criminal justice reform
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Louisiana carried out its first execution in 14 years on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, putting Jessie Hoffman to death using nitrogen gas after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. The execution marked the state’s return to capital punishment and was conducted under Gov. Jeff Landry’s initiative to reinstate the death penalty as part of…
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The case of Vincent Simmons, a Black man who spent 44 years in prison for a crime he maintains he did not commit, has drawn national attention to the deep flaws within the American criminal justice system. Simmons’ conviction in 1977 was overturned in 2022 by a Louisiana judge, yet his fight for justice continues…
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering a clemency application for Andre Brown, a Bronx man whose conviction was vacated in 2022 after serving 23 years in prison for attempted murder. But recently, the ruling was overturned, placing him at risk of returning to prison for another 18 years. Brown, who has maintained his innocence,…
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After spending over a decade in prison for a crime she did not commit, India Spellman walked free on February 9, 2023, becoming the first woman in more than a generation to be exonerated in Philadelphia. Her release marks yet another case of wrongful conviction fueled by coerced confessions, prosecutorial misconduct, and systemic failures in…
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Calvin Duncan’s story is one of perseverance, injustice, and an unrelenting pursuit of justice—not just for himself, but for countless others. After being wrongly convicted of murder in 1985 due to a mistaken eyewitness identification, he spent 28.5 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola. The prison, which occupies 18,000 acres of…
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Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump is speaking out about the exoneration of Robert Johnson, a man who spent nearly 30 years behind bars for a crime he maintains he did not commit. In a statement on Instagram, Crump highlighted the injustice of Johnson’s wrongful conviction, writing: “After nearly 30 years in prison for a…
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Joe Ligon was 83 when he was released from prison in 2021 after serving nearly seven decades for crimes he committed as a 15-year-old in 1953. When he was freed, he made headlines for his record-breaking sentence and his profound transformation. Ligon’s release, which occurred after Pennsylvania authorities granted him freedom, has prompted a larger…
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In a landmark decision on Friday, January 17, 2025, U.S. President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 2,500 non-violent drug offenders, the largest number of pardons and commutations ever issued by a U.S. president. The move, which addresses disproportionate sentencing, is seen as a critical step toward criminal justice reform. The commutations were granted in…
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In a historic use of presidential clemency powers, President Joe Biden granted clemency to nearly 1,500 individuals on Thursday, marking the largest single-day exercise of such authority in modern U.S. history. The sweeping action includes approximately 1,500 sentence commutations for individuals moved to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and 39 pardons for non-violent offenders…
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In a case that highlights the systemic flaws of the criminal justice system, Sheldon Thomas, a man wrongfully convicted for nearly two decades, was finally exonerated in 2023 after spending over 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. His conviction was based on a misidentification that stemmed from a photo of…
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