News / FJP Releases

September 10, 2026

FJP Urges Supreme Court to Enforce Eighth Amendment Protections Against Excessive Property Forfeitures

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) filed an amicus brief in Jouppi v. Alaska, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to meaningfully enforce the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause by requiring courts to ensure that fines enforced through property forfeitures are proportionate to a person’s actual conduct and culpability.

The case began with a six-pack of beer. In 2012, a passenger aboard Douglas Jouppi’s airplane attempted to bring it into a dry Alaska village, but the plane never even left the ground. Mr. Jouppi was convicted of a misdemeanor and given the minimum sentence allowable. But another consequence was far more significant: under a mandatory forfeiture statute, Alaska took possession of his approximately $95,000 airplane.

“Accountability is an essential part of justice. But accountability must be proportionate to the conduct. Taking a $95,000 airplane over a six-pack of beer crosses that line and is exactly the kind of excessive punishment the Eighth Amendment was meant to guard against,” said FJP Executive Director Aramis Donell. “Prosecutors have a responsibility to ensure that the punishment fits the crime. When mandatory penalties produce an excessive result, courts have a duty to enforce the Constitution’s limits. Those protections are fundamental to a justice system that is fair, credible, and worthy of the public’s trust.”

August 14, 2026

When Freedom Is at Stake, Every Juror Counts

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) filed an amicus brief in the case of Kian v. Florida, urging the Supreme Court to hold that people charged with serious criminal offenses that can result in prison time have a constitutional right to a twelve-person jury under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

“Justice is not only about getting the right result. It’s about ensuring people know the process was fair,” said Fair and Just Prosecution Executive Director Aramis Donell. “When someone’s liberty is on the line, every voice in the jury room matters. A twelve-person jury helps ensure decisions are thoughtful, representative of the community, and worthy of the public’s trust.”

July 31, 2026

FJP Urges Texas Court to Review New Evidence of Innocence in Rodney Reed Death Penalty Case

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP), the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), and 29 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials filed an amicus brief urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to fully examine substantial evidence pointing to Rodney Reed’s innocence and allow critical, long-denied DNA testing in his case.

Mr. Reed, a Black man, has been on Texas’ death row since 1998 for the rape and murder of Stacey Stites, a crime he has consistently maintained he did not commit. He was convicted based largely on scientific evidence that prosecutors described at trial as the “smoking gun.” However, since Mr. Reed’s trial, advances in forensic science have undermined key evidence presented to the jury. Additional witness testimony and new evidence pointing to alternative suspects have also raised serious questions about the prosecution’s original theory of the case.

July 1, 2026

FJP Applauds New York Rule Requiring Judges to Visit Correctional Facilities

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) applauds the New York Unified Court System’s adoption of a rule requiring judges serving in criminal and family courts to conduct an annual, immersive visit to a prison, jail, or other detention facility starting January 1, 2028. FJP submitted a comment in support of the rule change. 

“Judges make decisions every day that profoundly shape people’s lives, and those decisions should be informed by a clear understanding of what incarceration actually entails,” said FJP Executive Director Aramis Donell Ayala. “New York’s rule change is a meaningful step forward. Requiring judges to spend time in correctional facilities provides valuable insight on the consequences of incarceration. Justice is strongest when it is informed by both the law and the people whose lives are impacted.” 

May 28, 2026

FJP Applauds Supreme Court Decision Reinforcing Protections Against Racially Biased Jury Selection

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) applauded today’s United States Supreme Court decision in Pitchford v. Cain, a case involving allegations that prosecutors improperly excluded Black jurors from the death penalty trial of Terry Pitchford, a Black defendant. The Court concluded that Mr. Pitchford had been denied the opportunity to scrutinize the prosecutor’s actions and reaffirmed the importance of strict compliance with the constitutional process for evaluating claims of racial discrimination in jury selection.

“Today’s decision sends a clear message: prosecutors and courts must faithfully adhere to the constitutional prohibition against racial discrimination in jury selection and follow the required steps to resolve claims of discrimination,” said Preston Shipp, Chief Legal Counsel at Fair and Just Prosecution. “Prosecutors have a legal and ethical obligation to uphold the Constitution and ensure justice is administered equally, which depends on juries that are selected fairly and free from racial bias. When they abandon that duty by removing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons, and courts fail to scrutinize that racial discrimination, it undermines fair trials, excludes citizens from civic participation, compromises verdicts, and erodes public confidence in the judicial system, making us all less safe. The Supreme Court rightly reaffirmed that constitutional protections against racial discrimination must be meaningfully enforced, not treated as empty promises.”