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“The only hesitancy we’re seeing is from inside-the-beltway politicians who aren’t in touch with what their voters want,” Justice Action Network Executive Director Jenna Bottler told me. “If the president wants to rejoin the criminal justice conversation, it’s simple: listen to the voters who are smarter than election-year soundbites.”
Recent Releases
Five Things in Criminal Justice This Week
A federal judge has ordered the Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin to be overseen by a "special master," marking the first time a Bureau of Prisons facility has faced such oversight in U.S. history. The decision follows scathing criticism from the judge, who accused the BOP of disregarding inmates' constitutional rights, and comes after lawsuits by incarcerated women alleging sexual assault and retaliation, as well as an FBI raid and the removal of top administrators.
A report in NPR this week looks at the challenges of caring for an increasingly elderly prison population in the United States. As those sentenced to long terms of incarceration continue to age, their healthcare demands rise, and facilities across the country are finding themselves ill-equipped to deal with the needs of this population. Experts argue that soon we will be at a tipping point where states will either need to adapt their facilities rapidly to meet the needs of their ballooning elderly population, or look at alternatives like early release.
According to a new study released last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses over unpaid traffic tickets is robbing the state of a significant portion of its workforce. According to the study, 14.4% of the Ohio labor force could be at risk of leaving it in any given year due to such suspensions.
This week, the Louisiana legislature is meeting for a special session on crime, and is on the verge of rolling back significant reforms to its criminal justice system that first passed in 2017. Lawmakers and Governor Landry have blamed them on a rise in crime despite data to the contrary.