The State of Sentencing 2007: Developments in Policy and Practice
Decades of “tough on crime” policies have had a dubious impact on the incidence of criminal activity, but the cost of such policies portend societal harms to people and governmental services. The escalating expense of housing an ever-burgeoning prison population means that essential governmental expenditures (such as health care and public education) must be sharply curtailed or governmental revenue (taxes) must increase dramatically. To read the full article, click here.
| NC Prisoners Unreasonably Denied Access to Publications Imprisonment strips inmates of most basic liberties. Along with physical constraints, prisoners have a limited right to make their own medical care decisions, no right to choose where they are housed or how they are classified, and no right to vote, to name just a few restrictions. The Supreme Court, however, has held that prisoners do not surrender all constitutional rights at the prison gate. To read the full article, click here. |
Establishing Excessive Force in Civil Rights Litigation A common request for assistance that NCPLS reviews involves a claim of an excessive use of force against a prisoner. Let's examine the following incident to see if it would meet the standards required to win a federal lawsuit based on a claim of excessive use of force. To read the full article, click here. |
| Be Cautious in Retaining Private Organizations and Individuals to Provide Legal Services As many of you know, there are scam artists who prey upon prisoners and their families by offering legal research and brief-writing services, particularly in the area of post-conviction review. To read the full article, click here. |
PRISONER AWARDED $25,000 IN TORT CLAIM ACTIONIn a recent tort claim decision, the failure of officers to protect a prisoner from an assault and the infliction of serious injury resulted in an award of $25,000. To read more, click here. |
