March 2, 2017 (Fault Lines) – Two seemingly contradictory things are true of Kayla Norton and Jose Torres. First, they engaged in an appalling array of abusive conduct across two counties. Second, the sentences they received...

February 20, 2017 (Fault Lines) – On Monday, Michael Mejia shot Officer Keith Boyer as Boyer responded to an accident report. On Thursday, Ed Whelan wrote an article blaming “liberal judicial activism” for Officer Boyer’s death....

February 20, 2017 (Fault Lines) – People love criminal justice reform, and every couple of weeks we get a new poll showing just how much they love it. Polls show Republicans want reform. Polls show swing...

February 13, 2017 (Fault Lines) – By February 13th of his presidency, Bush had only managed three executive orders. Obama, clearly determined to show Bush how to rule by decree, cranked out fourteen in the same...

February 6, 2017 (Fault Lines) –American criminal justice policy pretty much runs on animal instinct. When bad thing happens, hit bad thing with prison. When bad thing happens again, hit bad thing harder with longer prison....

January 30, 2017 (Fault Lines) – People think that passing a bill is the hard part of justice reform, but the real challenge is often defending these gains. Many reforms flounder in the face of a...

January 23, 2017 (Fault Lines) – Donald Trump’s inauguration has prompted a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the many ways the United States is about to become less great. Now, with Jeff Session’s confirmation...

January 16, 2017 (Fault Lines) — Boy bands. Bucket hats. A frantic rush to criminalize everything. Let’s face it, who doesn’t miss the 90s? Not Maryland, which is preparing to take a page out of Congress’...