Meg O'Connor

Meg O'Connor

Meg O’Connor is an award-winning Senior Reporter for The Appeal. She also runs our weekly newsletter.

Meg covers police, prosecutors, and the criminal legal system. She previously worked for the Phoenix New Times and the Miami New Times, where her work drew national scrutiny to local police departments and led to the firing of five officers who had committed egregious misconduct. On two occasions, her reporting has caused some of the biggest police departments in the country to change internal policies.

In Miami, Meg wrote a series of articles showing Miami police had failed to follow to a new law allowing officers to hand out tickets in lieu of arrest for minor marijuana possession. The series led Miami’s police chief to begin requiring his officers to issue tickets and won the Florida Press Association’s Claudia Ross Memorial Award for investigative reporting, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s David Carr Award for investigative reporting, and the Florida Press Club’s Lucy Morgan Award for in-depth reporting.

Articles by Meg O'Connor

Midterm Elections Deliver Some Good News for Criminal Legal Reform

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing, Meg O'Connor

Almost All Abortions Are Now Banned in Arizona

A judge allowed a Civil War-era law to go back into effect today. The law requires two to five years in prison for people who provide abortions, except to save the life of the pregnant person.

Stop Letting Politicians Trick You About Abortion

How to Get an Abortion by Mail in Your State

Arizona Judge Blocks Law That Treats Fetuses as People

The law granted embryos and fetuses the same rights as a person. Civil rights groups sought an injunction out of concern the law could criminalize people who provide or obtain abortions.

Justice Department Launches Investigation Into NYPD’s Troubled Special Victims Division

The probe will assess whether the SVD engages in a “pattern or practice of gender-biased policing," according to the DOJ.

Here’s How You Can Help People After Roe

What To Expect Now That Roe’s Been Overturned

Most abortion bans criminalize providers by making it a felony to perform an abortion. But experts say people who obtain abortions can and will be criminalized for their pregnancy outcomes — they already have been even while Roe was still in place.

Without Roe, Prosecutors Will Be The Abortion Police

Criminalized Abortions Loom Over Phoenix’s Biggest Prosecutor Election

Maricopa County elects a new top prosecutor this year. In the meantime, state law could let the county’s conservative county attorney prosecute abortions if Roe falls.

Don’t Let Cops Co-Opt Denim Day

Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice

Thinking Of Those Who Can’t Be Home For The Holidays

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Meg O'Connor

How the NYPD’s Troubled Sex Crimes Unit Is Set Up To Fail Victims

Former top cops say a culture of neglect at the NYPD has left inexperienced and poorly trained officers in charge of some of the department’s most sensitive cases.

“Woman of the Year” Mariska Hargitay Should Quit “SVU”

Jerry Iannelli, Meg O'Connor

One Rochester Cop’s Abuses Reveal A Culture of Police Impunity

If Officer Matthew Drake had faced serious discipline for his misconduct, he might not have been on duty the night of Tyshon Jones’s death.

America’s Largest Police Department Is Neglecting Rape Cases

Austin Uses Money From Police Budget to Fund Substance Use Care

The city will use $1 million in funds diverted from its police budget to expand substance use treatments and harm reduction services for low-income people in Austin and Travis County.

Tishaura Jones Wins St. Louis Mayoral Race

Jones’s election is the latest in a string of progressive victories in the region.

This Anti-Violence Strategy May Be Coming to St. Louis, but Activists See Red Flags

Both mayoral candidates in tomorrow’s election favor an approach called focused deterrence. Some advocates caution it could reinforce punitive policing.

Cara Spencer Is Running To Lead St. Louis Through A Time Of Crisis And Opportunity

The mayoral candidate said she wants to drive down violent crime, stimulate economic growth and development, and reinvest in the city’s struggling schools and neighborhoods.

What The St. Louis Mayoral Candidates Would Do To Close The City’s Notorious Workhouse Jail

Tishaura Jones wants to decriminalize offenses and transfer people out of the Workhouse. Cara Spencer wants to end the contract to house federal detainees.

Arizona Man Faces Decades In Prison After Not Returning a Rental Car on Time

Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old Black man, has struggled with substance use for decades. Now, prosecutors are leveraging his record against him—and forbidding references to racial justice, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Stepter’s potential sentence, or his health problems at his trial.

Phoenix Wants To Shift Crisis Response Away From Police—While Also Increasing The Police Budget

The trial budget includes a proposal to expand a crisis response program under the fire department, but also includes a $3.7 million increase to the Phoenix Police Department’s $745 million budget.

The St. Louis Mayoral Race Reflects a Progressive Shift In Local Politics

Two progressive candidates will move on to the general election, while Lewis Reed, a figure in St. Louis’s Democratic party establishment since 1999, couldn’t carry a single ward.

California Governor Commutes Sentence of Abuse Survivor, Grants Clemency to Several Others

Advocates have been urging Governor Gavin Newsom to make greater use of his clemency power, especially for older prisoners who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Meg O'Connor, Joshua Vaughn

A Florida Lawmaker Introduced Legislation to Remove Traffic Enforcement From Police

Cities across the country have begun exploring traffic enforcement without police. This bill proposes doing so statewide.

Rochester Police Tackle and Pepper-Spray Woman With 3-Year-Old Child

It is the latest incident of violence from a police department already under fire for pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl and fatally injuring Daniel Prude.

Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer Win St. Louis Mayoral Primary

The two candidates will move on to the April 6 general election after securing the most votes under the city’s new approval voting system.

The Future of Housing in St. Louis Hinges on the Mayoral Race

Whether the city will do more to keep people in their homes or simply do more of the same depends on who voters elect as the next mayor.

Policing and Public Safety at Odds in St. Louis Mayoral Race

Instead of expanding the "arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate model," advocates want the next mayor to address the root causes of violence.

Tishaura Jones Wants to Change St. Louis

Jones says her experience transforming the treasurer’s office will make her an effective mayor. Voters will let candidates know what they think next week.

No Criminal Charges for Cops Involved in Daniel Prude’s Death

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced today that a grand jury voted not to indict any police officers on charges related to the death of Daniel Prude.

This Election Could Decide St. Louis’s Future

The four candidates vying to replace the mayor are each promising to build a better St. Louis, and in a little over a week, voters will decide which visions they endorse.

Police Violence Puts the Heat on Rochester Mayor as She Seeks a Third Term

Months after footage emerged of officers fatally suffocating Daniel Prude, police were caught on video pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl. Advocates say the incident highlights the shortcomings of Mayor Lovely Warren’s crisis response team.

Austin To Buy Second Hotel That Will Become Permanent Supportive Housing

The city will use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the people who will live at the hotel.

State Lawmakers Are Pushing New Bills To Reduce Reliance On Police

So far in 2021, lawmakers in several states have introduced at least 12 bills to shrink the footprint of policing.

Austin Will Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Supportive Housing

The City Council voted to buy one hotel and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there.

Austin May Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Permanent Supportive Housing

The City Council will decide whether to buy two hotels and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there.

Members of Congress Call on Biden to Commute Everyone on Federal Death Row

More than 35 members of Congress signed a letter asking Biden to commute the sentences of the remaining 50 people on federal death row.

Republican Lawmakers Are Using the Capitol Riot to Fuel Anti-BLM Backlash

Some lawmakers are citing the violence in Washington as a reason to pass laws that criminalize protesting, but far-right extremists aren’t the target.

They Took Umbrellas to a Black Lives Matter Protest. The D.A. Hit Them with Gang Charges

Police and prosecutors routinely treat white domestic terrorists with kid gloves, but use the full force of the law against protesters calling for an end to police violence against Black people.

What Traffic Enforcement Without Police Could Look Like

Because traffic stops all too often escalate into deadly incidents, calls have grown to disentangle traffic enforcement from police—and a measure to do so has already passed in Berkeley, California.

The Pandemic Hasn’t Stopped Landlords From Evicting Tenants—And It’s About To Get Much Worse

Landlords have continued forcing renters out of their homes, despite a patchwork of protections from federal and local governments. Now, with the CDC moratorium set to expire on Dec. 31, millions of Americans could be evicted.

D.C. May Give People Convicted As Young Adults A Chance At Resentencing

The D.C. Council is set to vote on a bill aimed at giving people who committed serious crimes before their 25th birthday an opportunity to petition a judge for resentencing.

Against CDC Guidance, Denver Displaces Hundreds Of Homeless People Amid COVID-19 Spike

Cities across the country have continued to displace and criminalize homelessness during the pandemic, though the CDC cautions clearing encampments can heighten the potential for the spread of COVID-19.

Police Funding Is a Pivotal Issue in Two Austin City Council Runoffs

Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping.

Some Texas Elections Suggest Voters Aren’t Afraid of Defunding Police

None of the Austin City Council members who voted to cut police funding lost their elections, but a police union vice president who fearmongered about the defund movement did.

In a Blow to the Progressive Prosecutor Movement, Allister Adel Wins the Maricopa County Attorney Race

Voters decided to keep Adel in charge of the third-largest prosecuting agency in the country. She is recovering from emergency surgery for bleeding in her brain.

Lorenzo Sanchez Wants to Provide Healthcare to Uninsured Texans

Sanchez is running for one of the state House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip.

Texas House Candidate Celina Montoya Is Running To Expand Medicaid and Fund Public Education

She is running for a historically Republican-controlled seat, and if she wins, it could help turn the state House blue.

Democratic Candidate Brandy Chambers Wants to Help Turn the Texas House Blue

If Chambers can unseat the Republican incumbent in her district, she said she’ll prioritize expanding Medicaid, improving public education funding, and lowering property taxes.

What Raquel Terán Wants To Accomplish If Democrats Take The Arizona State Legislature

The state representative wants to pass paid family leave, repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe vs. Wade abortion ban, and increase access to the ballot through automatic voter registration and same-day registration.

As Arizona Politics Shift, Martín Quezada Hopes This Term Is His Most Significant

Quezada has supported progressive policies since starting out in the state legislature in 2012. He’s now running for his final term, which could be his most important, given the state’s changing power dynamics.

How One Race Could Change Police Accountability in Arizona

Incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is backed by police unions and has declined to charge officers in high-profile killings. Challenger Julie Gunnigle says she wants to create an independent unit to review police use-of-force cases.

If Arizona Legalizes Weed, Top Prosecutors Would Be Key To Clearing Past Convictions

One candidate for Maricopa County attorney says she’ll make clearing past marijuana convictions ‘universal and automatic’ if elected. The other has not said she would do anything to support expunging criminal records.

Abortion Could Be Criminalized in Arizona if Roe v. Wade Gets Overturned

The state’s pre-Roe abortion ban includes mandatory prison time for people who provide or obtain abortions. Candidates for top prosecutor in Maricopa County differ on whether they would prosecute such cases.

Democrats Could Break the Republican Trifecta in Arizona

The party needs to win two state House seats and three state Senate seats in next month’s election to flip the chambers. Here are the candidates running in hotly contested races.

Maricopa County’s Top Prosecutor Releases Misleading Attack Ad

Allister Adel paints herself as a reformer, but her record shows otherwise.

A Police Union Vice President Hopes Fear Of The Defund Movement Will Propel Him To The Texas House

Republicans could lose their grip on the state House this November, and their control over the 2021 redistricting process hangs in the balance. Justin Berry and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who endorsed him, are hoping to win an important seat back from the Democrats by scaring voters.

How One Election Might Strike a Blow to Mass Incarceration in Arizona

In Maricopa County, years of harsh charging and sentencing policies have sent state incarceration rates soaring. Now that legacy is in question in November's prosecutor election.

Arizona Man Faces 8 Years in Prison For Not Returning Rental Car on Time

Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old with chronic respiratory problems, has struggled with substance use for decades. Police and prosecutors sought the harshest sentence possible after he failed to return the car.

His Brother Called For Help After He Was Acting Strangely. Police Knelt On Him Until He Was Brain Dead.

Body camera video shows that Daniel Prude was complying with police when they knelt on his back and pushed his face to the ground for so long that he stopped breathing.

Austin Cuts Its Police Budget by About A Third

The City Council passed a budget that cut nearly $150 million from the Austin Police Department. Millions will be reinvested in services like violence prevention and supportive housing.

Austin May Cut Police Budget by Nearly $150 Million

The City Council will pass a budget this week that could cut nearly $150 million in funding from the Austin Police Department. The proposal appears to have majority support.

In Arizona, a County Attorney Candidate’s Past Seems To Contradict Her Pro-Reform Stance

Julie Gunnigle, who is running in Maricopa County, says she supports alternatives to incarceration. But a decade ago in Illinois, she prosecuted a woman for recording phone calls and helped put her in jail for 18 months.

Pima County Candidates Battle Over Whether the Prosecutor’s Office Needs an Outsider to Achieve Reform

In this Arizona county with over one million residents, two career prosecutors are facing off against a former public defender in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary, which will decide the election.

Maricopa County Moved Homeless People to Sweltering Parking Lots in Response to COVID-19

Hundreds were forced from an encampment to fenced-in, asphalt parking lots with no shade in Phoenix’s triple-digit summer heat. At least three people have died.

Democrats Running for Prosecutor Want to Break With Maricopa County’s Punitive Past

All three candidates said they would commit to reducing the Arizona prison population if elected, though their visions of the role of the county attorney’s office diverge.

51 Years In Prison For A Car Crash

Prosecutors wanted to make an example of Justin Dixon, who has been in an Arizona prison for 14 years, with 37 ahead of him. Now, as COVID-19 spreads in the facility where he’s being held, his family is desperate for him to be released.

How the Phoenix Police Department Spends Its $745 Million Budget

The city wants to give the force an additional $24 million. But the department is still failing to solve crimes, and officers have shot 212 people between 2011 and 2018, killing about half.

On The Day Of George Floyd’s Death, An Arizona State Trooper Killed A Man In Phoenix

Dion Johnson’s family wants answers about the last moments of his life.

She Turned Her Life Around After A String Of DUIs. Now She Might Be Sent Back To Prison Amid A Coronavirus Outbreak

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office waited four years to charge Danielle Sutherland for one of the DUIs. After serving time for the others, she received treatment for her substance use issues and pursued a degree.

Honolulu Police Keep Putting Homeless People in Jail

The city is flouting CDC guidance by continuing to dismantle homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it does not have nearly enough shelter space.

Cleaning Supplies Are So Scarce At This Arizona Prison, Detainees Are Using Shampoo And Menstrual Pads, Lawsuit Says

The plaintiffs want an independent expert to assess whether the facility has implemented social distancing measures, testing procedures, and hygiene practices adequate enough to reasonably protect detainees from contracting COVID-19 while in custody.

A Veteran Was Sent to Jail for Stealing Masks to Give to Homeless People

Peter Lucas was jailed overnight at a time when prosecutors across the country are actively working to reduce the number of people behind bars to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Internal Affairs Investigators Raid NYPD’s Special Victims Division for Third Time

Logbooks were seized as part of an inquiry into misconduct allegations against high-ranking officers in the division that investigates sex crimes.

Manhattan D.A. Suggests He Nudged The Governor To Fix A Loophole In New York Rape Law. It’s A Bit More Complicated.

Cyrus Vance says he sent Governor Cuomo a letter about the issue in April 2018; Cuomo's office says it never got it. In the intervening months, critics say Vance's messaging on the issue discouraged survivors of rape from coming forward.

People Behind the Girls Do Porn Website Were Just Charged With Sex Trafficking. But Complaints Were Filed About Them Years Ago.

At least three women made police reports about Girls Do Porn in 2015, but recruiters continued to exploit women until the FBI stepped in last month.

Police Chief Sued Over Handling of Violent Rape Case

A federal lawsuit claims that Asheville, North Carolina's interim chief, Robert C. White, prevented a rape victim from filing a complaint against an officer when he led the Louisville, Kentucky, department.

New Lawsuit Claims a Sacramento Deputy Unlawfully Arrested Activist Who Protested Clearing Of Homeless Encampment

Advocates and homeless people are suing Sacramento County over its treatment of homeless—and the city responded by filing a lawsuit against seven men for being a ‘public nuisance.‘

‘It Was Almost Worse Than The Incident Itself’

New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault.

Florida Woman Faced 10 Years For ‘Meth’ That Was ‘Just a Rock’

A scandal of falsified drug arrests is spreading at a Florida sheriff’s office that has also spent more than $1.33 million settling excessive force lawsuits and is at the center of the increasingly troubled Robert Kraft case.

Miami Police Arrest Thousands of Homeless But Leave Rapes, Robberies Unsolved

In 2017, over 2,000 homeless people were arrested on charges including drinking in public and panhandling. That same year, roughly 1,400 people were arrested in Miami-Dade County for rape, murder, and robbery.

Inside ‘The Stop-And-Frisk Capital of America’

Claims including sexual assault of a woman with mental illness to lying in reports haunt the Miami Gardens police; payouts in federal lawsuits have cost the city's taxpayers at least $3.5 million.

Is The NYPD’s Special Victims Division Prematurely Closing Sexual Assault Cases?

Advocates say victims are being pressured to sign ‘withdrawal’ forms to quickly close investigations and protect the department from legal liability.