News & Updates
OP-ED: The coronavirus pandemic requires good-faith adjustments to our criminal justice system
As the novel coronavirus pandemic grew, those of us in the criminal justice system recognized that the virus, which spreads easily and thrives where there are large concentrations of people in confined spaces, could be catastrophic for the 2.3 million incarcerated people in the United States and…
OP-ED: Prosecutors: COVID-19's threat to millions of incarcerated people needs to be addressed now
As our nation is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and beginning to recognize the potentially catastrophic public health risk posed by large concentrations of people in confined spaces, we are urging local, state and federal leaders to take action now to protect the 2.3 million people…
OP-ED: Lawyers must stand up to Trump to protect our legal system
President Trump’s deceitful diatribe against respected U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is his latest assault on the judiciary’s independence.
OP-ED: No, D.C.’s criminal justice reform efforts don’t go too far
The District’s incarceration rate is higher than any state in the nation — and any country. In large part, that’s owed to a period of excessive mandatory-minimum-sentencing guidelines, which disproportionately targeted people of color.
OP-ED: Why are we sentencing juveniles to die in prison? The Supreme Court dropped the ball.
Sometimes the Supreme Court gets it wrong. In the case of Bobby Bostic, the mistake will likely cost him his life in prison.
OP-ED: DC statehood is necessary to fully secure right for women to choose
The fundamental right of a woman to choose her reproductive future is more vulnerable than ever due to appointments of conservative judges to the Supreme Court and coordinated efforts to curtail abortion access by certain states.
OP-ED: Congress, stop blocking D.C. from regulating its marijuana market
Congress continues to prohibit the District from spending money to enact or carry out any law, rule or regulation to legalize or reduce penalties for marijuana.
OP-ED: Time to bank the unbanked legal marijuana industry in this nation
Despite the billions of dollars generated each year by the legal marijuana businesses operating in 33 states and the District of Columbia, the legal marijuana market in this country remains frustratingly, and hazardously, unable to participate within the traditional United States banking system…
OP-ED: In Maryland, justice should work backward and forward
In the past four years, hundreds of people in Baltimore have been imprisoned on gun-related charges based solely on the testimony of Baltimore Police Department’s troubled Gun Trace Task Force.
LTE: How to keep D.C. residents safe from unpredictable synthetic drugs
There have been more than 380 overdoses and several deaths likely linked to synthetic drugs commonly called K2.