoration While Commission Continues to Experience Backlog Illinois: ‘Myth’ Misinforms too Many Posted Date:8/22/2008 3:06:29 PM

Read News: Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment Hears Testimony From Advocates, Attorneys

Posted on August 21, 2008
On August 19th, Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, testified before the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment, created by Governor Martin O’Malley in 2008 to study all aspects of the death penalty in Maryland.  The 23-member Commission is chaired by former United States Attorney General (1979-1981), Benjamin Civiletti...

Read News: Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, Receives Volunteers of America Maud Booth Correctional Services Award

Posted on August 19, 2008
Early prison reformer Maud Booth campaigned against abuses in the prison system before the turn of the 20th century when the U.S. made use of the ball and chain, prison stripes and the indiscriminate use of solitary confinement. From 1896 to Booth’s death in 1948, the Volunteers of America cofounder worked tirelessly – and successfully – at prison reform...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on August 14, 2008
National: “New Constituency” Targeted as Election Day ApproachesFlorida: Automatic Restoration is in the Governor's HandsNevada: More Difficulty Ahead Posted Date:8/14/2008 3:55:15 PM

Read News: In Ohio, Inmate Mothers Care For Babies In Prison

Posted on August 13, 2008
NPR’s “Morning Edition” is airing a three-part series examining the composition of the expanding U.S. prison population. Today’s segment featured the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where a dozen babies spend time with their incarcerated mothers – part of a program that enables incarcerated mothers to raise their children in their cells...

Read News: For Those Once Behind Bars, A Nudge to the Voting Booth

Posted on August 11, 2008
Florida civil rights lawyer Reggie Mitchell, Alabama activist Rev. Kenneth Glasgow and the advocacy efforts of various other grass-roots groups around the nation are trying to register tens of thousands of newly eligible citizens with felony convictions for the upcoming election...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on August 07, 2008
Virginia: “There is Some Hope” Kentucky: Governor’s Move to Restore Rights “Makes Every Kind of Sense”Tennessee: Voting While (Unknowingly) Disenfranchised Pennsylvania: Preventing Disenfranchisement National: Punishment Versus Basic Rights Florida: Continue Momentum, Disband Disenfranchisement Alabama: Father, Son Disagree on Disenfranchisement Policy in Op-ed Posted Date:8/7/2008 6:27:50 PM

Read News: Racial Fairness Gaining Ground in the Justice System

Posted on July 30, 2008
Commenting on the recent introduction of the bipartisan Justice Integrity Act which addresses unwarranted racial disparity within the federal criminal justice system, The Sentencing Project’s Executive Director Marc Mauer points out in a Baltimore Sun commentary the state and federal momentum to address these issues...

Read Publication: Facts About Prison and Prisoners

Posted on July 29, 2008
Fact sheet on the growing number of incarcerated persons in federal and state prisons with details on race, gender, substance abuse and crime offenses. 1 page Posted Date:7/29/2008 12:59:43 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on July 24, 2008
Alabama: ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Crimes of Moral Turpitude, Restitution Requirement Florida: Make a “Simple Fix” Virginia: Collateral Consequences Unfair, Unnecessary North Carolina: Community Groups Get Out The Vote Posted Date:7/24/2008 10:12:57 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on July 18, 2008
Louisiana: Bill Requiring Voting Rights Notification Gets Thumbs Up from Local ACLU Posted Date:7/18/2008 4:14:07 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on July 11, 2008
Tennessee: Changing Attitudes, Lawsuit May Increase Number of Voters Come November Florida: Clock Running Down for Eligible Formerly Incarcerated Individuals to Register to Vote Louisiana: New Law Requires State to Notify Individuals of Voter StatusVirginia: Citizens’ Voting Rights Turns Political Delaware: House Bill Defines Completion of Sentence as Having Paid Restitution National: Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Need Voting Rights to Speak up for their Issues Posted Date:7/11/2008 8:15:43 PM

Read News: Communities Pay for High Prison Rate

Posted on July 10, 2008
“In South Mountain, a district in south Phoenix, more than 3,800 residents are displaced, serving time in prison or the county jail. For every 100 adults, 6.1 are behind bars. That's more than five times the national average of 1.09 per 100 … Arizona has the fastest-growing prison population of the Western states, having increased 5...

Read News: Drug Courts: A Better Mousetrap?

Posted on July 08, 2008
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour signed a bill into law this year to “restore common sense to sentencing in the criminal courts” and relaxing sentencing guidelines. As a result, approximately 7,000 incarcerated individuals were eligible for parole...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on July 03, 2008
Michigan: Officials’ Misunderstanding Leads to Misinformed, Nonvoting Citizens Tennessee: Lawsuit Aims to Strike Down “Poll Tax,” Restore Rights National: “Illogical System” in Florida In Need of “Complete Overhaul” Posted Date:7/3/2008 3:04:59 PM

Read Feature: Theresa McIntyre Smith

Posted on July 01, 2008
“I raised four daughters – three of them are college graduates and you think I have time to sell drugs? I don’t think so,” – Theresa McIntyre Smith Theresa McIntyre Smith had never been in trouble with the law. College educated, pursuing a degree in criminal justice, Theresa worked for many years in the airline industry, eventually becoming a flight attendant...

Read News: PBS Broadcasts "Election Day" Documentary Featuring Disenfranchisement

Posted on June 30, 2008
On PBS tomorrow at 10 p.m., POV will broadcast "Election Day," a film by Katy Chevigny that combines 11 stories - shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight - into one. A segment of the documentary highlights felon disenfranchisement with formerly incarcerated New York City resident Leon Batts who just regained his right to vote...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on June 27, 2008
Virginia: Governor Receptive to Disenfranchisement Reform for those Charged with Non-violent Offenses Florida: To the Governor, Congrats … and Continue On Massachusetts: Voting Not a “Privilege for the Virtuous” Posted Date:6/27/2008 1:36:19 PM

Read News: Do More Prisoners Equal Less Crime?

Posted on June 26, 2008
In a recent syndicated column ("More Prisons, Less Crime"), commentator George Will argues that the world record incarceration rate in the United States has produced safer streets and has been beneficial in particular to African Americans, who are disproportionately victims of crime...

Read News: States Act to Reduce Racial Disparities in Prisons and Jails

Posted on June 25, 2008
Following the lead of Iowa and Wisconsin, Connecticut, this month, has become the third state since April to implement policy changes to address the rising rate of racial and ethnic disparity among the jail and prison population. Posted Date:6/25/2008 3:07:48 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on June 20, 2008
Florida: Finally, “Sub Group” of Potential Voters Getting Attention Virginia: Governor, Advocates Play ‘Beat the Clock’ to Register Former Offenders Posted Date:6/20/2008 5:49:57 PM

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