Justified outrage as Atlanta man released after shooting at the police (excerpt from Law Enforcement Today – Mar 28 2019) ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Kenneth Gilbert and his father were driving around Atlanta earlier this month when they saw several police officers in an unmarked Atlanta Police S.W.A.T. vehicle. Unprovoked, and with noRead More →
Why the criminal justice system should abandon algorithms (excerpt from TNW Feb 6 2019) Here’s a choose-your-own-adventure game nobody wants to play: you’re a United States judge tasked with deciding bail for a black man, a first-time offender, accused of a non-violent crime. An algorithm just told you there’s aRead More →
U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Constitutionality of Money Bail and Bail Schedules For four long years, at the urging of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, activist Plaintiffs lawyers have been suing small jurisdictions arguing that there is a right to an affordable bail in the United States and that theRead More →
The city of Atlanta is trusting potential shoplifters, pot users and illegal drivers to return to court, requiring nothing but their signature to get out of jail. (excerpt from The Reveal March 26 2019) ATLANTA — Donna Smitherman sits in clear view of the Atlanta Detention Center as she talksRead More →
Bail Reform—A View From the Bench (excerpt from New York Law Journal – March 27 2019) As a New York state court judge who has presided over felony criminal cases in Manhattan for the past 11 years, I am gratified that the Legislature and the Governor are on the vergeRead More →
Colorado’s Pretrial Risk Assessment Tool Violates The Americans With Disabilities Act and the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses Of The Fourteenth Amendment As the Colorado legislature, at the urging of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCCJ), continues their push for the statewide use of pretrial riskRead More →
The Black Box of Bail Algorithms: One Sensible Solution (excerpt from Jurist – Legal News and Research – Mar 14 2019) JURIST Guest Columnist Jeff Clayton, Executive Director of the American Bail Coalition discusses a recent Idaho bill proposal that seeks to reform the use of risk assessment algorithms inRead More →
Let judges handle bail, and keep Texas safer (excerpt from TribTalk – Texas and authored by Former U.S. Representative Ted Poe, Mar 12 2019) In order for any criminal justice system to work properly, justice must mean something to the offender, to the victim and to the community. Justice cannotRead More →
FBI’S CRIME FILES LURK BEHIND COLORADO’S SECRET BAIL ALGORITHM Justice-by-algorithm is certainly in vogue at the moment. The issue concerns individuals who have been arrested and charged with a crime, and asks the question: who should be eligible for bail and who stays behind bars? According to the grand claims ofRead More →
