74 Search results for "penal system"

While the Constitution supposedly ensures everyone is afforded a fair trial, a new paper by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) says that exercising the right to trial poses many high risks. Because of this, many federal criminal defendants are encouraged to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit in order to […]

From The Huffington Post: Attorney General Eric Holder called Tuesday for a moratorium on the death penalty pending a Supreme Court decision on the use of lethal injection drugs in Oklahoma. Speaking at a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Holder, noting that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not as a member of the […]

  According to a recent report released by the ACLU, racial bias continues to taint the capital punishment system in the United States. The discrepancies were prevalent in areas such as jury selection to through decisions about who faces execution. 

The latest good deed from the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick occurred this past weekend. On Saturday, Kaepernick and his girlfriend, Hot 97 personality Nessa, dropped off two boxes of suits at a New York parole office. 

The Rikers Island prison complex has had a bad reputation since it’s been open. It’s more than a black mark on New York City. Now, local officials have committed to removing it. The New York Times reports that an independent commission on Rikers released suggestions to replace it within 10 years. There will be one facility located in […]

Despite how many feel, inmates in the penal system are still human beings and have rights. Quality medical care that prevents them from dying should undoubtedly be one of those. As evidence of this, Mumia Abu-Jamal will begin receiving hepatitis C treatment. 

The distrust between police officers and people of color doesn’t go away just because they’ve obtained fame and increased added commas to their bank accounts. They still feel the tension in the communities and are often harassed and wrongfully arrested themselves. To prove that they’re not removed from the international dialogue on police violence, a group of […]

Given the status of the criminal justice system in the United States, it’s not difficult for someone’s life to be completely thrown off track if convicted of a crime, no matter how much talent they have. The Soze Agency, a national creative agency co-founded by Michael Skolnik , has launched a $100,000 fellowship to remedy this […]

BYP100 has created the Agenda to Build Black Futures and it is a must-read. They have outlined problems, solutions, and their proposed agenda for the preservation Black lives on their website. The problems that BYP100 are fighting include the state of Black Youth in the U.S. economy where “it is hard to measure the extent […]

The following post originally appeared in The Atlantic, and was written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. Its originally title is “The Case for Reparations.” By: Ta-Nehisi Coates And if thy brother, a Hebrew […]

The following post originally appeared on The Root, and was written by Benjamin Todd Jealous and Andrea Ritchie. The piece’s original title is “It’s Time to End Profiling of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People of Color.” By: Benjamin Todd Jealous and Andrea Ritchie A  few years ago in New York City, a 17-year-old black […]

Thanks to the expansion of a prison program, inmates in California have the chance to gain valuable skills in the field of technology. “The Last Mile” trains inmates in San Quentin State Prison as well as Los Angeles Twin Towers Correctional Facility.