Bail reform tops criminal-justice efforts in next legislative session
California has long been known as a law-and-order state, particularly following the crime spikes of the 1980s. The state passed the toughest “three strikes” law in the nation and state officials from...
View ArticleNew legislative session puts bail-bonds industry under microscope
At a press conference in the Capitol Monday morning, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom explained that, although he has long championed various reforms to the state’s criminal-justice system, he had in...
View ArticleA new conservative approach to jail reform: police diversion
There’s no shortage of innovative methods states have explored to divert offenders away from jail and toward treatment-based solutions, whether it be through deferred prosecution, veterans’ courts or,...
View ArticleCameron Smith talks prison reform on Birmingham Talk 99.5
Filling in as host on the Andrea Lindenberg Show, R Street State Programs Director Cameron Smith discussed Rachel Maddow’s “big reveal” on Donald Trump’s taxes, as well as some of the prison reform...
View ArticleR Street’s criminal justice project goes to SXSW
R Street was busy at the recent South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, including co-hosting a series of discussions on criminal justice reform with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, along with...
View ArticleWhat would Jesus do about criminal justice reform?
One of the more noteworthy political shifts of recent years is the degree to which prison reform has become a cause for conservatives. After decades of bellicose rhetoric on law-and-order issues, many...
View ArticleR Street Institute adds Kane, Haggerty as policy associates
WASHINGTON (July 14, 2017) – The R Street Institute today announced the addition of Joe Kane and Jon Haggerty to its technology and criminal justice policy areas, respectively. “Joe and Jonathan...
View ArticleJail reform must address mental health, substance dependence
The following op-ed was co-authored by R Street Policy Associate Jon Haggerty. A hallucinating inmate caught spitting and urinating on the floor of his cell. A woman wildly smearing fecal matter on her...
View ArticleLETTER: Support the Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act
Dear Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein, There are more Americans who cycle through local jails each year than there are people who live in the 11 least populous states. With roughly 11...
View ArticleThe key to safer, less costly jails? Reduce pretrial detention
A class-action lawsuit in the 1990s detailed harmful conditions in Maricopa County jails, including feeding inmates contaminated food and keeping mentally ill detainees in solitary confinement....
View ArticleArthur Rizer talks jail reform on KJZZ
R Street Justice Policy Director Arthur Rizer appeared recently KJZZ, a National Public Radio affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona, to discuss how reforms to the nation’s jail system can be the key to safer...
View ArticleWant less crime? Put fewer people in jail
The following op-ed was co-authored by R Street Policy Associate Jon Haggerty. The “tough on crime” politics of decades past is making a resurgence, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions is leading the...
View ArticleThe conservative case for jail reform
The attached policy study originally appeared in the Fall 2017 edition of National Affairs. Vishnu Phagoo was released from jail in May 2014 after spending three years awaiting trial for the murder of...
View ArticleNew Jersey sets an example in data-driven justice
There’s good news from the Garden State on the criminal justice front. The sweeping overhaul New Jersey lawmakers undertook in January, when they essentially abolished the state’s cash-bail system,...
View ArticleNew Orleans is ripe for justice reform
America’s jail system is broken, and New Orleans offers a prime example of the issues that bedevil it. The city currently spends more than $190,000 a day detaining prisoners, with more than half that...
View ArticleWhat does the FBI crime report mean for criminal justice reform?
The following op-ed was co-authored by R Street National Security and Criminal Justice Policy Director Arthur Rizer. Contrary to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others who suggest it shows the need...
View ArticleLocked Up Without Conviction: Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act, strategies...
R Street hosted a recent Capitol Hill panel to discuss how reliance on cash bail as a primary determinant for detention in pretrial hearings can harm public safety and hamper individual liberty. The...
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