Visitors from the United States are often taken aback by the freedom afforded people in Germany’s prisons. “One of the biggest ‘whoa’ moments comes when you are in a hallway and a man walks by you with a set of keys and unlocks his own door,” said Brittany Brown, a senior program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice’s (Vera) Global Justice Ex ...
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office on a wave of enthusiasm about a new approach to governing, including a stance on policing that broke with that of his predecessor. As a candidate, Mamdani promised to “relieve the excessive burden we’ve placed on police officers” and to allow officers “to focus on serious crimes.” The Mamdani administr ...
Maryland’s newly passed Fair Chance Housing Act expands access to safe, stable housing for people with conviction histories and advances public safety.
Marquis Howard recalls sweating over every word he wrote in the box on the housing application that asked about his criminal conviction. Even though he had gone back to school, earned degrees, and held a good job, he reasonably feared his application would be rejected due to a decades-old conviction. “I was so stressed,” said Howard, a senior organ ...