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 Marshall Project reporter Joseph Neff obtained data offering a rare glimpse into how private companies profit from the steady march of low-level offenders into Mississippi jails. Over 18 recent months, this industry took in $43 million, with 36% of revenues generated from small bonds in a state where the average income is under $22k. Corbett Bonding, the largest company and a major focus on this story, has a troubling cozy relationship with jails and courts in the state.
Read MoreOften when a person thinks about GPS ankle shackles, that person thinks about people who’ve committed deadly crime. What many people don’t know is that over 30,000 people wearing GPS ankle shackles are undocumented people. Many of those thousands are asylum seekers. That’s right, people who are fleeing persecution and who come to America as refugees now must walk around with this stigmatizing device on their ankle.
Read MoreTypically release from prison is a good thing. No one wants to be holed up in a small, dirty cell with a stranger, away from family and friends. Some people, particularly innocent people, are so desperate to get out of a cell that they’ll plead guilty to charges they’re innocent of, because probation is cheaper than electronic monitoring. For others who are in no better financial predicament but who have many responsibilities or dependents who rely on them, ankle monitoring is the only alternative to incarceration.
Read MoreIn our line of work, we don't get good news too often so we love to celebrate victories when they happen.
This one is special: President Trump pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, who served 21 years of a life sentence without parole for a single non-violent drug offense.
Read MoreMore than 7 million people nationwide may have had their driver’s licenses suspended for failure to pay court or administrative debt, a practice that advocates say unfairly punishes the poor, a Washington Post analysis found. About 10 percent of that total involved residents of Virginia, Maryland and the District.
Read MoreDismantling the commercial bail industry is a steep hill to climb. Prosecutors, mayors, legislators and governors across the country are responding to the community-led movement for bail reform and reconsidering the role of money bail in our justice system.
Read MoreThe money bail system is one of the most corrupt parts of our criminal justice system, so we applaud Google for taking this unprecedented move to ban ads for bail bonds from its platforms.
Read MoreLast week, our fearless board member Alfred Baltazar Baca finished up his coast to coast ride to raise money for Equal Justice Under Law (go to our website to donate in his name!)
Read MoreIt's been almost four years since Joyce Davis has seen her sons. As a client of Equal Justice Under Law — a Detroit area mother and grandmother who is living on a fixed income and battling cancer — was not allowed to visit her two sons in prison because of unpaid traffic tickets. She owed $1485 to the state.
Read MoreWorld Book and Copyright Day falls on April 23rd each year. To mark the occasion, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, observed that "Books are at the intersection of some of the most essential human freedoms, primarily freedom of expression and freedom to publish. These are fragile freedoms. "
Read MoreOn April 17, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, Mark Inch, testified at an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee n Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.
Read MoreA historic Resolution Agreement was reached yesterday with the United States Department of Justice and the Tenth Judicial District of Alabama, requiring the use of risk-based assessments and pretrial alternative services rather than monetary means to determine which defendants are released prior to trial.
Read MoreApril is Second Chances Month, a time for all of us to focus on providing opportunities for people with criminal records to earn an honest second chance at life and celebrating those who have successfully re-entered society and become active members of our communities.
Read MoreOur national conversation can be a little bleak these days. Continually fighting the good fight – against poverty, inequality in our justice system, or any of your own personal causes – can be exhausting, frustrating and downright infuriating. So, here’s your chance to join us for a little levity and add some color back to our national picture.
Read MoreOn March 15th, our Executive Director Phil Telfeyan participated in a groundbreaking discussion about the role of economic inequality in our transportation system, as part of University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions Engagement Series.
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