Virginia and Kentucky stand as two of the four commonwealths in the nation, along with Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. These two states are starkly similar in more than name. Both states have codified criminal justice systems with archaic and unfairly punitive rules. The twin commonwealths both require individual petitions to the governor, who gets to decide whether the individual petitioner is worthy of their right to … Continue reading Jim Crow’s War in America Continues in Virginia and Kentucky

For decades in Kentucky and throughout the United States, it has been a commonly held notion that incarceration is predominantly an urban phenomenon. And up until recent years, Kentucky’s urban areas were indeed at the focal point of that phenomenon, incarcerating the largest proportions of their citizens. However, that pattern has altered today, and oddly enough, Kentucky’s rural areas have the highest incarceration rates. How … Continue reading Behind Bars: The Economic Incentive to Incarcerate in Rural Kentucky