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  • How Conservatives Learned to Love Free Lawyers for the Poor

    Public defender systems across the country are underfunded and understaffed. Viewed by progressives as a racial and class inequality problem, the issue is gaining major traction in red states under a different framing: defense against government tyranny. “If there’s one thing the government must get right,” said conservative lawmaker Tom McMillin, “it’s whether or not we’re locking up the right people.”

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  • The Latest Trend in Reducing Recidivism: Keeping Mothers and Children Together

    Most states and cities don’t permits mothers who give birth in prison to stay with their children. However, scattered across the country are programs like ReMerge, a program in Oklahoma City that allows mother and children to stay together, and avoid prison time. Programs like these are working, and yield lower recidivism rates.

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  • How Philly plans to ditch cash bail and what stands in the way

    A candidate for district attorney in Philadelphia is pushing to do away with cash bail entirely as other places have done, including Washington D.C., and New Jersey. Both of those places have seen their jail populations drop, and Philadelphia has taken some initial steps that reduce pre-trial populations in jail, but it faces a number of challenges in implementing no-cash bail. Those include getting widespread buy-in and a conservative legislature.

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  • Can an Algorithm Save America's Justice System?

    Although the cash bail system has long been used in the US criminal justice system, many argue that it is biased based on socioeconomic levels. To reduce this bias, criminal justice researchers and data scientists have created a new risk assessment tool that uses an algorithm taking age, history of missing court and former crimes into account before making a recommendation on bail.

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  • Germany bets on second time lucky with migrant workers

    Germany is learning from its past, and implementing measures that will safeguard successful integration of refugees into the workforce. In the 1960s thousands of Turkish people were recruited to fill labor shortages, but were not given support to help them integrate. They still struggle to enter the workforce. Now, the country devised a program aimed at language learning and job skills development for incoming asylum seekers. “The lesson that Germany learnt is that integration is something you work on.”

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  • New York City Guarantees a Lawyer to Every Resident Facing Eviction

    New York City passed the first law in the nation guaranteeing legal representation to any low-income resident facing eviction. Pilot programs in California show that the right to counsel levels the playing field between tenants and landlords in the courtroom and can reduce the number of cases that result in homelessness, a huge cost savings for both tenants and governments.

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  • India's Barefoot Lawyers

    Legal expertise is often expensive and inaccessible to communities around the world experiencing environmental rights violations and other issues. Similar to the rise of community health workers who are expanding access to basic healthcare, nonprofit Namati is training lay people to help communities understand laws and regulations, gather evidence of violations, and push for remedies.

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  • The Maasai brand is valuable — and it should belong to the Maasai people

    The Maasai are the "tall, elegant, and distinctively dressed" people living in Africa. Their image is usually used to represent all Africans and is being culturally appropriated by western companies without any profit to the Maasai people. The Maasai IP Initiative to help them trademark and protect their brand.

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  • New York Just Gave Low-Income Tenants a Big Weapon in Housing Court: A Lawyer

    "Nationwide, 90 percent of landlords have attorneys, but 90 percent of tenants do not." New York City is combating this inequality with a new law guaranteeing lawyers to defend low-income tenants in housing court. The goal: prevent unjustified evictions and keep people housed.

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  • The Right to Pre-Trial Justice for All?

    The idea that someone should not languish in jail because they cannot afford bail is gaining more support around the country, including Mississippi thanks to a lawsuit challenging lengthy detentions of two men. In the lawsuit's wake the state's high court released rules of criminal procedure that grant a minimum bail bond if an initial hearing is delayed more than 48 hours. It also guarantees a right to legal representation early on in the legal process, a key factor in how long someone is in jail.

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