And Justice For All

The punishment should fit the crime, certainly, but our system shouldn't brand teens 'sexting' each other as child pornographers.

Sesame Street is no stranger to controversy. From divorce to AIDS to Bert and Ernie's sexual ambiguity, the show has famously pushed the limits on what preschoolers should know.

Why are schools so eager to adopt police roles and assist in the creeping (and creepy) militarization of the nation’s institutions?

Black Americans were nearly four times as likely than whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data.

The Supreme Court said a one-year filing deadline for prisoners seeking federal review of their state court convictions under a 1996 law may be relaxed if they present compelling evidence of their innocence.

The war on drugs is a war on civilized society.

If given the attention it deserves, an important new book entitled "Facing the US Prison Problem 2.3 Million Strong," is certain to make significant contributions to the public discussions of US prison policy.

“It appears that race, geography and youth largely determines who gets the death penalty in Colorado,” wrote a group of NAACP leaders in a letter urging Gov. Hickenlooper to grant clemency. They note that not a single black juror served on the panel that sentenced Dunlap to death.

Sequarier McCoy shifted in her seat behind a security glass window, waiting for her children to arrive, fiddling with the crayons, markers and paper scattered on the table.

The new documentary, "Redemption and the Prosecutor," is a first step toward making mass incarceration an organizing focus in churches across the country.

Two Senate lawmakers and the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court are asking the state to look into the possible disparity of minority children being

Texas jailers ran a "rape camp" where they "repeatedly raped and humiliated female inmates," and forced them to masturbate and sodomize male guards, and one another, two women claim in court..

Between 1981 and 2010, the number of state and federal prisoners age 55 and over increased from 8,853 to 124,900. By 2030, that number is projected to grow to 400,000, an increase of 4,400 percent from 1981.

Black people are no more likely to smoke marijuana than white people. They're 3.73 times more likely to get arrested for it.

Priorities are out of whack in Pennsylvania.

It’s like a prison horror-story competition, and Mississippi is in the running. The ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit today because of “barbaric” conditions.

Terri LeClercq, a Texas State University alumna who became consumed with advocating for prison reform after her arrest during a protest in 1998, has penned an illustrated graphic novel intended to teach inmates how to effectively lodge complaints...

Inmates participate in a study program in Santa Ana, CA. (Spencer Grant/Getty Images   By EMILY DERUY   Right now, taxpayers spend up to $70 billion each year to house the nation’s two to three million prisoners.

Mark Ciavarella Jr, a 61-year old former judge in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for literally selling young juveniles for cash.

Federal prisoners can request compassionate release if they are terminally ill, but a recent investigation found that many die while their requests drift through the system.

Unlike the ‘Real Housewives,’ prisoners aren’t really exercising free will when they sign up to exploited on TV.

In an engaging and personal talk -- with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks -- human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America's justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a...

Across much of the country, sealing or clearing a criminal record after a wrongful conviction is a tangled and expensive process, advocates and former prisoners say.

We throw thousands of men in the hole for the books they read, the company they keep, the beliefs they hold. Here's why.