The Justice Report
The Justice Report is a journal dedicated to the advancement of civil rights by providing context and understanding for issues most prominently affecting our justice system today. This curated collection is an online database focused on poverty, historical civil rights benchmarks, staff and contributor insights, and the inner workings of our government leaders.
The college admissions scandal -- while shocking in some ways -- has revealed what most Americans have always known: the rich have many advantages when it comes to higher education. As bad (and as illegal) as it is to bribe admissions officers, SAT proctors, and athletics coaches to get one’s own child admitted to a prestigious university, it is only the newest way we’ve learned that some wealthy parents have of manipulating the admissions system to their advantage.
On March 4, 2019, in the federal court in San Francisco, Equal Justice Under Law won its lawsuit against the bail schedule system.
Read More“We are not makers of history; we are made by history." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read MoreIn Texas, the Omnibase program is exacerbating wealth-inequality and disproportionately hurting those experiencing poverty.
Read MoreAs of January 2018, over 1.4 million Texans had suspended licenses for failure to pay additional surcharges on a ticket for a driving infraction. Equal Justice Under Law has filed a lawsuit against Governor Greg Abbot and Texas’ Department of Public Safety to end this program once and for all and help affected Texans escape a cycle of poverty.
Read MoreBetween 2011 and 2016, Pennsylvania suspended the licenses of over 149,000 individuals as an additional punishment for non-driving-related drug convictions. Now, nine months after EJUL filed a class action lawsuit against the counterproductive practice, Pennsylvania has abolished it.
Read MorePrivate companies charge incarcerated individuals and their families up to $14 for a single minute on the phone — a devastating assault on the dignity and family ties of prisoners.
Read MoreCriminal hearings are supposed to be free and public, but in Dallas, Texas — where thousands of individuals remain locked up because they cannot afford bail — bail hearings are held in secrecy behind closed doors.
Read MoreComplaints from Equal Justice Under Law have prompted investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice into racial discrimination in bail systems across the country. This month, EJUL formally requested that OJP address extreme pretrial racial disparities in Prince George’s County.
Read MoreEvery day between 400,000 and 500,000 people are behind bars who haven't been convicted of a crime, they are just awaiting their day in court. Senator Bernie Sanders has plans to change this. If his Bill passes, it would be a monumental victory for criminal justice reform across the country.
Read More“His wife knocked on the door one morning and burst into tears, and explained what happened,” Gruffudd recalls. He describes a certain despair accompanying the excitement in the visiting area, “full of families and children, dressed in their Sunday best.” Meanwhile, the inmates appeared emotionally and physically deteriorated.
Read MoreIn response to complaints filed by Equal Justice Under Law against numerous counties across the nation, the Justice Department is now scrutinizing jurisdictions that disproportionately deny pretrial release to people of color, or more commonly, set bail at substantially higher amounts for people of color than for white defendants accused of the same or similar offenses.
Read MoreIn a 2-1 decision, the justices said Wednesday that the city's bond rules are constitutional, even though defendants who can't afford bail remain behind bars for up to 48 hours after their arrests. Two days in jail does not cause unreasonable harm to a person's life, the justices argued.
Read MoreSpecifically, the complaint alleges that the Twentieth Judicial District’s practice of requiring defendants to post secured money bail as a pretrial condition of release had a discriminatory effect on African Americans because they are disproportionately detained in jail prior to trial.
Read MoreA new class-action lawsuit accuses Alameda County of allowing a private company to charge excessive fees to people sentenced to electronic monitoring, telling them to pay up or go to jail. James Brooks left his job at the Port of Oakland after his mother was paralyzed by a catastrophic stroke in 2012. The 49-year-old former longshoreman is now her full-time caregiver, earning about minimum wage from the state's In-Home Supportive Services program.
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