criminal-justice-reform
Criminal justice reform is on the Nov. 2 ballot. What you need to know | Tuesday Morning Coffee
It's not just judges. Prosecutors and sheriffs are on the ballot across Pennsylvania next week.
We need to break the cycle of gun violence. That starts with us | Opinion
No one wins with this ongoing violence, the wasted human potential, and the current insidiousness of military-grade weapons on our city streets.
Pa. prison guards union sues to block Wolf’s vaccine policy
The union representing 11,000 Pennsylvania prison guards and other corrections staff has filed a lawsuit to block Gov. Tom Wolf’s vaccine policy. The policy, announced last month, required thousands of state employees working in congregate settings — such as state-run hospitals, homes for the disabled, and prisons — to get vaccinated or be tested for […]
Pa. has made strides, but Wolf’s successor must continue criminal justice reform | Capital-Star Letters
We are organizations involved in reducing the harm and footprint of incarceration and criminalization in Pennsylvania. The next governor of Pennsylvania will oversee an office that has broad powers over the Commonwealth’s criminal legal system. He or she will have substantial influence over Pennsylvania’s budget and legislation, including a veto power, and could grant clemency […]
House bill aims to protect intellectually disabled from false confessions | Thursday Morning Coffee
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers. Police reform measures may have lost some of the momentum they had in Harrisburg in the days after last April’s conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, but that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers from continuing to press the case for badly needed change. The newest proposal comes from state Rep. Liz Hanbidge, D-Montgomery, […]
Already, a Democratic identity crisis on policing | Josh Kurtz
As sure as night follows day, national pundits are reading way too much into a single primary result and are prematurely extrapolating trends that may or may not be developing in Democratic politics.
The Juvenile Justice Task Force report gave us a roadmap to reform. Now it’s up to lawmakers to finish the job | Opinion
The recommendations fall short of transformational, but they are true step forward toward badly needed reforms.
Report: Pa. Legislature a ‘bipartisan criminal offense factory’ that drives up costs, doesn’t fix crime | Wednesday Morning Coffee
"Ending Pennsylvania’s public policy of mass incarceration begins with the Legislature," the report by the ACLU-PA concludes.
‘These folks are not Hannibal Lecter’: Push to reform Pa. second-degree murder statute continues
“We finally have to invest in our communities to do everything possible to interrupt a vicious cycle,” House Minority Leader JoannaMcClinton said.
Some Pa. counties aren’t waiting on Harrisburg to reform their probation rules | Opinion
As it turns out, the state Legislature has another chance to do the right thing and reform probation in 2021.
Report: Pa. has 2nd highest number of people in U.S. serving life without parole | Tuesday Morning Coffee
Black Pennsylvanians are 21 times more likely to be sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder than white people, research found.
Pa. Black Caucus pushes for universal collection of racial data from traffic stops
Black lawmakers could hold the deciding votes on two long-sought changes to state driving laws, giving them the rare leverage to ask that an expansion of police oversight be accompanied by protections for Black drivers.