State Supreme Court updates standards for drug courts throughout the state to require confirmation testing
New Orleans court does not currently offer confirmation testing, which may lead to punishment based on false positives
Author: Nick Chrastil
- About Nick Chrastil
- Nicholas Chrastil covers criminal justice for The Lens. As a freelancer, his work has appeared in Slate, Undark, Mother Jones, and the Atavist, among other outlets. Chrastil has a master's degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University, where his research focused on New Orleans' newspapers during the Reconstruction era. During his time at LSU, he also covered the Louisiana state legislature as part of the Manship Statehouse Bureau. He is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Advocates take their case for ending cash bail in New Orleans to the City Council
Council members appear supportive of the plan, proposed by the Vera Institute for Justice last month. But a prominent crime watchdog group and the Orleans DA have criticized jail population reduction efforts.
Legal agreement in federal bail suit will require New Orleans judge to consider alternatives to detention, whether defendants can pay
The agreement comes after a two-year civil rights lawsuit against Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell over how he was setting bail.
Vera Institute of Justice proposes plan for ending cash bail, conviction fees in New Orleans
Only highest-risk defendants would be jailed under the plan. Judges would impose $1 bail for crimes that require cash bail under state law. The group says the proposal would save the city millions in funding for the jail.
Report: New Orleans criminal court drug testing methods unconfirmed, may lead to false positives
At least 59 people were jailed for contempt in 2018 based on questionable drug tests, watchdog group says.
