Dependent Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Educational Video for Judges and Legal Professionals
One of the most persistent failures of the court system is how little it understands, or chooses to understand, the…
Rita Williams
Rita Williams is a Michigan-based judicial oversight analyst and founder of Clutch Justice, an investigative platform focused on court system accountability, sentencing integrity, and SCAO policy. Her work examines how courts, policies, and administrative systems operate in practice, with a focus on where process breaks down and harm is created. Drawing on lived experience and systems-level analysis, she writes to make legal structures more readable, expose institutional gaps, and advocate for reforms grounded in both evidence and human impact. Rita’s writing bridges legal analysis, institutional critique, and public education, with a consistent focus on accountability without losing sight of the people most affected by the justice system.
Solitary Confinement is Torture: Examining the Devastating Effects
Solitary confinement goes by many names, but the core reality stays the same: prolonged isolation is not a neutral management…
How Do I Know a Lawyer Is Good? How to Choose the Right Attorney for Your Case
Choosing the wrong lawyer does not just cost money. It can reshape the outcome of your case before you even…
When Free Speech Becomes a Probation Violation: Michigan Appeals Court Confronts Retaliatory Prosecution
An oral argument in the Michigan Court of Appeals explored the case In Re DMT, where an Allegan County Resident…
DOJ Revives Tough-on-Crime Policies Despite Evidence They Don’t Work
A justice system does not become smarter by getting harsher. When policy abandons evidence in favor of political toughness, incarceration…
How Prison Discipline Policies Manufacture Misconduct — And Keep People Locked Up Longer
Prison discipline is often sold as necessary order. But when the rules are written to punish coping, need, and ordinary…
Michigan Supreme Court Grants Barry County Man Remand for New Trial
Editorial Transparency Requests for comment were not returned. This piece is based on court records, publicly available OTIS data, the…
The Right to Criticize Judges: A Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility
Many thanks to my dear friend Dr. Samantha Hallman for sharing this with me! Lawyers have an ethical responsibility to…
What Are Stop and Frisks? How a “Brief Stop” Became a Civil Rights Problem
In the United States, the concept of “stop and frisk” refers to a practice where law enforcement officers stop an…
5 Ways Press Releases Undermine Presumption of Innocence for Defendants
Presumption of Innocence is a well known cornerstone of the criminal justice system, a legal concept meant to ensure individuals…
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