Felony Murder Sentences, Marijuana Pardons & More

"The concept is ‘barbaric,’ ‘outdated,’ and ‘unwise,’ she wrote, and unfairly ‘erodes the relation between criminal liability and moral culpability.’”

Three state supreme courts will take up the constitutionality of sentencing people convicted of felony murder with life without parole in coming months. Cases in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Colorado vary on their arguments and the details of the cases on which they hinge, but all ask justices the same overarching question: is a life sentence cruel and unusual punishment when a defendant not only didn't intend death to occur by their conduct, but may not have even been present when it did? 

"...I was thrown out of school, denied access to my high school education, ripped from my family and my friends and had to endure two years of isolation for a simple cannabis charge.”
 
Maryland Governor Wes Moore pardoned over 175,000 low-level marijuana convictions benefiting around 100,000 individuals, primarily from communities of color this week. Announced just before Juneteenth, the Governor highlighted the disproportionate impact marijuana crimes have had on communities of color. The move aligns with the broader trend of cannabis legalization nationwide, applies automatically to all convictions associated with an electronic record in the state, and will allow those with convictions who do not have an electronic record to petition the courts for an expungement. 

“If a person on probation or parole can hold a job or care for their children, that strengthens our economic and social fabric.”

The bipartisan Safer Supervision Act, co-authored by Senators John Cornyn and Chris Coons, and Representatives Wesley Hunt and Sheila Jackson Lee, aims to tailor conditions of probation and parole to individual risks and needs and offer early termination for good behavior. Research supports this approach, showing early termination reduces re-offense rates, while Missouri's similar program cuts probation and parole populations by 30% without increasing recidivism. With over 121,000 people under federal supervision, the bill seeks to enhance public safety and community reintegration through more effective policies and represents a bipartisan opportunity still viable this Congress. 

“Harm reduction strategies such as Narcan are a vital component of effectively addressing substance use disorder.”

The Kansas Department of Corrections has announced they are using $200,000 from opioid settlement funds to provide naloxone kits to incarcerated people upon their release, aiming to combat rising opioid overdose deaths driven largely by fentanyl. Since the launch in March, the Department has issued over 200 kits, with a majority of outgoing incarcerated persons choosing to participate. Over the next 18 years, Kansas expects to receive over $340 million from national opioid settlements, with naloxone distribution being a key harm reduction strategy as more than two-thirds of the state's overdose deaths in 2022 were opioid-related.

“Do we consider one individual equally accountable for the actions and deeds of another?”

Pat Johnson has been imprisoned in Illinois since 1993 for murders committed by her abusive partner, Rey Travieso. Prosecuted under the state's "theory of accountability," Johnson was convicted of aiding Travieso, though she claims he was the sole perpetrator. The case highlighted by The Marshall Project demonstrates the vulnerability of domestic abuse victims under accomplice liability laws, with nearly 100 similar cases identified nationwide, often involving women prosecuted for crimes committed by their abusers.