Source: https://takecareblog.com/justice-and-security/criminal-justice
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 01:12:13+00:00

Document:
Invoking visions of “American carnage,” President Trump has called for a law and order agenda that would undermine efforts to achieve justice, security, and equality in the criminal system.
By Nabihah Maqbool and Sirine Shebaya: There are major problems with the Countering Violent Extremism program. Trump has only made the program worse. It should be winded down for good.
On this week's episode of Versus Trump, the gang is re-united, and they discuss the Supreme Court motion contending that Matthew Whitaker was not legally appointed as Acting Attorney General. Listen now!
The Trump administration has been vocal about "law and order" goals, but will leave most of the work to local law enforcement, as evidenced by a $100 million grant to local departments. The tough on crime stance is clear in DOJ's position in some upcoming Supreme Court casts.
Oral argument in Ayestas v. Davis indicates that the Supreme Court is likely to reverse the Fifth Circuit’s imposition of a “substantial need” requirement for indigent federal habeas petitioners to be eligible to receive funding for investigative or expert services.
President Trump favors federal legislation requiring states to recognize concealed carry licenses issued by other states. But that policy rests on shaky constitutional foundations.
The Supreme Court has been engaged in something of a shell game with respect to remedies in cases related to policing.
100 days in and 25 years after the unrest in Los Angeles, the Trump Administration is failing communities entitled to fair and just policing.
The video of the United flight reveals more than just what happened. It also shows why DOJ oversight is so important.
On the latest episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Easha talk all things Russia investigation (or tangentially Russia investigation)—the Nunes #meh-mo, the fallout therefrom, and whether Trump will be interviewed by the Special Counsel.
There's another reason the Court should take a close look at the cert petition in Williams v. Louisiana.
Announcing Our New Podcast: "Versus Trump"
Take Care is pleased to announce the release of "Versus Trump," a new, affiliated podcast about the ways that the Trump Administration is breaking the law—and what people are doing about it.
On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and special guest David Sklansky discuss the first shoe to drop from the Mueller investigation: the indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and the guilty plea of George Papadopoulos. Listen now!
On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Charlie, and Jason continue their investigation of the relationship between federal and state law by debating the Trump Administration's reversal of Obama-era guidance about marijuana enforcement. Listen now!
As a nation, we now find ourselves in uncharted territory.
In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to grant Lacaze v. Louisiana, a case raising profound questions for the constitutional standards governing judicial recusal where a judge has --but does not even disclose--concrete connections to the case being tried before him.
Federal prosecutors who seek the death penalty in cases where no death results are inviting a constitutional challenge they’re likely to lose.
The Trump Administration may already have the tools it would need to predict with high accuracy the religious identity of a significant percentage of U.S. citizens and visiting Muslims. And software engineers, not lawyers, may be our first line of alarm and defense.
On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we talk about web-hosting company Dreamhost's refusal to cooperate fully with the Trump Administration's broad request for information about the visitors to DisruptJ20.org, a website allegedly used by those involved in an Inauguration Day riot. Listen now!
Prosecutors recently agreed to the release of a man wrongfully convicted as a child. But not without a cost.
On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie check back in with the most politically charged of all Versus Trump suits: the Russia investigation. Listen now!
AG Sessions’s eleventh-hour effort to avoid a consent decree in Baltimore is indefensible and unmistakably political. The court should not allow it.
While President Trump has little direct control over how states administer the death penalty, his administration might seek to facilitate the acquisition of legal injection drugs and limit federal habeas review in capital cases. But these policies would raise major legal questions.
Will Attorney General Sessions really get the federal government out of the police oversight business? Signs are increasingly pointing to yes.
As part of the Trump administration's war on information, the administration has started to roll back federal investigations into police violence and criminal justice.
By Allison Murphy: Given President Trump’s documented and acknowledged efforts to interfere with the independence of the FBI, the Senate should presume that could continue under a new FBI Director. It is therefore incumbent upon Senators to ensure that any Trump nominee for FBI Director commits to certain baseline aspects of independence and impartiality before any new nominee is confirmed. Here are 10 questions that require answers.
On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha—in her last episode for several months—discuss the fast-moving lawsuit by states against the Trump Administration and Cody Wilson seeking to block distribution of plans for 3D-printed guns. As usual, you can listen online below, and subscribe via this page with any podcast player or here in iTunes.
On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss a new lawsuit that forces courts to answer the question of whether the federal government needs a warrant to search people's electronic devices at the U.S. border, and they also respond to a discussion on the Supreme Court podcast First Mondays regarding the government's recent filing in the Hargan v. Garza abortion case. Listen now!
As disenfranchisement and voter suppression efforts are on the rise, one partial response is reenfranchisement.
DOJ now argues that people who are in prison based on mistaken understandings of criminal statutes must stay there. The Supreme Court should consider granting certiorari to correct its mistake (and the Eleventh and Tenth Circuits’).
The Trump administration has enacted several policies to conceal, subvert, or manipulate information. It has retracted a proposal to add LGBTQ identification to the U.S. census and eliminated LGBTQ identification from HHS surveys. These policies and others attempt to deny the existence of a problem by disappearing the (inconvenient) facts.
Trump suggested in a recent signing statement that he could disregard an appropriations restriction on federal marijuana enforcement. But Trump is mistaken.
The Attorney General’s embrace of private prisons is a victory for the industry, but it threatens the safety of correctional officers and prisoners.
Today's federal sentencing opinions create even more tension between the Court's sentencing jurisprudence and Beckles v. United States.
Should former FBI Director Robert Mueller decide to bring criminal charges against President Trump for obstruction of justice, he would be acting well within the law, the norms of the profession, and the reasonable bounds of the discretion with which he has been entrusted.
Versus Trump: Can The Government Execute Drug Dealers?
On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Charlie take a quick gander at Donald Trump's proposal to seek the death penalty for drug dealers. Listen now!
President Trump and Attorney General Sessions hold exceptionally pro-death penalty views. Here's how they might seek to increase use of capital punishment at the federal level, and why any such effort likely would fail.
Courts are beginning to address how the Sentencing Guidelines might be affected by Sessions v. Dimaya.
A currently pending cert petition provides the Court a welcome opportunity to clarify how the voluntariness standard applies to juvenile confessions and juvenile interrogations.
Recent Harvard Law graduate, and soon to be civil rights lawyer, Shakeer Rahman offers some second thoughts about celebrating federal law enforcement’s independence.
The stakes are high for defendants awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in Sessions v. Dimaya.
A recent article shows why federal courts can and should revisit the convictions and sentences of many federal prisoners affected by Sessions v. Dimaya.
Given the nativist overtones of his campaign and his administration’s signature policies — from the Muslim ban to an immigration crackdown that equates being a foreign-born minority with criminality — Trump has exploded the fiction that we live in a post-racial society.
Versus Trump: Are There Lawsuits About Gun Regulation?
On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss what's going on in courts related to gun regulation. They focus on one set of Versus Trump lawsuits in this area: suits by the Gabby Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence requesting any Trump Administration records that would show the influence of the gun lobby on the Administration. Listen now!
A new letter from a bipartisan group of senators shows that Attorney General Sessions’s approach to charging is out of the mainstream, contrary to our justice system’s values, and unsupported by existing crime research.
The president has continued existing policies, but also signaled a misplaced (and dangerous) reliance on immigration enforcement and incarceration to protect the public.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions advocated returning to harsh punishments for low-level drug offenders.
Capital punishment and tension between communities and law enforcement may escalate under President Trumps' Department of Justice.
Attorney General Sessions may be back in the President's good graces.
Changes the Justice Department proposed to community policing initiatives drew widespread criticism. Commentators argue DOJ must better review police departments' actions.
Criminal justice reform advocates turn focus to Jared Kushner and to local efforts.
This week, the Department of Justice ordered a nationwide review of consent decrees implemented to curb civil rights abuses. State governors are poised to fight back against Attorney General Jeff Sessions's federal marijuana policy. And a decline in incarceration rates is threatened by the Trump Presidency.
Attorney General Sessions has started to make significant changes at the Department of Justice by doubling down on mass incarceration and weakening police accountability. Such efforts face significant criticism.
Private prisons have newfound influence in the White House and have benefitted from the Trump Administration's Justice Department policy reversal.
The Administration may remove oversight of local law enforcement agencies, and use the federal death penalty more often.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission released a report on alternatives to incarceration in the federal criminal justice system.
The proposed budget for the Department of Justice signals the administration’s intent to forego enforcement of civil rights laws. Meanwhile, proposed congressional legislation to provide greater protections for police officers may further criminalize communities of color, advocates worry.
While the Trump administration has revived policies associated with the "War on Drugs," it has not yet taken meaningful steps to respond to the opioid crisis.
A DOJ report criticized the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates. Attorney General Jess Sessions spoke again about his drug enforcement policies.
AG Sessions announced plans to expand civil asset forfeiture and encourage prosecutors to seek harsher criminal penalties. Sessions was heavily criticized both by Democrats and President Trump this week.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions released more details on his plan to reduce violent crime.
Attorney General Sessions testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Former Attorney General Eric Holder criticized the Trump Administration’s criminal justice policies as “not smart on crime"; law enforcement leaders are pressuring the Trump Administration to join the “bipartisan movement for criminal justice reform."
This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ushered in the "Trump Era," heralding increased enforcement of immigration offenses. The Department of Homeland Security has resurrected programs deputizing state and local police to enforce immigration laws. And Nikolas Bowie, writing for Take Care, argues that the internal review of Civil Rights Division consent decrees threatens its value as an unbiased source.
Drug courts are not the perfect solution some make them out to be.
The DOJ ramps up the War on Drugs but has no plans to conduct federal investigations of officer-involved shootings.
President Trump appeared to endorse police brutality in a speech to community college students and law enforcement officers.
Questions asked about the Justice Department's mandatory minimums policy and the continued United States Attorney vacancies.

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