Crime Story Daily

This is a curated selection of highlights from Crime Story Daily this week. On the criminal justice policy front: A piece from the New Republic centers on the movement for progressive prosecutors. Among the “unlikeliest trends of the Trump years,” the piece argues, “was the rise of the prosecutor as a crusading criminal justice reformer.” In cities across the country, from Boston to the Bay Area, “top cops” have won popular elections on a pledge to overturn decades of tough-on-crime policies. They promised to hold police accountable, to reduce incarceration by ending cash bail, and to stop prosecuting many minor...

PM Stories COVID-19 and Vaccine Mistrust Behind Bars Lawrence Bartley and Donald Washington, Jr., The Marshall Project Most Prison Staff Refuse COVID Vaccine – Should California Let Them? Byrhonda Lyons, KQED DC jail to relax coronavirus restrictions, end nearly 24-hour daily lockdown Clarence Williams, Washington Post ‘Pervasive level of disorder and chaos’ at NYC jails amid leadership shakeup, feds say Aliza Chasan, PIX Yang Calls Rikers a ‘Stain’ on NYC, as Crime Fears Complicate Mayoral Race Nancy Bilyeau, The Crime Report How Would the Mayoral Candidates Get Guns Off New York Streets? Dana Rubinstein, Jeffery C. Mays, and Jonah E. Bromwich, New York Times Are Liberal...

PM Stories A man with intellectual disability is on death row – give him his day in court Tim Shriver, The Hill Pervis Payne’s Attorneys Ask to Stop His Execution Over Intellectual Disability Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek Appeals court denies DNA testing in Sedley Alley case Yolanda Jones, Daily Memphian Prosecutors Should Stop Seeking the Death Penalty Nikki Trautman Baszynski, The Appeal Most Manhattan DA Candidates Promise A Mass Conviction Purge Once In Office George Joseph, Gothamist Gascón’s reform vision comes to the Supreme Court Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times Second Look, Second Chance: Reevaluating Lengthy Sentences Andrea Cipriano, The Crime Report This prison reform can save millions...

PM Stories ‘Afraid of dying in here’: Inmates fought for COVID-19 vaccinations, protections after jails and prisons failed to protect them Kevin McCoy, USA Today Study links short stays at Cook County Jail early in the pandemic to the spread of COVID-19 in Black and Latino neighborhoods after inmates’ release Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune Forgetting And Forgotten: Older Prisoners Seek Release But Fall Through The Cracks Carrie Johnson, NPR Has ‘COVID Time’ Legislation Worked, and What Does It Mean for NJ’s Criminal Justice Reform Future? Suzette Parmley, New Jersey Law Journal Adjusting to the Post-Pandemic Courtroom Brad Terrace, The Crime Report Uncovering the Flaws of...

PM Stories Quintin Jones Is Not Innocent. But He Doesn’t Deserve to Die. Suleika Jaouad, New York Times ‘I’m nothing like that person’: Texas death row inmate makes video plea for clemency Ed Pilkington, The Guardian Rush of Arkansas executions that included Ledell Lee’s comes under renewed scrutiny Erik Ortiz, NBC News Racial disparities, lack of DNA testing highlighted amid growing call to end death penalty MSNBC Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Disastrous War on Drugs Nkechi Taifa, Brennan Center for Justice Violent crime in Pa. is a problem. But it’s not a reason to end reform. Reggie Shuford, Philadelphia Inquirer Campaign to Overturn Split-Jury Convictions...

PM Stories Moms Behind Bars Anna Marie Wilder, The Crime Report Prisons and jails will separate millions of mothers from their children in 2021 Wanda Bertram and Wendy Sawyer, Prison Policy Initiative Weeks Without a Shower: Neglect Defines COVID-19 Containment in California Jails Brian Osgood, The Intercept Judge says ‘morons’ run New York’s federal jails, denounces ‘inhuman’ conditions Shayna Jacobs, Washington Post The most significant piece of justice reform in decades is flaming out Hassan Kanu, Reuters Nevada Prosecutors Are Standing in the Way of Abolishing the Death Penalty Daniel Nichanian, The Appeal How Virginia’s Death Penalty Finally Ended Dale M. Brumfield, Washington Monthly Four Years After...