Racial Justice

Police Unions Fight To Rescind Parole For Former Black Panther

In April 2018, Herman Bell was paroled after spending 45 years in prison in a case involving the shooting deaths of two police officers. Now, New York police unions and the widow of one of the slain officers are challenging the decision in court.

Victoria Law Feb 26, 2019

Bail Activist Jailed For Trying To Help When Cops Confronted Man In Mental Health Crisis

Colorado-based attorney and bail activist Elisabeth Epps was just released after serving a short jail stint related to a 2015 encounter with Aurora Police. The experience gave her a new understanding of the experiences of the people she has bailed out.

Aaron Morrison Feb 12, 2019

Black Lives Matter DC’s Battle to End Stop-and-Frisk In The Nation’s Capital

Advocates say the city has dragged its feet on legislation meant to ensure transparency on the police practice, and that data released so far—from 2010 to 2016, nearly 82 percent of stops involved Black people—signals that it’s time to end stop-and-frisk entirely.

Ella Fassler Dec 03, 2018

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Won’t Seek A Third Term. These Movements Are A Big Reason.

Protesters blasting everything from punitive prosecutors to police brutality should be remembered for their role in upsetting the Windy City's political status quo.

Kelly Hayes Oct 02, 2018

Notoriously Brutal, Racist Plainclothes Policing Makes A Return In Baltimore

After the Gun Trace Task Force scandal rocked the police department, plainclothes policing was spurned. But a recently resigned commissioner championed plainclothes units, a decision the department seems to be sticking with.

Larry Smith Aug 22, 2018

Defund The Baltimore Police

A former Baltimore cop questions how a department with a nearly half-billion-dollar budget that is riven by rampant corruption and brutality, bloated overtime spending, and unaccounted for patrol officers can continue to justify its existence

Larry Smith Aug 15, 2018

Milwaukee Candidates Clash In Race to Succeed The Infamous Sheriff Clarke

Several candidates are vying to become Milwaukee Sheriff in the wake of Sheriff David Clarke's resignation last fall. But will they truly spurn his legacy of jail deaths and cooperation with ICE?

Raven Rakia Aug 10, 2018

Pretrial Detainees Are Being Billed For Their Stay in Jail

In jurisdictions across the country, people incarcerated before they've ever been convicted of a crime are charged a daily fee just for sitting in jail—and several courts have ruled that the practice is legal.

Steven Hale Jul 20, 2018

The Baltimore Police’s ‘Summer Surge’ Scam

A former Baltimore Police officer says that a plan to flood the streets with local and federal law enforcement is likely to yield more of the same ineffective 'broken windows'-style arrests.

Larry Smith Jun 29, 2018

Cuomo the Merciless

New York's Democratic governor has granted only a trickle of commutations, fewer than many of his Democratic and Republican predecessors.

Victoria Law Jun 20, 2018

Responses to Violence Must Move Beyond Policing

The solution to problems like unsolved homicides, especially in communities of color, cannot be reinvestment in institutions that wage violence against them.

William C. Anderson Jun 19, 2018

Alice Marie Johnson is free. Now it’s time to free thousands more prisoners with unjustly long sentences.

Kim Kardashian's successful campaign to free a 63-year-old grandmother serving a life sentence in a drug case is a reminder that we need to go big on clemency. A 52-year-old grandfather named Euka Wadlington, also doing life in a drug case, would be a great place to start.

Shaun King Jun 15, 2018