criminal justice reform
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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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The Missouri Supreme Court has halted an agreement that would have saved death row inmate Marcellus Williams from execution. Williams, who was convicted for the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, now faces a scheduled execution on Sept 24, 2024. The court’s decision came just hours after a St. Louis County judge approved a plea deal…
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Chicago Man Sues City, Police Department After Being Convicted Based On Testimony From Blind Witness
Darien Harris, a Chicago man whose murder conviction was overturned after serving 12 years in prison, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the police department. The lawsuit comes after a Cook County judge vacated Harris’s conviction upon discovering that a key witness, who testified against him, was legally blind. Harris…
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A recent report released by Reprieve has shed light on significant racial disparities in lethal injection executions in the United States, uncovering a disturbing trend of errors disproportionately affecting Black prisoners. Despite comprising only a third of those executed, Black prisoners account for half of the mishandled cases, according to the findings. The report highlights…
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