Criminal Justice

As President Obama receives formal recommendations in the coming months on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released. Contrary to recent assertions that one in seven, or 14 percent, of the former prisoners had "returned to the battlefield," our analysis of Pentagon reports, news stories, and other public records indicates that the number who were confirmed or suspected to… more

Now that the president and the Democrats in Congress have set a fall deadline for legislative action on universal police protection for all Americans, battle lines are being drawn on Capitol Hill. On the right are conservative defenders of America's system of for-profit, private mercenaries. The Democrats are divided among progressives who favor universal, publicly funded police who would protect all citizens against crime, and moderate and conservative Democrats who argue that any citizen security reform should leave America's existing system of soldiers for hire in place.

Twenty-one years ago, Daisy Benson brought a gun to an argument. She says she didn’t mean to shoot, and that may be true, but you bring a gun to an argument, a lot can go wrong. Daisy was convicted of murder, given 15 to life, and… more

States like Texas and Oklahoma long ago ended racial segregation in their prisons. Now it’s California’s turn, after the Supreme Court ordered change. State prison officials have to bring white, black and Latino inmates together and still prevent rampant violence.

T.A. Frank, Editor of the Washington Monthly and a Fellow of New America Foundation, discusses how California begins to desegregate its prisons. LINK to audio

To be honest, it didn't look like racial segregation. I was standing among long rows of metal bunk beds in a room where 36 men of different races -- black, white, Latino -- live together more or less peaceably. But the setting was a dormitory for minimum-security inmates at the Sierra Conservation Center, a prison in Tuolumne County near Yosemite, and in such places, unwritten rules apply. One of the rules is that each bunk must be shared by two men of the… more

On May 6th the American Strategy Program hosted an event with Philippe Sands, Professor of International Law at University College London and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff for Colon Powell. Mr. Sands was in DC to testify to the House Judiciary Committee about the findings in his new book, Torture Team, which examines the legal implications of the Bush administration’s policy of torture. Col. Wilkerson was on hand for commentary on the subject. The event was moderated by… more

Irvine Fellow
As a California-based Fellow at the New America Foundation, T.A. Frank writes about law, criminal justice, and labor. With a robust technology sector, busy ports, and a changing economy, California is faced with new sorts of crime, such as terrorism, cybercrime, and financial fraud. Mr. Frank will explore issues such… more

A Marine squad was on a dusty road in Iraq, far from home. Suddenly, a deadly roadside bomb explodes the early morning calm and kills a lance corporal and wounds two other Marines. The mission: tend to the wounded and find those who were responsible … Or make someone pay? Three sleeping families awaken to the sound of grenades and guns.

By the end of the "operation," 24 people were dead, including three women and six children. Bullets, fired at close… more

Privacy doesn't mean anonymity. Think about that for a bit -- and get used to it.

Or if you don't like it, get a plan. But it had better be a good one.

On Oct. 23, Donald Kerr, deputy director of the Office of National Intelligence, outlined the new order of things: "Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity; and it's an idea that is deeply rooted in American culture." Well, yes, the Bill of Rights, for instance, includes protections against… more

Just over a year ago, during a high-school assembly in Jena, Louisiana, a black student asked the school’s white principal if it would be all right to sit under an oak tree outside, an oasis of shade known as the “white tree,” because only Caucasian students congregated there. The principal said that the young man could sit where he liked. Later, the student and some African-American friends walked over to the oak and chatted with some white schoolmates. The next… more