U.K. to pardon women convicted of homosexuality
The British Home Office is expanding a program that pardons people convicted of any offense related to homosexuality. Previously, the program was only available to men, but it is now open to women.
Prison justice
Prison justice covers reforms, legal victories, and policy shifts that make incarceration more humane and equitable. Stories here examine alternatives to imprisonment, reentry programs, and efforts to address racial and economic disparities in criminal legal systems worldwide.
Minnesota becomes 23rd U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana
Minnesota’s new cannabis law will automatically clear tens of thousands of low-level marijuana convictions, pairing legalization with one of the most ambitious record-clearing efforts in the country. Adults 21 and older can now possess cannabis under the law Gov. Tim Walz signed in May 2023, making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize recreational use. What sets it apart is the justice piece: people don’t have to navigate courts to clear their records — the state does it for them, opening doors to jobs, housing, and education long blocked by old convictions. As legalization spreads, Minnesota offers a model that finally asks who bore the costs of prohibition, and who deserves a fresh start.
Yale, University of New Haven partnership celebrates first degrees awarded to inmates
Yale Prison Education Initiative just celebrated its first-ever commencement, with seven students receiving associate degrees inside a Connecticut prison in June 2023. Four of them had been taking classes since the program’s very first cohort in 2018, when only 12 students were enrolled — meaning these graduates literally helped build the program they were graduating from. The ceremony at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution included caps, gowns, families, and Governor Ned Lamont, who responded to each graduate’s speech by name and later called it the most moving graduation he’d ever attended. One graduate is now pursuing his bachelor’s degree and planning a career as a defense attorney. It’s a quiet but powerful reminder that educational equity, done right, looks like rigorous partnership — not charity.
Convictions cleared for nearly 850K Michiganders as ‘Clean Slate’ program takes effect
The bipartisan “Clean Slate” legislation, as advocates call it, wipes clean a range of convictions from people’s records after a defined waiting period.
New Mexico governor signs bill ending juvenile life sentences without parole
Under SB64, offenders who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 and received life sentences will be eligible for parole hearings 15 to 25 years into their sentences.
Over 7,500 cannabis convictions expunged in Missouri
The expungement is the latest byproduct of the constitutional amendment approved by Missouri voters, which legalized pot for adults and cleared the way for Missourians to have their records cleared.
U.S. to eliminate exorbitant cost of prison phone calls
A new U.S. law that will allow the FCC to regulate prison phone calls needs only President Biden’s signature to put an end to a largely unknown, yet famously predatory, prison practice.
Oregon governor pardons over 45,000 marijuana convictions
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has announced today that she has issued pardons to everyone caught possessing up to an ounce of marijuana prior to its legalization in 2016.
Germany to become second E.U. nation to legalize recreational cannabis
Recreational cannabis legalization in Germany would mark a significant shift for Europe’s largest economy — moving the country away from a prohibition model that its own health minister says has shown no clear results. The proposal would allow licensed shops and pharmacies to sell cannabis to adults, with age-based limits on potency designed to protect younger users. Because Germany sits at the heart of the E.U., its approach could reshape how other member states think about drug policy far more than smaller precedents have. This is what evidence-based reform looks like in practice.
President Biden pardons all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana
More than 6,000 people with prior federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana — and thousands of others convicted under Washington, D.C., law — could benefit.