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Mass incarceration

Prison

Criminal Justice

Tackling Mass Incarceration Requires More Than Freeing Nonviolent Drug Offenders

A new report emphasizes that the U.S. would still have a very high incarceration rate even if all drug war prisoners were released.

Jacob Sullum | 3.16.2022 3:20 PM

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Criminal Justice

Pennsylvania Homeless Man Spared Felony Charge for 43-Cent Misunderstanding

However, the cruel policy that threatened him with years in jail remains in place.

Joe Lancaster | 11.1.2021 12:35 PM

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Criminal Justice

Pennsylvania Could Put a Homeless Man in Prison Over 43 Cents

Overzealous three-strikes laws claim another victim.

Joe Lancaster | 9.21.2021 12:09 PM

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Prisons

The Pandemic Showed Home Detention Works

In the right circumstances, home detention is cheaper and more effective than prison.

Jillian Snider and Maya Szilak | 8.6.2021 1:50 PM

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Mass incarceration

What Happened When Life Sentences Got Out of Control

The prisons are filled with aging inmates who no longer pose a public threat.

Sonny Mazzone | 2.25.2021 3:40 PM

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Criminal Justice

Study: Democratic Governors Feed the Prison-Industrial Complex

Electorally vulnerable Democratic governors have historically been tougher on crime than Republicans.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 2.19.2021 2:20 PM

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Mass incarceration

U.S. Incarcerated Population Dropped Below 2 Million Last Year For First Time Since 2003

The COVID-19 pandemic drove an unprecedented drop in incarceration, a new study finds, but the authors warn it could bounce right back.

C.J. Ciaramella | 1.27.2021 4:11 PM

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Civil Liberties

Jail Deaths Are a National Disgrace

And the problem is getting worse.

C.J. Ciaramella | 12.15.2020 6:00 AM

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Criminal Justice

U.S. Incarceration Rate Fell Last Year to Lowest Level Since 1994

Total prison population, imprisonment rates, and racial disparities in incarceration all continued their slide.

C.J. Ciaramella | 10.23.2020 3:32 PM

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Criminal Justice

Debate's Best Moment: Trump and Biden Bragging on Prison Reform

The U.S. incarceration rate peaked in 2008, but it's good to see two "law and order" candidates talking about clemency.

Nick Gillespie | 10.23.2020 12:00 PM

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Mass incarceration

Prison by Any Other Name

State involvement in people's lives—even "for their own good"—ends up becoming a backdoor way of policing and control.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.2.2020 6:00 AM

biden-debate

Debates 2020

Trump Claims Biden Called Black Americans 'Superpredators.' That Was Hillary Clinton.

Joe Biden has said plenty of regrettable things about criminal justice, but that wasn't one of them.

C.J. Ciaramella | 9.29.2020 11:57 PM

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RNC

The RNC Can't Figure Out Where It Stands on Criminal Justice Reform

Sen. Tim Scott (R–S.C.) criticizes Joe Biden's record on mass incarceration.

C.J. Ciaramella | 8.25.2020 12:15 AM

Kamala Harris: Vice President?

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor

Biden picked a V.P. candidate whose record on police and criminal justice reform is as terrible as his own.

Justin Monticello and Katherine Mangu-Ward | 8.12.2020 10:35 AM

detention

Immigration

Tear Down America's Immigrant Prisons

In the age of coronavirus, they are a danger to the lives of people both inside them and outside.

Shikha Dalmia | 6.8.2020 10:30 AM

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Coronavirus

Texas Will No Longer Send People to Jail for Violating Strict Social Distancing

Gov. Greg Abbott made the change after a Dallas salon owner was jailed for reopening her salon.

Billy Binion | 5.7.2020 3:10 PM

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Reason Roundup

Lawmakers Call Out Cuomo and Other Governors for Letting Prisoners Die of COVID-19

Plus: "Karenology," failing fashion brands, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.6.2020 9:52 AM

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Debates 2020

Joe Biden Is Happy To Talk About Michael Bloomberg's Stop-and-Frisk Record Because It Distracts From His Own Terrible Crime Policies

"The policy was abhorrent," Biden said of Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk program. Yes, but so was pretty much every criminal justice policy Biden pushed through the Senate.

Eric Boehm | 2.19.2020 10:30 PM

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Reason Roundup

Trump Uses Clemency To Help Drug War Victims, Reward GOP Donors, and Spite James Comey

Plus: China boots three reporters, megacities are getting a smaller share of growth than they used to, and Dems gather to debate in Las Vegas..

Eric Boehm | 2.19.2020 9:30 AM

topicscivilliberties

Civil Liberties

Florida Prisons Are a Slow-Motion Disaster

"We are a prison system that's overstuffed and under-guarded, and that is a lethal combination of policies," says state Sen. Jeff Brandes.

C.J. Ciaramella | 10.28.2019 6:30 AM

rikers

Mass incarceration

New York City Council Votes To Build Four New Jails and To Close Notorious Rikers Island

But can the city commit to reducing its jail population—and will Rikers' infamous culture just be transplanted to the new jails? 

C.J. Ciaramella | 10.18.2019 3:50 PM

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Occupational Licensing

States Are Easing Arbitrary Licensing Barriers to Work for People With Criminal Records

This year, Mississippi and North Carolina both ditched a vague "good moral character" clause that kept occupational licensing out of reach for people with criminal records.

J.D. Tuccille | 10.14.2019 3:10 PM

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Criminal Justice

Felicity Huffman's 14-Day Prison Sentence Is Too Harsh

The U.S. incarcerates people for petty crimes at an alarming rate.

Billy Binion | 9.18.2019 4:55 PM

Biden-and-Booker-debate-7-31-19-Newscom

Criminal Justice

Cory Booker's Slam Against Joe Biden's Criminal Justice Record Shoveled Some More Dirt on the Old Lock 'Em Up Consensus

The climate of opinion has changed so dramatically that Democrats are politically obliged to support reform.

Jacob Sullum | 8.1.2019 1:45 PM

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HomePage

Kamala Harris Hopes You'll Forget Her Record as a Drug Warrior and Draconian Prosecutor

The senator and presidential hopeful went to bat for dirty prosecutors, opposed marijuana legalization, and championed policies that endanger sex workers.

Justin Monticello and Katherine Mangu-Ward | 1.31.2019 1:22 PM

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HomePage

Attorney General Nominee William Barr Defends Long Prison Sentences, But Says He's Open to Reforms

"As a system, it's working," Barr says of the criminal justice system. "It's not predicated on racism."

C.J. Ciaramella | 1.15.2019 5:30 PM

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Hit & Run

What Mass Incarceration Looks Like, State By State

The ACLU is releasing reports on what's driving mass incarceration in every state, and how to cut prison populations in each one.

C.J. Ciaramella | 9.5.2018 4:00 PM

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HomePage

James Comey Has Craptacular Opinions on Mass Incarceration and Prosecutors

The former top G-Man thinks "mass incarceration" is a misnomer and that taking Martha Stewart down was pretty much the work of God.

C.J. Ciaramella | 4.18.2018 3:25 PM

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Hit & Run

Explaining His Cannabis Conversion, John Boehner Cites a Marijuana Myth

Contrary to what many supporters of legalization seem to think, prisons are not overflowing with pot smokers busted for possession.

Jacob Sullum | 4.12.2018 1:30 PM

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Hit & Run

New Jersey Prisons Back Off Ban of The New Jim Crow, But Censorship Behind Bars Is Still Widespread

Texas alone bans 10,000 books, including The Color Purple and Where's Waldo?

C.J. Ciaramella | 1.9.2018 10:01 AM

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Hit & Run

Child Sex-Trafficking Victim Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for Child Sex-Trafficking

Hope Zeferjohn's role was limited to chatting with the "victim"-who was never actually trafficked-on Facebook.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 8.30.2017 4:50 PM

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HomePage

How to Make an Asylum-Seeker Request Her Own Deportation

Brenda Menjivar Guardado is scared to go back to El Salvador, but she's even more afraid of dying in custody.

Mike Riggs | 7.10.2017 4:00 PM

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HomePage

Why Ending Mass Incarceration Means Locking Up Fewer Violent Criminals: A Conversation with John Pfaff

Author of Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration-and How to Achieve Real Reform talks about why ending the drug war isn't enough.

Anthony Fisher | 2.25.2017 9:00 AM

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Must Reads

Don't Like Militarized Police and Mass Incarceration? Blame Progressivism.

Talking about racism won't end these problems

Thaddeus Russell | 1.21.2017 7:00 AM

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