Over the course of 2015, President Barack Obama used the clemency powers of his office to free more than 100 federal prisoners, most of whom were nonviolent offenders who had been sentenced by overly harsh narcotics laws. The releases were, Obama said in late December, “another step forward in upholding our ideals of justice and fairness.” Those “men and women … had served their debt to society,” he said.
If the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cannot uphold the law and dispense justice, it can at least provide consistency. That seems to be the lesson from the court's opinion yesterday that upheld convictions against former Alabama governor Don Siegelman by pointing to its earlier ruling against codefendant and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.
March 5 marks an important but oft-overlooked anniversary. On a winter’s day 245 years ago, in the year 1770, an angry crowd formed in Boston, then the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. People were enraged by the extortionate taxes imposed by the British Parliament. In order to quell the public furor, the British sent troops, who violently quashed dissent.
A Department of Justice letter sent to the Police Chief Tom Jackson of Ferguson, Missouri on Friday instructed all officers to stop wearing “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelets. Another letter issued on Tuesday ordered members of the police department to wear readable name plates, after officers were seen wearing unidentifiable tags or none at all.
ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons'
Read MoreAttorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed…
Read MoreThe Charlotte police officer who killed Keith Lamont Scott will not be charged. In a news conference on Wednesday, R. Andrew…
Read MoreIn my previous column, I promised to take up the topic of the historical roots of the continuing mistrust between…
Read MoreAs his family and community prepare to bury Terence Crutcher on Saturday, the students of a Tulsa middle school - including…
Read More"You have a company using profits from the sale of what has been called 'the most potent and dangerous opioid…
Read MoreFew were surprised on Dec. 7, 2015, when U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a civil rights investigation of the…
Read MoreThe United States houses 25% of the world's inmates despite having only 5% of the world's population. This fact prompted…
Read MoreInglewood, CA — On Sunday, police responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle parked on Manchester Boulevard around 3:10 am.…
Read MoreAcclaimed "The New Jim Crow" author and Ohio State University professor Michelle Alexander, one of the first to draw the…
Read MoreThe 12-year-old boy died at a hospital, where he was taken by ambulance after he was shot by a police…
Read MoreThere is little doubt that the Black Lives Matter era of protests will be branded as a millennial moment. But…
Read MoreIn wake of latest deaths, protesters say to Mayor Rahm Emanuel: 'You failed us before, but now's your time to…
Read MoreIf asked what state has the highest incarceration rate of Black people, most people would likely cite Mississippi, Alabama or…
Read MoreThe Drug Enforcement Administration is not having a great year. The chief of the agency stepped down in April under…
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