Since they began in the early 20th century, juvenile courts always treated kids differently – as people who were young enough to change. This began to change in the 1980s and 1990s when crime really spiked and we began putting some kids in adult courts and prisons – even giving life without parole and death penalties.Marsha Levick, deputy director and chief counsel for the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, explains what changed.
Read MoreThere were high hopes for police body cameras in the wake of Ferguson. But three years later, have they lived up to the hype? A new study says no.
Read MorePolice have endured harsh public scrutiny over use of force cases, but prosecutors have also taken heat for choosing not to pursue cases when civilians are shot by police.
Older, traditional prosecutorial professional organizations, such as the National District Attorneys Association, have fought against any changes. But one group, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, has taken a more open approach, arguing for the importance of prosecutorial independence and transparency.
David LaBahn is the CEO and president for the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
Read MoreHarvey Weinstein is heard on tape admitting to criminal acts, and there's more than enough evidence to prosecute him. So why isn't he facing charges? And does this sound familiar?
Read MoreGun violence kills thousands of Americans every year. It carries massive consequences in lives lost, injuries and medical treatment, but what about the economic cost – in jobs, businesses and community development? How can we measure the economic opportunity costs of gun violence?
Read MoreThe death penalty – once a constant in U.S. criminal justice – has actually declined for more than a decade. In the last few years, it’s fallen dramatically, with death sentences handed down and executions way off. Why? And what does it mean for the rest of the criminal justice system?
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court is back in session this week with a major criminal justice case on the docket. In this bonus episode, a quick primer on what's at stake in Carpenter v. U.S.
Read MoreThe Chicago Police Department has a big problem with misconduct against civilians – both now and in the past. How much does this cost the city financially? What do the patterns of misconduct tell us? And why has the city done almost nothing to address those patterns?
Read MoreUpdates on a pair of stories we've covered in the last year: Lawyers Behaving Badly alumnus Roy Moore becomes Alabama's GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, and a D.C. court puts new limits on police use of "Stingray" surveillance technology re: Episode 48).
Read MorePolice killings of unarmed black men, stop-and-frisk policies and racially disproportionate prison populations have all been called symptoms of a broken criminal justice system.
Georgetown law professor and author Paul Butler says no – this is exactly the way the system was designed to work.
Read MoreThe acquittal of a St. Louis police officer charged with shooting a civilian has raised the question: why wasn't the case heard by a jury? David explains why police facing trial often opt to be tried by a judge.
Read MoreMass incarceration in the U.S. created crisis conditions in prisons everywhere, and modern prison systems now have to address much more than just locking inmates up.
Read MoreKillings of unarmed black people by police have worsened historically troubled police-community relations. Until recently, little research existed that might help explain this or improve the situation. Social psychologists have created work that helps us understand why things go wrong in policing, what role race plays, and how we can do better.
Read MoreSpecial Prosecutor Robert Mueller is teaming up with the New York Attorney General's office. What does it mean for the investigation into the Trump White House's Russia connection?
Read MoreAfter riots erupted Ferguson in 2014, investigations revealed that the entire criminal justice system in St. Louis County – not just the police department – levied massive amounts of fines and fees on its poorest citizens in order to fund itself. It was a wake-up call, but one organization had been in place working on these issues for five years.
Read MoreThe presidential pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a message to Donald Trump's supporters: if you defy a federal court order, I've got your back. David explains how the notorious Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff was convicted of contempt of court, and why his pardon sets a dangerous precedent.
Read MoreThere's been a vocal response to President Trump's remarks before an audience of police officers last week where he seemed to encourage "roughing up" suspects during the course of an arrest. The president's defenders say it was a joke, but many law enforcement professionals aren't laughing.
Read MoreDetails are still sparse in the fatal shooting of 40-year-old Justine Damond, an Australian national, by Minneapolis police on July 15. But what we do know points to a serious problem with the relationship between police and the people who rely on them for protection and safety.
Read MoreThe federal government doesn't record anything when police shoot civilians, and there's no official national database to tell us how big or complex the problem is.
One newspaper journalist says he learned a lot requesting documents from more than 400 jurisdictions in his home state alone. In six years and more than 800 shootings, not one incident resulted in criminal charges.
Read MoreOhio prosecutors have declined to seek a third trial against a white University of Cincinnati police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man during a 2015 traffic stop.
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