criminal justice

An organization run by rapper Jay-Z has facilitated donations totaling $1 million for the local innocence project to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County.

The department of justice  is asking to keep suspects behind bars without trails due to the coronavirus pandemic. They’re looking for emergancy powers for judges to be able to suspend trials in emergent situations and allow congress to hold video conferences without the defendants consent. Critics say this would violate constitutional rights.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is set to become the 22nd U.S. state to abolish the death penalty after lawmakers on Wednesday approved a repeal bill that Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has pledged to sign into law. Passage had been virtually certain with Democrats holding a substantial majority in the House — even with several Democratic […]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The leader of Mississippi’s underfunded prison system was pleading with lawmakers for money to hire more guards and pay them better in 2012 when he warned, “I see trouble down the road.” Christopher Epps, a longtime Mississippi Department of Corrections employee, would later go to prison himself for collecting $1.4 million […]

If you are listening to TJMS, chances are you want to reform the thing most people call “The Criminal Justice System.” In our community, we’re beginning to call it “The Legal System,” because it’s not really just and everybody who enters into it is not a criminal, but whatever you call, whatever we call it, […]

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is speaking out about the drug arrest and incarceration of her famous father, soul singer Major Lance, and how it shaped the political career path she would ultimately carve for herself. “I never talked about it,” Bottoms, 49, told Yahoo News about the personal impact of her father’s arrest. “There was a lot of […]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden plans to propose a criminal justice agenda that would reverse key provisions of the 1994 crime bill that he helped write as a senator and that his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have blamed for the mass incarceration of racial minorities since then. Most notably, the former […]

There was a major shift in criminal justice last night when a rare coalition of conservatives, liberals, activists, prosecutors and defense attorneys pushed senators to pass the “First Step Act” by a final vote of 87-12. This bill could make America’s criminal justice system more fair,  reduce overcrowding and save taxpayer dollars. It’s expected to benefit drug […]

The Senate on Tuesday passed a sweeping criminal justice overhaul. The House is expected to pass the bill this week, sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature. The bill : —Attempts to focus the toughest sentences on the most violent offenders by lowering mandatory minimum sentences for prior drug felonies, including reducing the life […]

The disconnect between prison life inmates and getting them reconnected to the real world has been a struggle for years. Many prisoners who get released often struggle to find jobs and take care of themselves. However, Atlanta’s new mayor has made a plan to fix that disconnect by installing a new prison job training program […]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is calling for reform of the criminal justice system after visiting rapper Meek Mill in a Pennsylvania prison. Kraft and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin visited the Philadelphia-born rapper on Tuesday. After the visit, Kraft said Mill’s incarceration makes it clear that “we have to do […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Singer Alicia Keys has a flirty message for Speaker Paul Ryan: He can be her Valentine if the House acts on criminal justice reform. In a YouTube video, Keys speaks directly to Ryan in a sultry tone and refers to old photos of Ryan lifting weights. “I never saw the Speaker of […]