A recent headline in a daily newsletter from The Crime Report (www.thecrimereport.org), a non-partisan multimedia and networking resource on crime and justice issues, caught my attention. The headline read “How Plea Bargains are Making Jury Trials Obsolete.”  In the article, Matthew Mangino reported that “ninety-seven percent of federal criminal prosecutions are resolved by plea bargain,”...Read More

Over 90 percent of the cases in criminal courts are resolved through plea bargains. Plea bargains involve the prosecutor agreeing to reduce the charge or recommending a lesser sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Plea bargaining is driven by several factors. First, if there are concerns about whether or not the case will hold up to...Read More

The Eastern Kentucky University College of Justice and Safety and EKU Online continue to be recognized among the nation's best. Create a Career, a leading resource for career information, has identified the "Best Criminal Justice Programs Offering Online Degrees." EKU ranked 19th in the nation and was the only Kentucky school to make the list.Read More

The thought of applying to graduate school can be somewhat daunting, but the process is really fairly simple. At EKU, students can apply using the online application process and pick the program they wish to study. Once they pay the application fee and the EKU Graduate School receives their official undergraduate transcript, the application is forwarded to...Read More

EKU Online student Rocky Lykins earned a bachelor's degree in Corrections and is now working on his master's degree in Adult, Juvenile & Community Corrections Leadership.Read More

The United States is currently the only country with individuals under the age of 18 serving a sentence of life without parole. This appears to be somewhat contradictory when one considers the abolishment of the death penalty for juveniles in 2005 following the case of Roper vs. Simmons.Read More

Once an individual has been found guilty and sentenced to prison, many people assume that he or she has, or should have, no rights.  Until the 1960s, this was true to some extent.  Before the 1960s, federal and state courts refused to hear prisoners’ rights cases or decided those cases in such a way that...Read More

Prisoners’ rights cases concerning religion are about religious practices, not religious beliefs.  Some practices heard by courts include wearing religious jewelry, wearing hair a certain way, refusing to take a shower in front of others, demanding that the prison allow a sweat lodge to be built, wearing a head covering, demanding the prison provide a pork-free...Read More

I first attended Eastern Kentucky University after graduating high school in the Fall of 1970. I, like other freshmen in college focused more on the social life than on school work and ultimately dropped out before the end of the first semester. In the late 1980's, after being laid off from a job, I realized...Read More

"Everyone from the admissions staff to the instructors here are so enthusiastic about my education. The faculty at EKU really have made the material come alive. I feel involved with EKU even though I have never stepped foot on the campus."Read More