Pregnancy-Related Arrests Spiked During Last 16 Years, Report Finds
Legal experts who spoke with The Appeal warned the criminal justice system will continue to target pregnant people in the coming years.
Meg O'Connor Sep 19, 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
Why Women’s Wrongful Convictions Are So Difficult to Overcome
Outdated stereotypes and crimes that never occurred create unique challenges for women seeking exoneration.
Danielle Bernstein Aug 14, 2023
How Missouri’s ‘Felony Murder’ Law Traps People for Defending Themselves
An investigation by The Appeal and the Yale Investigative Reporting Lab reveals how prosecutors use the state’s felony murder statute to imprison people who say they acted in self-defense. The majority of those convicted under the law since 2010 are Black. “I had to take the plea because they’re using this law to get people to stay locked up,” one man said.
Thomas Birmingham Jul 10, 2023
Fighting for a Chance to Prove I’m Ready to Return Home
I don’t know if I’ll ever receive the resentencing hearing I was once promised, but I do know this system must change.
Christopher Blackwell Apr 05, 2023
Police Killed His Son. Prosecutors Charged The Teen’s Friends with His Murder.
It’s been four years since a Phoenix police officer killed Jacob Harris. Records obtained by The Appeal show officials have made inconsistent or false statements about the night police killed him. As Harris’s friends grow up behind bars, his father won’t stop until he gets justice for his son.
Meg O'Connor Mar 14, 2023
Over-Reliance on Plea Deals is Damaging the Criminal Legal System
gorodenkoff / iStock by Getty Images Over-Reliance on Plea Deals is Damaging the Criminal Legal System by Nneka Ewulonu It’s easy for the average American to envision a courtroom trial. Shows like “Law and Order” inundate us with fictional depictions of trials—from the thud of a gavel to the inquisitive eyes of a jury—with an […]
Nneka Ewulonu Dec 14, 2022
Backlash on the Ballot: Three Prosecutor Races to Watch in November
The politics of criminal justice is overwhelmingly local, and elected prosecutors have some of the most direct power over how justice is dispatched.
Anna Simonton Oct 12, 2022
How American Public Spaces Became so Criminalized—and How We Can Win Them Back
On September 23, 2020, a Black man died for the alleged crime of crossing the street the wrong way. His death was due in large part to America’s long history of criminalizing public spaces and our existence in them.
Nneka Ewulonu Sep 21, 2022
Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now?
If Brooke Jenkins fails to deliver results with “tough-on-crime” policies, will San Franciscans blame her, just as they did her predecessor, Chesa Boudin?
Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022
Prosecutor Lauded For Investigating Trump Also Wants to Send Educators to Prison
As Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s profile rises, the glossy coverage has largely ignored her crusade to incarcerate teachers accused of cheating on tests.
Anna Simonton Jul 06, 2022
Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform
If the Democratic Party wants to run away from those candidates, it will only be running towards its own demise.
Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022
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.
Meg O'Connor May 27, 2022
Young Thug’s ‘Racketeering’ Charges are Absurd
The racketeering charges against Young Thug, Gunna, andYSL are over-broad, over-stated and unnecessarily harsh
Jerry Iannelli May 18, 2022
A Judge Finally Called BS on ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’
In January, a New Jersey judge said Shaken Baby Syndrome is “akin to junk science.”
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg May 04, 2022
Los Angeles Democrats Embrace the Tough-on-Crime Backlash
In February, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón became the latest local Democratic politician to fold to conservative critics when he walked back two major campaign promises that had swept him into office just over a year before.
Jerry Iannelli Mar 15, 2022
Georgia’s Unique Death Penalty Law Is Killing the Mentally Disabled
Georgia is the strictest state in America when it comes to proving intellectual disability in capital cases. This month, the Supreme Court could save the life of a man who says he is mentally disabled—or let the state kill him.
Lauren Gill Feb 23, 2022
Ex-Prison Boss Drunkenly Pulls Gun On Cops, Shows Two Tiers Of Justice
On the night of Jan. 6, Arizona’s former prison director, Charles Ryan, drank half a bottle of tequila and got into a three-hour armed standoff that involved about 50 police officers. After a tense confrontation in which Ryan repeatedly pointed a gun at officers, Tempe police took Ryan into custody and brought him to a hospital — but he was never booked into jail. In the end, Ryan went back home like nothing had happened.
Meg O'Connor Feb 22, 2022
A New Jersey Woman Claimed Innocence In ‘Shaken Baby’ Death. Now Her Conviction May Get Another Look.
Spurred by an Appeal investigation into Michelle Heale’s controversial 2015 case, a law professor is asking New Jersey’s Conviction Review Unit to “correct an injustice” and set Heale free.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Feb 15, 2022
After Years Locked up for Stealing Cold Medicine, Reginald Randolph Is Released
But if he loses his appeal and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declines to grant him clemency, he will likely be sent back to prison.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 25, 2022
How St. Paul Became The Twin Cities’ Leader On Justice Reform
Although Minneapolis has garnered media attention since the George Floyd uprising, St. Paul may be the Twin City making the most strides toward transformative justice. But Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s actions may undo positive steps in Ramsey County.
Hibah Ansari, Anna Simonton Jan 11, 2022
Lots to be thankful for. Plus a reality check.
The Appeal team has a lot to be thankful for this year, including the fact that we can spend time with our families again. We know not everyone is as fortunate, and we’re thinking of community members, especially those behind bars, who can’t be with their loved ones. In the midst of Thanksgiving travel and […]
Nick Wing Nov 23, 2021
Big Retail Chains Are Manufacturing a Shoplifting ‘Crisis’
We’re excited to share that we’re kicking off our year-end fundraising campaign through NewsMatch, an industry-wide program to sustain journalism through matching gifts on the local and national level. Through Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match your new monthly donation (at 12 times the value), or double your one-time gift, all up to $1,000. In total, […]
Jerry Iannelli Nov 09, 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
‘She Just Said She Wanted To Be Believed’
More than 20 women accused Harry Morel, a longtime district attorney in Louisiana, of sexual misconduct. But Morel pleaded guilty to just a single obstruction of justice count while Mike Zummer, the FBI agent who investigated him, was fired. Now, Zummer is speaking about what he says is a grave injustice—at the hands of the Justice Department.
Jerry Iannelli Dec 15, 2020
Resentencing Units Can Rectify, Rehabilitate, and Restore
A concerted effort to review, resentence, and release is the right thing to do for those who have been unjustly sentenced. It is also the right thing to do for our community.
George Gascón, Marilyn Mosby Dec 08, 2020
Law Enforcement Reformers Sweep Major Races In Los Angeles County
Candidates promising to remake Southern California’s legal system, won major races for DA, county supervisor, and City Council, among others while overcoming significant spending by pro-law enforcement groups.
Jerry Iannelli Nov 06, 2020
Michigan Lifers Are Organizing Their Families to Vote
The Adolescent Redemption Project, a new group organized by Michigan prisoners sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, is advocating for progressive prosecutors.
Marcia Brown Oct 22, 2020
Four Austin Women Reported Their Sexual Assaults. But Police And Prosecutors Failed To Hold The Perpetrators Accountable.
While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored.
Jerry Iannelli Oct 02, 2020
Missouri Attorney General’s Office Pushes To Keep Innocent People In Prison
Its decades-long commitment to upholding convictions—even those marred by police or prosecutorial misconduct—has left Missourians languishing in prison for years.
Emily Hoerner Sep 11, 2020
Highway Stop-And-Frisk: How Pennsylvania State Troopers Conduct Illegal Traffic Searches
A review of five years of cases that arose from traffic stops in the south-central region of the state shows that police used underhand tactics to justify holding and searching drivers illegally.
Joseph Darius Jaafari, Joshua Vaughn Aug 31, 2020
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.
Meg O'Connor Aug 03, 2020
Virtual Hearings Have Created A ‘Caste System’ In America’s Courts
Precautions meant to minimize the spread of COVID-19—like remote hearings by video conferencing—have drastically changed the way people experience the judicial process, leaving some at a distinct disadvantage.
Elizabeth Brico Jul 31, 2020
Mississippi Teen Who Has Languished In Jail For 17 Months Without An Indictment Is Just ‘One Of Thousands’
Sixteen-year-old William Haymon has spent more than 500 days in an adult jail in rural Lexington, Mississippi. There are no state rules governing how long a person can be incarcerated without being formally charged with a crime.
Lauren Gill Jul 30, 2020
The Defund Movement Aims to Change the Policing and Prosecution of Domestic Violence
Though domestic violence is often cited as a reason to maintain the carceral status quo, advocates say there are more humane—and effective—alternatives.
Jessica Pishko Jul 28, 2020
Racial Disparity Among Prosecutors and Trial Judges Translates to Unequal Justice, Activists Say
Studies show that 95 percent of the nation’s prosecutors are white and that the lack of Black and brown representation in courts negatively affect outcomes for people of color.
Dawn R. Wolfe Jul 24, 2020
Jacklean Davis Was The First Black Woman To Serve As a Homicide Detective in New Orleans. Did A Now Disbarred Prosecutor Bring About Her Fall?
In the 1990s, Davis was a policing superstar, hailed as the best crime solver the Crescent City had ever seen. But a dispute over a paid detail at a festival turned into a major federal case against her, brought by a prosecutor involved whose conduct in other cases was called ‘grotesque.’
Ethan Brown Jul 01, 2020
The Suffolk County DA’s Attack On Public Defenders Was Misguided
During a Boston radio show where Rachael Rollins accused defenders of harming Black and Brown communities, the DA demonstrated that she misunderstands the role that prosecutors play in the criminal legal system: caging those very people.
Premal Dharia, Jullian Harris-Calvin May 22, 2020
Tennessee Set to Execute Intellectually Disabled Black Man In Killing of White Woman Even Though Innocence Questions Persist
Attorneys say the prosecution’s theory of the murder case was ‘concocted out of whole cloth’ and based on ‘outdated racial stereotyping.’
Steven Hale Apr 29, 2020
Massachusetts Prosecutors Should Use Their Power To Dismiss Cases Now
District attorneys in the state could decarcerate quickly by dropping unnecessary cases.
Will Isenberg Apr 08, 2020