United States of America
Seen in the press
Read our selection of press reports about this country.
United States: the importance of raising the age of criminal responsibility
Raising the age for criminal responsibility of juveniles is an issue on the front lines of criminal justice reform. Raise the age bills have been passed at some point in almost all 50 states and allow for juveniles to be treated as juveniles unless they have committed certain violent offenses, such…United States: judge accepts sweeping reforms of Arizona death penalty protocols
A U.S. judge accepted on Thursday major revisions to Arizona’s death penalty procedures, such as eliminating paralytic drugs in lethal injections and giving witnesses more access to watch prisoners inside the death chamber, a lawyer for the death row inmates said. The changes were part of a settlem…United States: lawyers contest constitutionality of Nebraska death penalty
Attorneys for an inmate accused of strangling his cellmate have asked a judge to declare Nebraska’s death penalty unconstitutional. Concerns over the recently reinstated capital punishment that was repealed in 2015 are among the 11 arguments in a motion filed Monday by Todd Lancaster and Sarah Newe…USA: the private-prison industry has one big client that no one talks about
The largest jail system in the United States has no buildings of its own. Instead, it’s a shadowy complex of agreements that tucks detainees in wherever there’s available space. It has swelled substantially over the past two decades, and it is likely to grow further.Why the new Justice Secretary needs to care about prison education
This week the Rt Hon David Lidington MP took up responsibility for for the tens of thousands of men and women in our prisons. The aftershocks from the General Election will leave MPs and Ministers wrestling with major political decisions facing the country, but the new Justice Secretary cannot affo…USA: with Sessions’ sentencing change, it’s time to end secrecy around private prisons
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced new guidelines that will result in a significant increase in the prison population, directing federal prosecutors to seek the toughest penalties possible for nonviolent defendants. Those prisoners will have to be incarcerated somewhere, which is per…United States: how drug courts are falling short
Local authorities revived Smith, arrested him, and then gave him two options: he could go to jail or he could go into treatment. Smith chose treatment—or at least that’s what he thought. What Smith chose, more specifically, was to go through the alternative sentencing program known as drug court, w…United States: programs that reduce recidivism could be casualties in budget fight over prison spending
The state is hammering out its budget. And lawmakers are having a sharp disagreement with the governor’s office over one of Michigan’s biggest price tags – the corrections budget. Both sides agree rehabilitation and lowering recidivism is the way to go. But they can’t agree on how much money to spe…USA: America’s prisons are failing. Here’s how to make them work
Shirley Schmitt is no one’s idea of a dangerous criminal. She lived quietly on a farm in Iowa, raising horses and a daughter, until her husband died in 2006. Depressed and suffering from chronic pain, she started using methamphetamine.USA: Jeff Sessions wants to put more people in prison, his home state of Alabama is doing the opposite
Attorney General Jeff Sessions penned a memo to federal prosecutors in early May asking them to stop seeking lenient sentences for drug offenders and instead seek “the most serious, readily provable” charges.United States: the Trump administration is expanding its use of for-profit prisons to house undocumented immigrants
The Bureau of Prisons has already started the process for acquiring at least one new private prison to house immigration offenders “in anticipation of population increases” following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on immigration.