The U.S. Economy Won’t Recover Until Black Workers Do Biden’s American Rescue Plan is a start, but more public investment is needed to address racial inequality in the labor market. Ashley Mitchell
How Tenants’ Right to Counsel Can End Inequality in the Eviction System—and Save Lives Ensuring renters have representation in housing court would help close a “justice gap” and be a life-saving intervention for those at risk of losing their homes. Emily Benfer
As Support For The Death Penalty Plummets, The Trump Administration Embraces Executions While bans on capital punishment progress at the state level, the federal government is racing to carry out three more executions before President Trump's term end. Ten people have been put to death since July, the first such executions since 2003. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
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
Kyle Rittenhouse Bought His Freedom. Kalief Browder Could Not. The Rittenhouse case raises particularly pointed questions about what we are really talking about when we talk about bail. Cori Bush
Kara Eastman Looks to Represent Nebraska in Congress With An Eye On Improving Healthcare The Second District candidate, who has been endorsed by more than 50 Black leaders in Omaha, also wants to make investments in Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Lauren Gill
Raph Graybill Is Running To Be A Better Attorney General For Montana Graybill’s experience with suing the state’s current AG, Tim Fox, to protect a land easement program “really pushed me over the edge,” he told The Appeal. Dawn R. Wolfe
We Can’t Let Our Children Go Hungry Since the pandemic began, vital programs that enable children to receive free meals, such as the National School Lunch Program, haven’t been reaching the families in need of support. Jamaal Bowman
Athena Hollins Takes On Public Safety, Housing, And Affordable Child Care In Her Run For The Minnesota House When it comes to public safety, Hollins doesn’t want to stop with reallocating police funding. She’d like her state to track both proven and alleged instances of police misconduct. Dawn R. Wolfe
The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer
Carroll Fife Is Fighting To Make Oakland Safer And More Equitable For Everyone In her run for City Council, Fife pushes back on the institutional barriers to Black people that come from a history of oppression. Eoin Higgins
Economic Insecurity Brought On By COVID-19 Threatens To Disenfranchise Millions Of Voters Between the global pandemic and a nationwide economic crisis, voting rights advocates see a ‘perfect storm of barriers’ ahead that could prevent millions of people from casting a ballot in November. Eoin Higgins
U.S. Executes Lezmond Mitchell Over Objections Of The Navajo Nation It’s the first time in modern history that the federal government has executed a Native American for a crime committed against another Native American on tribal land, his attorneys say. Lauren Gill
The Federal Government’s Decision To Execute Lezmond Mitchell Is A Direct Affront To Tribal Rule The execution of Mitchell against the will of the Navajo Nation only perpetuates the U.S.’s dreadful history of colonial violence and oppression of Indigenous peoples. Ruth Hopkins
Criminal Justice Advocates Say New Law Undermines Georgia’s Efforts at Bail Reform The law, known as SB 402, eliminates the use of signature bonds for a number of felonies, putting poor people who might not be able to afford cash bail at a disadvantage. Victoria Law
Michigan Judge Ends Probation For Black Teen Who Was Jailed For Not Completing Her Homework Judge Mary Ellen Brennan jailed the 15-year-old, known as Grace, for violating her probation by not completing schoolwork. Last month, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered Grace’s immediate release, which Brennan said left her without the means to ‘issue consequences.’ Dawn R. Wolfe
New Jersey COVID-19 Bill Could Help Reduce The Harshness Of The Criminal System If the bill is signed into law later this month, about 20 percent of the state’s prison population could see their sentences reduced to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, including some people who have served lengthy sentences for violent crimes. Ellison Berryhill
After 78 Days, Michigan Teen Who Was Jailed For Failing To Complete Her Homework While On Probation Is Released The Michigan Court of Appeals ordered her immediate release pending an appeal of a circuit court judge’s decision to jail the teen, known as “Grace,” in mid-May. Dawn R. Wolfe
Arrests On Nonviolent, Concealed Carry Weapon Charges Are Soaring In Detroit Amid Pandemic Lawyers and activists are calling on prosecutor Kym Worthy to dismiss charges against those who have been arrested. As of July 29, 451 Detroiters had been arrested for violating Michigan’s concealed carry law, an increase of 190 percent compared to July 2019. Dawn R. Wolfe
The Feds Have A Long History Of Snatching People Up. Only Now They Are Targeting Middle-Class White People Federal agents have been unfairly arresting Black and brown people for decades. Now that white Portlanders are seeing it up close and personal, they are outraged. Better late than never. Morgan Godvin, Leo Beletsky
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
Michigan Judge Refuses To Release Black Teenager Who Was Jailed For Not Doing Homework Judge Mary Ellen Brennan sent the 15-year-old, known as Grace, to juvenile detention in May for violating her probation by not completing online schoolwork. On Monday, the judge said Grace was ‘blooming’ in the facility, despite arguments by Grace that she is falling behind. Dawn R. Wolfe
The Federal Death Penalty Has The Veneer Of Respectability. But It’s Just As Flawed As the States’ Killing Machines. Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled executions for four people on federal death row in July and August. That’s more federal executions in one month than in the entire modern history of the federal death penalty. Ben Cohen
Healthcare In The U.S. Is Still Segregated, So Community Organizations Are Taking COVID-19 Testing Into Their Own Hands Predominantly Black neighborhoods have less access to primary care physicians and healthcare services, at a time when COVID-19 is killing Black Americans at a rate 2.3 times higher than white Americans. Now grassroots organizations are trying to compensate for failures of public health. Akilah Wise
When My Brother Died Of An Overdose, The State Charged Two People With Murder. That Isn’t Justice. You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm. Daveen Trentman
Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division. Ruth Hopkins
The Bumpy Road to Police Abolition Protesters and activists have categorically changed the national conversation about public safety. Now they have to figure out how to change public policy. Ted Alcorn
Police Departments Have Failed Black And Latinx Communities. It Will Take Deliberate Work To Earn Back Their Trust. The use of excessive force against nonwhite communities and people protesting police brutality is further eroding public confidence in policing. Ellison Berryhill
COVID-19 Infections and Deaths Among Natives Are Underreported. It’s Time For State Health Departments To Step Up. While 80 percent of state health departments are recording race as part of their COVID-19 statistics, around half are not including Natives and are simply labeling them as “other.” Ruth Hopkins
Coronavirus Lays Bare The Staggering Class Inequalities That Divide America Neither the coronavirus nor anything else is a ‘great equalizer’ because we aren’t, actually, all in this together. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Justice in America: Episode 28: School to Prison Pipeline Josie Duffy Rice and her co-host, Derecka Purnell, talk to Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, about the school to prison pipeline.
Justice in America Episode 25: Conversation with Sherrilyn Ifill Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Darnell Moore talk with Sherrilyn Ifill about policing, civil rights, the criminal justice system, and more.
Justice In America Episode 24: Death Penalty Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Darnell Moore focus on the death penalty as they talk with State Attorney Aramis Ayala of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
Critics Of Progressive Judges Find A Willing Ally In Local Newsrooms With few exceptions, news outlets in Harris County, Texas, spotlight singular instances of crime to allege that legal reform policy is a threat to the public. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Bloomberg’s Stop-and-Frisk Philosophy Also Informs the Rest of His Work on Gun Violence Prevention We need to be more critical of the former New York mayor’s outsize influence on the gun control movement. Alex Clavering
San Francisco D.A. To Announce Sweeping Changes On Sentencing Policy and Police Stops As a candidate, Chesa Boudin condemned gang enhancements as racist. Now as DA he plans to significantly limit, if not eliminate, their use. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Study Finds Stark Racial Disparities for Low-Level Drug Offenses In Travis County, Texas The authors reported that 29.4 percent of the possession cases involved Black individuals in a county where Black people make up only 8.9 percent of the population. Dawn R. Wolfe
Stop-And-Frisk Made Michael Bloomberg A Big Target In The Presidential Debate. His Opponents Still Missed. Advocates say the narrowing field of Democratic candidates did not seize an opportunity to lay out clear visions on criminal justice reform to contrast the former New York City mayor’s record on policing. Aaron Morrison
The Appeal Podcast: Documenting the Death Penalty With Jordan Smith and Liliana Segura of The Intercept. Adam H. Johnson
Criminal Justice Group Drops Support For Pretrial Risk Assessment Tools As Ohio Justices Seek To Block Their Use Reform advocates say the risk assessments are racially biased and are not effective at their key tasks: predicting the likelihood someone will return to court. Dawn R. Wolfe
For Many Prisoners, Mississippi’s Habitual Offender Laws Are Like ‘Death Sentences’ One man, Paul Houser, is serving 60 years on a drug conviction for purchasing cold medicine and batteries. He’s one of 2,600 people incarcerated as a result of the state’s three strikes laws. Lauren Gill
As Support For Capital Punishment Wanes, An Ohio D.A. Continues To Push For Death In Franklin County, experts say Ron O’Brien’s capital cases—which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars— amount to ‘just taxpayer money being lit on fire.’ Joshua Vaughn
