‘They Killed Freddie Gray’: New Book Reveals Dark, Hidden Truth About Gray’s Death
In her new book, “They Killed Freddie Gray”, Justine Barron reveals much of what the public has believed about Gray’s death is incorrect.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Aug 23, 2023
Survivor Injustice Asks Us To Reconsider What Justice Looks Like For Crime Victims
This excerpt from Survivor Injustice asks us to reconsider what justice really looks like for crime victims.
Kylie Cheung Aug 16, 2023
Some Good News and Ways to Give Back
For millions of families, this time of year is yet another reminder of all that is missed when a loved one is incarcerated
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 21, 2022
Buying a Home Is Hard. Doing It While Incarcerated Is Nearly Impossible.
Serving out a sentence in a Washington state prison, I was certain I’d never own a home. When my wife and I started the process, we found out just how difficult it would be.
Christopher Blackwell Apr 04, 2022
“It’s like a slow war, like a slow burn. Like a slow, quiet form of torture.”
Thank you for all of your support. Your contributions have enabled us to turn The Appeal into a worker-led newsroom dedicated to exposing the harms of the criminal legal system — and to begin publishing again! Check out some of our recent pieces: We uncovered a robbery task force at DC’s Metropolitan Police Department that […]
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 14, 2021
A Homeless Man Has Spent 800 Days At Rikers After Stealing Cold Medicine. Now His Prison Sentence May Be Beginning.
Blind in one eye and at risk of losing vision in the other, 58-year-old Reginald Randolph is now on the verge of being sent to state prison to serve out a maximum of four years in state prison.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 02, 2021
The Enduring, Pernicious Whiteness Of True Crime
White voices and victims dominate the genre, which can skew the perception of what constitutes a crime.
Elon Green Aug 21, 2020
Justice in America Episode 27: Junk Forensic Science
Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Zak Cheney Rice talk with Radley Balko, opinion journalist at the Washington Post and author of The Cadaver and the Country Dentist, about faulty forensic science.
Apr 08, 2020
Justice in America Episode 26: The Privatization of Prisons
Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Donovan Ramsey talk with Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, about the privatization of America’s criminal legal system.
Apr 01, 2020
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 Mar 31, 2020
As COVID-19 Spreads In South Florida, Miami-Dade Police Department Instructs Officers To Issue Citations For All Misdemeanor Offenses
One of America’s largest police forces says it’s drastically reducing the number of people it arrests during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jerry Iannelli Mar 20, 2020
A Heroin Case With ‘Breaking Bad’ References Ensnares a Small-Time Dealer
Dennis Sica struggled with substance use disorder and sold small amounts of heroin that prosecutors connected to overdose deaths. Because of an 1980s-era federal law, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Jon Campbell Mar 05, 2020
Justice In America Season 3: Zak Cheney Rice
Zak Cheney Rice joins Josie Duffy Rice as a guest cohost for season 3 of the podcast, starting February 26.
Feb 19, 2020
Justice In America Season 3: Donovan X. Ramsey
Donovan X. Ramsey joins Josie Duffy Rice as a guest cohost for season 3 of the podcast, starting February 26.
Feb 19, 2020
Justice In America Season 3: Derecka Purnell
Derecka Purnell joins Josie Duffy Rice as a guest cohost for season 3 of the podcast, starting February 26.
Feb 19, 2020
Justice In America Season 3: Darnell L. Moore
Darnell L. Moore joins Josie Duffy Rice as a guest cohost for season 3 of the podcast, starting Feb. 26.
Feb 19, 2020
Justice In America Season 3: Josie Duffy Rice
Zak Cheney Rice interviews host Josie Duffy Rice about season 3 of the podcast, starting Feb. 26.
Feb 19, 2020
Inspired By Her Own Experiences, Baltimore Woman Publishes Magazine Giving Voice To The Incarcerated
Tia Hamilton’s State v. Us focuses closely on the criminal legal system, especially as it applies to people of color, who are statistically overrepresented in the carceral system.
Elizabeth Brico Jan 02, 2020
Orange County Judge Rules That Sheriff’s ‘Blanket’ Shackling Practice Violates Prisoners’ Rights
People held in courthouse cells were shackled for up to 15 hours a day, and some were unable to eat, change menstrual pads, or use the bathroom, advocates say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 19, 2019
A Life Sentence in Arkansas. And a Lifetime of Pain.
The state’s parole board has recommended that Willie Mae Harris, convicted of killing her husband in 1985, be freed five times. Now 72 and completely blind, her fate lies with Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Lauren Gill Nov 18, 2019
New York’s Child Welfare Laws Will Advance Justice
Two bills, awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature, would help reduce the punitive impact of the child welfare system on kids and their families, including formerly incarcerated parents.
Nora McCarthy Nov 13, 2019
Uncritical Reporting on a Biased Baltimore Spy Plane Poll
A close examination of a poll backed by a business group reveals loaded questions, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and the shortchanging of very real privacy concerns.
Adam H. Johnson Nov 07, 2019
Louisiana To Build New Prison For Women Displaced By 2016 Storm
More than three years after heavy rains and flooding devastated the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, officials have reached an agreement to build a new facility.
Lauren Gill Oct 29, 2019
New Orleans Public Defenders Punished For Locating Key Witness
The attorneys said they did nothing wrong by finding a victim in a rape case who had disappeared, but a judge accused them of making her unavailable.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 29, 2019
A One-Sided Report on North Carolina Gun Violence
The Charlotte Observer built a narrative on gun crime that relies almost exclusively on police and prosecutors, ignores the violence of incarceration, and offers zero non-carceral solutions.
Adam H. Johnson Oct 11, 2019
Rhode Island Police Don’t Just Make Arrests. Some Also Act As Prosecutors.
The state is one of eight that allow cops to arraign people on misdemeanor charges. Advocates and academics say the practice is unjust.
Julia Rock, Harry August Oct 10, 2019
Missouri Executes Russell Bucklew Despite Threat of Botched Execution
His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case.
Lauren Gill Oct 02, 2019
Helping ICE Stir Up Anti-Immigrant Fervor in Maryland
WJLA’s Kevin Lewis selectively reports on immigrants arrested for sex crimes to paint a misleading picture of violence in Montgomery County.
Adam H. Johnson Oct 01, 2019
The Media Frenzy Over Chanel Miller Boosts Mass Incarceration
Miller’s victim impact statement was centered in a recent ’60 Minutes’ segment on the Brock Turner case. But such statements do not heal victims, and Miller’s unfavorable comparison of Turner’s sentence to drug offenders only reinforces carceral logic.
Meaghan Ybos Sep 30, 2019
A Historic Day May Mark The Beginning Of The End Of Death By Incarceration In Pennsylvania
This month, nine people received commutations from life sentences, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is calling for changes to the commutations process to give more people second chances.
Joshua Vaughn Sep 27, 2019
DNA Testing Could Save This Texas Man’s Life. But Prosecutors Are Opposing It.
Rodney Reed, set to be executed on Nov. 20, is innocent of a rape and murder, his lawyers say, and untested evidence will prove it. But prosecutors have pushed back, arguing the evidence is contaminated.
Lauren Gill Sep 26, 2019
Their Juvenile Records Were Sealed. Decades Later, They’ve Reappeared.
The Washington State Patrol has added thousands of old sealed juvenile records to a database it shares with law enforcement agencies across the country—erasing for many their chance of a clean slate.
Tori Marlan Sep 24, 2019
This Louisiana Gulf War Veteran Is Serving Life For Selling $30 Worth Of Marijuana
Derek Harris awaits arguments in the state Supreme Court about the sentencing, which one judge called ‘unconscionable.’
Aaron Morrison Sep 24, 2019
Why Juries Need Expert Help Assessing Jailhouse Informants
Informants are highly motivated to lie. But jurors don’t always have the information or skills to discern the truth.
Alexandra Natapoff Sep 23, 2019
Climate movement could radically transform criminal system
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. “Environmentalism is now equated with social justice and civil rights,” wrote professors Robert D. Bullard and Glenn S. Johnson in the Journal of Social Issues almost 20 years ago. […]
Sarah Lustbader Sep 20, 2019
Missouri Is Set To Execute Russell Bucklew. His Lawyers Say His Case Was Mishandled.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Sep 20, 2019
Alabama Sex Offender Registry Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Teenagers, Lawsuit Argues
Young people convicted as adults face a ‘life sentence’ of registry restrictions, attorneys say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 19, 2019
California Supreme Court Fails To Resolve ‘Constitutional Crisis’ Created By Police Privacy Laws
A narrow ruling on Brady lists ensures that protecting the police will continue to prevail over due process.
Kyle C. Barry Sep 18, 2019
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 Sep 17, 2019
In Third Debate, Democratic Presidential Candidates Condemn Mass Incarceration Without Naming Its Main Driver
Candidates offered reforms for people accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses, but more than half of U.S. prisoners have committed a violent crime.
Aaron Morrison Sep 13, 2019