Equal Justice Initiative

From The Economist

Mass incarceration in the United States continues at record high levels despite outsized costs. According to recent data reported in The Economist, the United States has the world's highest incarceration rate, locking up five times more people per capita than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and 12 times more than Japan.

Today in Kansas City, Missouri, the NAACP awarded EJI Director Bryan Stevenson the William Robert Ming Award for Advocacy at the opening plenary session of its 101st National Convention. The award is one of the NAACP’s highest honors for professionals in the legal field and was presented to Mr. Stevenson for the work of the Equal Justice Initiative, which this year has issued a major report documenting illegal racial discrimination in jury selection, led a successful effort in the United States Supreme Court to abolish life imprisonment without parole sentences imposed on juveniles, provided critical legal assistance to condemned prisoners on death row and prisoners wrongly convicted or illegally sentenced, and aided many others facing unfair and unjust treatment in the criminal justice system.

On April 30, 2010, Alabama Governor Bob Riley signed a new law that limits incarceration in Alabama's overcrowded prisons for people on probation who commit no new offense but technically violate the terms of their probation. The new law gives judges more non-incarceration options for addressing technical probation violations.

EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.

On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont's legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 2009, Alabama increased its prison population to over 31,000 people. That same period saw the state prison population nationwide decline for the first time in nearly 28 years as states implemented new technology and parole reforms to reduce reliance on incarceration in the face of crippling costs.

Marsha Colby, pictured with two of her six children in 1997, prior to being falsely accused of killing her seventh child at birth.

Capital murder charges filed against Marsha Colby in the death of her infant son have been dismissed and the case resolved on reduced charges in light of new forensic evidence.

EJI is working to assist people who have been forced into homelessness, denied critical medical care, and subjected to permanent imprisonment as a result of Alabama's Community Notification Act.

On September 4, 2009, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the conviction and sentence imposed on Marsha Colby, who was convicted of capital murder after giving birth to what doctors believe was a stillborn baby.

A national study found that more prisoners today are serving life sentences across the country than ever before. Alabama ranks among the top three states for number of life sentences imposed and is the national leader in racially disproportionate sentencing of children to life in prison.