Category Archives: Criminal Justice Reform

Dec 29 2018

The First Step Act: Only A Small Step Towards Reform

The ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the establishment of a federal government did not bring with it a federal prison system. Individuals who…

Dec 07 2018

Can A Prosecutor Be Fired for Refusing to Violate the Law?

In 2013, Eric Hillman was employed as an assistant district attorney in Nueces County, Texas. Mark Skurka was the duly elected district attorney for…

Nov 20 2018

Lame Duck Congress Faces Criminal Justice Reform Dilemma

Writing in the November 4, 2018 edition of Law 360, Michael Macagnone pointed out that the current lame duck Republican-controlled Congress has slightly more…

Oct 23 2018

Corruption Prosecutions Decline Under Trump

President Donald J. Trump will have a unique place in American presidential history: the most corrupt president to ever occupy the White House, surpassing…

Sep 24 2018

Excessive Force by Police Results In PTSD

On August 28, 2018, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a police excessive force case that will not please the…

Sep 23 2018

The Vanishing Criminal Trial, Justice Denied

In a November 2016 post, we made this observation about the vanishing trial in the federal court system: “ … it’s behind closed doors…

Sep 09 2018

“Qualified Immunity Smacks of Unqualified Impunity”

Those words were written by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Don R. Willett in an August 31, 2018 decision—Zadeh v. Robinson. In the…

Sep 02 2018

Murder Conviction of Police Officer is Rare Measure of Accountability

The August 9, 2014 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an African American, in Ferguson, Missouri by a white police officer named Darren Wilson during…