After the DEA Stole $70,000 From This Filmmaker, He Got His Money Back, Plus a $15,000 Settlement
Keddins Etienne's experience shows that bullies who seize innocent people's property tend to back down when their victims put up a fight.
Criminal Justice
After Years of Complaints, the D.C. Jail Has Been Deemed Too Wretched for Some Inmates
A 2016 Reason story detailed the D.C. Jail's long history of failure. Now the federal government is finally paying attention.
Cops Arrested Her for Exercising Her First Amendment Rights. They Got Qualified Immunity—but the Appeals Court Wasn't Having It.
"This is not just an obvious constitutional infringement—it's hard to imagine a more textbook violation of the First Amendment."
Cleveland Votes for More Police Oversight, While Minneapolis Rejects Abolishing, Replacing Cops
The obvious lesson is that, yes, people want reform and better police conduct, not necessarily broad, vague plans to replace them.
A New Orleans Grandfather Will Get His Life Savings Back After DEA Agents Seized It
Federal prosecutors agreed to drop a civil asset forfeiture case against Kermit Warren's $28,000 in cash, which he said he was trying to buy a tow truck with.
The Supreme Court Declines To Determine if You Have a First Amendment Right To Film the Police
Denver cops received qualified immunity after performing a warrantless search of a man’s tablet and trying to delete a video he took of them beating a suspect.
Pennsylvania Homeless Man Spared Felony Charge for 43-Cent Misunderstanding
However, the cruel policy that threatened him with years in jail remains in place.
Cop Charged With Murder After Killing 11-Year-Old Girl in Car Ramming Assault
What began with a speeding ticket turned into a deadly flipping of an SUV with a family inside.
She Tried To Report Sexual Harassment in Jail. After Her Suicide, the Guard Was Convicted of Assaulting Four Other Women.
"She was withdrawing from opioids and actively suicidal. She needed help, and she got the opposite."
Oklahoma Botches Another Execution
John Marion Grant convulsed and vomited as he was put to death.
Cops Tase a Veteran's Service Dog During an Unconstitutional Arrest for Panhandling
The dog died after the man went to jail for exercising his First Amendment rights.
A Study of What Police Know About Court Decisions Exposes 'Qualified Immunity's Boldest Lie'
The Supreme Court's notion of "fair notice," which it says requires blocking many civil rights lawsuits, is based on a demonstrably false assumption.
Ethan Nadelmann: How To End the Drug War (and What Comes Next)
The Drug Policy Alliance founder and Psychoactive podcast host on how to build a post-prohibitionist America.
Giving Kyle Rittenhouse Basic Due Process Is Not a Scandal
Such motions are "not uncommon in self-defense cases where there is a dispute over who bears responsibility."
ACLU Sues a Pennsylvania County for Detaining Probation Violators for Months With No Hearings
A Supreme Court ruling requires due process before sending these people back to jail. That’s not happening in Montgomery County.
This Woman Served 11 Years in Prison on a Marijuana Charge. She's Been Sent Back Over a Clerical Error.
Raquel Esquivel, convicted of a nonviolent drug offense in 2009, was put on home confinement during COVID-19.
Montana Supreme Court Unanimously Overturns a Pot Conviction, Saying Cops Stopped the Defendant for No Good Reason
Cops thought Hoang Vinh Pham, who received a 15-year prison sentence, was suspicious because he stared at a police van full of marijuana.
The Minnesota Supreme Court Rejects the Legal Theory Underlying a Murder Charge Against Derek Chauvin
The ruling won't help him much, because he also was convicted of a more serious charge, based on a "particularly weird" form of the felony murder doctrine.
Gas-Powered Lawnmower Ban, Mandatory Gender-Neutral Toy Aisles Among California's Weirdest New Laws
But at least state lawmakers also passed some useful criminal justice bills and policing reforms.
Denied Treatment for His Cancer, This Kentucky Man Died in Prison After Vomiting Blood
In a lawsuit, Marc Crawford's widow says the state refused to give him his prescriptions and his chemotherapy.
The ACLU Says Hawaii Police Handcuffed and Arrested a 10-Year-Old Girl for Drawing a Picture
The civil liberties group says there's a clear pattern of police misconduct involving schoolchildren.
In a New Survey, Victims of Philadelphia's Forfeiture Racket Highlight the Hazards of Giving Cops a License To Steal
"What they're doing is like robbery," observed one property owner.
New Research Says Police in Schools Don't Reduce Shootings but They Do Increase Expulsions and Arrests
While police in schools "do effectively reduce some forms of violence," they intensify the use of school discipline and arrests.
A Man Overdosed on Drugs. The Dealer Was Convicted of Murder and Faces Life in Prison.
It might represent justice in this case. But the approach is rife for abuse.
Survey Finds No Rise in Anti-Asian Violence, Assaults Declined in 2020
Some encouraging results from the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey
