New Orleans Prosecutors Routinely Violate Defendants’ Right to Counsel to Keep Them in Jail
Prosecutors are sidestepping the Sixth Amendment by seeking bail hikes in undisclosed meetings with judges, according to a new report by Court Watch NOLA.
Jordan Smith
Jordan Smith is a state and national award-winning investigative journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She has covered the criminal legal system for more than 25 years and, during that time, has developed a reputation as a resourceful and dogged reporter with a talent for analyzing complex social and legal issues. She spent more than 20 years reporting in Texas where she was regarded as one of the best investigative reporters in the state. Her investigative work in wrongful conviction cases has helped to exonerate six people. A longtime staff writer for the Austin Chronicle, her work has also appeared in The Nation, the Crime Report, and the Texas Observer, among other places.
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Ten Years After a Landmark Study Blew the Whistle on Junk Science, the Fight Over Forensics Rages On
Forensic practices used to convict people and send them to prison still lack meaningful scientific underpinning.
The End of Roe
Lies, Damn Lies, and Abortion
Recent abortion restrictions notable for their extremity expose the fiction that any of these laws were ever about anything other than intimidating women.
21,000 Years Lost and Counting: Prosecutors Are Working to Clear Wrongful Convictions, but Their Record Is Mixed
The number of conviction integrity units housed within prosecutors’ offices has steadily grown, and many are collaborating with innocence organizations.
The End of Roe
Oklahoma Bill Would Force Doctors to Lie to Patients by Telling Them That Abortions Can Be Reversed
There is no sound science behind the claim that a medication abortion can be reversed.
“There Are Innocent People on Death Row” — Citing Wrongful Convictions, California Governor Halts Executions
After $5 billion spent on a failed system, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a moratorium granting a temporary reprieve to 737 people on California's death row.
How the Federal Government Undermines Prison Education
Access to education behind bars lowers the odds of recidivism by 48 percent. So why is there still a ban on Pell Grants for prisoners?
The End of Roe
What Brett Kavanaugh’s Dishonest Anti-Abortion Dissent Reveals About His Supreme Court Agenda
Kavanaugh's first Supreme Court dissent is a mess of omissions and misrepresentations.
Louisiana Tests the New Supreme Court on Abortion
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this week whether to intervene in a case that could lead to the closure of all but one abortion clinic in Louisiana.
The End of Roe
Reproductive Rights Road Trip
With the elevation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, reproductive rights advocates fear that things will only get worse. Reporter Jordan Smith decided to take a road trip through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi to show what it's like for women seeking abortions in states where the right conferred by Roe has already been eroded.