Facial Recognition & False Arrests, 525 Days Over-Detention & More
"I’m trying to pay it off. I have been having trouble for a while. I’m always going on a payment plan."
Most Americans have to drive to get to work, shuffle kids back and forth to school, to buy groceries, and more—and that's especially true in states like Ohio. Yet, a new investigationpublished by The Marshall Project and News 5 Cleveland this week found that more than 200,000 Ohioans have their licenses suspended every year for non-driving related reasons, such as failure to pay a traffic ticket or child support. This leaves many Ohioans in a difficult position wherein they must choose between missing work, losing access to health care, childcare, food, and other necessities, or driving on a suspended license and potentially getting in further trouble with the law.
"Duly elected officials should not be removed by elected officials who are not politically aligned with them."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appears to be doubling down on misguided law and order campaign tactics, suspending an elected state attorney, Monique H. Worrell, this week for what he says is a “failure to prosecute crimes.” This is the second elected state attorney he has suspended within a year, both Democrats. The move comes shortly after a new poll that showed Republican primary voters may not be as interested in his so-called war on wokeness as some anticipated and amid repeated shakeups in his campaign staffing, including the dismissal of his campaign manager. As high-profile Republicans continue to push back on his spring "jailbreak" comments about the First Step Act, it's unclear how his tactics will gain the favor he needs to be a real contender for the 2024 nomination.
"It’s scary. I’m worried. Someone always looks like someone else. Facial recognition is just an investigative tool. If you get a hit, do your job and go further. Knock on her door."
Porcha Woodruff was eight months pregnant and getting her daughters ready for school one morning when she was arrested for a crime she didn't commit, held in a jail cell for 11 hours and then charged and released on $100,000 personal bond. A month later, the case was dropped. Now, she's the third person suing the Detroit police department for false arrests as a result of the department's reliance on faulty facial recognition software.
"The dynamic has changed because now the sanction is so severe on a mandatory minimum case that’s already very hard to prove. It’s the same philosophy that if we make the penalties harder it’s going to end the crime, and that’s absurd."
Tennessee cities have some of the highest rates of gun theft from cars in the entire nation, and since 2013, gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville have increased ten-fold. However, when the state legislature increased penalties for theft of a firearm in 2021 and required convictions for the crime to carry a mandatory minimum six-months in jail, the state has seen most charges dropped or dismissed. In an article published this week, attorneys argue that the crime is already difficult to prove, and the harsher penalty makes defendants less likely to plead guilty. Meanwhile, the number of guns stolen from cars has increased.
"Taylor endured 525 days of constitutional violations. Blocking him from his day in court would add one more injustice to the toll."
Percy Taylor focused on betting himself while incarcerated in a Louisiana state prison for 20 years for drug related charges. But the state held him 525 days past his release date, and nobody listened when he raised concerns. A scathing report issued by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year found that Louisiana is deliberately holding thousands of people beyond their release dates each year, and that the state appears systemically indifferent to over-detention. Worse, the state argues in such cases that they should receive qualified immunity for decisions made over the entire course of Taylor's 525-day fight to be released.