July 2011

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Criminologist Mark Kleiman on replacing severity with swiftness and certainty

The Ends Didn’t Justify the Means

Our complicity in the devastating war on crime

Matt Welch

You’ve Got Jail

Is it time to bring America’s prisoners online?

Greg Beato
The Golden State’s Iron Bars

How California prison guards became the country’s most powerful union

Tim Cavanaugh
The Crime Rate Puzzle

Did incarceration reduce the crime rate, or did it get in the way?

Radley Balko
Prison Math

What are the costs and benefits of leading the world in locking up human beings?

Veronique de Rugy
Nuclear Disaster in Japan

Does it show a way forward for nuclear power?

Ronald Bailey
The Pennsylvania Railroad

In the Keystone State’s juvenile justice scandal, money changed everything.

Jacob Sullum

The Devil’s Bargain

How plea agreements, never contemplated by the Framers, undermine justice

Timothy Lynch
Keeping Kids Outside the System

Alternatives to juvenile detention are cheaper and more effective.

Irene Sullivan
Collars for Dollars

How the drug war sacrifices real policing for easy arrests.

Peter Moskos
Bad Boys

A rogue’s gallery of misbehaving prosecutors, plus three worth praising

Radley Balko
Indefensible

Public defenders are too overloaded to protect the rights of the accused.

Clay Conrad
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

The peril of vague criminal statutes

Harvey Silverglate
Rape Factories

Why is the government doing so little to end sexual assault in prisons?

Lovisa Stannow
Less Time, Less Crime

Conservatives lead a movement toward “tough and smart” sentencing policies.

Julie Stewart
Perverted Justice

Sex offender laws represent the triumph of outrage over reason.

Jacob Sullum
The Guilt Market

Criminal snitching threatens the integrity of the justice system.

Alexandra Natapoff
Muddled Masses

The immigration detention system treats suspected illegal aliens like criminals, but with fewer rights.

Jesse James DeConto
Wrongful Convictions

How many innocent Americans are behind bars?

Radley Balko
Locked Up, Locked Out

The social costs of incarceration

Bruce Western
Incarceration by the Numbers
Culture of Misconduct

The misplaced priorities of prosecutors

Ken White