May 12 Watch 9:30 How will harsher sentences affect the flow of drugs in the U.S.? By PBS News Hour Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered federal prosecutors across the country to revive some of the toughest practices of the decades-old "war on drugs," reversing Obama administration policies that aimed to lessen the federal prison population. Hari Sreenivasan talks to… Continue watching
Oct 13 DOJ will collect data on police use of force and civilian deaths in custody By Eric Tucker, Associated Press The FBI plans to begin a pilot program early next year to gather use-of-force data. The earliest participants would be the largest law enforcement agencies, as well as major federal agencies such as the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and… Continue reading
Oct 05 Supreme Court considers racial discrimination in death penalty case By Laura Santhanam In 1997, Duane Edward Buck was sentenced to die after he was convicted of killing two people and wounding a third in Houston, Texas. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today to decide whether Buck received a fair trial. Continue reading
Aug 22 Virginia governor restores voting rights for 13,000 felons By Alanna Durkin, Associated Press McAuliffe's announcement Monday came nearly a month after the court ruled that governors cannot restore rights en masse, but must handle them on a case-by-case basis. That ruling invalidated a previous executive order that had restored the voting rights of… Continue reading
Aug 22 Can diverse police departments ease community tension? By Jen Fifield, Stateline As police-involved shootings have increased tensions between police and black communities across the country, some law enforcement agencies have put out similar calls for help in hopes of recruiting a more diverse force as one way to re-establish community trust. Continue reading
Aug 09 States ease access to welfare and food stamps for convicted drug felons By Teresa Wiltz, Stateline The changes come amid broader efforts in Washington and many states to reform drug policies and criminal justice approaches. And they reflect a growing consensus that helping people when they are released from prison can increase the chances that they… Continue reading
Jul 22 Can restorative justice help offenders reintegrate into society? By Rebecca Beitsch, Stateline In many states, offenders serving time are barred from contacting victims. But the prison-based programs give victims a chance to ask questions in ways they weren’t able to in court. Prisoners get a chance to do something positive for those… Continue reading
Jun 29 Watch 7:54 Breaking the school-to-prison pipeline for young offenders one class at a time By PBS News Hour In most states across America, education for teen offenders pales in comparison to what they'd receive on the outside. Just one third mandate that these kids meet the same standards as their public school counterparts. Massachusetts is one of them,… Continue watching
Jun 28 Watch 9:48 Should a juvenile sex offender be locked up indefinitely? By William Brangham, Mike Fritz Continue watching
Jun 28 Inside Minnesota’s sex offender facility, where no one has ever been released By Mike Fritz, William Brangham, Abbey Oldham The PBS NewsHour was recently granted rare access to Minnesota’s Sex Offender Program in the rural town of Moose Lake, MN. It is one of two state-run facilities that house more than 700 sex offenders. They’re all being held under… Continue reading