[npr.org] Every day, judges around the country are deciding the fate of criminal defendants by trying to strike the right balance between public safety and fairness. In Philadelphia, the new progressive district attorney has launched an experiment. He’s asking his prosecutors to raise another factor with judges: the cost of incarceration. The move has ignited a debate about whether the pricetag of punishment belongs in courtrooms. Do a little math: “Fiscal responsibility is a justice issue, and it is an urgent justice issue,” Larry Krasner said at a press conference…
Read MoreMonth: April 2018
Damaging Justice to Make a Point About Rape
There’s currently a campaign to recall a Superior Court judge in my county. Judge Aaron Persky presided over the 2016 trial of Stanford student Brock Turner, who was ultimately convicted of digitally penetrating an unconscious woman on campus. With Turner a young first-timer with no previous police record, the Probation Department recommended a sentence of six months in jail and three years’ probation, focused on rehabilitation. As is typical, the judge followed this recommendation. California law also requires that Turner register as a sex offender for the rest of his…
Read MoreBriefing the Supreme Court: Promoting Science or Myth?
The Supreme Court recently decided, in Packingham v. North Carolina, whether North Carolina’s ban on the use of social networking websites by registered sex offenders is constitutional. The principal legal issue in the case was whether the ban violates the First Amendment’s right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional for that reason. Yet another issue arose in the briefing and oral arguments before the Supreme Court. The litigants and certain amici curiae engaged in some debate about whether such a restriction is necessary in the…
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