Matthew Harwood

Journalist/Writer

The numbers couldn't be clearer: right-wing extremists have committed far more acts of political violence since 1990 than American Muslims.

Carl Takei

Staff Attorney at the National Prison Project, ACLU

Corrections Corporation of America did not exist before this massive expansion of incarceration -- and the company depends on it to survive. But Anonymous' report shows us that as America weans itself from that addiction, CCA's ledgers will quickly turn red.

Bennett L. Gershman

Professor of Law, Pace

Instructing a jury to disregard something they've already heard has been assailed as a fiction, a judicial fraud, and tantamount to telling a jury to "un-ring a bell."

Dr. Lois Lee

Founder and President, Children of the Night

Secure residential programs for children who have not committed a crime and are victims of sex trafficking is a violation of a child's civil rights and it is a battle that should not have to be fought on behalf of any group of children in America.

David Protess

President, Chicago Innocence Project

Serrano says that freedom became an option not long after he was granted a hearing in 2007 on the new evidence of his innocence -- affidavits by the jailhouse snitch and the widow recanting their testimony.

Mark I. Pinsky

Author, journalist

Under intense competitive pressure, reporters and self-promoting legal commentators -- all with an interest in prolonging the trial's suspense -- are in danger of confusing rather than clarifying responsibility for the killing.

Diane Goldstein

21-year law enforcement veteran, speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

I worked hand-in-hand with SWAT and believe that its primary mission is to save lives, yet I also agree with Balko's demand for more transparency and accountability from law enforcement. It is this lack of transparency that contributes to the notion that law enforcement has run amok.

Sofie Karasek

Undergraduate, University of California, Berkeley

I thought: I must be imagining this. Should I say something? I'm a freshman and he's a leader here, no one will believe me. Shouldn't I be grateful for this attention anyway? If I speak up, I'll look stupid and unreasonable, and I'll be blowing this out of proportion.

Laura Murray-Tjan

Director, Federal Appeals Clinic, Boston College Law School

As members of Congress struggle to reconcile their opposing views on immigration reform, rapid-firing amendments and counter-amendments across the aisle, we all should remember the successes and failures of our last immigration law overhaul in 1996.

Mike Weisser

The Gun Guy

Together the Facebook pages of five gun violence prevention groups total slightly more than 100,000 supporters and this number probably represents numerous duplicates. The NRA is just shy of 2.5 million. That's a joke, and not a funny joke.

Erikka Yancy

Documentary Filmmaker

In a few months we will know if a jury believes that George Zimmeran was compelled to follow Trayvon Martin because of his race. One thing we know now, however, is that there is yet another victim of tired stereotypes and prejudices in this case, and that is Rachel Jeantel.

Sean McElwee

Writer

The justice system, if it is anything, must be greater than institutionalized revenge. The death penalty turns the justice system from a mechanism of controlled force aimed at eliminating violence, to a system of violence itself.

Bryan Stevenson

Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative

The police in Miami have not articulated any legitimate basis for jumping on 14-year-old Tremaine McMillian, throwing him to the ground, placing him in choke hold, terrorizing him until he urinated on himself.

Diane Dimond

Television journalist, author, syndicated columnist

Would you believe these collectors buy serial killer's autographed photos, artwork and handwritten letters sent to people outside prison walls? Even an envelope bearing a handwritten return address commands a pretty penny.

Nancy Doyle Palmer

Journalist and screenwriter

Lost for Life -- a compelling new documentary about juvenile offenders who are serving life sentences without parole -- struggles mightily to answer the universal questions of crime, punishment and forgiveness.

Gemma Puglisi

Assistant Professor, School of Communication at American University

We are a civilized society, and the death penalty is barbaric and senseless and in so many cases. There is no question that those who kill should be accountable for their horrible actions. And prison is that punishment.

Victor Burt

Political strategist

It's time we as a society must decide whether or not the tools we use to protect us will eventually be our undoing.