criminal justice

On the news tonight they’ll be talking about undecided voters and swing states, and who the voters choose: Obama or Romney. What they probably won’t be talking about is those who didn’t vote, not because they’re lazy or ignorant or anti-American, but because it’s against the law. [...Read more]

Editor's Note: Standing up for justice runs in Courtney Oats' family.  The 21-year old college student in Eupora, Mississippi is the great niece of Fannie Lou Hamer, and has been a community organizer since her teens. [...Read more]

In a letter to the editors of the Times-Picayune this month, New Orleans resident Mona Castillo wrote that the key to decreasing crime is to make prison "less comfortable."  She wrote, "At the present time, jails are more like hotels.  Many prisoners live better there than they did on the outside." [...Read more]

Yesterday, a group of advocates sent the following open letter to the New Orleans City Council, regarding a proposed citywide curfew that would make it illegal for youth under the age of 16 to be outdoors after 8pm.

OPEN LETTER REGARDING CURFEW EXTENSION

January 18, 2012

Dear Councilmembers: [...Read more]

Crossposted from Justice Roars. Last week, the newsletter of the International Coalition to Free the Angola Three published recently transcribed testimony of the October 2008 deposition of Burl Cain, Warden of Angola Prison, questioned by Nick Trenticosta, an at [...Read more]

A Talk with John Thompson, by Jed Horne, Crossposted from The Lens.  John Thompson knows the streets of New Orleans. He also knows the state’s prisons. He was one of several defendants railroaded to death row during Harry Connick’s 28-year tenure as Orleans Parish district attorney. [...Read more]

On November 29th, a coalition of over 30 local organizations delivered a petition with more than 2,200 signatures to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, calling for reform of Orleans Parish Prison.  Specifically, the petition demanded that the Mayor formally commit to capping the size of the new facility being built by the Sheriff’s Office at 1,438 beds, and that the City Council end the “per diem” budget system [...Read more]

In the latest Hurricane Katrina corruption scandal, Stan Wright, the Mayor of Bayou La Batre, Alabama has been indicted on eight federal counts – including theft, conspiracy, and embezzlement.

Though residents of this small fishing town are upset by their Mayor’s alleged corruption, many aren’t surprised. [...Read more]

The night Troy Davis died, I stood in front of the Louisiana Supreme Court building with 100 other people, including my 10-year-old son, praying that the higher court would do the right thing and grant him a stay of execution.  As I left the vigil to attend a meeting with a group of formerly incarcerated persons, I remembered the first vigil I attended in New Orleans, in April of 1997, for the execution of John Ashley Brown.&n [...Read more]

Tonight on my way home, I told my 13 year-old son that Troy Davis was put to death by the State of Georgia.  He immediately broke into tears.  I was taken aback by his reaction.  We were just coming from his school football game where he had an awesome tackle and we should have been focusing and having a joyous discussion about that.  But he asked me how my day went and when he was studying the constitution in school we had discussed Troy Davis and [...Read more]