“In this economy I can’t fill the jobs I have.” “I would hire someone with a criminal record, but I can’t because my insurance rates will go up if I do.” These are some of the comments I have heard from employers during Arizona’s economic boom. With thousands of people released from state prison each […]
On April 22, 2021, Kurt joined the Arizona Capitol Times Morning Scoop show to discuss the fate of earned release credits in Arizona. WATCH HERE: Morning Scoop: Prison Reform Update: Will Earned Release Credits Legislation Pass This Year?
Derek M. Cohen, Ph.D.?is Director of Right on Crime at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Cohen graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Bowling Green State University. He went on to complete an M.S. degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati, where he also recently completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the long-term […]
The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University created its Academy for Justice in 2016 to help improve the criminal justice system by bridging the gap between academia and on-the-ground reform efforts. The academy took a big first step in bridging that gap by producing and distributing a comprehensive four-volume set of criminal justice reform issues […]
A Republican-sponsored bill would allow judges to depart from mandatory sentences for certain crimes. Under House Bill 2245, the ?Arizona Judicial Discretion Act,? judges can deviate from mandatory prison sentences if the judge decides that the sentence is an injustice to the defendant or is unnecessary for public safety. ?What I?m trying to do is […]
Twenty-five years ago, a truth in sentencing law went into effect in Arizona that eliminated parole. However since then, parole has been offered to hundreds of people through plea deals and in trials. The legislature partially addressed the issue but the solution does not include those promised parole through a trial. Hear about Arizona?s parole […]
As someone who has lived in Phoenix since the early 1990s, I have always had a little bias when it comes to comparing Phoenix and Tucson ? you know, because we?re bigger. Where in a single day can you play a world-class golf course, spend an excessive amount of money at a ?fashion mall,? and […]
I was told once that if you like the law and you like sausage, you should never experience the making of either.? I was told this at a cook out during my first week of law school, while eating a sausage.? Of course I laughed, but after years of working in courtrooms and capitol buildings […]
Arizona legislative session opened Monday, January 8th?but it really got moving today, January 11th, for criminal justice reforms in the state.? Right on Crime hosted a legislative briefing breakfast for lawmakers to introduce reform ideas from both Arizona and around the country.? In addition to briefing lawmakers on ROC priorities for 2018, which include significant […]
I have written about it before?HB2477?a major reform to the civil asset forfeiture process in Arizona that was passed by legislators and signed by the Governor. Amongst the many good things it does, the law now requires all RICO (seized money) fund expenditures by a County Attorney?s Offices to first be approved by the County […]