More and more states are legalizing marijuana, but California is taking it a step further by retroactively vacating old convictions.
Photo: Bob Doran (CC-BY-2.0)
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Private prisons hold over 100,000 people in the U.S. Some say they provide needed flexibility as corrections populations change and budgets shrink. But what really happens when punishment is about profit?
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A small-town judge plants recording devices all over a New Mexico county courthouse to spy on employees and colleagues.
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In some states, people convicted of felonies lose certain rights -- notably, the right to vote. What's the legal justification for a practice that indefinitely suspends the civil rights of convicts, even after they've served their sentence?
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Creative billing practices create trouble for an Atlanta attorney.
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For years, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office was notorious for heavy-handed and often racially discriminatory prosecution. As of this month, it's led by a former criminal defense attorney and activist elected with a mandate for reform. What can we expect from D.A. Larry Krasner, and what pitfalls may await him?
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Why has the US prison population grown for decades, surpassing two million? We’ve put more people in jail, but new research shows it’s not just how many people go to prison. What counts, for prison growth, is how long they stay.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case involving a Louisiana defense attorney who defied his client's wishes by preemptively conceding the man's guilt, asking that he be spared the death penalty because of his mental illness.
Is it ever okay for an lawyer to overrule his own client? What if it might be their only chance to save the client's life?
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Why forging court records is not a great idea, especially when you're an aspiring lawyer.
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Eight convictions have already been thrown out amid allegations about coerced confessions and other misconduct by former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara, and dozens more cases are now in question. But the Guevara case is far from an isolated incident.
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A Florida defense attorney produces porn videos in a jail interview room, featuring arrested sex workers he falsely claims to represent.
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded an Obama-era policy directing federal prosecutors to de-prioritize enforcement of marijuana prohibition in states that have legalized the drug. Will the new directive slow the growing acceptance of legal weed among voters, states, and mainstream politicians? (Spoiler: It will not.)
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The criminal justice system is designed to enforce accountability when bad things happen. But when it comes to preventing them from happening in the first place, courts and law enforcement agencies could learn a thing or two from the aviation and healthcare industries.
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An important rule of legal ethics is the obligation to keep client information confidential. Lawyers say that rule is fundamental to the attorney-client relationship, so clients can speak freely. But what happens when following that rule keep someone else – an innocent person – in prison? That’s what happened to Alton Logan, who sat in prison in Illinois for 26 years, even though two lawyers who represented the real killer knew the truth all along.
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Sexual abuse allegations against Alabama Judge Roy Moore have dealt a blow to the Republican candidate's Senate campaign. But could he also face criminal charges?
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When bad behavior by a police officer makes news, police often say that it’s just about one bad officer. But police departments seldom make the character of each officer the biggest factor in who they hire.
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Many people are incredulous at the Louisiana Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal over the conviction of a man who asked police during his interrogation to "give me a lawyer, dog."
According to an opinion written by one of the justices, the request was too ambiguous to count as an invocation of the suspect's Miranda rights. David explains why that's actually correct -- for reasons unrelated to the vernacular usage of "dog."
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Three years after Ferguson, criminal justice reform has spurred discussion about police, courts and incarceration. PAC leader Whitney Tymas sees prosecutors as the key to fundamental change. She explains how her organization tackles local elections and what they’re trying to accomplish.
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What do the indictments of two former Trump campaign aides, and the guilty plea entered by a third, tell us about the status of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation?
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