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  • DEATH PENALTY
    The Southern Center for Human Rights represents individuals on death row at trial, on appeal, and in the post-conviction review process.
  • RIGHT TO COUNSEL
    The legal system is so complex and contains so many procedural traps that a lay person accused of a crime can no more navigate it alone than a passenger can fly a plane in the absence of the pilot.
  • PRISON AND JAILS
    The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and within the United States, the top 7 states with the highest incarceration rates are all Southern states.
  • DEBTORS' PRISONS
    Contrary to what many people believe, there are debtors’ prisons throughout the United States where people are imprisoned because they are too poor to pay fines and fees.

The Southern Center for Human Rights

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RECENT NEWS

  • 2016 at the Georgia General Assembly: A Legislative Summary
    29th March 2016

    For the 16th year in a row, SCHR was a daily presence at the Georgia General Assembly. There were major victories this year, including the comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform Bill, an increased budget for Georgia’s public defender system, and reforms on grand jury procedures in police use of force cases. There were setbacks, the gutting of Georgia’s judicial watchdog agency. We helped stop several dangerous pieces of legislation, including a bill that would have mandated collection of DNA from every person arrested for “certain serious felonies” before their innocence or guilt was determined.

  • Judge Bars Jailing of Indigent Defendants for Misdemeanors
    1st February 2016

    A federal judge in Rome has barred the city of Calhoun from detaining indigent defendants in misdemeanor or minor traffic cases in jail for as long as a week simply because they cannot afford a cash bond.

    The injunction by U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy labeled as unconstitutional the city's practice of jailing indigent defendants accused of city ordinance violations and other misdemeanors who cannot raise enough money to pay preset cash bonds. The city routinely releases defendants who are awaiting adjudication of misdemeanor charges and have enough cash to post bond.

  • Five Things Wrong With Georgia’s Death Penalty
    18th November 2015

    On the eve of the next execution, a look at the state’s history of bad lawyering and faulty evidence.

  • Georgia probation firm closing amid lawsuit, compliance check
    20th May 2015

    A South Georgia probation company accused in a lawsuit of wrongfully detaining poor people will be closing its operation next month.

    Red Hills Community Probation, which handles misdemeanor probation supervision for five small courts, informed state regulators that it will close in June, according to emails obtained Wednesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

    The company’s decision came as the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council (CMPAC), which regulates probation providers, was in the midst of a compliance review of Red Hills.

  • Lives upended as judges push legal limits
    2nd May 2015
    Success of Georgia probation reforms depends on changes from the bench

    When Adel Edwards appeared before Judge Joshua Bell in a tiny municipal court in rural Georgia, it was hardly the crime of the century. Edwards was accused of burning leaves in his yard without a permit. But the judge didn’t treat the matter lightly. He ordered Edwards, who is disabled and lives on food stamps, to pay a $500 fine, spend 12 months on probation and pay a private probation company another $44 a month to “supervise” him.

© 2013 Southern Center for Human Rights