Criminal justice reform continued to build momentum this year within the inner sanctum of the Beltway and across the nation in a handful of states. It emerged as a significant issue in the presidential campaign, and looks likely to stay front and center into 2016. Some of the year’s most...

As the Democratic presidential candidates prepare for Saturday's debate in Des Moines, they should consider themselves fortunate in one respect. They no longer have to outdo each other to prove how tough they are on crime. Gone are the days when then-Gov. Bill Clinton left the campaign trail in 1992...

As Democratic presidential candidates debate policy views on Tuesday, we will likely hear much about how these progressive leaders differ from Republicans. Presidential campaigns, and debates in particular, are rarely times to promote bipartisanship.

But there is an issue around which both Democrats and Republicans have recently coalesced: America has...

Images of police in riot gear standing atop armored tanks in the streets of Ferguson, Mo. dominated the summer of 2014. That same summer ushered in waves of protesters chanting "black lives matter" -- protests that continue today following the deaths of black men during encounters with the police in...

The headline in this year's Jan. 16th St. Louis Post-Dispatch was frightening by any standard: "Bloody St. Louis sees 7 killings; 3 arrests." The piece went on to detail six shootings over a 13-hour stretch that killed seven people, including a single mother of two and a hotel...

The decisions by grand juries not to indict officers in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo. and the Eric Brown chokehold case in Staten Island, N.Y., have spurred various proposals to reform grand juries. These calls are likely to increase if grand juries also decide against indictments in the...

2014 was a year, as many are, of modest steps forward and a few steps back in criminal justice reform. But the national focus on flaws in our criminal justice system could lead to stronger reforms in 2015.

The year proved to be a victory for those advocating for changes in...

Words count. Especially when uttered by the president of the United States. In announcing his Executive Order changing immigration rules last Thursday, President Obama used the phrase "felons, not families." This phrase has its origins in the criminal justice lexicon, where advocates have for years sought its demise...

The common perception of federal prosecutors is that they are akin to Eliot Ness -- tough-minded law enforcers dedicated to fighting crime wherever it lurks. Like all characterizations it understates the subtleties and complexities of the task, but more importantly, the portrayal is dated.

There is a...

On July 11, the U.S. Department of Justice will institute a new policy establishing "a presumption" that U.S. attorneys and federal agents will electronically record statements made by individuals in their custody. This is a smart step. Requiring recorded interrogation is now the norm, rather than the exception across much...

The United States is well past the point where the immense number of people in prison -- by a significant margin the largest in the world -- can be justified by social benefits. That is the conclusion of a committee of preeminent criminal justice experts, social scientists, and historians convened...

Searching for cheaper and more efficient ways to conduct government business, legislators increasingly see contracting out government services as an attractive option. In a vacuum, this can seem like a great idea. But it can lead to some serious questions -- particularly when it comes to our criminal justice system.

Twenty years ago, George H.W. Bush's Attorney General, William P. Barr, confronted the nadir of America's crime epidemic with the conventional public policy wisdom of the time; he called on states across the nation to ramp up incarceration. Addressing Maryland's first-ever summit on violent street crime, Barr told...