There are 32 article(s) tagged Josh Spickler:
At the center of the debate between Taylor and Spickler is how bail should be implemented, a topic of sometimes fierce disagreement between elected leaders, government officials and the general public.
A new law bars judicial commissioners from using an ability-to-pay calculator when setting initial bail, but it does not prevent the consideration of defendants’ financial conditions. Critics say the law is confusing and ultimately unconstitutional.
Representatives from the Memphis-Shelby Justice & Safety Alliance, a group of various local organizations, discuss crime and criminal justice reform during a discussion on “Behind the Headlines,” which first aired on WKNO at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 24.
Just City, a criminal justice reform organization that has often drawn Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s ire, has offered to help the City of Memphis publish more criminal justice data.
Though SCORPION already was affiliated with MPD’s larger Organized Crime Unit, all 35 of those officers were transferred to other parts of OCU.
“The challenge we have is that the city government does not control the courts,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said. “We don’t control the state laws. We don’t control, we can’t control, gun regulations and gun access.”
“This new law is not about ‘truth;’ it is about severity,” writes Just City’s executive director.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland went after critics of his backing of the state truth in sentencing law and his description of 201 Poplar as a “revolving door” for criminals during a lively interview on “Behind The Headlines.”
Sunny Eaton, who runs Nashville’s Conviction Review Unit, said, “These wins are the kind that are absolutely changing lives for people who never deserved to be in that position.”
Josh Spickler, of the criminal justice reform group Just City, said on WKNO’s Behind The Headlines that there is another side to allegations the county’s criminal justice system is a ‘revolving door.’
Just City and the ACLU gave county officials until the end of December to respond to their letter and until the end of January to hold a “mediated discussion.”
A veteran Public Defender is seeking to become the first Indian-American to serve as a judge in Shelby County. But Sanjeev Memula is considering which of the nine criminal divisions of General Sessions Court he will seek.
The county is paying an average of $34,000 per month to a Jackson, Tennessee, law firm to represent Sheriff Floyd Bonner in a federal lawsuit.
Virtually all the youths whose cases were transferred to adult court in Shelby County the past two years were Black.
Attorneys representing the inmates, including lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union and Memphis’ Just City, claim conditions at the jail are ill-equipped to deal with safety regarding COVID-19.
The federal class action lawsuit was filed in 2016, a month after a new computer system was installed by the county to track the movement of pre-trial detainees through the criminal justice system.
The NFL has granted $200,000 to Just City as part of the league’s social justice initiative. The money is important – but so is the message the money sends.
Former Memphis City Council member Harold Collins and Just City Director Josh Spickler said on “Behind The Headlines” that for all of the talk of changing police, MPD is still policing the way it has for decades.
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Shelby County continue to rise, Just City, a nonprofit criminal justice reform organization, is armed with $50,000 from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization and another $25,000 from an anonymous donor with the intention of bailing out several Shelby County Jail inmates this week who are believed to be vulnerable to the virus.
Reform advocates say more efforts need to be made to ensure the poor aren't being put at undue risk in jail during the coronavirus threat. Judges say it can be complicated.
A criminal justice reform advocate is calling for all youngsters detained in Shelby County’s juvenile detention center to be released immediately to reduce the impact of the coronavirus.
Executive Director of Just City Josh Spickler discusses juvenile justice in Shelby County with host Eric Barnes and Daily Memphian reporter Bill Dries.
Just City executive director Josh Spickler said on the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines” that Juvenile Court needs more resources for children in detention. But he said the question of which children and how many wind up in detention or tried as adults should take priority over the details of the bricks and mortar.
Children transferred from juvenile court to adult court is on the rise. Last year, 90 children were charged as adults and almost all are African American.
A panel discussion and viewing of the film "Brian Banks" gave young people a lesson in how the criminal justice system works and how they interact with it.
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