Crime Story Daily

This is a curated selection of highlights from Crime Story Daily this week. On the criminal justice policy front: The New York Times reports that last week, in a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected limits on life-in-prison terms for youth, reversing more than a decade of progress towards leniency for juvenile offenders. Over the past 16 years, the court, often led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, “methodically limited the availability of the harshest penalties for crimes committed by juveniles, first by striking down the juvenile death penalty and then by restricting sentences of life without the possibility of parole.” But Justice...

PM Stories Supreme Court Conservatives Just Made It Easier to Sentence Kids to Life in Prison Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project Juvenile lifer who set precedent sentenced to life again Kim Chandler, ABC News Was Evan Miller ‘The Rare Juvenile’ Who Deserved Life Without Parole? (2017) Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project A Sharp Divide at the Supreme Court Over a One-Letter Word Adam Liptak, New York Times A new Mass. women's prison may have disastrous consequences for poor and Black communities for decades, advocates say Zoe Greenberg, Boston Globe Court backlog leaves hundreds of people in Cook County Jail for more than a year Carlos...

PM Stories Governors Should Prioritize the COVID-19 Vaccine for Everyone in Jail Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Ram Subramanian, Brennan Center for Justice Some LA County jail inmates seek vaccinations – to get early transfer to state prison Bernard J. Wolfson, Los Angeles Times As virus cases fall, Maryland tries to dig out of backlogged jury trials Dan Morse, Washington Post COVID-19 concerns raised at St. Louis death penalty trial Jim Salter, AP News Biden vowed to end the death penalty. Activists are demanding action as he nears the 100-day mark Christina Carrega, CNN Activists Wait For Biden To Take Bold Action On Criminal Justice Reform Carrie...

PM Stories How The Prison Litigation Reform Act Has Failed For 25 Years Easha Anand, Emily Clark, and Daniel Greenfield, The Appeal Slamming the Courthouse Door: 25 years of evidence for repealing the Prison Litigation Reform Act Andrea Fenster and Margo Schlanger, Prison Policy Initiative Another assault at Philly jail leaves a man on life support and staff and prisoners warning of a crisis Samantha Melamed, Philadelphia Inquirer Prolonged solitary confinement is torture. It’s time for all states to ban it. Tammie Gregg and Donna Lieberman, Washington Post Biden vowed to end the death penalty. Activists are demanding action as he nears the 100-day...

PM Stories Supreme Court Rejects Limits on Life Terms for Youth Adam Liptak, New York Times The Supreme Court is wrong. Even children who kill don’t deserve life without parole. Austin Sarat, Detroit Free Press States Should Abolish Juvenile Life Without Parole Nikki Trautman Baszynski, The Appeal How a ‘Time-Limited’ Approach Can Transform Juvenile Probation Andrea Cipriano, The Crime Report DA George Gascón pushes for bill to eliminate juvenile ‘strikes’ in adult sentencing Steven Rosenberg, Los Angeles Daily News He was elected to rethink criminal justice. Three months later, LA wants its DA out. Alicia Victoria Lozano, Yahoo! News DA George Gascón, Survivors Of Violent Crime,...

PM Stories With the majority of corrections officers declining the COVID-19 vaccine, incarcerated people are still at serious risk Wanda Bertram and Wendy Sawyer, Prison Policy Initiative Dozens of inmates at a prison in Iowa are recovering after receiving overdose amounts of the Pfizer vaccine Ann Hinga Klein, New York Times DC officials ignore growing pressure to end 23-hour COVID lockdown at jail Peter Jamison, Washington Post Pandemic makes separation scarier for people with family in prison Alexander Testa and Chantal Fahmy, Houston Chronicle These Mississippi teens escaped life without parole. But they will still die in prison. Jimmie E. Gates, Mississippi Center for...