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An Oregon city called Grants Pass enacted “public camping” laws that banned people who are homeless from using blankets, sleeping bags, or any “material used for bedding purposes” to sleep anywhere in public in the city, under penalty of hefty fines and potential jail time. A class of involuntarily homeless residents of the city challenged the laws, and in support of the class, the MacArthur Justice Center represented four criminal law and punishment scholars as amici curiae. Our brief argued that these ordinances violated the Eighth Amendment because it is not lawful to punish someone who has done nothing wrong, like the people in Grants Pass who must sleep outside because they have nowhere else to go.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Derek Lee challenges the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s felony murder sentencing scheme, which imposes mandatory life without parole (LWOP) on persons convicted of felony murder even if they did not kill or intend to take life. The MacArthur Justice Center is proud to add our voice to the growing chorus of groups and individuals recognizing that such extreme sentences in these circumstances are not only unjust—they are unconstitutional.

The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside Wayne Washington, who spent 14 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, to ensure that Illinois courts upholds the intent and purpose of the certificate of innocence statute to remove barriers that prevent innocent people from clearing their names and getting relief.

When Alex Adamowicz challenged his life-without-parole sentence he received as a struggling 21-year-old, arguing that it violated the Michigan Constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment, the Court of Appeals chastised him for even attempting. Joining Mr. Adamowicz’s fight as amici, the MacArthur Justice Center is urging states with expansive Eighth Amendment analogues, like Michigan, to lead the charge in ensuring humane sentencing for youth and for all that offers meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation and release.

Richard Glossip is scheduled to be executed by the state of Oklahoma on May 18, 2023, despite overwhelming evidence of improper state conduct in his case. The MacArthur Justice Center has filed an amicus brief on behalf of Oklahoma Rep. Kevin McDugle, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take Mr. Glossip's case.

Shawn Brust has served over 23 years of a 15-years-to-life sentence. After reviewing Mr. Brust’s record and conducting a hearing, the Ohio Parole Board determined by an 8-0 vote that he was suitable for release and should be paroled. But, after receiving statements from the victim’s family, the Board reversed its decisions and denied Mr. Brust parole. The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, alongside the Due Process Institute, Cincinnati Black United Front and Abolitionist Law Center, filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Brust on appeal to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth Appellate District.

Sheldon Mattis was tried as a joint-venturer for a shooting when he was 18 years old and sentenced to mandatory life without parole. The MacArthur Justice Center, alongside The Sentencing Project and Juvenile Law Center, filed an amicus brief highlighting that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court should extend the prior ruling to all youth over 18 in alignment with existing science and based on an independent reading of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.

Latonia Bellamy was 19 years old when a relative – who, unbeknownst to her, had already committed a string of violent crimes – involved her in a robbery-turned-murder in New Jersey. Ms. Bellamy was convicted of felony murder and related charges, and – absent any consideration of Mr. Bellamy’s youth or history of childhood trauma...