mass incarceration

Gwen Levi and the “Sentencing Goals” That Shouldn’t Apply

Around 90 percent of criminal cases are handled by county court systems, where inflexibility on disproportionately harsh sentencing outcomes is…

July 12, 2021

Biden Vows to End Racist Crack Cocaine Sentencing That He Helped Establish

The Biden administration has again voiced support for ending a law that punishes possession or distribution of crack cocaine far…

June 24, 2021

Alvin Bragg Likely to Be Manhattan’s Next DA: What Are the Implications?

The Democratic primary for Manhattan’s next district attorney was a big mess. Leading up to the June 22 election, there…

June 23, 2021

What Would It Have Taken to “Stop Singas”?

On June 8, reporter Sam Mellins tweeted a photo of a January 6, 1999 letter from then-Queens Assistant District Attorney…

June 16, 2021

First All-Drug Decriminalization Bill to Be Introduced in Congress

On June 15, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s declaration of the “War on Drugs,” Democratic Representatives Bonnie Watson…

June 15, 2021

Prosecutors Don’t Just Enforce Laws—They Lobby Hard to Make Them

Prosecutors are famous for saying they don’t make the law, they only enforce it. In recent years, prominent legal scholars…

June 10, 2021

Crack, Mass Incarceration and Black Trauma: Jeffrey’s Story

Jeffrey Calhoun has been shot seven times and sent to prison three. Had he not been granted clemency by President…

August 20, 2020

What Drug Policies Did the “Bernie’s Back” Rally Crowd Want?

Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage at a rally of about 25,000 supporters in Queensbridge Park, New York City on…

October 23, 2019