From Times Dispatch: More than 70 percent of students involved in school-related arrests or cases referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or African-American, according to an Education Department report that raises questions about whether students of all races are disciplined evenhandedly in America’s schools. Black students are more than three…
Read More »
From ArsTechnica: Judge Stanley J. Sacks declared Illinois’ eavesdropping law—which is one of the toughest in the nation—unconstitutional in his ruling in the case of Christopher Drew, who was charged with the felony crime in 2009. The eavesdropping law prohibits citizens from making audio or visual recordings of others without…
Read More »
From SPLC: A mother whose daughters were hit with pepper spray by a police officer at their school in Birmingham, Ala., joined the SPLC and a coalition of advocacy groups today to present the city council and Mayor William Bell with a petition signed by more than 25,000 people urging…
Read More »
From The Root: A Connecticut woman has pleaded guilty for fraudulently enrolling her son in the wrong school district, according to the Huffington Post. The case, which ignited a media firestorm last year, ended Wednesday in a plea by Tanya McDowell. While she didn’t necessarily admit her guilt, she did…
Read More »
From The LATimes: The [Supreme Court] will hear oral arguments March 20, in two cases involving 14-year-olds, on whether it is unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment to put young juvenile murderers in prison without hope of release. The justices have been moving toward greater protection for minors. They abolished the…
Read More »
From WSJ: The Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a “sea change” inside the U.S. Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. Mr. Weissmann, speaking at a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century” on…
Read More »
From Democracy Now! The Florida State Senate has defeated a measure to privatize at least 27 prisons, which would have created the largest corporate-run prison system in the country. Despite the vote, Republican Gov. Rick Scott could still privatize the prisons through executive authority. According to the U.S. Department of…
Read More »
From PrivatizationWatch: As state governments wrestle with massive budget shortfalls, a Wall Street giant is offering a solution: cash in exchange for state property. Prisons, to be exact. Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest operator of for-profit prisons, has sent letters recently to 48 states offering to buy up…
Read More »
