When a child is charged with a serious crime, it raises difficult questions about how the juvenile justice system should respond. A recent case in Colorado, where an 11-year-old boy faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of his younger brother, highlights the tension between legal authority and common sense. While Colorado law allows…
Recent violent crimes in Kansas City and St. Louis have led to familiar calls for tougher laws and longer prison sentences. Whenever a tragedy happens, the public is told the same thing — that the solution is to be “tougher on crime.” This overly simplistic knee-jerk “solution” has repeatedly proven to be ineffective and costly.…
Idaho’s prisons are beyond capacity, and the consequences are hitting taxpayers, families, and the justice system all at once. New budget figures from the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) show the state is incarcerating more than 10,000 people despite having space for just over 8,200 in its prisons. When beds run out, Idaho sends people…
For the second year in a row, the nation’s prison population has increased, a notable reversal after more than a decade of steady decline. According to new data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,254,224 people were incarcerated in state and federal prisons at the end of 2023, marking a 2% increase from the previous…
Suicides in jails are a growing and deeply concerning issue, with many facilities across the country struggling to prevent these tragic events. Incarcerated individuals, often facing mental health challenges and isolation, are at a higher risk of taking their own lives. Despite efforts to address the problem, too many jails continue to fail in providing…
In Idaho, harsh drug sentences are a significant driver behind the rising rates of female incarceration. Over the past few decades, the state’s tough-on-crime policies, particularly regarding drug-related offenses, have led to an alarming increase in the number of women behind bars. Many of these women are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, often related to addiction…
Julius Jones was sentenced to death after the July 28, 1999, murder of Paul Howell. He is scheduled to die November 18 for a murder that he, for decades, maintained he did not commit. A Pardon and Parole Board has recommended twice that Jones’ death sentence be commuted to life with possibility of parole. However,…
We are seeing and hearing that most people confined to an institution at the moment have been exposed to the novel coronavirus or have or are recovered from Covid-19. Idaho’s institutions are unable to provide social distancing, placing both incarcerated people and the community-at-large at risk. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 in justice institutions –…