criminal justice reform
August 11, 2022 -
As climate change-fueled heat waves become more frequent and intense, many incarcerated people endure dangerous triple-digit temperatures for long periods. Efforts are underway in some states to bring relief from the heat — and to challenge the underlying constitutional provisions that allow prisoners to be treated as subhuman.
January 27, 2022 -
A formerly incarcerated person who went on to become a public defender in Nashville, Haynes made headlines when she ran for Congress in 2020. Now a voting rights advocate with the Sentencing Project, she has a new book out about fixing the brutality of the criminal justice system titled "Bending the Arc" and recently talked about it with Facing South.
May 27, 2021 -
Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed into law a bill that would bar Georgia's many licensing boards from denying credentials to people on probation or parole for many crimes. That's an important step toward fair chance licensing, says DJ Sims, a reentry organizer in Georgia — but additional reforms are needed to ensure that people who've served their time are able to make a living.
October 5, 2020 -
Republicans in Georgia have maneuvered to stop competitive elections for some judicial and prosecutorial positions, passing a law in 2018 that gives Gov. Brian Kemp the power to fill certain vacancies. A federal judge struck down the law, but now the case is with the state Supreme Court.
May 21, 2020 -
Even before the novel coronavirus outbreak, social justice advocacy groups like Color of Change were fighting for free phone calls for the incarcerated. COVID-19 has raised the stakes.
February 13, 2020 -
Sharpe recently won his release from a North Carolina prison after serving 25 years for a murder he did not commit. He knows his story is not an anomaly — and he is using it to fight for systemic change.
November 22, 2019 -
As the movement to reform the U.S. criminal justice system gains steam, advocates are taking steps to change racist and classist cash bail policies in communities from North Carolina to Kentucky to Texas.
