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Dow explodes almost 3,000 points higher, S&P 500 has best day since 2008 as Trump pauses most reciprocal tariffs; Groups oppose Medicaid cuts that would threaten coverage for 3 million PA residents; ME high school students advance local climate related projects; US judges block Trump's Venezuelan deportations using a 1798 wartime law; Ratepayers sound off on proposed sale of Minnesota Power.

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President Donald Trump pauses tariffs for 90 days, as Republicans question his trade policy. And a new federal executive order incentivizes coal for energy use but poses risks to public lands.

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Rural Dems want the DNC to bring working class voters back into the fold, kids in Maine are losing a federal program that supplies local food to schools, and Trump's tariffs sow doubt and stress for America's farmers.

Report: MS faces alarming racial disparities in life sentences

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Wednesday, January 15, 2025   

In Mississippi, where thousands of people are serving life sentences, the impact of long-term imprisonment falls disproportionately on Black communities. Their advocates are raising concerns about the state's sentencing practices. And they're urging legislative reforms to reduce what they call "extreme sentences" and to address racial inequities in the system.

Celeste Barry, program associate with The Sentencing Project, co-authored a new report on the effects of long-term imprisonment. She said in Mississippi, more than 2,300 people are serving life sentences - and nearly three-quarters have no opportunity for parole.

"We see in Mississippi some extreme racial disparities that are far greater than the national average. So, over 70% of the life sentence population is Black in Mississippi, and that's compared to the still troubling 45% nationally" she explained.

Groups like hers are pushing for reforms to address these disparities. Barry highlights Oklahoma as an example, where the state passed the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, allowing incarcerated individuals to seek reduced sentences if they can prove that abuse played a role in their crime.

Barry believes similar reforms could offer significant relief in Mississippi, especially given the state's disproportionately high number of women serving life sentences without parole.

"And this has the power to bring relief to hundreds of survivors in the state, and could be particularly meaningful in a state like Mississippi, where they have the largest share of their female life-sentenced population serving life without parole," she continued.

In 2021, Mississippi lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill to reduce the prison population by expanding parole opportunities for nonviolent offenders, but Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed it, citing public safety concerns.


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