A federal appellate court is temporarily allowing Florida to enforce the 2021 state law imposing harsher penalties for protesters who engage in violent or disorderly conduct.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reverses a federal trial judge’s ruling blocking the law because its definition of the word “riot” was too vague. Now, the Eleventh Circuit is sending the dispute between several civil rights organizations and Gov. Ron DeSantis back to the lower court.
Although temporary, the reversal of U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s preliminary injunction means that DeSantis is likely to prevail against the legal challenge to (HB 1), officially labeled the “Combatting Violence, Disorder, and Looting, and Law Enforcement Protection Act,” but better known as the “Anti-Riot Act.”
“The plaintiffs’ fear of guilt by association under the statute is also unfounded,” wrote Judge Jill Pryor in the 17-page opinion. She was appointed to the 11th Circuit by former President Barack Obama. “If a protestor lacks the ‘intent to assist others in violent and disorderly conduct,’ the spontaneous violence of unrelated individuals is not enough to trigger liability under the statute.”
She added: “The statute does not broadly prohibit constitutionally protected speech. Nor does it reach the plaintiffs’ hypothetical photographing or videotaping of police officers at a violent protest, so long as the photography or videography is not intended to assist others in carrying out violence.”
Much of the appellate court’s opinion hinges on the Florida Supreme Court’s interpretation of the law. In June, the Florida court ruled that the law didn’t apply to peaceful protesters who happened to be with a crowd that turned violent. Both DeSantis and the ACLU of Florida celebrated the state Supreme Court’s opinion at the time, with the civil rights organization calling it a “monumental victory for protesters.”
Daniel Tilley, the ACLU of Florida’s legal director, also celebrated Monday’s ruling, writing in a statement that HB 1 threatened Black Floridians who have been criminalized and targeted for exercising their rights.
“Today’s decision reaffirms important legal protections that will benefit anyone who wants to take a public stand to demand racial justice, as well as all Floridians who want to peacefully demonstrate for what they believe in without fear of reprisal,” Tilley wrote.
Walker will have to reevaluate the law in accordance with the appellate ruling.
Pryor thanked the Florida justices for their input in the ruling.
The Florida Legislature passed the law the spring after protests broke out throughout the state and nation against police brutality after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police Department officers.
After the law’s passage, groups such as Dream Defenders, the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, Black Collective Inc., Chainless Change Inc., and Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The groups claimed the law chilled First Amendment rights.
This story has been updated to include comment from the ACLU of Florida sent to Florida Phoenix after publication.
This article originally appeared in the Florida Phoenix October 7th, 2024
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Violent crime and property crime in the United States dropped in 2023, continuing a downward trend following higher rates of crime during the pandemic, according to the FBI’s latest national crime report.
Murders and intentional manslaughter, known as non-negligent manslaughter, fell by 11.6% from 2022. Property crime dropped by 2.4%.
Overall, FBI data shows that violent crime fell by 3%.
Violent crime has become a major issue in the 2024 presidential race, with former President Donald Trump claiming that crime has been “through the roof” under the Biden administration.
On the campaign trail, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has cited findings from a different source — the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey — to argue that crime is out of control.
While the FBI’s data reflects only crimes reported to the police, the victimization survey is based on interviews conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and includes both reported and unreported crimes. Interviewees are asked whether they reported the crime to the police. But the survey does not include murder data and only tracks crimes against individuals aged 12 and older.
The victimization survey, released in mid-September, shows that the violent crime victimization rate rose from 16.4 per 1,000 people in 2020 to 22.5 per 1,000 in 2023. The report also notes that the 2023 rate is statistically similar to the rate in 2019, when Trump was in office.
Many crime data experts consider both sources trustworthy. But the agencies track different trends, measure crimes differently and collect data over varying time frames. Unlike the victimization survey, the FBI’s data is largely based on calls for service or police reports. Still, most crimes go unreported, which means the FBI’s data is neither entirely accurate nor complete.
The victimization surveys released throughout the peak years of the pandemic were particularly difficult to conduct, which is a key reason why, according to some experts, the FBI and the survey may show different trends.
As a result, these differences, which are often unknown or misunderstood, make it easier for anyone — including politicians — to manipulate findings to support their agendas.
Political candidates at the national, state and local levels on both sides of the aisle have used crime statistics in their campaigns this year, with some taking credit for promising trends and others using different numbers to flog their opponents. But it’s difficult to draw definitive conclusions about crime trends or attribute them to specific policies.
“There’s never any single reason why crime trends move one way or another,” said Ames Grawert, a crime data expert and senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice’s justice program. The Brennan Center is a left-leaning law and policy group.
“When an answer is presented that maybe makes intuitive sense or a certain political persuasion, it’s all too natural to jump to that answer. The problem is that that is just not how crime works,” Grawert told Stateline.
At an August rally in Philadelphia, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said: “Violent crime was up under Donald Trump. That’s not even counting the crimes he committed.”
During Trump’s first three years in office, the violent crime rate per 100,000 people actually decreased each year, according to the FBI, from 376.5 in 2017, to 370.8 in 2018, to 364.4 in 2019.
It wasn’t until 2020 that the rate surged to 386.3, the highest under Trump, which is when the country experienced the largest one-year increase in murders.
We live in a world of sound bites, and people aren't taking the time to digest information and fact check. The onus is on the voter.
– Alex Piquero, criminology professor at the University of Miami and former director of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics
Walz’s comments overlook the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social upheaval following George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. And despite the increase that year, the violent crime rate in Trump’s final year remained slightly lower than in the last year of President Barack Obama’s administration. In 2016, the rate was 386.8 per 100,000 people.
Following the release of the FBI’s annual crime report last month, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican running for attorney general in North Carolina, shared and later deleted a retweet on X that falsely claimed the FBI’s data showed zero homicides in Los Angeles and New Orleans last year. In fact, FBI data showed that the Los Angeles Police Department reported 325 homicides, while New Orleans police reported 198 in 2023.
Voters worry
Crime has emerged as a top issue on voters’ minds.
A Gallup poll conducted in March found that nearly 80% of Americans worry about crime and violence “a great deal” or “a fair amount,” ranking it above concerns such as the economy and illegal immigration. In another Gallup poll conducted late last year, 63% of respondents described crime in the U.S. as either extremely or very serious — the highest percentage since Gallup began asking the question in 2000.
Crime data usually lags by at least a year, depending on the agency or organization gathering and analyzing the statistics. But the lack of accurate, real-time crime data from official sources, such as federal or state agencies, may leave some voters vulnerable to political manipulation, according to some crime and voter behavior experts.
There are at least three trackers collecting and analyzing national and local crime data that aim to close the gap in real-time reporting. Developed by the Council on Criminal Justice, data consulting firm AH Datalytics and NORC at the University of Chicago, these trackers all show a similar trend of declining crime rates.
“We live in a world of sound bites, and people aren’t taking the time to digest information and fact check,” Alex Piquero, a criminology professor at the University of Miami and former director of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, said in an interview with Stateline. “The onus is on the voter.”
Crime trends and limitations
In 2020, when shutdowns in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home, homicides surged by nearly 30% — the largest single-year increase since the FBI began tracking crime.
In 2022, violent crime had fallen back to near pre-pandemic levels, and the FBI data showed a continued decline last year. The rate of violent crime dropped from about 377 incidents per 100,000 people in 2022, to around 364 per 100,000 in 2023, slightly below the 2019 rate.
The largest cities, those with populations of at least 1 million, saw the biggest drop in violent crime — nearly 7% — while cities with populations between 250,000 and 500,000 saw a slight 0.3% increase.
Rape incidents decreased by more than 9% and aggravated assault by nearly 3%. Burglary and larceny-theft decreased by 8% and 4%, respectively.
Motor vehicle theft, however, rose by 12% in 2023 compared with 2022, the highest rate of car theft since 2007, with 319 thefts per 100,000 people.
Although national data suggests an overall major decrease in crime across the country, some crime-data experts caution that that isn’t necessarily the case in individual cities and neighborhoods.
“It can be sort of simplistic to look at national trends. You have to allow the space for nuance and context about what’s happening at the local level too,” said Grawert, of the Brennan Center.
Some crime experts and politicians have criticized the FBI’s latest report, pointing out that not all law enforcement agencies have submitted their crime statistics.
The FBI is transitioning participating agencies to a new reporting system called the National Incident-Based Reporting System or NIBRS. The FBI mandated that the transition, which began in the late 1980s, be completed by 2021. This requirement resulted in a significant drop in agency participation for that year’s report because some law enforcement agencies couldn’t meet the deadline.
In 2022, the FBI relaxed the requirement, allowing agencies to use both the new and older reporting systems. Since the 2021 mandate, more law enforcement agencies have transitioned to the new reporting system.
Reporting crime data to the FBI is voluntary, and some departments may submit only a few months’ worth of data.
Although the FBI’s latest report covers 94% of the U.S. population, only 73% of all law enforcement agencies participated, using either reporting system, according to Stateline’s analysis of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program participation data. This means that 5,926 agencies, or 27%, did not report any data to the FBI.
The majority of the missing agencies are likely smaller rural departments that don’t participate due to limited resources and staff, according to some crime data experts.
But participation in the FBI’s crime reporting program has steadily increased over time, particularly after the drop in 2021. Many of the law enforcement agencies in the country’s largest cities submitted data for 2023, and every city agency serving a population of 1 million or more provided a full year of data, according to the FBI’s report.
This article originally appeared in Stateline October 7th, 2024
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Just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Missouri officials executed Marcellus Williams Tuesday at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.
Williams, who was backed in his appeals for clemency by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, left only a single sentence — “All praise to Allah in every situation” — in his last statement, KMOV TV reported.
The Wednesday order came as part of a new lawsuit about a state secrecy law
COLUMBIA — A federal judge said Wednesday she will not halt the state’s first execution in 13 years over attorneys’ request for more information on the lethal drugs.
Attorneys for Freddie Owens, who is scheduled to dieby lethal injection Friday, asked for a delay in his execution after filing a federal lawsuit in Columbia last week arguing condemned inmates need more information about the state’s supply of pentobarbital.
Willie Jerome Manning, sentenced to death for the murder of two Mississippi State University students 30 years ago, “has had his days in court” and now an execution date can be set, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Monday.
“Petitioner has had more than a full measure of justice,” Chief Justice Michael Randolphwrote in the majority opinion joined by justices James Maxwell II, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis.
Ronald Latney used to believe his vote didn’t matter. But after returning to jail this year, he realized the difference it can make — especially locally.
“I try to tell everybody … like, man, we need to vote, because our lives depend on this,” he said, mentioning district attorney races and bail policies. “That’s very impactful on me and what I’m going through now.”
COLUMBIA — The state Supreme Court will not halt the state’s first execution in 13 years over an inmate’s claims of new evidence and legal errors, the court said in a Thursday order.
Freddie Owens, who changed his legal name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, is scheduled to die Sept. 20 by lethal injection. Unless his attorneys file another motion to halt his execution that convinces the high court, the only way to prevent his execution would be for the governor to grant him clemency.
Gov. Henry McMaster has declined to say whether he will give Owens clemency, saying he will announce his decision minutes before Owens is scheduled to die. Civil rights groups are circulating a petition asking McMaster to give Owens a lighter sentence.
Georgia’s state prisons and Fulton County’s jail took center stage Friday before legislative committees tasked with making recommendations on how to deal with troubles arising from overcrowded and outdated detention facilities.
The Georgia Senate’s Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee held its first hearing this month when it heard from the state’s top agency officials about the challenges of running a large prison system where severe understaffing, deteriorating buildings, smuggling of contraband have led to more violence among inmates, correctional officers and other prison staff.
State corrections officials told lawmakers at the Friday hearing the agency needs to upgrade aging prisons with more one-bed cells to resolve a typical underlying cause of violent attacks between inmates.
They also discussed the need to eliminate a complex system of drones that deliver cell phones and other illegal contraband to inmates and stop the spread of violent street gangs across the state that have a presence in Georgia prisons.
“Student disconnection” spurred on by mental health factors, disproportionate discipline and a lack of in-school supports plays its part in driving Ohio’s absenteeism rate, according to a new report from an Ohio think tank.
That absenteeism, and the contributing factors of it, can create “an entry point in the school-to-prison pipeline,” according to Policy Matters Ohio, who released a new study on the issue this month.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into private prison company CoreCivic and Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, which it manages, over alleged civil rights violations.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke announced the move Tuesday morning, citing a record of assaults, murders and understaffing at the facility since it opened in 2016.
“People are incarcerated at Trousdale Turner as punishment for their crimes, but in our legal system, punishment does not and cannot include violence and sexual abuse,” said Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Lawmaker says issue could be topic when Maryland General Assembly convenes in January
The ACLU’s Jay Stanley acknowledges that he’s paid “to think about the ways this could go wrong” – but he said he’s thought of 10 issues that communities should be concerned about before they let their local police use drones to respond to calls.
Drone supporters said that they understand the concerns, but that police use of drones can help departments stretch their resources and improve their response times, while installing safeguards to protect peoples’ privacy rights.
CoreCivic expanded in Tennessee with three local government contracts
Flush with donations from CoreCivic, Tennessee’s lawmakers have spent the past three years enacting tough-on-crime policy that could help the state’s private-prison operator in spite of complaints that profiting on the backs of inmates is bad business.
Moves to create laws that require teenagers to be tried as adults for certain crimes and remove rewards for prisoners’ good behavior are likely to lead to higher incarceration rates, critics say.
The changes are expected to put Brentwood-based CoreCivic, a national prison operator, in better position to continue to exploit a little-known state loophole that allows it to run four Tennessee prisons.
Privately-run prisons have been a point of contention in Tennessee since the mid-1980s, so much so that state law prohibited more than one state contract with Corrections Corporation of America — the company’s name until rebranded as CoreCivic in 2016 — when it obtained its first Tennessee deal with the help of Republican and Democratic state lawmakers.
The company contracts with Tennessee to run one of its prisons and has deals with two local governments to operate three other state prisons.
The agreement has allowed CoreCivic to circumvent the original state law, enabling it to make $233 million last year from its Tennessee prison contracts.
Overall in 2023, CoreCivic generated about $1.9 billion in revenue through state and federal contracts, though it recently lost a deal in Texas to run an immigrant holding facility there.
The company continues to hold a close relationship with Tennessee lawmakers, mainly Republicans, giving to them lavishly over the last 15 years.
CoreCivic’s CEO, Damon Hininger, spoke at the most recent state Republican annual fundraising dinner, making overtures for a gubernatorial run in two years.
CoreCivic also was one of the main sponsors at Tennessee’s recent Republican National Convention delegate dinner in Milwaukee. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin and House Speaker Cameron Sexton of Crossville were among the speakers at the dinner.
Other sponsors of the RNC dinner were FedEx, Lee Beaman and Julie Hannah, The Coggin Group, Eastman Chemical and Cash Express founder Garry McNabb.
Sexton was the main proponent of harsher sentencing laws that reduced early releases for inmates who showed good behavior and often got out after doing only 30% of their time. The Crossville Republican also is sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would eliminate bail for numerous violent offenses, requiring defendants in most criminal cases to stay in jail until their court date.
The company has donated $44,500 to Sexton since he first came into office in 2011.
How the loophole works
CoreCivic contracts with Hardeman County in West Tennessee to run Hardeman County Correctional Facility at a rate of $51 million annually, Whiteville Correctional Facility for $46.4 million a year and with Trousdale County to operate Trousdale Turner for $77.7 million annually.
Those entities, in turn, contract with the state for prison services.
CoreCivic’s only contract with the Tennessee Department of Correction is for $47.8 million annually to run South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton.
The department received approval from lawmakers last year to increase payments to CoreCivic with the stamp of approval from Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada who told the Lookout he is satisfied with the company’s efforts to improve their policies and operations.
The state boosted its payout to CoreCivic by $7 million despite a bad audit that showed persistent personnel shortages, the second weak report it received from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office in the last few years. For instance, the prison company sustained a 146% turnover rate in 2023 because of difficulty hiring correctional officers, making it harder to monitor prisoners and avert safety risks.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction: “Very comfortable” with private prison contract CoreCivic. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Lawmakers approved the increase even though CoreCivic paid $20 million in liquidated damages in recent years for failing to meet contract requirements.
Parents of three inmates who died in CoreCivic-run prisons in a four-month period in 2021 accused the private company of prioritizing profits over safety in a lawsuit against the state.
Yet Brian Todd, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, said the partnership with the state has been a success.
“We’re proud of the innovative solutions we’ve provided to those individuals that the Tennessee Department of Correction has entrusted to our care, which help prepare them to successfully return to their communities, while also saving taxpayers money,” Todd said.
Todd did not specify what types of savings the company makes for the state. He pointed out the state determines prison capacity and operational needs and works with the governor’s office and lawmakers to address them.
Taking aim at CoreCivic
Private prisons leave a bad taste with many members of the state Legislature, even though many prefer not to speak about the situation publicly.
Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway of Memphis has opposed CoreCivic’s arrangements for years.
“I’m not comfortable with anybody making money off of prisons. Any time you have a profit incentive, that’s directly counter-intuitive to making the best decisions for your clients who are a combination of the inmates and the public,” Hardaway said.
Hardaway contends “justice” should be paid for and managed by the public/government.
“That’s the only way it’s gonna be balanced,” he said. “You can’t always make decisions that are going to be profitable for the management. That’s why you’ve gotta keep private management out of it.”
Democratic state Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis argues that several criminal justice bills approved this year are “intended to fund the corporations who are profiting off of the backs of Black folks, white folks, poor folks and everyone in between.”
I’m not comfortable with anybody making money off of prisons. Any time you have a profit incentive, that’s directly counter-intuitive to making the best decisions for your clients who are a combination of the inmates and the public.
– Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis
While state officials continue pouring money into CoreCivic contracts, Pearson argues the “litany of unjust laws” won’t get at the root causes of crime or lead to rehabilitation.
“Our state should invest in its people and our future, not promulgate destructive policies that only incarcerate,” he said.
Both parties brought CoreCivic in
Despite criticism from today’s Democrats, both parties played a role in the company’s ascension in Tennessee, though Republicans have been its biggest boosters.
Founded as Corrections Corporation of America in the early 1980s, it obtained its first contract with the state in 1985 under Lamar Alexander, the former Republican governor and eventual U.S. senator. His wife was a stockholder in the company, as was then-House Speaker Ned Ray McWherter, a Democrat who in 1999 became a board member of Prison Realty Trust, the holding company for CoreCivic, years after leaving office.
When Republican Don Sundquist became governor in 1994, the company made more inroads around 1995 but had to find a way around the state law allowing only one contract with a private prison operator.
It started working with local governments.
Access through donations
CoreCivic and its predecessor have long been a financial backer of the state’s top leaders, and the practice continues.
Prison Legal News reported that during the Sundquist era, company executives gave nearly $60,500 to state lawmakers, $38,500 of that to Sundquist’s election campaign in 1994.
At the time, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Randy Rinks received $2,000, and Democratic Sen. Jim Kyle of Memphis, chairman of the Select Oversight Committee on Corrections, received $1,350 from executives, according to a Prison Legal News article.
Sundquist supported the local government deal in 1995 allowing CoreCivic to contract with Hardeman County for a 1,540-bed facility paid for with $47 million in municipal bonds backed by the state. The former governor’s chief of staff, Peaches Simpkins, also reportedly held company stock in that era, and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh’s wife, Betty Anderson, was a company lobbyist, Prison Legal News reported.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, has received $65,000 from private prison contractor CoreCivic over the last 15 years. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The relationship between CoreCivic and top lawmakers remains tight.
Since 2009, the company has given $138,000 to Republican Party and caucus political actions committees and $7,500 to the Tennessee Democratic Caucus.
Gov. Bill Lee has been its biggest beneficiary over the last few years, receiving $69,000, including a donation to his inaugural funds, according to a Tennessee Lookout analysis of campaign finances.
But Lee has not always been a proponent of harsher sentencing, running on a criminal justice reform platform in 2018. He did not support the law making it harder to be released for good behavior, but instead of vetoing it, he let it become law without his signature.
Other top recipients since 2009 include
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, $65,000 over the past 15 years
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager of Kingston: $17,500
Republican Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin: $14,500
House Republican Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland: $14,250
Rep. Johnny Shaw, a Bolivar Democrat, $13,500. Two prisons are located in his West Tennessee district.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Johnson of Franklin: $9,000
Republican Rep. Bud Hulsey of Kingsport: $8,500
Republican Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald: $8,000
Republican Sen. Bo Watson of Hixon: $7,500,
Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson: $7,200,
Republican Rep. Mary Littleton of Dickson $7,000.
CoreCivic’s spokesman points out the company supports local elected officials “in accordance with all applicable laws. Any insinuation otherwise is false.”
Adam Friedman contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared in Tennessee Lookout on July 23rd, 2024
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Larger departments struggle to hire, despite big salaries and bonuses.
Four years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the police murder of George Floyd, many big-city law enforcement agencies are struggling to fill their ranks.
Departments have tried offering hiring bonuses, expediting background checks and increasing salaries. Some have dropped bans on visible tattoos, lowered physical fitness exam requirements and expanded eligibility to noncitizens. Yet the hiring that has happened is not enough, data shows. Some law enforcement agencies don’t face a shortage of officers but need other key personnel, such as crime analysts and victim advocates.
Tennessee has one of the highest rates of people put in jail or prison, a report released by the Prison Policy Institute found.
With more than 5,500 people in local jails or state and federal prisons, Tennessee has the ninth-highest incarceration rate in the world based on population if each U.S. state were considered its own country. Seven states, mainly in the U.S. South, and El Salvador are the only places that have higher rates of people in jails or prisons.
The Prison Policy Initiative is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that produces research and reports to “expose the broader harm of mass criminalization.”
The incarceration rate report analyzes prison data from various U.S. counties, states and other countries, using population data to find which ones have the most people locked up.
“Many of the countries that rank alongside the least punitive U.S. states, such as Turkmenistan, Belarus, Russia, and Azerbaijan, have authoritarian or dictatorial governments, but the U.S. — the land of the free — still incarcerates more people per capita than almost every other nation,” wrote Emily Wildra in the report, published at the end of June.
The Prison Policy Initiative has produced this prison rate report since at least 2016. Tennessee’s incarceration rate has slightly dropped over time, but not at the rate of some other U.S. states.
Arizona’s incarceration rate is 18% lower compared to 2021. Tennessee’s rate dropped by 2% over the same period.
New state laws, referred to as “Truth in Sentencing,” to restrict how quickly those convicted of certain felonies can qualify for parole are likely to reverse some of these trends.
State Republican lawmakers are also pushing for changes to Tennessee’s bail system, making it easier to revoke it. The change would require a constitutional amendment, which could appear on the ballot for voters as soon as 2026
This article originally appeared in the Tennessee Lookout on July 3rd, 2024
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A federal lawsuit seeks to block a new Georgia law that it claims would effectively eliminate charitable bail funds by imposing unfair and severe restrictions.
The lawsuit filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union and Georgetown University Law Center challenges a new law created by Senate Bill 63, which requires charitable organizations that offer free bail assistance to follow the same rules as private bail bond companies. That means required background checks, payments, licenses and cash escrow accounts.
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