5 October 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Rikers Island, an end to solitary confinement of children

source: Solitary Watch
published: 1 October 2014

The New York City Department of Correction (DOC) has plans to minimize the solitary confinement of 16 and 17 year olds on Rikers Island. This according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Times, as reported in an article published earlier this week.

The revelation comes on the heels of a three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the findings of which were released in an August report by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan.

17 September 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

After Ferguson, new focus on race and policing

source: Voice of America
published: 15 September 2014

Last month’s fatal shooting of an unarmed African American teen by a white police officer after a street confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri, has drawn a new focus on other such cases throughout the U.S., amid protests and demands by civil rights leaders for investigation of racial bias in aggressive policing.

Barely a week after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, police in nearby St. Louis shot and killed Kajieme Powell, a mentally disturbed 25-year-old black man who held a small steak knife. Two police officers fired within 15 seconds of arriving at the scene where Powell was walking around, seemingly aimlessly, with his hands at his side.

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22 July 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Police access to phone records becomes law

source: Telegraph
published: 17 July 2014

Emergency legislation giving the police and security services access to people’s phone and internet records cleared the Lords today will become law.

Peers took just two hours to push through the remaining stages of the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill, which was then given Royal Assent from the Queen.