Upon the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement, discussions on who will be his successor highlight a need for more Supreme Court representation.
For the past month, Derek Chauvin has been on trial for the murder of George Floyd. Finally, the verdict is out. Chauvin faced three charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. To convict Chauvin, the prosecution needed to show each charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution did not need to prove that Chauvin intended to kill George Floyd to convict him of the charges.
The opening of the first legalized safe consumption site in New York is allowing people who use drugs a safe place to consume drugs in the hopes of preventing overdoses.
Conversations around police reforms sometimes highlight specific illegitimate acts by police officers. But law enforcement ignoring the law en masse raises deeper questions about the legitimacy of an institution with a long history of racism and brutality.
Incarcerated workers risk exposure to COVID in prisons, fearing added time if they refuse to work in hazardous conditions.
The U.S. positions itself as a just country with a superior legal system where people are always considered innocent until proven guilty and always granted the right to a trial before a jury of their peers. Except this isn’t true at all. Despite the promise of the Sixth Amendment, we do not have an effective right to trial because today, the overwhelming majority of cases will never see a judge.
It's been over a year since one of the largest movements in U.S. history, yet the American justice system is far from being reformed.
In the U.S., it’s legal to be kidnapped and incarcerated without being convicted of any crime. You haven’t confessed. You aren’t considered dangerous or liable to flee before your court date. You have not been proven guilty so you must, by this country’s legal code, be considered innocent. You are nonetheless told you will be incarcerated indefinitely. Your trial date may be scheduled for a few weeks from now – – or, it may not arrive for years.
The impact of the “war on drugs” campaign in the ’70s and ’80s continues to the mass incarceration of Black and Brown people today.
Sentencing enhancements are often used to coerce defendants out of their constitutional right to a trial. Advocates are working to eliminate the exploitative practice.
