Police departments are understaffed and recruiting has become more difficult. In recent years, the number of communities using community responders to handle non-violent situations has skyrocketed.
Staffing shortages, extremely heavy caseloads and lack of state funding have hamstrung the state’s criminal justice system, leaving many communities reeling.
The 2023 legislation establishing the grant program also includes new equipment for rural sheriffs.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hasn’t just used Georgia’s RICO law to prosecute Donald Trump. Schoolteachers and rappers have also been charged, and the state has used the law to go after protesters. Shouldn’t these tools be reserved for the kinds of prosecutions they were intended for?
The state prison system’s medical provider, Wellpath, backed out of its contract with the Department of Corrections after spending millions in unanticipated costs, mostly due to prison violence.
State Attorney General Kris Kobach wants to amend state law so that death warrants may be obtained by district judges, instead of the Kansas Supreme Court, and wants the state to allow executions by hypoxia.
Legislatures across the nation are confronting several social issues including crime, drug use, immigration and poverty. These issues will continue to hold resonance, of course, in the November elections.
The statewide clearance rate for crimes was just 13.2 percent in 2022, according to a new report. The rate for poverty crimes was only 7.2 percent.
Is our criminal justice system so infallible that it should green-light actions as irrevocable as taking another person’s life? Hardly. Very few people of means go to death row.
Starting in July, a new citizen panel will review requests from inmates serving mandatory minimum life sentences, mostly for first-degree murder. Previously, the review process has been done by the corrections commissioner.
Do cameras on our porches, at traffic lights, in our parks and along our streets really contribute to our overall security? The data are unpersuasive.
A pilot program would provide $3,000 to people leaving Colorado prisons for basic living expenses if they agree to participate in a workforce development program. The proposal faces an uphill battle in the Legislature.
A Review Board will review five death cases within San Diego County jails, two of which involved inmates who were wrongfully jailed. The sheriff isn’t required to adopt or implement any recommendations from the board.
Last year’s 17 percent decline in homicides and 10 percent drop in nonfatal shootings contributed to a decrease of about 3 percent in reported violent crime overall. However, both property crimes and auto thefts did increase.
Locking up a California state prisoner for one year costs nearly twice as much as tuition at the state’s top private universities. The number surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and remains high because of inmate medical costs and pay boosts for prison guards and other workers.
Inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith has appealed a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that would allow his execution through the use of nitrogen gas, a method which has never been used on a human before.
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