Rory Fleming

“No Evidence” Higher Incarceration Rates Reduce Fears of Crime

A population that perceives itself at the top of the pile soon becomes fearful, runs one theory, because the only…

May 3, 2022

Biden’s Clemency Announcement Falls Far Short

On April 26, President Joe Biden announced that he was using his clemency powers to pardon three people and commute…

April 27, 2022

Sen. Hawley’s Bid to Make Federal Sentencing Guidelines Mandatory

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s elevation to the Supreme Court from the DC Circuit was confirmed earlier this month. She’ll be…

April 22, 2022

FL State Attorney Launches Pilot to Stop “Traumatic” Misdemeanor Arrests

Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit has just implemented its first-ever Adult Civil Citation program—a 90-day pilot that will divert people detained…

April 20, 2022

Tucson’s Top Prosecutor Pulls Back From No-Minor-Drug-Charges Policy

In 2016, Barbara LaWall, then the elected prosecutor of Pima County (Tucson), published an op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star…

March 23, 2022

Oklahoma Death Penalty Case Flags Inadequate Defense Funding

Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin did not want to release the dashcam video of two officers getting shot by David…

March 17, 2022

Federal Life Sentences for Drugs: Unconscionable and Massively Biased

Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the original Silk Road dark-web marketplace, was given a federal life sentence in 2015. But…

March 9, 2022

Prosecutor-Initiated Resentencing Has Profound Limitations

Following the 2018 passage of AB 2942, California’s first-in-the-nation “prosecutor-initiated resentencing” law, Hillary Blout started the Oakland-based nonprofit For The…

March 3, 2022

Prosecutors Excluded Jurors for Being Black, NC Supreme Court Finds

Juries in the United States are not just 12 people selected at random. Instead, both the prosecution and the defense…

February 17, 2022

Arizona May Enact 35-Year Mandatory Minimum for “Drug Trafficking Homicide” of Kids

A kid dying of an opioid-involved overdose is a tragedy. Thankfully, it is comparatively rare, if increasing, according to an…

February 14, 2022