criminal-justice-issues

An aerial view of Holmesburg Prison in northeast Philadelphia in 1970 (Photo via the Philadelphia Tribune).

Philadelphia apologizes for heinous experiments on Black inmates

BY: - October 8, 2022

Mayor Jim Kenney acknowledged the history of medical racism in the United States, and the trauma it has created in communities of color.

Report: Black people far more likely to be wrongly convicted than whites | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - October 7, 2022

More than 3,200 people have been exonerated since 1989. More than half of them are Black, according to a new study.

Not just a Philly problem. Every community in Pa. has someone in state prison, new data show

BY: - October 4, 2022

'The nation’s 40-year failed experiment with mass incarceration harms each and every one of us,' a policy analyst said.

Hours before his death, Alle.Co. Jail released a man with intellectual disability from custody

BY: - September 27, 2022

Anthony Talotta is the 17th man to die after entering the jail since the onset of the pandemic, the sixth such death in 2022.

Representatives from the bargaining unit covering public defenders and district attorneys pose at the 2022 Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade with signs demanding fair wage

Allegheny Co. prosecutors, public defenders demand fair pay as bargaining negotiations break down

BY: - September 18, 2022

Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that does not allocate any state funds to pay for public defense.

COMMENTARY

Kids charged in brutal Philadelphia murder still deserve due process | Michael Coard

BY: - July 19, 2022

The online lynch mobs already are baying for blood. There's a long and racist history of that happening.

COMMENTARY

Council leader must not support illegal stop-and-frisk | Michael Coard

BY: - July 12, 2022

During the second half of 2019, about 71 percent of stops in Philadelphia were of Blacks despite the fact that Blacks constitute only 44 percent of the city’s population.

A man shoots AR-15 rifles and other weapons at a shooting range during the “Rod of Iron Freedom Festival” on October 12, 2019 in Greeley, Pa. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images).

U.S. Supreme Court’s gun rights decision upends state restrictions | Analysis

BY: - July 11, 2022

Six states will have to rewrite their gun laws after a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

States want to make it easier to use red flag laws | Analysis

BY: - June 28, 2022

Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have such laws. Pa. buried its bill in committee.

COMMENTARY
An image of SCI-Greene, the state prison in Greene County, Pa. (Pa. Corrections Department photo).

Hunger strike to protest solitary confinement at SWPa. prison continues | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - June 24, 2022

Incarcerated people at the state prison in Greene County have been on strike since June 7.

COMMENTARY

Pa. House GOP moves to impeach Philly DA Larry Krasner | Tuesday Morning Coffee

BY: - June 14, 2022

The announcement came the same day House Republicans buried a slate of gun-violence reduction bills.

COMMENTARY

We may never see police accountability in the Texas school shooting. This is why | Opinion

BY: - June 8, 2022

Most people would be surprised to know that the government is not required to protect its citizens. The U.S. Supreme Court has said as much.