Criminal Justice
D.A.’s Office Enlisting Volunteers to Help Wayward Youths
Let’s say you’re a kid, all of 15 or 16, and you get caught doing something stupid. (Go ahead, think back to being that age. […]
If SEPTA Didn’t Hire You Because of a Criminal Record, These Lawyers Want to Hear From You
Frank Long says he was right on the cusp of getting a job as a bus driver for SEPTA when two 20-year-old convictions for drug […]
MacArthur Grant Will Give City Tools to Cut Prison Population
Philadelphia officials gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Criminal Justice Center to officially announce and celebrate a $3.5 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation that will allow the city […]
Supreme Court Gives Hundreds of Philly Juvenile Lifers a Chance at Parole
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that their 2012 decision Miller v. Alabama, which ended life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of murder, applies retroactively. […]
Op-Ed: 17 Ways Kenney Can Help Fix the Justice System
(Editor’s note: This is an opinion column from Community Legal Services attorney Sharon Dietrich.) Nearly one in three American adults has a criminal record, the […]
Lawsuit: PA Denying Timely Treatment and Trial for Mentally Ill Defendants
In July of 2014, a homeless, schizophrenic man smuggled three Peppermint Patty candies from a Philadelphia-area dollar store. Criminally charged with retail theft and deemed […]
Philly Tops All Cities in Sending Juveniles to Prison For Life
Back in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children who are convicted of murder cannot receive mandatory life-without-parole sentences because such laws violate the Eighth Amendment’s […]
Will the “Ferguson Effect” Doom Police Reform?
One big but often overlooked reason that Michael Nutter was elected mayor in 2007 was the tough tone he struck on crime and violence in the […]
At Last, the Moment Is Ripe for Real Criminal Justice Reform
Last Tuesday, President Barack Obama made the case for a fundamental shift in America’s approach to crime and punishment. He rattled off an array of terrifying […]