News

For nearly 90 minutes on Tuesday, the high court grappled with the question of whether good faith is a defense for doctors criminally prosecuted for unlawful distribution of controlled substances (…

Statement of Federal Public & Community Defenders on the Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Federal Public and Community Defenders applaud the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as the next Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Judge…

The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland take immediate action to reform the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons in response to Associated Press investigations that exposed widespread problems there, serious misconduct involving correctional…

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of United States v. Merle Denezpi, a Navajo man hit with a 30-year prison sentence after a Colorado federal jury found him guilty…

According to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Black men statistically received harsher prison sentences than white men who commit the same crimes,…

Federal prosecutors have been seeking to limit people's rights to win compassionate release from prison in plea negotiations across the country, a practice that advocates say undermines the intent of Congress and produces cruel outcomes (…

Federal prosecutors have recently been facing scrutiny for allegedly misleading the defense and the court (view full article).

In yet another example, on Jan. 25, the Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of…

Sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenges to a criminal conviction are notoriously difficult to win. California man and alleged gang member charged with drug conspiracy. Man: I left gang and bought drugs for my use. Contacts with gang is for friendship purpose. Jury: we believe defense and…

Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of President Biden's top prospects for the U.S. Supreme Court, has led a professional and personal life at once classic and unpredictable. Unlike most judges, her background is not as a prosecutor or major corporate lawyer, and her personal life also defies stereotypes…

The Ninth Circuit invalidated the subsection of a law that makes it a crime to encourage unlawful immigration, ruling Thursday it is overbroad and covers speech that is protected by the First Amendment (…