The Impossibility of Parole in AL, Medical Examiner Biases & More

"What you see, in my opinion, is an out-of-control board."

In July, the Alabama parole board voted against releasing 96% of eligible applicants. One of them was Richard Kinder, who amassed a stellar record during his roughly 40 years in prison. An investigation published by Bolts this week highlights the changing dynamics within the Alabama Parole board and rapid decline in granting parole. Since 2019, parole grants began to plummet, from a grant rate of 53 percent in 2018 to 20 percent in 2020. In 2022, the grant rate was 10 percent. 
 
"What if the life-and-death determinations that we think are governed by scientific principles and careful deliberation are susceptible to the prejudices, misplaced incentives, and inherent bias of a broken system?"
 
Medical examiners wield the important power of determining a victim’s manner of death—but they’re susceptible to both political pressure and racial bias, writes author Radley Balko in a piece published by The Nation this week. These potential biases and conflicts of interest can lead to profound consequences when people die in police custody.
 
"[T]he thought of adding, in one fell swoop, 3,000 or so people back into the population when we're already struggling to adequately staff and keep people safe just doesn't make sense to me."
 
A resolution in the Senate could send hundreds of people released from prisons during the pandemic back into federal facilities. After a month of intense advocacy opposing this measure, authored by U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the White House has threatened to veto the resolution. In a memo released earlier this week, the Biden administration voiced its opposition, highlighting the extremely low recidivism rate among those released to home confinement. 

"C.J. has been locked up for 12-plus years for a crime he didn’t commit, because he had a lawyer who was grossly incompetent. That’s the crime."
 
After questionable police conduct and incompetent representation, a Philadelphia teenager named C.J. Rice was convicted of an attempted murder he and his doctor say he was physically incapable of committing. This week, his conviction was overturned, and he may have the opportunity for release for the first time. This comes a year after a cover story on his case—authored by CNN journalist Jake Tapper, whose father was C.J.’s doctor—was published. An outcome like C.J.’s is exceptionally rare: some studies estimate that the petition his lawyers filed succeeds in just .3% of cases. The circumstances that led to his arrest and conviction, though, are profoundly common. 
 
"More lawmakers recognize the barriers that come with having a criminal record. They recognize that this is actually bad for employers. It’s bad for employment. It’s bad for the workforce and the economy."
 
A wave of bipartisan legislation across several states is easing the process for residents to expunge or seal their criminal records in a bid to enhance employment and housing prospects, boost local economies, and reduce reliance on social services. In many states, the resulting systems have been automated, but in states that have instead streamlined their manual processes, the surge in applications has resulted in major backlogs. Stateline took a deeper look at the complexities of truly effective second chance expungement policy.