Policy Brief: Early Case Assessment in Urban Jurisdictions

The twin goals of early case assessment are to devote more resources to those cases for which a conviction can confidently be obtained, and also to decline to prosecute, reduce charges, or divert other cases. Our Early Case Assessment Policy Brief takes a look at how the District Attorney's Offices...
August 21, 2012

Links of Interest: August 5-10, 2012

Judicial Performance and Elections Senator Lindsey Graham, speaking at the ABA Annual Meeting this week, said that judicial qualifications should count more than politics. Information and statistics on federal judicial vacancies is available from the American Constitution Society and the Brookin...
August 10, 2012

Summer 2012 Updates on Money and Elections

United States v. Danielcyzk At the end of June, the Fourth Circuit Court decided on United States v. Danielcyzk (.pdf), a case that is important with regards to campaign finance disclosure. The Circuit court decision upholds the current federal ban on corporate contributions that is located in the...
August 7, 2012

Links of Interest: July 30-August 4, 2012

Judicial Performance and Elections As we get closer to the fall election, questions about voter identification laws become ever more urgent. Democracy Now has an interview with Rep. John Lewis, 13-term Democratic congressman from Georgia. ProPublica offers Everything You Ever Wanted to Know abou...
August 3, 2012

Chicago Appleseed Formalizing Innovative Court Watching Program

by Simona Novinec, Chicago Appleseed Intern Trial judges play a central role in the American legal system. Selection of a competent, diverse, and honest judiciary is therefore a crucial mechanism to protect judicial independence, on the one hand, and promote democratic control of judiciary on the o...
July 24, 2012