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Families bear the costs of alternative sentencing programs

Apr 12, 2019
Does alternative sentencing create a system of easily exploited free labor?
Judge John Kilgore presides over drug court at the Wise County Courthouse in Virginia.
Ben Hethcoat/Marketplace

Should local police departments have sophisticated military gear?

Aug 28, 2017
A policy reversal from the government could mean grenade launchers, bayonets and night-vision goggles for law enforcement.
A police officer in riot gear stands guard outside City Hall during a protest in Los Angeles, California on November 2016.
RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images

How much does it cost to send someone to prison?

May 19, 2017
It's expensive for families as well as taxpayers.
A detention officer looks on as visitors use video phones to communicate with prisoners at an Arizona jail.
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

DOJ will review consent decrees at police departments across the nation

Apr 4, 2017
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered the Department of Justice to take a close look at consent decrees in place at police departments across the country. They’re agreements a local police department signs on to after the department’s civil rights division investigates its policing practices, often in the wake of a high-profile shooting or […]

College students consider what it would mean to work for Homeland Security

Mar 2, 2017
Traffic is heavy at the agency's table at a Temple University career fair.
Criminal Justice students at Temple University attend a job fair Wednesday, at which Homeland Security recruited for the agency's investigative branch.
Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University Photography

Can New York stay progressive under Trump?

Jan 26, 2017
The president threatens withdrawal of federal funds to try to force cooperation.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, plans to create a defense fund for immigrants, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would protect all New York City residents, regardless of immigration status.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. has figured out a way around money bail

Oct 21, 2016
Using computer algorithms, DC courts evaluate flight risk and other factors.
PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

If you can't pay bail, aren't you unfairly incarcerated?

Oct 20, 2016
Lots of people think so. And the money bail system is becoming increasingly controversial.
The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that fixed money bail for poor people violates their 14th amendment constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
PRESIDENCIA/AFP/Getty Images

Officer training for mental health in short supply

Jun 30, 2015
A large number of inmates have a serious mental illnesses.

Ex-convicts struggle to find work in Baltimore

Jun 25, 2015
In Baltimore, and elsewhere, having a criminal record can be a barrier to work.
A view of downtown Baltimore. Twenty years ago, the city received $100 million as part of a federal program to target the nation's poorest neighborhoods.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images