U.S. Courts News Reporter
Two weeks after the funeral for Amerie Jo Garza, 10, the first of the Robb Elementary School students to be interred following the Uvalde mass shooting, I phoned the manager of my local Domino’s to inquire about a delivery job.
Though I’ve never driven professionally and have been out of the job market since turning 70, I felt confident about my chance of being hired. I have a valid driver’s license. I’m insured and have my own car. Since my … Read the rest
Georgia prosecutors and judges are urging lawmakers to provide more competitive pay in the judicial system in order to better retain experienced attorneys and judges who are needed to clear a backlog of court cases across the state, Stanley Dunlap reports for the Georgia Recorder. The majority of members of the state Senate public safety subcommittee said they would examine ways to change a state law that dates back at least to the early 1980s and limits some districts … Read the rest
The nation’s immigration-court backlog swelled by more than a million cases in 2023, rising from 1.9 million cases in September 2022 to surpass 3 million cases in November, Lauren Villagran reports for USA Today. There are now more immigrants in the U.S. with a pending immigration case than people living in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, with judges grappling with caseloads of more than 4,000 each. There were 734 immigration judges on the bench in October, up from 517 … Read the rest
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill just before Christmas that would have made it easier for people who have pleaded guilty to crimes to challenge their convictions, Maysoon Kahn reports for the Associated Press. The bill would have expanded the types of evidence that could be considered proof of innocence, including video footage or evidence of someone else confessing to a crime and would have allowed consideration for arguments that a person was coerced into a false … Read the rest
While active shooter training varies widely across the country and that law enforcement officers make similar mistakes in mass shooting after mass shooting, those failures are not always clearly identified in reports dissecting the incidents, adding to the difficulty of learning from past missteps, Lexi Churchill and Lomi Kriel report for ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE.
Despite the U.S. facing more than 120 mass shootings in the past two-and-a-half decades, an investigation by the three publications found that … Read the rest
A study from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio on the generational effects that can impact children of incarcerated parents in the state found that the incarceration of a household member can cause serious and long-lasting health and economic harms across generations and for individuals, families and communities, Susan Tebben reports for the Ohio Capital Journal. The study also found that said living circumstances can put children at risk of also falling into the criminal justice system themselves.
“Children … Read the rest
A man in New York City has been charged with attempted murder and assault as hate crimes after using an anti-white slur and then stabbing two teenage sisters at a restaurant in Grand Central Terminal on Christmas day, Ed Shanahan and Chelsia Rose Marcius report for the New York Times. Steven Hutcherson, also known as Esteban Esono-Asue, who is Black, entered the dining area of the restaurant and allegedly stated, “I don’t want to sit with the Black people, … Read the rest