Criminal Justice
Chicago Audit Finds ShotSpotter Alerts Rarely Lead to Evidence of Gun Crimes
The report followed media investigations into ShotSpotter's reliability and activist pressure on Chicago to cut its contract with ShotSpotter.
Sixth Circuit Issues Two En Banc Habeas Decisions in Four Days
In two slightly different line-ups, the en banc court denied two habeas claims 9-7.
Cops Threaten Illegal Kickball Players With Child Abuse Charges
"The next step, after tickets, it goes to child abuse."
A Houston Man Framed on Drug Charges Is Suing the Lethally Corrupt Cop Who Sent Him to Prison
Otis Mallet's ordeal, like the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, involved a fictional drug purchase.
Police Reform Without Qualified Immunity Reform Is Worthless
Lawmakers have reportedly taken any changes to qualified immunity off the table.
Plymouth County Keeps Puritanism Alive With Bogus Sex Trafficking Stings
Five men face "trafficking a person for sexual servitude" charges after meeting an undercover cop at a hotel.
DEA Seizes Life Savings of New Orleans Grandfather Without Charging Him With a Crime
The case is the latest example of people who say their savings were seized in airports, despite it being perfectly legal to fly domestically with large amounts of cash.
Some Ohio Judges Are Mandating Vaccinations as a Condition of Probation. That's an Abuse of Power.
Threatening somebody with prison for refusing a shot is no way to end a pandemic.
States Are Finally Starting To Rein in Deceptive Police Interrogation Techniques That Lead to False Confessions
Devastating examples of how coercive interrogations can lead to false confessions have led Illinois and Oregon to become the first states to limit when police can lie to suspects.
This Innocent Man Spent 23 Years Behind Bars. He's Suing the Police Who Put Him There.
Ricky Kidd wants accountability.
A Federal Cop Devised a Bogus Sex Trafficking Ring and Jailed This Teen for 2 Years. The Cop Can't Be Sued.
The most powerful officers are held to the lowest standard of accountability.
A Philly Man Who Spent 37 Years of a 50-Year Prison Sentence in Solitary Confinement Has Been Freed
Arthur Johnson spent his entire adult life in jail for a murder he says he was coerced to confess to by police.
Former Staffers Condemn Cruel Treatment of Inmates at a Texan Prison for Sex Offenders
The men must keep masturbation diaries, wear ankle monitors, and even use penile circumference gauges.
Why Do the Media Keep Uncritically Repeating Implausible Police Fentanyl Overdose Stories?
Recycling a government press release is not good journalism.
Pasco County Cops Harassed Them and Searched Their Homes Without Warrants. A Judge Says They Can Sue.
The sheriff's predictive policing program has caused more problems than it's solved.
The Pandemic Showed Home Detention Works
In the right circumstances, home detention is cheaper and more effective than prison.
Lawsuit Says Chicago Cops Pointed Guns at Young Girls During Warrantless Search
The latest in a long string of allegations that Chicago police terrorized families during botched raids
The Government Says These Missouri Men Are Innocent. It Won't Release Them From Prison.
Kevin Strickland, Christopher Dunn, and Lamar Johnson are still paying for crimes that government officials say they did not commit.
Texas Senate Passes Bill To Restrict Charitable Bail Organizations
The bill would prohibit charitable organizations from paying bail for anyone who had committed "an offense involving violence" at any time in the past 10 years.
Top Cops Pick the Midst of an International Spying Scandal To Demand Encryption Curbs
Regulating privacy protections would put the public at greater risk than criminals.
A Massachusetts Commission Recommends Long-Overdue Reforms to the 'Worst Civil Forfeiture Laws in the Country'
The commission says the legislature should raise the standard of proof and remove the financial incentive that encourages cops and prosecutors to pursue profit instead of public safety.
Nassau County Passes Bill That Could Make Criticizing a Cop Punishable by $50,000
Yet under qualified immunity, it's incredibly difficult for the public to sue police.
Texas Cops Realized They Raided the Wrong House. They Kept Searching Anyway.
Three of the officers were denied qualified immunity, but accountability is a long way off.
Massachusetts Prison System Sued Over Unreliable Drug Tests That Put Inmates in Solitary
Defense lawyers say they were accused of smuggling drugs to clients based on tests so unreliable they're akin to "witchcraft, phrenology or simply picking a number out of a hat."
FBI Seized $900,000 From Safe Deposit Box on 'Pure Conjecture,' Federal Judge Says
Reason has joined a new legal effort seeking to force the government to unseal warrants justifying the FBI's seizure of more than 600 safe deposit boxes.
Daniel Hale Revealed America's Drone Assassinations to the Public. He's Been Sentenced to 45 Months in Prison.
Federal espionage laws are used once again to punish a whistleblower.
Big Tech, Watchdog Groups, and Law Enforcement Join Forces To Purge Extremists
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube will expand their use of a central database that compiles extremist content for coordinated de-platforming.
A New Florida Bill Could Criminalize Filming Cops on the Job
"If the police don't want to be filmed or observed, they should get out of the public service field."
Lil Nas X Uses Chart-Topping 'Industry Baby' To Stump for Bail Reform
Around half a million Americans are stuck at any given time in pretrial detention, often because they can’t afford freedom.
Gun Control Scheme Harms Black and Hispanic New Yorkers, Public Defenders Tell Supreme Court
“New York enacted its firearm licensing requirements to criminalize gun ownership by racial and ethnic minorities.”
Police Reforms Make Progress Against Entrenched Opposition
Every time cops denounce reform efforts it is evidence of a win.
The FBI Destroyed This Man's Life With Bogus Spying Accusations
The law enforcement agency has a disturbing record of drumming up the very conspiracies they're investigating.
Man Says Oklahoma Police Seized $140K From Him Without Cause
Canadian County Sheriff's deputies said Thai Nang's cash was drug money. He says he was buying land, and a local news outlet was easily able to find records backing his story up.
NIMBY Complaints Result in Police Raid, Sodomy Charges at Maryland Bookstore
Patrons of Abington's Bush River Books & Video were arrested for the crime of "perverted sexual practice."
Is It Too Easy to Get Tenure at Law Schools?
A new study raises the question of whether law school tenure standards are sufficiently strict.
