Tag: criminal

Employment Consequences of Conviction

The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) has made available a paper entitled “Legislating Forgiveness: A Study of Post-Conviction Certificates as Policy to Address the Employment Consequences of a Conviction” and written by Heather Garretson, which addresses the fact that mass incarceration in America is creating an employment paradox that is the result of three facts […]

Transforming Prisons and Restoring Lives

The Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections issued numerous recommendations last week to reform the federal criminal justice system in a large report entitled “Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives.” A primary goal highlighted in the recommendations is focused on Federal Corrections sending fewer low-level drug offenders to federal prison and also sentencing offenders to far […]

Federal Sentences for Nonviolent Crimes

The White House is preparing to push for legislation that would reduce federal sentences for nonviolent crimes. According to press secretary Josh Earnest, President Obama is expected to champion sweeping reform of the criminal justice system and present ideas to make the system “safer, fairer and more effective” during a speech to the NAACP annual […]

Heroin Addiction and White Privilege

“Heroin addiction sent me to prison. White privilege got me out and to the Ivy League.” This is the provocative headline of a piece in the Washington Post about a senior at Cornell University who was arrested for heroin possession. As an addict (a condition that began during a deep depression), he was muddling his […]

Federal Inmate Reentry Into Society

In a new step to further the Justice Department’s efforts towards enhancing reentry among formerly incarcerated individuals, Attorney General Eric Holder announced this week that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will impose new requirements on federal halfway houses that help inmates transition back into society. Under the proposed new requirements, these halfway houses will have […]

Border Searches of Electronic Devices

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is fighting border searches of electronic devices under the theory that they could disclose confidential legal information. This issue has hit very close to home for former NACDL president Lisa Wayne, whose laptop was confiscated when she was returning from Mexico in 2008, after she was asked […]