Criminal Law Reform
Featured
Arizona
Oct 2023
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City of
Fund for Empowerment is a challenge to the City of Phoenix’s practice of conducting sweeps of encampments without notice, issuing citations to unsheltered people for camping and sleeping on public property when they have no place else to go, and confiscating and destroying their property without notice or process.
Status: Ongoing
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U.S. Supreme Court
Sep 2023
McElrath v. Georgia
Does the Double Jeopardy Clause bar an appellate court from reviewing and setting aside a jury’s verdicts of acquittal on the ground that the verdict is inconsistent with the jury’s verdict on other charges?
Status: Ongoing
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2023
Pulsifer v. United States
This case involves the interpretation of a federal law that allows defendants to avoid mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent drug crimes, allowing judges to impose sentences tailored to their individual circumstances.
Status: Ongoing
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Texas
Jul 2021
Sanchez et al v. Dallas County Sheriff et al
Decarceration has always been an emergency, a life and death proposition, but COVID-19 makes this effort intensely urgent. The ACLU has been working with our partners to litigate for the rights of those who are incarcerated and cannot protect themselves because of the policies of the institutions in which they are jailed.
Status: Ongoing
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All Cases
130 Criminal Law Reform Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2023
Khorrami v. Arizona
This case concerns whether a person charged with a felony is guaranteed the right to a 12-person jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Status: Closed
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U.S. Supreme Court
Criminal Law Reform
Khorrami v. Arizona
This case concerns whether a person charged with a felony is guaranteed the right to a 12-person jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Mar 2023
Status: Closed
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U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2023
Cruz v. Arizona
This case concerns whether a state prisoner can be barred from challenging a state court’s decision denying his right to inform the jury about relevant sentencing information, where the state court applied a novel rule to bar his ability to present the issue on post-conviction review.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Criminal Law Reform
Capital Punishment
Cruz v. Arizona
This case concerns whether a state prisoner can be barred from challenging a state court’s decision denying his right to inform the jury about relevant sentencing information, where the state court applied a novel rule to bar his ability to present the issue on post-conviction review.
Mar 2023
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2023
Jones v. Hendrix
The issue in the case is whether federal prisoners who could not — because established law stood firmly against them — and therefore did not challenge their convictions can challenge those convictions when the Supreme Court later overrules the prior precedent upon which their convictions were based, making them legally innocent of the crime of conviction.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Criminal Law Reform
Jones v. Hendrix
The issue in the case is whether federal prisoners who could not — because established law stood firmly against them — and therefore did not challenge their convictions can challenge those convictions when the Supreme Court later overrules the prior precedent upon which their convictions were based, making them legally innocent of the crime of conviction.
Mar 2023
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Tennessee
Jan 2023
Busby v. Bonner
Medically vulnerable people and people with disabilities detained at Shelby County Jail are at grave risk of severe injury or death from COVID-19. An outbreak is already underway, and has infected hundreds of people living and working in the Jail. One staff member has died as a result. Social distancing is impossible, basic hygiene is deficient, and the jail isn’t properly screening, identifying cases, or quarantining people who have been exposed to the virus.
Status: Closed (Settled)
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Tennessee
Criminal Law Reform
Busby v. Bonner
Medically vulnerable people and people with disabilities detained at Shelby County Jail are at grave risk of severe injury or death from COVID-19. An outbreak is already underway, and has infected hundreds of people living and working in the Jail. One staff member has died as a result. Social distancing is impossible, basic hygiene is deficient, and the jail isn’t properly screening, identifying cases, or quarantining people who have been exposed to the virus.
Jan 2023
Status: Closed (Settled)
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2022
Vega v. Tekoh
May a person sue a police officer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by engaging in a custodial interrogation without issuing a Miranda warning and facilitating the introduction of their unwarned statement at their criminal trial?
Status: Ongoing
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U.S. Supreme Court
Criminal Law Reform
Vega v. Tekoh
May a person sue a police officer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by engaging in a custodial interrogation without issuing a Miranda warning and facilitating the introduction of their unwarned statement at their criminal trial?
May 2022
Status: Ongoing
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