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Criminal Justice

How Sports Can Help End Violence

Karl Costello | Posted 11.06.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Dashaun Davy, Glen Kozlowski, Youth Violence, Criminal Justice, Derrion Albert, Chicago School Violence, Urban Violence, Chicago News
Karl Costello

The opportunities sports provides are too often squandered by individuals and institutions that care so little for youth that their environment allows for the murder of a Derrion Albert.

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A Hole in the Night

Robert Koehler | Posted 11.06.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Restorative Justice, Peace, Urban Violence, Crime, Chicago, Derrion Albert, Chicago School Violence, Criminal Justice, Chicago News
Robert Koehler

I remember big, white-teeth grins, laughter, especially from the kid in the white hoodie. He was laughing as he swung and connected with my cheekbone and I went down.

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Robert Cabelly, Lobbyist, Charged For Work With Sudanese Regime

The Huffington Post | Jenna Staul | Posted 10.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Criminal Justice, Lobbyblog, Sudan, Politics News

A lobbyist was indicted today on charges he violated U.S. sanctions against Sudan by attempting to act as an official agent for the country. In an e...

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Rhode Island Inches Closer To Banning Prostitution

David Segal | Posted 10.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Sex Trafficking, Criminal Justice, Human Rights, Rhode Island, Prostitution, Sex, Human Trafficking, Craigslist Killer, Craigslist, Politics News
David Segal

Rhode Island is one of two states without blanket prostitution bans. It's only sanctioned in a few counties in Nevada, but in the Ocean State it's legal everywhere -- just not for much longer.

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Are There Good Men in Sing Sing?

Tom Matlack | Posted 10.24.2009 | New York

Read More: Book Publishing, Prison, Books, Prison Inmates, Sing-Sing, Prison Reform, Hudson River, New York City, Men's Issues, Criminal Justice, New York News
Tom Matlack

I am here at Sing Sing to to bring The Good Men Project, the anthology I've edited, inside the prison -- physically and in spirit.

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Governor Rick Perry and His Texas Death Machine Are In Big Trouble

David A. Love | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Dna, George Bush, Capital Punishment, Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Crime, Rick Perry Secession, George W. Bush, Criminal Justice, Rick Perry, Texas, Jim Crow, New Yorker, Prison, Lynching, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice System, Death Penalty, Craig Beyler, Sharon Keller, Politics News
David A. Love

Cameron Todd Willingham is now a free man, but unfortunately it took death to release him from the confines of his prison bars.

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Torn Apart by Deportation, Families Struggle to Stay Together

Seth Freed Wessler | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Crime, Washington DC, Obama, Families for Freedom, Immigration, Criminal Justice, Child Citizen Protection Act, 287(G), New York, Barack Obama, Deportation, Racewire, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Reform, Colorlines, Nytimes, Criminal Justice System, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Prison, Applied Research Center, Jamaica, Jail, Politics News
Seth Freed Wessler

Families are being torn apart by deportation at the treacherous intersection of immigration enforcement and the criminal justice system.

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Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps -- and What They Say About Our Idiotic Drug Policies

David Sirota | Posted 10.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Marijuana, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Sports, Endorsements, Drug War, Medical Marijuana, Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, Politics News
David Sirota

Why do we as a country encourage the consumption of drugs that are far more harmful than some of the drugs, like marijuana, we outright criminalize?

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Obama and Paterson Get Love For Recent Drug Policy Reforms

Tony Newman | Posted 10.22.2009 | New York

Read More: Rockefeller Drug Laws, Drug Policy Alliance, Governor David Paterson, Marijuana, President Obama, Medical Marijuana, War on Drugs, Criminal Justice, New York News
Tony Newman

For as long as I can remember, the conventional political wisdom had been that elected officials, especially Democrats, can't touch drug policy reform with a ten foot pole.

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At Norway Prison, Inmates Lead The Good Life

GlobalPost | Posted 10.19.2009 | World

Read More: Bastoey, Criminal Justice, Foreign Affairs, Norway, Europe, Prison, Norway Prison, World News

OSLO, Norway -- The first time I went to prison, it was to an idyllic place with lush woodland, bright-colored houses and the waters of the Oslo fjord...

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Prison Programs Take Innovative Approach To Reducing Recidivism

Halle Tecco | Posted 10.19.2009 | Living

Read More: Government, Law, Crime, Recidivism, Criminal Justice System, Prison, The Giving Life, Non-Profits, Criminal Justice, Pranks, Living News
Halle Tecco

Here's a question to the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world: how do we turn tax-consuming inmates into tax paying, law-abiding citizens?

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David Paterson Does the Right Thing and Drops the Rock

Anthony Papa | Posted 10.07.2009 | New York

Read More: Breaking Politics News, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Governor David Paterson, Prison, Cocaine, Drug Reform, Drug War, Criminal Justice, New York News
Anthony Papa

Having felt the sting of the Rockefeller laws firsthand -- serving 12 years under a 15-years-to-life sentence -- I understand the full meaning of the reforms that went into effect today.

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Rockefeller Drug Law Reforms Go Into Effect

Eric T. Schneiderman | Posted 10.07.2009 | New York

Read More: Rockefeller, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Judicial Discretion, Criminal Justice, Drug Sentencing, Drug Reform, War on Drugs, New York News
Eric T. Schneiderman

For all the (fair) criticism of Albany's dysfunction, our state government did get something right this year. The drug law reforms go into effect today.

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Our Justice System Needs to Protect Children's Human Rights

Bernardine Dohrn | Posted 10.05.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Center-on-Wrongful-Convictions-of-Youth, Central Park Jogger, Human Rights, Chicago News, False Confessions, Criminal Justice, Northwestern University, Exoneration, Steve Drizin, Juvenile Justice, Anthony Caravella, Chicago News
Bernardine Dohrn

Routine police interrogation methods have elicited an outrageously high proportion of false confessions -- coerced confessions given by innocent suspects, especially children, who quickly recant.

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Why Young People Falsely Confess to Police

Steve Drizin | Posted 10.02.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Exoneration, Thaddeus Jimenez, West Memphis Three, Center-on-Wrongful-Convictions-of-Youth, Central Park Jogger, Lacresha Murray, Bernardine Dohrn, False Confessions, Juvenile Justice, Steve Drizin, Marty Tankleff, Ryan Harris, Criminal Justice, Northwestern University, Chicago News
Steve Drizin

I've seen police lie to children in all manner of ways, telling one child that his dead sister's blood was found in his bedroom and a different boy that his father had awakened from a coma and told police the boy was his assailant.

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Colorado DA Announces Plans To Review As Many As 5,000 Cases Using DNA Technology

The Denver Post | Howard Pankratz | Posted 10.02.2009 | Denver

Read More: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Juohn Suthers, Colorado DA, Colorado, Dna Testing, Criminal Justice, Dna Evidence, Fbi, Denver News

Funded by a $1.2 million federal grant and using the latest DNA technology, Colorado prosecutors hope to review as many as 5,000 rape, murder and mans...

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The Butch Cassidy Revival: Bank Robberies Keep the West Wild

Lise Waring | Posted 10.02.2009 | Denver

Read More: Telluride, History, Colorado, Butch Cassidy, Bank Robberies, Wild West, Crime, Criminal Justice, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Denver News
Lise Waring

At least five banks have been robbed since April, the most recent on Sept. 22. The banks all lie a few hours south of Telluride. The news would, no doubt, have made Butch Cassidy proud.

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How They Cracked Zazi

Jeff Stein | Posted 09.30.2009 | World

Read More: legal_affairs, Criminal Justice, enhanced_interrogations, Domestic Terrorism, Terrorism, Fbi, Zazi, cia_interrogations, World News
Jeff Stein

The feds cracked Najibullah Zazi without laying a hand on him, according to most news accounts. But some people still wonder if the rough stuff would...

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Thirty Years Later Rape Is Still Rape: Polanski's Date with Lady Justice

C. Nicole Mason | Posted 09.29.2009 | Entertainment

Read More: Sexual Violence, Debra Winger, Rape, France, Hillary Clinton, Criminal Justice, Sexual Assault, Roman Polanski, Entertainment News
C. Nicole Mason

How naïve of Roman Polanski to think we'd forget that he was a wanted man despite the many films he's made and awards he's won over the last three decades.

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Shouldn't Innocence Matter?

David C. Fathi | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Supreme Court, Capital Punishment, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Death Penalty, Criminal Justice, Civil Rights, Politics News
David C. Fathi

The shocking truth is that even if the court concludes that Troy Anthony Davis -- who has been on Georgia's death row for 18 years -- is innocent, that may not be enough to save him from the death chamber.

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Barney Brown: His First Year of Freedom

John Maki | Posted 09.24.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Exoneration, Juvenile Justice, Rainbow Coalition, Barney Brown, Innocence Project, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, Double Jeopardy, Wrongful Conviction, Florida, Northwestern University, Criminal Justice, Chicago News
John Maki

On September 24, Barney Brown celebrates his first year of freedom after 38 years of wrongful incarceration. His story is one of the most egregious wrongful convictions in U.S. history.

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The Unthinkable

Richard Aborn | Posted 09.15.2009 | New York

Read More: Criminal Justice, District Attorney, New York City, New York, Richard Aborn, New York Democratic Primary, New York News
Richard Aborn

We've changed the debate. By articulating a strongly progressive, prevention-oriented platform and speaking directly and honestly about racial justice, we have reshaped criminal justice thinking in New York.

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Punishing September 11 Culprits: Some Inmates Weigh In

Joseph Cooper | Posted 09.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Criminal Punishment, Crime, Terrorism, 9/11 Anniversary, 9/11, Criminal Justice, 9/11 Families, 9-11, 9/11 Victims, Politics News
Joseph Cooper

Shouldn't a victim of crime have some say in how his or her attacker is dealt with? What's so wrong with retributive justice? I've posed these questions to inmates at a facility where I teach.

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Losing Wars We Already Won (Part I): Torture vs. WWII

Shahid Buttar | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Torture Investigation, Nuremberg Trials, Human Rights, Cold War, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Torture, Wwii, Criminal Justice System, Guantanamo Torture, Guantanamo, Criminal Justice, John Durham, Veterans, Politics News
Shahid Buttar

Despite public pressure from voices across the political spectrum, the Obama administration continues to sweep torture under the rug.

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When It Comes to Claims of Actual Innocence, Courts Need to Consider Recantations

John Maki | Posted 09.20.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Exoneration, Johnnie Lee Savory, Capital Punishment, Death Row, Cook County Criminal Justice System, Criminal Justice, Recantations, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Thaddeus Jimenez, Innocence, Troy Davis, Antonin Scalia, Illinois Death Penalty, Chicago News
John Maki

You might think that judges would be willing to review convictions based on testimony that was later recanted, but in fact courts frequently ignore recantations.

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