A Manhattan D.A. Candidate Touts Her Leadership of a Conviction Review Unit. Why Did It Exonerate So Few People? Under Tali Farhadian Weinstein’s leadership, Brooklyn’s unit exonerated just four people—a far lower rate than in previous years. Sam Mellins
The Pandemic Prompted Marilyn Mosby to Stop Prosecuting Low-Level Crimes. Will Other D.A.s Follow? Prosecutors across the country have begun declining low-level cases in an effort to reduce racial inequity and to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joshua Vaughn
3 Transformational Candidates That the Working Families Party Is Excited About The party's national director tells The Appeal about candidates in New York, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico that the WFP would like to see oust the establishment. Joshua Vaughn
How Organizers Are Defending Against Evictions Amid a Pandemic Tenants rights groups in Brooklyn, Kansas City, New Orleans, and elsewhere are using physical blockades and direct action to keep people in their homes. Bryce Covert
What ‘Defund The Police’ Means In A New York Neighborhood With High Homicide Rates and a History of Struggling for Justice Although there’s a diversity of views about law enforcement in Brownsville, Brooklyn, there’s widespread agreement that the community is still fighting to obtain all the resources it needs to thrive and police itself. Abigail Savitch-Lew
The Financial Toll of COVID-19 Deaths Organizations in New York City have stepped in to help families with funeral costs and related matters in communities hit hard by the disease, but their money and resources are strained. Bryce Covert
Halfway House Residents Describe ‘A Scary Situation’ As Coronavirus Sweeps The U.S. ‘It is progressively getting worse, exponentially worse,’ a resident of one halfway house told The Appeal as part of a survey of facilities. ‘Something is going to happen and it’s not going to be good.’ Lauren Gill
When Prosecutors Bury Police Lies Court records and interviews with former prosecutors show that internal assessments of police dishonesty are rarely memorialized, potentially violating the rights of people charged in criminal cases and sometimes keeping the records of bad cops clean. George Joseph, Ali Winston
New York Law Removes ‘Unnecessary’ Step for Children Charged With Felonies 16-year-olds won’t have to reappear in adult criminal court if they’re arrested when youth court isn’t in session. Lauren Gill
Inequality, Not Violence, Is Killing Americans At Record Rates Media coverage obsessively focuses on homicides, which are at historical lows. Meanwhile, suicides and overdoses skyrocket, quietly driving record declines in American life expectancy. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
A Night in Jail Over $2.75 In 2017, the Manhattan district attorney pledged not to pursue criminal charges for subway fare evasion. Now the MTA is increasing the system’s police presence. Bryce Covert
‘Just Leave Them to Die’ The crisis at Brooklyn’s federal jail reveals how jails and prisons ‘are not prepared for a disaster.’ JB Nicholas
The ‘Failure to Appear’ Fallacy Prosecutors denounce bail reform efforts when people miss court dates, but ‘failure to appear’ rates obscure the fact that many who miss court aren’t on the run. Puck Lo, Ethan Corey
The ‘Hypocritical’ Loophole in New York’s Pledge to Stop Prosecuting Marijuana People caught vaping marijuana oil face the same charge as for low-level heroin possession. Raven Rakia
Advocates Say Brooklyn D.A.’s Office Is Prosecuting Transgender People In Self-Defense Cases Decision-making by prosecutors in such cases, says one attorney, ‘compounds, entrenches, and ultimately authorizes the initial act of violence by prosecuting the victim.’ Aviva Stahl
How decriminalizing sex work became a campaign issue in 2018 State Senate candidate Julia Salazar explains how sex workers’ rights is a key part of reforming criminal justice in New York. Melissa Gira Grant
Exoneree Accuses Brooklyn DA’s Office Under Joe Hynes of Prosecutorial Misconduct in Denying his Freedom of Information Request Letter from Jabbar Collins warns that his case is likely only “the tip of the proverbial iceberg” Theodore Hamm
Don’t Just Vote for a Legacy. Vote in a Brooklyn District Attorney that Represents Your Values for the Future of Criminal Justice. Scott Hechinger
