Recent Blog Posts
New Publication Highlights Why the War on Drugs Needs Serious Reform
A new book released by a social scientist and professor of Criminology at the University of California at Irvine—Hard Bargains: The Coercive Power of Drug Laws in Federal Court—exposes just how many prosecutors have used federal drugs laws to wage a warfare against minorities—and highlights just how badly the U.S. needs to implement serious… Read More »
This Election Season, States Take One Step Closer to Decriminalizing Marijuana
This year, while many worried about which candidate would win, many others focused on a very different aspect of the election: the legalization of marijuana, a substance that is still the culprit of many drug convictions each year in and outside of New York. In addition, two bills currently in Congress—the Marijuana Access to… Read More »
Leaders in New Jersey Want To Help Expunge Criminal Records
On October 25th, New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak, Roselle Mayor Christine Dansereau. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead, and other state leaders held a press conference offering advice about how New Jersey citizens can expunge their criminal records. Sen. Lesniak is currently working on several pieces of legislation which aim to provide New Jersey residents who… Read More »
Criminal Injustice Rampant with New York’s Conspiracy Law
While most people have heard of crimes related to violent activities or drug charges, many have not heard about another New York state law that can places people behind bars simply due to ‘who they know.’ Specifically, New York’s conspiracy law allows anyone to be charged with conspiracy in the first degree if a… Read More »
Commercial Driver’s License Violations in New York
Individuals with a commercial driver’s license (CDL) rely on that license for their livelihoods. Traffic infractions that affect your ability to keep and use this license, therefore, can have huge repercussions on your career and ability to support yourself. This can also have repercussions on states like New York, which rely on these vehicles… Read More »
New Report Reveals Feds Targeting Minorities in “Fake Drug Crimes”
According to a report recently released by Professor Jeffrey Fagan and the University of Chicago Law School, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has been recruiting young men to specifically target dozens of black and Latino men for drug sting operations, promising rich financial rewards, only to result in these non-violent… Read More »
When Litigation and Insurance Premiums Help Shut Down Police Misconduct
A recent article linked in The Washington Post discusses one town’s experience of using insurance premiums to regulate excessive force used by police; specifically, the story of one town (Sorrento, Louisiana) that was granted its wish to abolish its own police department after the insurance company providing liability protection to that department threw up… Read More »
Understanding Criminal Sexual Assault Charges in New York
Sexual assault is a very serious crime that carries some strict penalties upon being found guilty. It is important to understand where the line is drawn between sexual abuse and the four degrees of aggravated sexual abuse, as defined by New York State law, so that you understand when one type of behavior turns… Read More »
America Calls for Criminal Justice Reform
Amidst all of the many disagreements catching headline news this election season, one topic appears to have bipartisan support: criminal justice reform – specifically, the need to address racial disparities both in terms of arrest rates, sentencing, and penalties. And, in addition to these alarming statistics when it comes to particular minority groups, it… Read More »
Obama Commutes Sentences, Making Statement about Nonviolent Drug Offenses
On October 6th, President Obama commuted sentences for 102 federal prison inmates incarcerated for drug crimes, providing justice for individuals who were automatically cast as “career offenders” under federal law years ago and who were subject to unfair minimum mandatory sentencing. This brings the total number of sentences the president has commuted to 774,… Read More »
