Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is introducing legislation to remove the disparity between crack and powdered cocaine possession, a drug policy that had a large impact on the South over the past two decades. But the bill does not make the sentencing change retroactive, writes Earl Ofari Hutchinson. More...
FACING SOUTH - Online Magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies
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Two weeks ago, a federal judge partially granted class certification in a lawsuit seeking to hold the Gretna Police Department and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office accountable for their actions in the aftermath of Katrina. More...
The Louisiana State Supreme Court Friday denied an appeal from Herman Wallace, who has been held in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for more than 37 years. More...
Four years on, the federal investigation into the actions of New Orleans police officers in the days following Hurricane Katrina seem to finally be under way. More...
Texas Governor Rick Perry is being accused of trying to cover up a possible wrongful execution. If an unbiased review of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham occurs, it could result in the unprecedented recognition by lawmakers that an innocent person was executed in the United States. More...
Census employee Bill Sparkman's asphyxiated body was found last month hanging from a tree in rural Kentucky with hands and feet duct-taped, mouth gagged and the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest in red felt-tip pen -- and some observers are wondering why investigators still haven't definitively ruled the death a homicide. More...
Counting prisoners where they are incarcerated, instead of where they lived before their conviction, has caused serious problems for governance at the state and local level, reports the Progressive States Network. More...
One year ago Hurricane Ike barreled toward Galveston. A new report details the human rights violations that occurred when the Galveston County sheriff decided not evacuate 1,000 inmates despite a mandatory evacuation order for the city and warnings that those who remained in the area faced "certain death." More...
