Hanna Liebman Dershowitz has been a policy attorney specializing in criminal legal reform for decades. She is a senior policy fellow at Reason Foundation and a member of the steering committee of Moms United to End the War on Drugs.
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What election results reveal about the future of criminal justice reform
A postmortem on the 2024 criminal justice reform ballot initiatives offers insight into current voter sentiment and where we might be headed.
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Restorative justice promises to meet more of the needs of crime victims
Restorative justice, not retributive punishment, often better meets the needs of crime victims while rehabilitating those who committed the crimes.
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Collateral consequences in criminal cases function as invisible, perpetual punishments
Keeping people with a criminal record, which is one in three adults in the United States, from fully reintegrating into community life is dangerous and unsound.
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Arizona Proposition 313 would sentence child traffickers to life in prison
Child sex trafficking is abhorrent and deserves severe punishment. But at the same time, the law has to recognize that every case is unique.
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California Proposition 36 would change drug and theft crime penalties, create more felonies
Diverting spending from upstream, preventative tactics such as treatment and dropout prevention into incarceration costs is a counterproductive idea.
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Colorado Amendment I would remove right to bail for first-degree murder charges
This measure would add first-degree murder to the category of cases for which a person is able to be held in jail without bail pending trial in Colorado.
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West Virginia Amendment 1 would prohibit medically assisted suicide
Amendment 1 prohibits any medical professional from taking part in a medically assisted suicide, also known as euthanasia or mercy killing.
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Today’s legislative addiction to criminalization feels like déjà vu
Even as lawmakers dismiss the solutions, people in American communities understand that incarceration is not always the best approach.
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Rikers deaths reflect inadequate care in American jails and prisons
A recent report analyzing four deaths on Rikers Island in the second half of 2023 found critical lapses in security and inadequate care for prisoners.