U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced legislation on Nov. 21 that would allow individuals serving decades-long federal sentences to petition courts for a sentence reduction or release after having served at least 10 years of their sentence.
On December 1, California launched a new, voluntary program called Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment, also known as CARE Court. The program helps adults with untreated schizophrenia and associated psychotic disorders – and their families – get the services they need.
The judge who sentenced Alex Murdaugh on Friday to life in prison for killing his wife and son has earned attention and plaudits for his even-handed demeanor throughout the trial and for his dressing-down of the once-prominent lawyer just before he sent him to prison. Judge Clifton Newman, a South Carolina native who attended racially segregated schools in the 1950s and 1960s, addressed Murdaugh directly during roughly 20 minutes of comments that ranged from invoking the memories of the defendant’s slain son Paul and wife Maggie to lamenting what he described as attacks on the credibility of the state’s justice system during the trial.
Help all eligible people know about their right to vote – especially those impacted by the justice system.
The California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has approved a $6 million grant to be awarded to PVJOBS as part of a statewide effort to break the cycle of violence, gang activity and recidivism in at-risk communities. PVJOBS will utilize the funds to expand its services to those with barriers to employment due to such at-risk factors as a history with the justice system and gang involvement.
Sam Lewis was a teenager, a high school drop-out and had been sentenced to a life sentence in prison. He gained an education while incarcerated, even though college programs weren’t offered at the time. Then, after 24 years in prison and nine trips made to the parole board, he was finally released in 2012.
“I won him!” Those were words shared with me by a young mother who had been fighting to regain custody of her son for four years.
Former Judge Tracie Hunter, who became Hamilton County Ohio’s first black juvenile court judge, is receiving support from Ohio State Senator Cecil Thomas, who argues that her conviction should be overturned.
Supervisor Ridley-Thomas said problems in the juvenile justice system have persisted for decades