Criminal Justice
Janet Reno Is No Hero
A new biography by Judith Hicks Stiehm ignores Janet Reno's many failures as attorney general.
Florida Supreme Court Rules Police Can't Use Marsy's Law To Hide Names of Officers Who Shoot People
"Marsy's Law guarantees to no victim—police officer or otherwise—the categorical right to withhold his or her name from disclosure," the Florida Supreme Court ruled.
Seattle Banned Landlords From Rejecting Tenants Based on Criminal Records. Will the Supreme Court Step in?
The political push behind the law was well-meaning. But it will backfire on many prospective renters.
How Reason Changes Minds, Lives, and Laws by Covering Criminal Injustice
Yet another reason to donate to Reason's annual webathon!
Biden Threatens To Block GOP Plan To Send 3,000 People Back to Federal Prison
The White House cited the extraordinarily low recidivism rates among those released and the savings to taxpayers in its veto threat.
Mississippi Sheriff Insists He Was Oblivious to His Drug Warriors' Long Pattern of Brutality
Years before a federal case shined a light on the problem, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey should have known something was amiss.
Proposed L.A. Ordinance Would Require Airbnb Hosts To Get Police Permission To Operate
The regulation is part of a suite of new restrictions on hotels sought by the local hotel workers union.
A Los Angeles Jail Let a Woman Die of Withdrawal, Then a Coroner Allowed Her Body To Decompose
“I couldn’t believe it was my baby,” Amanda Bews' mother said. "She looked like she was mummified."
The Backpage Defendants Never Stood a Chance
Moral panic plus government power is an inescapably potent combination.
Two 15-Year Sentences Illustrate the Ugly Interaction of Drug and Gun Laws
The Supreme Court mulls how to apply a mandatory minimum for gun possession by people convicted of drug felonies.
Texas Troopers Killed 74 People in Vehicle Chases Since Implementing Controversial Border Program
From March 2021 to July 2023, 74 people were killed and nearly 200 were injured in vehicle chases occurring in counties affected by Operation Lone Star.
Maryland Roommates File Lawsuit After Police Shot Their Dog During Alleged Illegal Home Search
Officers barged into their house without a warrant, shot their dog, and mocked them, a federal civil rights lawsuit says.
Prosecutors Use Lyrics, Diary Entries as Evidence in Georgia RICO Cases
In separate criminal racketeering cases, prosecutors are using rap lyrics and the personal diary of a protester shot and killed by police as evidence.
Reason Can Do More Good With Your Money Than Government Can: Contribute to Our Annual Webathon
Get the warm, fuzzy feeling of dodging the taxman while supporting our journalism. Plus, cool swag!
NYPD Will Spend Nearly $400 Million to Hide its Radio Communications
NYPD radio frequencies have been open to the public since 1932. A new encrypted system will end that.
Trump Gag Order Raises Unsettled Constitutional Questions
A D.C. Circuit judge says the government’s defense of the order gives short shrift to "the First Amendment’s vigorous protection of political speech."
Marvin Guy, Who Shot a Cop During a No-Knock Raid, Is Found Guilty of Murder
He is not the first defendant that has struggled to reconcile the controversial raids with self-defense.
Goodbye to Detroit's Asset Forfeiture Racket
Wayne County was seizing cars and using its less-fortunate residents as piggy banks.
DEA's Domestic Surveillance 'Mission Creep'
It appears that DEA agents have been employed on non-drug-related investigations for far longer than they were originally authorized.
Backpage: The Monumental Free Speech Case the Media Ignored
The mere act of publishing sex ads online is enough to send most potential free speech allies scurrying for the exits.
This Cop Was Acquitted for His Role in the Breonna Taylor Raid. The Feds Are Prosecuting Him—Again.
Maybe Brett Hankison shouldn't have been found not guilty, but he was. The Constitution says it should stop there.
Florida's Bloated Prison System Will Cost Billions To Maintain
Florida's mandatory minimum sentences created a large, elderly prison population. Now the bill is coming due.
Review: Blind Plea Only Scratches the Surface of Plea Bargains
Host Liz Flock delivers a compelling narrative but misses chances to interrogate the justice system.
Alabama Set To Execute Man for a Crime He Committed While Legally a Minor
"Alabama law sets the age of majority at 19 years old, not 18 years. An 18-year-old is thus a minor," say Casey McWhorter's lawyers.
Prosecutors of 6-Year-Old Shooter's Mother Claim Gun-Owning Pot Users Are 'Inherently Dangerous'
Deja Taylor is going to federal prison because of a constitutionally dubious gun law that millions of cannabis consumers are violating right now.
Disabled Man on Sex Offense Registry Pardoned by Illinois Governor
Adam Nesteikis didn't even understand what he had done wrong.
This Rape Victim Wants To End the Sex Offender Registry
"A lot of people on the registry are on there for consensual behavior, things I think many people agree shouldn’t be crimes," says Meaghan Ybos, the president of Women Against Registry.
He Lost His Gun Rights Because of a Misdemeanor DUI Conviction. That Was Unconstitutional, a Judge Says.
The case highlights the broad reach of a federal law that bans firearm possession by people with nonviolent criminal records.
Cops Stormed Into a Terrified Seattle Woman's Home. It Was the Wrong Address.
Elisabeth Rehn was about to take a bath when police officers kicked down her door, flooded into her apartment, and pointed their guns at her.
San Francisco's APEC Cleanup Hasn't 'Fixed' Its Homelessness Problem
No amount of encampment sweeps and pressure-washing sidewalks is going to solve the problem of thousands of people living on the streets.
Illinois Youth Lockup Is 'No Place for Children,' According to ACLU Lawsuit
Children held in the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center are routinely subjected to solitary confinement, inadequate meals, and filthy cells, according to legal documents.
The FBI Needs Downsizing, Not $3.5 Billion for a New Headquarters
Lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia fought over which state should house the new site rather than whether the bureau even needs so many agents.
Is Wichita Mayor-Elect Lily Wu a Libertarian?
"I believe in empowering the individual and limited government. I chose to become a Libertarian on my registration because it spoke to who I was."
Civil Forfeiture Defendants Have the Right to a Jury Trial, Says the Indiana Supreme Court
That prosecutors in the Hoosier State successfully denied people this due process is a reflection of how abusive civil forfeiture can be.
He Was Strip-Searched and Jailed for Criticizing Cops. Now He's Fighting Back in Court.
In an apparent case of retaliation by humiliation, Jerry Rogers Jr. was arrested for speaking out about a stalled murder investigation.
Colleen Eren: Why Donald Trump Signed the FIRST STEP Act
The author of Reform Nation explains how celebrity, philanthropy, and activism produced the most significant prison reform in decades.
Only 'Dangerous Individuals' Lose Their Gun Rights Because of Protective Orders, the Government Says
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar falsely claims a federal gun ban "requires individualized findings of dangerousness."
