April 2012CCR Executive Director Vince Warren explains that the CIA and Pentagon maintain lists of suspected terrorists to be targeted for killing and have these "kill lists" approved only by an...
September 2009Should former Bush Administration officials be held legally accountable for their actions? CCR executive director Vince Warren says that accountability is the best way to ensure that government...
November 2009The CCR filed a lawsuit on behalf of the community group Acorn, charging that the Congressional Resolution to bar federal funding for the group is unconstitutional because it constitutes a...
Update as of 3/12: Re-Fest will be livestream only. You can watch on Culturehub's website . The Center for Constitutional Rights is excited to collaborate with CultureHub , Magnum Foundation ,...
Updated: March 12, 2020
Marsha Scaggs is 56 years old and is currently imprisoned at the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs in Pennsylvania. Marsha is serving a Death By Incarceration sentence (more commonly known as Life Without Parole) after being convicted of felony murder. Marsha was prosecuted after an altercation with the victim in her case resulted in her co-defendant killing the victim; she was not responsible for the killing nor did she have any intention for that to happen. She was 23 years old at the time. Marsha has been incarcerated since 1987 and has spent over 30 years—more than half of her life—in prison. She is a plaintiff in Scott v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, a lawsuit that argues that Pennsylvania's mandatory life sentences without the eligibility for parole for felony murder are unconstitutional.
When asked what she wants the outside world to know about people serving life sentences, she said, "We are human beings who have made mistakes but we are not defined by those mistakes. There are lifers that have taken the necessary steps to redeem ourselves and if given the opportunity, we will rise to the occasion and be role models."
Marsha wants to be released from prison. She wants the chance to use the certification and degree that she worked so hard to get while incarcerated. During her incarceration, she has lost loved ones on the outside. She wants to be free to be able to spend time with friends and family outside of the prison walls. Marsha says she also wants the chance to do things that many people on the outside take for granted. She wants to get a job, pay bills, and do her taxes.
Marsha says that aging in prison is, "no picnic...you do not get the proper medical attention that is needed, and the more you age, you can see and feel your body deteriorate. It's like a loss of life emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually."
March 7, 2024, New York – In response to the governor of New York’s announcement of a five-point “subway safety” plan, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement: The Center...
Survivors and human rights advocates are in Geneva for the January 16th Committee on the Rights of the Child review of the Holy See’s treaty compliance. Please join the Survivors Network of...
Updated: January 14, 2014
May 12, 2014 – Today, in response to George W. Bush’s arrival in Toronto, Canada, for a fundraiser with Bill Clinton, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Canadian Centre for...
Please join the Center for Constitutional Rights and Public Justice at a special showing of "Battle in Seattle" at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, September 25th at the Angelika Film Center ,...
Updated: September 19, 2008
CCR is pleased to co-sponsor a webinar event titled Insecure Communities: Government Surveillance, Mass Deportations, and the Fight to Protect Our Civil Liberties . The panel will feature CCR Legal...
Updated: November 16, 2012
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