Portside

District attorney associations have been a powerful force in the criminal legal system for decades. They have used their power and influence to increase the power of prosecutors, maintain and grow the carceral state, and shut down reform efforts.

Myths about the founders and President Grant cannot restore legitimacy to a democracy in the wake of a second presidential impeachment and acquittal and facing competing demands to unify the country, rebuild the economy and address racial injustice.

The most radical Nazis were the most aggressive champions of U.S. law. Where they found the U.S. example lacking, it was because they thought it was too harsh.

The Supreme Court has been a reactionary institution for most of its history, law professor Sam Moyn tells Jacobin. We need to take on its power and fight for real democracy in the United States.

The Rap Brown Law is based on the idea that one person, crossing a state line with the intent to participate in mischief, ought to be prosecuted based on his or her writings or speech, duly intercepted, or by the compelled testimony of his comrades.

Crime that transcends borders cannot be fought by a single country. A new EU law passed in April and formally adopted this month protecting those who speak up will have benefits worldwide.

Ava DuVernay’s miniseries shows why the hysteria surrounding the 1989 case caused more children to stand trial as adults than at any other time in U.S. history.

Michael Steven Smith’s smart and compelling Lawyers for the Left, and you’ll find yourself plunged into the contradictions and swirling through the vortex where that question—what is the law? — is on everyone’s mind all the time.

The justices again appear poised to pursue a purely theoretical liberty at the expense of the lives of people of color. Those who wish to see justice in their lifetime will have go to the polls and seize it.