When It Comes to Reporting Deaths of Incarcerated People, Most States Break the Law M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein
The State Convicted Him of Child Abuse. A Medical Expert Said It Was Likely Diaper Rash Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Dissenter Former Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson’s fiery dissents on mass incarceration and sentencing in America’s most carceral state garnered international attention. But the rise of the first Black woman on the court was characterized by one battle after another with the Deep South’s white power structure. Elon Green
Choosing Adam Schiff For California Attorney General Would Be Ignoring What Californians Want The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice. Jody David Armour
Austin’s Unreliable Crime Lab Could Lead to Another Wrongful Execution Dubious DNA evidence—and a potential coverup by the Travis County DA’s office—are at the heart of a judge’s recommendation that Areli Escobar gets a new trial. Jerry Iannelli
Republican Lawmakers Are Using the Capitol Riot to Fuel Anti-BLM Backlash Some lawmakers are citing the violence in Washington as a reason to pass laws that criminalize protesting, but far-right extremists aren’t the target. Meg O'Connor
Why Goodwin Liu Should Be California’s Next Attorney General The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians. Earlonne Woods
What Public Safety Without Police Looks Like From San Francisco to Philadelphia, cities across the country are creating fully unarmed response teams to address emergencies that used to call for cops. Jerry Iannelli, Joshua Vaughn
Hidden Foster Care: All Of The Responsibility, None Of The Resources Outside of the traditional foster care system exists a shadow system of potentially hundreds of thousands of children removed by CPS to their relatives or family friends—without a court case, monetary support, or due process. Roxanna Asgarian
Researchers Estimate Mass Incarceration Contributed To More Than Half A Million Additional Cases Of COVID-19 Over The Summer The report found that spread inside correctional facilities contributed to community spread, particularly in California, Florida and Texas. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Ethan Corey
Terry McAuliffe’s Record on the Death Penalty Is Out of Step With National Trends McAuliffe is running to become Virginia governor a second time. If he wins, he would be the only active Democratic governor to have carried out executions in office. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Shifting Incarceration Costs to Counties Could Mean Fewer People in Prisons and Jails, Study Suggests A new study suggests that if counties—rather than states—bear the cost of incarceration, they may be less likely to incarcerate people. Joshua Vaughn
Facing Life Pennsylvania’s prisons have the second-highest number of people in the country serving life without the possibility of parole. Nine people who were released after being sentenced to die behind bars share their stories. Joshua Vaughn
Biden’s Attorney General Needs to Think Like an Immigrant Rights Activist With aggressive legal maneuvering, the incoming head of the Justice Department can reverse some of Trump’s most lasting harm and take steps toward a more humane immigration system. Chris Gelardi
America Wants Marijuana Reform. Congress Shouldn’t Stand In The Way. Investing in local communities and rolling back the criminalization of marijuana is exactly what the country needs right now. Barbara Lee
Why Los Angeles Activists Don’t Want Their Mayor In Biden’s Cabinet Eric Garcetti, who may be considered for a position in the administration, is out of touch with the city’s working class and poor people, activists say. And they fear he’ll bring that sensibility to national politics. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
We Can’t Restore The Soul Of The Nation With Rahm Emanuel In Public Office It doesn’t matter whether it’s Transportation Secretary or Assistant to the Transportation Secretary, Rahm doesn’t belong in any of D.C.’s halls of power. Jamaal Bowman
The Limitations of Police ‘No Chase’ Policies Two moped riders were left dead or injured after recent police pursuits in Washington, D.C., and Providence, Rhode Island. Ella Fassler
Police Funding Is a Pivotal Issue in Two Austin City Council Runoffs Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping. Meg O'Connor
America’s Biggest City Was Hit Hard By COVID-19. Its Jails Are Filling Up Again New York City’s jail population is close to reaching pre-pandemic levels. Advocates say dishonest fearmongering about bail reform—and the politicians who capitulated to it—have created a very real safety crisis. Joshua Manson
Families Urge Cuomo to Release Loved Ones from Prison During COVID-19 Pandemic In addition to the releases he has already ordered, the New York governor can grant commutations to free more incarcerated people to protect them from the disease. He has issued only three since the pandemic began. Alana Sivin, Joshua Vaughn
Andrew Cuomo Promised Criminal Justice Reforms, But New York Is Still Waiting The governor has rolled back bail reform, not released enough prisoners during the pandemic, and failed to rein in police abuses, advocates and prisoners say. Rebecca McCray
Some Texas Elections Suggest Voters Aren’t Afraid of Defunding Police None of the Austin City Council members who voted to cut police funding lost their elections, but a police union vice president who fearmongered about the defund movement did. Meg O'Connor
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Is Fresh Off His Book Tour, But Activists Say He Doesn’t Live Up to His National Reputation Progressive lawmakers and activists say Cuomo has failed to adequately protect those who are out of work, at risk of losing their homes, or living behind bars, where the virus has spread rapidly. Tara Francis Chan, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Chicago’s Mayor Turns City’s Infrastructure Into Weapons Against Protesters When election and racial justice protests rocked the city, Lori Lightfoot used raised bridges and shutdown public transportation as crowd control measures, which harmed the city’s workers. Maya Dukmasova
Police Unions Are Losing The War on Criminal Justice Reform Law enforcement organizations have long treated mass incarceration as a job creation program. In 2020, the tide began turning against them. Jay Willis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Researchers with the Covid Prison Project talk about how COVID-19 has opened up possibilities for data collection, a new report shows persistent disparities in L.A. County jails, and Colorado’s El Paso County jail sets a grim state record. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons An overview of gubernatorial candidates and their stances on decarceration during the pandemic, a new lawsuit argues that Massachusetts corrections officials are ignoring home-confinement requests, and new infections spike at the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking the release of seriously ill prisoners from a facility that is now dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak; despite nationwide calls to shrink prison populations through sentencing reform, only one Election Day ballot measure seeks to tackle the issue; partying corrections officers are blamed for an outbreak at a North Carolina jail. Kelly Davis
For a Glimpse of the Racial Justice Protests’ Staying Power, Look To Detroit Under the banner of Detroit Will Breathe, the city’s Black Lives Matter activists have formed a cohesive and lasting local political force. Chris Gelardi
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons The ACLU and other groups sue to free people from the deadliest federal prison; a new study finds that coronavirus-driven jail releases hasn’t caused an increase in crime; and half of people in South Dakota prisons have tested positive for COVID-19.
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new watchdog report finds ‘inadequate adherence to basic safety protocols’ during COVID-19 outbreaks in California prisons; advocates call on Gov. Cuomo to release incarcerated people and enhance medical oversight; Abbe Lowell says the First Step Act needs a Second Step Act. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says decarceration is the only way to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control; the CDC changes its testing guidelines after a Vermont prison guard contracts coronavirus; and our ongoing case map shows more than 60 new outbreaks. Kelly Davis
How One Race Could Change Police Accountability in Arizona Incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is backed by police unions and has declined to charge officers in high-profile killings. Challenger Julie Gunnigle says she wants to create an independent unit to review police use-of-force cases. Meg O'Connor
A Trumpist Texas Sheriff is Running for Congress. If He Wins, His Brother Might Take Over the Sheriff’s Office. Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls wants voters to send him to Congress despite his department’s history of jail deaths and allegations of racial-profiling. Jerry Iannelli
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A California appeals court orders San Quentin prison to reduce its population by half, the ACLU’s Death by Incarceration project paints a stark picture of COVID-19’s toll, and a new law grants early release to 3,000 New Jersey prisoners. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons An outbreak at Montana’s Cascade County jail demonstrates the risk COVID-19 poses to rural communities, the virus has infected nearly 2,000 children in juvenile-detention facilities, and one large Michigan prison is grappling with an outbreak that’s infected roughly one-third of its staff. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new report by researchers at Johns Hopkins University warns prisons and jails that ‘changes are urgently needed’ to prevent more COVID-19 outbreaks; Wisconsin continues to struggle with infections inside and outside its prisons; and a new video series shares the tragic story of a wife trying to get help for her husband amid an outbreak at Chicago’s Cook County Jail. Kelly Davis
NYPD Unit At Center Of Protest Policing Has Dozens Of Officers With Long Misconduct Histories Civil liberties experts say the Strategic Response Group’s recent crackdown on ICE protests is the most brutal suppression of protests in decades—and many of its officers are the subject of significant misconduct allegations, including a supervisor with 32 complaints. Ali Winston
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons How a collaboration between scholars, public health officials, and the Wayne County jail has kept COVID-19 in check; the California prison with the most coronavirus cases kept prisoners working despite the outbreaks; two counties report spikes in infections among juvenile detainees. Kelly Davis
For Years, I Didn’t Have An Outlet For Self-Growth In Prison. Now That I Do, I Can Address The Harm I’ve Caused. Truitt Watts, who is serving a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole at Oregon State Correctional Institution, describes the programs that helped him recover from addiction and address his past. Truitt Watts
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A ’freedom fighter’ reports from the San Quentin prisons on Twitter, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a ruling made to protect elderly prisoners, and a class-action lawsuit seeks $400 million from the state of Delaware for ignoring basic COVID-19 precautions. Kelly Davis
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
Florida’s Most Powerful Pro-Police Lobbying Group Is An Anti-Reform Force The Florida Sheriffs Association gains a third of its multimillion-dollar budget by selling big-ticket items like trucks and mobile command centers to local sheriff’s departments and other government agencies. Jerry Iannelli
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons COVID-19 has exposed a huge gap in knowledge over the rights of hospitalized prisoners, Wisconsin sees a spike in new cases in correctional facilities, and vitamin D might help save the lives of incarcerated people. Kelly Davis
Portland Civil Rights Activists Want A Mayor Who Can Stand Up To Police Mayor Ted Wheeler’s popularity has declined after a summer of protests against police violence in the Oregon city. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
We Can’t Be Free Until We Fully Abolish Slavery Through a loophole in the 13th Amendment, governments and corporations profit from cheap, incarcerated labor. Michele Bratcher Goodwin
Federal Judges Were Once All Reliably Bad On Prisoners’ Rights Issues. COVID-19 Changed That. President Trump has appointed a quarter of active federal appellate judges, and they have decisively hampered legal efforts to force prisons and jails to address the coronavirus. Samuel Weiss
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons After being COVID-free for months, Massachusetts facilities see new outbreaks; a New York lawmaker wants to make it easier for people to serve prison and jail sentences at home; and deaths continue to plague a Virginia prison. Kelly Davis
Prison Labor Is on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic States like California, New York, and Arizona have relied on prisoners to continue working, with little pay and in precarious conditions, during the coronavirus pandemic. Eliyahu Kamisher
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Despite new outbreaks in Oregon prisons, Gov. Kate Brown remains hesitant to release people, federal prison inspector releases an online COVID-19 dashboard to boost transparency, and our ongoing case map suggests widespread trouble for Georgia prisoners. Kelly Davis
Policing Studies Measure Benefits To Crime Reduction—But Not Social Costs Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary. John Pfaff
Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Law Enforcement Commission The ruling said the commission wasn’t diverse enough and gave little voice to communities affected by policing. Joshua Vaughn
Joe Biden Should Use Federal Dollars to Fund Alternatives to Police If he becomes president and Democrats win the Senate, Biden should push a federal spending bill that includes money for civilian first-responder programs. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort
With Little Evidence, Pennsylvania State Police Seized $600,000 From Drivers An investigation by The Appeal and Spotlight PA found that troopers in three counties have taken big money from drivers, many of whom were never charged. Joseph Darius Jaafari, Joshua Vaughn
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A ruling by a Texas judge slams officials for deliberate indifference toward vulnerable prisoners; in San Diego, an ill-advised hospital visit led to a massive COVID-19 outbreak; and a new report finds an alarming increase of Latinx and Native American youth in juvenile-detention facilities. Kelly Davis
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis
Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new report documents pandemic-driven efforts to release people from Chicago’s Cook County jail, how Virginia’s 900-page COVID-19 response plan has failed elderly and ill prisoners and federal prosecutors argue that a life sentence equals a death sentence. Kelly Davis
Chicago Lawmakers Push To Build Team Of Emergency Responders Who Aren’t Police The proposed legislation would expand the city’s public mental healthcare system using funds reallocated from the police budget. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons New Jersey is close to enacting a law that would release up to 3,000 people from prison, advocates urge New York legislators to consider early parole for elderly prisoners, and California prisons see a new spike in coronavirus cases. Kelly Davis
In a Small Illinois City, A Black Man Died After Officers Shoved A Baton In His Mouth. Black Officers Say They’ve Suffered At The Hands Of The Department, Too. Lawsuits from Joliet Police Department officers are among at least 12 current federal complaints against the agency. The men say their civil rights lawsuits are part of a decades-long history of discrimination. Jerry Iannelli
Florida Governor’s Bid To Felonize Protesting Is An Attack On Democracy, Justice Advocate Says Legislation proposed this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis also seeks to withhold state funding from counties that move to decrease police budgets. Lauren Gill, Jerry Iannelli
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Experts discuss ongoing issues with COVID-19 in prisons and jails, Oklahoma prison officials agree to mandatory testing of all staff, and an incarcerated journalist pens a heart-wrenching account of his experience with coronavirus. Kelly Davis
Her Lawyers Say She Was Coerced To Plead Guilty To A Crime That Never Happened Accused of shaking a baby to death and facing the death penalty, Amy Wilkerson says she is innocent, but pleaded guilty to spare her life. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Documents obtained by the ACLU suggest that restarting executions caused a COVID-19 outbreak at a federal prison; Florida’s Brevard County jail says it quashed an outbreak, but a lack of testing raises questions; and San Quentin’s newspaper is publishing again. Kelly Davis
How Protests Over Police Violence Are Changing A City Where Officers Kill With Near-Impunity As protests against racism and police violence were sweeping the country, a Vallejo, California detective shot and killed Sean Monterrosa. His death has galvanized a community. John Glidden
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Despite more than 16,000 COVID-19 infections in Florida’s prisons, the head of the system says his department has protected people from the virus; Science Magazine explores research being conducted on decarceration best practices; and a recent outbreak puts South Dakota on our new infections map. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Women at California’s Folsom prison report that men with COVID-19 have been moved into their building, an ACLU attorney says federal judges don’t understand the realities of incarceration, and Iowa’s prisons are emptier than they’ve been in 20 years—but are still over capacity. Kelly Davis
After Atlanta Teen Is Injured in a Police Encounter, Lawyers Call for Change The 17-year-old, who his lawyers say was pushed off a fence by a police officer, survived the fall but suffered serious injuries. Joshua Vaughn
How Legislation Meant to Overhaul Probation And Parole In Pennsylvania Strayed From Its Roots Through a series of maneuvers, state legislators narrowed the ambitious scope of Senate Bill 14. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Arizona Man Faces 8 Years in Prison For Not Returning Rental Car on Time Brian Stepter, a 61-year-old with chronic respiratory problems, has struggled with substance use for decades. Police and prosecutors sought the harshest sentence possible after he failed to return the car. Meg O'Connor
The Pervasive Violence of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Several recent killings have put the spotlight on the largest sheriff’s department in the U.S., but many of the LASD’s abuses go unseen, advocates say. Piper French
A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons After testing positive for COVID-19, Tommy Zeigler, whose case inspired legislation and multiple investigative reports, is missing in a Florida prison; advocates for women inside Oklahoma’s Eddie Warrior Correctional Center want to hear from Gov. Kevin Stitt; and men quarantined in a previously shuttered prison say they’re being forced to pee in cups. Kelly Davis
Far From Being Beyond Saving, Prison Youth Deserve Every Opportunity For Meaningful Rehabilitation We should demand that prison officials and our elected representatives honor their constitutional obligation to promote and support youth healing, growth, and change. Mark Wilson
It’s Time To Form A Community-Led Citizen Review Board For The Cedar Rapids Police Now is the time to act. If we have learned anything since George Floyd’s death, it is that we cannot keep waiting for change. Stacey Walker, Maria Hawilo
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A court ruling allows the Cook County Jail to return to double-occupancy and dorm-style housing, a state oversight agency makes an example of New York’s Fishkill prison, and we update our ongoing map of new COVID-19 cases. Kelly Davis
Months After Supreme Court Ruling, Thousands of DACA Applicants and Recipients Remain In Limbo "To be in the same place where I was three years ago is very frustrating," said one teen who, like others, has seen her DACA application rejected despite a ruling in June against the Trump administration’s cancellation of the program. Liz Robbins
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Doctors at California’s San Quentin State Prison hope other correctional institutions will learn from their experience, COVID-19 causes one Colorado county to cancel its plans to build a bigger jail, and guards at Oregon’s Snake River Correctional Institution are blamed for an ongoing outbreak. Kelly Davis
Criminal Justice Reform Should Decriminalize Addiction, Advocates Say Efforts to address the harms of police violence and incarceration must consider the drug war, activists and treatment professionals note, including the punitive models of treatment. Elizabeth Brico
Thousands of Children On Probation Are Incarcerated Each Year for Nonviolent, Noncriminal Behaviors Experts say Black and Native children are disproportionately jailed either for status offenses or for technical violations of probation or parole—and that incarcerating them has far-reaching negative consequences. Dawn R. Wolfe
Texas Family Wants Justice For Deadly No-Knock Drug Raid In February 2019, police officers in Killeen shot James Scott Reed in his home. One officer entered a guilty plea to evidence tampering, but Reed’s family is still suing the city and several officers in federal court. Jerry Iannelli
Pennsylvania Inspector General Reviewing State Police Traffic Stop Tactics The review follows an investigation by The Appeal and Spotlight PA, which found that troopers were using minor traffic stops to illegally detain and search motorists along highways. Joshua Vaughn
Lori Lightfoot’s Actions Don’t Match Her Rhetoric About Police Like her Democratic mayoral counterparts in Portland, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York, Lightfoot has condemned police violence outside her borders, while using law enforcement to suppress demonstrations in her own city. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
New York Lawmakers Fear Court May Render Domestic Violence Survivor Law ‘Meaningless’ Nikki Addimando, convicted of second-degree murder for the death of her boyfriend, whom she said abused her, petitioned to have her sentence reduced under the 2019 law. But a judge ruled against her. If that ruling is affirmed, state legislators say, it will be ‘insurmountably difficult’ for survivors to ever benefit from the law. Victoria Law
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons As states move toward reopening, jails and prisons continue to report large COVID-19 outbreaks; researchers call for greater transparency in reporting infection rates; and prisoners at a New York federal jail say screening is limited to, ‘Are you OK?’ Kelly Davis
His Brother Called For Help After He Was Acting Strangely. Police Knelt On Him Until He Was Brain Dead. Body camera video shows that Daniel Prude was complying with police when they knelt on his back and pushed his face to the ground for so long that he stopped breathing. Meg O'Connor
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons California’s corrections secretary is retiring amid criticism over his handling of COVID-19 outbreaks, a Baltimore public defender describes his struggle to get an elderly client out of prison, and advocates for incarcerated people in Colorado want Gov. Jared Polis to consider more prisoner releases. Kelly Davis
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
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Oregon Gov. Kate Brown considers releasing more people from prison, how California’s Fresno County quietly became a major COVID-19 cluster, and new updates to our coronavirus outbreak map. Kelly Davis
Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new lawsuit uses the lesson of one prison to demand the release of people from New Mexico lock-ups, a new bill would require more transparency in reporting COVID-19 cases in prisons and jails, and deaths of incarcerated people hit a grim milestone. Kelly Davis
NYPD Expands Use Of Controversial Subpoenas To Criminal Cases Administrative subpoenas—which do not require a judge’s approval—are typically used for the department’s internal investigations, but The Appeal has learned that they are being used in criminal cases. Ali Winston
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons What makes Ohio prisons so deadly, the CDC urges corrections officials to conduct mass testing, and the Washington Post editorial board finds a surge in jail and prison COVID-19 outbreaks ’morbidly unsurprising’. Kelly Davis
Want Prosecutorial Reform? Start With Curtailing The Influence Of Police Unions. Removing police union influence from the prosecutor’s office is a critical first step towards building a system that is safe, just, and fair for all. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Buta Biberaj
A Life Sentence Couldn’t Defeat Their Love. Now They’re Working To Change The System That Kept Them Apart. Taewon Wilson and Candace Chavez-Wilson are part of a growing movement to end life without possibility of parole and other harsh sentences. Mara Kardas-Nelson
Loved Ones And Prisoners Sound Alarm As Coronavirus Cases Surge At Florida’s Largest Women’s Prison As of Thursday, 993 incarcerated women and 62 staffers at Lowell Correctional Institution have tested positive for the virus. Two women have died. Alexandra DeLuca
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
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Gov. Ron DeSantis ignores calls to release elderly people from Florida prisons, quarantines are no longer hampering California prison fire crews, and an update to our ongoing COVID-19 outbreak map. Kelly Davis
Social Workers Are Rejecting Calls For Them to Replace Police Some say their roles are already too close to those of law enforcement and are organizing for a radical rethinking of the profession. Mia Sato
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Amid ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in state prisons, Oregon lawmakers grapple with decarceration plans; the Sacramento County Sheriff won’t share infection data with the oversight board; and Oklahoma corrections officials use CARES Act money to ’boost morale’. Kelly Davis
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
Officers Involved In Notorious Wrongful Conviction Aren’t On Prosecutor’s Do-Not-Call List A state investigation found that Detroit police officers fabricated evidence that helped convict a 14-year-old boy. A judge threw out his conviction after he spent nine years in prison, but the officers are still on the job and haven’t been flagged as unreliable to testify in court. Kira Lerner
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons California prison watchdog finds lapses in COVID-19 screening procedures, the ‘trailer jails’ that officials in one Missouri county praised as ‘innovative’ are the site of an outbreak, and the U.S. Marshals Service is blamed for spreading infections among federal detention facilities. Kelly Davis
Nearly 200 Pardons Languish on Pennsylvania Governor’s Desk The state Board of Pardons recommended last year that hundreds of people’s criminal records be cleared. Months later, more than half are still waiting for Tom Wolf’s signature. Joshua Vaughn
Life Sentence For Missouri Woman Convicted Of Assaulting Police Officer Is ‘Extremely Distressing,’ Justice Advocate Says Nicole Poston was sentenced in July for punching a police officer after she slipped free from a handcuff. Life sentences, even for nonhomicide offenses like Poston’s, are ‘a major factor’ in mass incarceration in the U.S., a criminal justice expert said. Lauren Gill
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Newspaper fearmongers around releasing people from prison due to COVID-19, oversight agency urges state DOC to ease restrictions on people in prison who have faced months of lockdown due to pandemic, sheriff orders staff not to wear masks. Kelly Davis
Operation Legend Is Another Attempt to ‘Federalize’ Policing. Organizers Are Pushing Back. President Trump and the DOJ are funding federal policing programs in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Baltimore, but advocates say they’re unnecessary, harmful, and ineffective. Marcia Brown
Austin Cuts Its Police Budget by About A Third The City Council passed a budget that cut nearly $150 million from the Austin Police Department. Millions will be reinvested in services like violence prevention and supportive housing. Meg O'Connor
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons New outbreaks continue to hit California prisons, advocates have harsh words for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and a longtime journalist weighs in on a sheriff’s decision to take a battle with the ACLU to the Supreme Court. Kelly Davis
After Recent Unrest, Chicago Leaders Are Pointing Fingers In All The Wrong Places In difficult moments like this, we can’t let bad faith attacks set our community back. What our families need are resources and investment, not more police on the streets. Robert Peters
Orlando Sheriff, Who Is Running for Re-Election, Shot a Teen to Death in 1999 The boy’s mother says Orange County Sheriff John Mina has still never spoken to her after more than 20 years. And in the wake of the George Floyd uprisings, local activists are asking why Mina deserves to keep his job. Jerry Iannelli
Austin May Cut Police Budget by Nearly $150 Million The City Council will pass a budget this week that could cut nearly $150 million in funding from the Austin Police Department. The proposal appears to have majority support. Meg O'Connor
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
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new research project aims to better understand how COVID-19 spreads through jails, the virus continues to sweep through California’s death row, and federal prison employees are suing for hazard pay. Kelly Davis
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
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Attorneys file a class-action lawsuit over the outbreak at a California forensic psychiatric hospital, cases increase among Vermont prisoners sent to Mississippi, plus a map of new cases. Kelly Davis
Prisoners Inside Georgia’s Clayton County Jail Describe Desperate Efforts To Avoid COVID-19 They shared their stories as part of a lawsuit seeking urgent changes to protect prisoners. One prisoner wrote that a jail officer denied his request for a mask, so he tied old underwear around his face. Lauren Gill
As Decriminalization Drives Reforms For Marijuana Convictions, Activists See Others Serving Time Left Behind Despite the growing consciousness around the need for reforms, thousands of prisoners who might also deserve clemency or early release are slipping through the cracks. Tana Ganeva
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Amid sustained lockdowns and deteriorating conditions, prisoners and guards are reaching a breaking point; a new study shows decarceration is slowing amid increasing outbreaks in detention facilities; and HuffPost interviews a Rikers Island whistleblower. Kelly Davis
My Friend Died In San Quentin Due To COVID-19. His Death Was Entirely Preventable. Incompetence and inaction by California’s leaders are driving illness and death inside the state’s prison system. Adnan Khan
Prisons Are the Public Health Crisis Connecticut Won’t Acknowledge According to people incarcerated and their loved ones, state officials are ignoring the spread of COVID-19 at New Haven Correctional Center. Connecticut Bail Fund Hotline Volunteers
The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Dozens of Vermont prisoners sent to an out-of-state private prison test positive for COVID-19, new study shows the prison infection rate is more than four times the general public’s, and Jay-Z’s Team Roc sues a Mississippi prison over “sub-human and deplorable” conditions. Kelly Davis
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
Police Violence Was a Problem In Portland Long Before Federal Agents Arrived Local law enforcement tear-gassed and beat protesters and journalists. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons California watchdog agency that repeatedly warned of "dire consequences" of prison overcrowding urges lawmakers to implement reforms; human rights org tweets "keep-you-up-at-night horrifying" stories from Georgia jail; and we map out four days of coronavirus outbreaks. Kelly Davis
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
After Woman’s Arrest in Unmarked Van, New York City Activists Fear Targeting by NYPD Protesters believe law enforcement is looking for retribution after police arrested a woman Tuesday night and placed her in an unmarked van, a callback to recent events in Portland, Oregon. Chris Gelardi
Seattle Mayor Known As ‘Tear Gas Jenny’ For Police Treatment Of Protesters Has Troubled History As A Federal Prosecutor As U.S. attorney in Seattle, Durkan prosecuted a severely mentally ill man in a terrorism case using an informant convicted of child sex abuse—and claimed to have reformed the same Seattle Police Department that has tear-gassed peaceful protesters for weeks. Jerry Iannelli
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
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons COVID-19 tears through a Texas prison for medically fragile women; California prisons are flattening the curve on new diagnoses, but deaths continue to climb; and the ACLU finds jails releases haven’t led to an increase in crime. Kelly Davis
Starve The Mass Incarceration Beast By Shutting The Front Door To decarcerate New Orleans, we must defund the police department. Sade Dumas, David Brazil
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
Impunity for Law Enforcement Must End. That Includes Officers in Jails and Prisons. Qualified immunity is just one obstacle of many that incarcerated people face when seeking to hold correctional officers accountable for misconduct. Joshua Manson
Minors Sentenced To Life Without Parole Deserve More Than Scare Tactics When Transitioning To Adult Prisons If the justice system’s goal is to produce healthy, safe, and productive members of society, then it must begin with support from corrections staff and healthy relationships with peers. Anthony Richardson
New York City’s Public Housing Rules Could Force Many Released Prisoners Into Homelessness As thousands of people are freed from local jails, a group of nonprofits and activist organizations says the city's housing authority must revamp its policies that banish the formerly incarcerated. Jerry Iannelli
San Francisco Voters Will Decide On Abolishing Mandatory Staffing Levels For Police Under current law, established during the "tough on crime" era, San Francisco mandated at least 1,971 full-time police officers. Voters will now have the opportunity to reconsider that mandate. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
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
It’s Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department From crackdowns on Black students decades ago to more recent arrests during protests against neo-Confederates, the department has served as a tool for enforcing white supremacy. Cam Calisch
10 Ways To Reduce Our Reliance On Policing And Make Our Communities Safer For Everyone Police should no longer occupy all of our vital support systems in our communities. Alex S. Vitale
In This Moment Of Reckoning Around Police Violence, Don’t Forget The Unseen Abuses Of People Who Are Incarcerated Excessive force against people being arrested, falsification of evidence against suspects, and brutality by guards against prisoners — these are all just different forms of the same problem. Vernon Horn
Advocates Hope New Momentum Around Racial Justice Will Accelerate New York’s Plans To Limit Solitary Confinement A year after state officials said they would take steps to overhaul solitary confinement rules, prisoners remain isolated in conditions that one says is akin to being ‘buried alive.’ Victoria Law
A 13-Year-Old Shot and Killed His Brother. Pennsylvania Police Charged Him as an Adult. State law requires all murder charges be automatically filed in adult court, regardless of age. Joshua Vaughn
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Prisons that have lagged on releasing people have also seen significant COVID-19 outbreaks, one Indiana sheriff is spending his CARES Act money on high-tech virus prevention tools and California’s corrections chief says he’ll crack down on staff who refuse to wear masks. Kelly Davis
The Case For Racism Response Funds – A Collective Response To Racist Acts Through this mechanism, communities can accept accountability for the racism they allow to flourish by failing to disrupt it. Monica C. Bell
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons There are nearly 1,000 new cases at Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, the Cook County Jail gets praise for its COVID-19 response, and California’s jail oversight board announces plans to collect and publish county-level data. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Today’s update focuses on major outbreaks in two state prisons in tiny Buckingham County, Virginia that in June gave it one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S. Whet Moser
Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Geriatic prison with the most deaths in Texas has a years-long history of neglect, Kentucky corrections officials won’t say how many people they’ve tested for COVID-19, and an outbreak at a remote Oregon prison grows from 20 to 120 cases in less than a week, all as Gov. Kate Brown has refused calls to decarcerate the state’s prison system. Kelly Davis
How Prison Abolitionists Are Meeting The Moment The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests over police brutality are strengthening the case against mass incarceration, advocates argue. Emily Nonko
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Critics say California’s release plan is an inadequate response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the state’s prison system, 42 percent of Louisiana prisoners tested for COVID-19 are positive, and conditions at Texas and Indiana prisons get the attention of lawmakers. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new report finds that too many kids, particularly Black youth, continue to be held in dangerous juvenile detention facilities; California prison officials refused offers of free testing before and during San Quentin outbreak; and Gov. Gavin Newsom announces plans to release 8,000 incarcerated people. Kelly Davis
Will Maryland Lawmakers Come Back to Work? In a moment of crisis, the state Senate and House are slated to be in recess until January. Jay Willis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new multimedia campaign seeks to amplify voices of people incarcerated in Maryland’s Prince George’s County Jail, a GEO Group stockholder sues the for-profit prison company over its ’woefully ineffective’ COVID-19 response, and widespread testing is turning up thousands of new infections. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Pressure mounts on California’s governor to release people from prison; people with months, even days, left on their sentence are dying in Texas prisons; and a new report finds higher rates of COVID-19 in prison than in the U.S. population. Kelly Davis
Prisoners Face ‘Undue Punishment’ As The IRS Claws Back Their Stimulus Checks Legal experts say the IRS is illegally denying CARES Act payments to incarcerated people. Jordan Michael Smith
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons Florida media outlets had to sue to obtain information on COVID prison deaths; after preventable outbreaks, California replaces its prison medical director; and the Texas prison where Andrea Circle Bear died grapples with a new outbreak. Kelly Davis
People In Crisis Need Social Workers, Not Cops Social Workers address crises regularly and without an armed police officer standing in front of us. Often, the presence of an armed officer escalates a crisis that could have been better handled by mental health professionals alone. Vivianne Guevara, Nakia Winfield
Police at Polling Places Could Intimidate Voters This November, Advocates Warn This year’s presidential contest will be the first since a federal judge lifted a decades-old consent decree barring the Republican National Committee from engaging in “ballot security,” or voter intimidation at the polls. Kira Lerner
LAPD Officer Who Killed Man in Mental Health Crisis Is a Gun-Toting Social Media Star In late April, officer Toni McBride shot Daniel Hernandez to death after a suicide call. His attorney and grieving family say videos posted on social media of McBride gleefully firing high-powered weapons show that she’s a trigger-happy officer. Jerry Iannelli
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
Amid Calls to Reform Police, New York Activists and Lawmakers Demand An Elected Civilian Complaint Review Board A representative board is needed to check the power of the NYPD and appropriately discipline officers for misconduct, they argue. Amir Khafagy
New York City Laundry Workers Struggle in the Face of COVID-19 Workers report facing a difficult choice between earning a living and feeling safe and healthy at their job. Amir Khafagy
Philadelphia Police Make Hundreds of Looting Arrests, Leave Many More Violent Crime Cases Unsolved The city’s clearance rate for murder, whose victims are disproportionately Black, has hovered around 40 percent for the last several years. Joshua Vaughn
‘No Cop Money’ Pledge Should Extend To Consultants And Law Enforcement Super PACs Law enforcement super PACs are spending big money on district attorney races and local elections from California to New York—and respected Democratic consulting firms are helping them. Adam Eichen, Andrew Perez
Defund The Police. Our Lives Depend On It. Safe and healthy communities start with less police and more investment in community services that work. A’Brianna Morgan
How the Federal Government Lost Track of Deaths in Custody The Department of Justice is leaving researchers, policymakers, and advocates in the dark about deaths in police custody, prisons, and jails. Ethan Corey
Activists Say Chicago Mayor’s Police Reform Promises Ring Hollow Mayor Lori Lightfoot has hampered the process of installing a police oversight council, activists say, despite making it a major part of her public safety platform during her mayoral run. Maya Dukmasova
The Supreme Court’s War on Miranda Rights in America For decades, the Court has been carving out generous exceptions and crafting new rules that limit the Miranda warning’s real-world impact. Jay Willis
Protesters Say Hamilton County Sheriff Held Them Overnight Without Food, Water, Bathrooms Two people, arrested and detained in Cincinnati after protesting the police killing of George Floyd, recall being held at the jail, outside, for hours. Caleb Brennan
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
Supreme Court Blocks Trump Administration From Ending DACA, Handing A Win To ‘Dreamers’ The ruling thwarts the administration’s attempt to deport nearly 700,000 immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Liz Robbins
Family of Man Who Died at California Jail After Shouting ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Demands Answers From Sheriff In October 2018, Marshall Miles died at the Sacramento County jail after struggling with deputies. His lawyers say a deposition scheduled for next month will force the sheriff to answer for the in-custody death. Jerry Iannelli
Portland City Council Votes to Cut $15 Million From Police Budget The cuts will defund a controversial gang policing unit and end the city’s policing partnership with TriMet, the regional transit agency. Jay Willis
Family of Black Mississippi Man Killed By Police Receives Narrow Explanation For Dropped Manslaughter Case A lawyer with the state attorney general’s office omitted key evidence in a meeting with the family of Ricky Ball, who Canyon Boykin shot and killed in 2015. Ko Bragg, Justin Brooks
American Democracy Cannot Breathe Yes, we must radically transform policing in America. But we cannot stop there. We must transform the pervasive systems of economic and carceral injustice that are choking our common life. William J. Barber II, Saru Jayaraman
How the Phoenix Police Department Spends Its $745 Million Budget The city wants to give the force an additional $24 million. But the department is still failing to solve crimes, and officers have shot 212 people between 2011 and 2018, killing about half. Meg O'Connor
U.N. to Hold Debate On U.S. Police Violence After families of people killed by police asked the organization to investigate racist American policing, 54 African nations called for a debate on the treatment of Black Americans. The debate will happen today. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Massachusetts Court Won’t Block Access To Reports On Who Boston Police May Have Targeted on Social Media District Attorney Rachael Rollins sought to block the disclosure of records that could show Boston police used Snapchat to target people who are Black or Latinx. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Cops, Climate, COVID: Why There Is Only One Crisis Although the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis are both provoked by natural phenomena, the dangers they present are just as political as the crisis of police violence. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
The NYPD ‘Cancelled’ Police Court Appearances, Leaving People to Sit in Jail Memos obtained by The Appeal and anecdotes from public defenders reveal how, for a week during protests over police brutality, the NYPD stalled cases by directing officers not to testify in court. Chris Gelardi
Suit Seeks $10 Million For ‘Senseless, Avoidable Death’ Of Tennessee Man In Custody Sterling Higgins called 911 in March 2019 seeking help during a mental health crisis. Police took him to Obion County Jail, where he died after officers pinned him to a floor. Tana Ganeva
For Essential Workers, New York City’s Curfew Meant Fear, Harassment, and Arrest Essential workers say curfews put them at risk of police violence, even though they were exempt. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Houston Police Chief’s Speeches Supporting Protesters Were Widely Circulated—But Video Proves His Officers Cracked Down on Them Videos contradict officers’ claims that they didn’t ‘kettle’ protesters. Jerry Iannelli
The Camden Police Department Is Not A Model For Policing In The Post-George Floyd Era The New Jersey department received slavish media praise after it was disbanded and reoriented toward community policing. But behind the reformist mask was an embrace of surveillance and broken windows policing. Brendan McQuade
Louisville Metro Council Bans No-Knock Raids Following The Police Killing of Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor was killed nearly three months ago during a no-knock raid. All 26 members of the Metro Council have signed on as co-sponsors to “Breonna’s Law,” which would ban them. Jay Willis
Atlanta’s Mayor Wants $13 Million More For Police. Four Officers Were Just Fired For Using Excessive Force. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for the budget increase amid ongoing local and national reports of police violence against protesters. Ko Bragg
George Floyd’s Death Puts Spotlight On Controversial Syndrome Called ‘Excited Delirium’ Coroners and police departments have cited the condition in cases across the country, often clearing officers of wrongdoing when people die in their custody. In Floyd’s case, experts say, the diagnosis is irrelevant to his death. Tana Ganeva
As The Trump Administration Restricts Legal Immigration, It’s Expanding A Class Of Vulnerable Guest Workers Farmworker and labor advocates say these workers are among the most exploited in the country. Madeline Leung Coleman
The Toll That Curfews Have Taken On Homeless Americans The country’s homeless population was already struggling to access services during the pandemic. Kira Lerner
West Virginia Cities Use Evictions To Combat The Opioid Epidemic The ‘drug house’ ordinances that force landlords to kick out tenants are mostly compounding the overdose crisis, critics say. Leora Smith
Police Killings Bring Out Tensions Within The Labor Movement Some unions and labor activists are calling for the AFL-CIO to expel police unions. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Pennsylvania House Democrats Refocus on Police Reform, But Face an Uphill Fight Democrats have introduced and reintroduced bills that have languished in the Judiciary Committee, which must approve them before they reach the full House. Joshua Vaughn
Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent To Disband The Police Department, Invest In Proven Community-Led Public Safety The move follows the police killing of George Floyd and more than a week of uprisings, where hundreds of thousands of people around the world have protested against police violence, and abusive police responses to the protests. Jay Willis
On The Day Of George Floyd’s Death, An Arizona State Trooper Killed A Man In Phoenix Dion Johnson’s family wants answers about the last moments of his life. Meg O'Connor
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
L.A. Mayor’s Reaction to Protests Proves He’s Unfit to Govern This weekend’s string of errors is just the latest in his career of cruelty. Jonny Coleman
New York Protests Could Finally Push Through Increased Police Transparency Lawmakers are targeting a statute that has been used as a cudgel to bat away almost any inquiries into police misconduct. Chris Gelardi
Too Little Has Changed About American Policing In the Last Few Decades. It’s Time For Something Different. The killing of George Floyd demonstrates that incremental police reforms are insufficient in the absence of a comprehensive plan to transform law enforcement and its stated purpose. David A. Love
For Trump, There Is No Policing Without Violence A president who openly endorses police brutality struggles with a nation rejecting it. Jay Willis
No More ‘COPS’ Under the HEROES Act, the Community Oriented Policing Services program would receive $300 million to fund the hiring of more police. Democratic and Republican leaders alike remain committed to the ideology of increased funding, even under the guise of reform. Ross Barkan
New York Legislators Pledge to Reject Campaign Donations From Law Enforcement State Assembly members, senators, and city council members have said they will decline and donate funds from police and corrections officers as New Yorkers fill the streets to protest recent violence by law enforcement. Bryce Covert
Don’t Let Cops Join Our Protests Cops who turn marches against police violence into parades don’t actually want substantial changes to policing. Derecka Purnell
Mississippi Attorney General Won’t Pursue Case Against White Officer for Killing Black Man Canyon Boykin was charged with manslaughter for shooting and killing Ricky Ball during a traffic stop in 2015. Ko Bragg
Defund the Police Now More training, more equipment, and more officers will not stop police from killing Black people. Justin Brooks
Honolulu Police Keep Putting Homeless People in Jail The city is flouting CDC guidance by continuing to dismantle homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it does not have nearly enough shelter space. Meg O'Connor
New Documentary Reveals Silicon Valley’s Role in Notorious Bronx Gang Raid On the pretext of conducting ‘transnational gang operations,’ ICE raids have swept up thousands of U.S. citizens. Simon Davis-Cohen
Many Undocumented Immigrants are Frontline Workers, But Their Families Can’t Get Government Aid Advocates say states aren’t doing enough to close the gaps in the federal stimulus bill. Rebecca Chowdhury
Despite Coronavirus Warnings, Miami Area Police Are Still Arresting Hundreds of Homeless People As of April 30, one in three unsheltered people have been arrested in Miami-Dade County since a local state of emergency was declared in March. Jerry Iannelli
‘We Are Scared’: Stuck Inside ICE Detention’s Coronavirus Epicenter People incarcerated in the Otay Mesa Detention Center decry crowded units and substandard medical care as COVID-19 tears through the facility. Chris Gelardi
The Carceral Kings of New York As COVID-19 spreads, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio are slashing budgets, but leaving funding for police and prisons largely untouched. Ross Barkan
The Supreme Court Buys Into Donald Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Fearmongering Using language evoking pernicious stereotypes about immigration and crime, the Court’s conservative majority clears the way for the Trump administration to deport legal permanent residents for crimes committed long ago. Jay Willis
‘She Had Sweat Dripping Down From Her Hairline and Down Her Face’ A woman detained by ICE was sick with COVID-19 for days before being removed from a 50-person jail dorm in York County, Pennsylvania, according to women housed with her. Joshua Vaughn
DACA Workers Are Saving COVID-19 Patients’ Lives While Worrying About Their Own The Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of 650,000 so-called Dreamers across the country. Lawyers say terminating protections for them during a pandemic would be 'catastrophic.' Liz Robbins
Congress Does Not ‘Care’ About My American Family Intentionally disqualifying millions of American citizens from much-needed stimulus funds during this unprecedented health crisis is both unnecessary and cruel. Jane Lilly López
Freddie Gray, Five Years Later On the anniversary of the Baltimore Uprising protests, new evidence in Gray’s death uncovers suppressed witness accounts of police brutality. Justine Barron
New York City Must Take Action to Ensure the Most Vulnerable Survive the Pandemic The city has created the structural conditions that have engendered disproportionately high rates of infection and death among its Black and Latinx residents. TS Candii, Darializa Avila Chevalier
Law Enforcement Leaders Agree: Money Bail Has To End, Especially In A Pandemic The current coronavirus crisis underscores our urgent need to look hard at our pretrial justice system. Eliminating money bail is a necessary first step. Ronal Serpas, Taryn Merkl
Federal Judge Blocks Michigan From Enforcing State’s Sex Offender Registry ‘Until COVID-19 Crisis Has Ended’ Michigan was one of several states requiring registrants to report to local police stations in person despite the risk to public health from coronavirus. Dawn R. Wolfe
Government Enforcement of Quarantine Raises Concerns About Increased Surveillance Louisville, Kentucky judges are ordering people with COVID-19 who have allegedly defied quarantine to wear GPS ankle monitors, raising ethical questions about the government's role in a pandemic. Kira Lerner
Policing Coronavirus As infections and deaths mount, state leaders and law enforcement are turning to tough-on-crime tactics in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jessica Pishko
Despite Coronavirus Fears, ICE Fights to Keep a Sick Michigan Man It Can’t Deport Locked Up ICE has adopted no policies aimed at releasing any of the 38,000 people it keeps in county jails and private detention centers across the country. Chris Gelardi
A Public Health Doctor And Head Of Corrections Agree: We Must Immediately Release People From Jails And Prisons Decisive action by governors and the President now can save lives -- of incarcerated people, correctional and medical personnel, and nearby community members. Business as usual will not. Brie Williams, Leann Bertsch
Curbing COVID-19 Means A Moratorium On Unnecessary Arrests In Boston, it’s worse than business as usual at the police department as the pandemic spreads. On a recent day, officers arrested people for charges the district attorney has publicly declined to prosecute. Will Isenberg
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
What Sheriffs Can Do To Slow the Coronavirus Outbreak Sheriffs wield enormous power, and they can direct it in ways that will help contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect incarcerated people. Jessica Pishko
Washington, D.C. Continues Low-level Arrests Amid Pandemic The Metropolitan Police Department has discussed reducing arrests, but it has not formally announced any policy changes. Jon Campbell
Undercover Providence Police Faked Withdrawal Symptoms and Solicited Suboxone Rhode Island prosecutors charged nine people with felony distribution of the addiction treatment drug. Reform prosecutors in other states are declining such charges and instead encouraging access to the drug. Julia Rock, Harry August
Sheriff’s Office Profiles New Jersey Student After School Shooting Thousands of Miles Away, Lawsuit Says The student, whose last name is Mohammed, was subject to improper searches based on little evidence, his attorney argues. Roxanna Asgarian
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
In Los Angeles, Police-Backed Street Cleanings are Upending the Lives of Homeless People The city is ramping up a cleanup program that activists fear will worsen the criminalization of homelessness. Eliyahu Kamisher
A California County’s Sheriff’s Deputies Are Accused Of Mishandling Evidence On a Staggering Scale Deputies in Orange County wrote false reports about their collection and booking of evidence, according to internal audits kept secret for months. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
New York City Agency Has Underreported Lab Errors In DNA Database It Oversees At least one error led to a wrongful arrest, according to a Freedom of Information Law request, underscoring the need for better oversight of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, advocates say. Aaron Morrison
A Man Shot by Chicago Police Is Receiving $10 Million From the City. In 2013, Rahm Emanuel Praised the Officers Responsible. The former mayor issued a city resolution honoring officers for their ‘bravery’ in a shooting that paralyzed Tarance Etheredge, who will receive a payout from a civil rights lawsuit. Joshua Vaughn
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
Jamal Trulove: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk As a Black child in San Francisco, I learned early that mine and others’ bodies meant nothing to those supposedly tasked with our protection. Jamal Trulove
Baltimore Defense Attorneys Claim Surveillance Plane Footage Contradicts Law Enforcement Account Of Police Shooting Jawan Richards was shot by Baltimore police and hit with gun and assault charges stemming from the incident. His defense attorneys now say video evidence may exonerate their client. Brandon Soderberg
Michael Bloomberg’s Stop-and-Frisk Legacy Came Back to Haunt Him This Week As old audio clips of Bloomberg defending the controversial policing policy went viral, new data showed the practice isn’t fading away in New York city. Aaron Morrison
A North Carolina Professor Gave Up His Free Speech Rights To Resolve a Case Involving a Controversial Sheriff Rann Bar-On pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault of Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson to remain a legal U.S. resident. For the next two years, he isn’t allowed to protest in the county. Aaron Morrison
A Black California Man Says a White Ex-Employee Assaulted Him. He Was the One Detained. Erick Wallace’s federal civil rights lawsuit joins a long line of litigation and misconduct allegations against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Jerry Iannelli
How Witness Identifications Send Innocent People to Prison Mistaken identifications have been involved in nearly 70 percent of post-conviction exonerations based on DNA evidence. Jay Willis
New Video Of Fatal Shooting By NYPD In 2016 Raises Questions About Officer’s Account to Investigators A civil suit claims that an officer who shot a 46-year-old stagehand in Midtown Manhattan should have de-escalated the encounter. Jon Campbell
Family Sues Pittsburgh Public School For Handcuffing 7-Year-Old In a lawsuit, the boy’s family said he was repeatedly suspended, secluded, and violently restrained before he was ever given a special education evaluation. Roxanna Asgarian
Singling Out Crime ‘Suspects’ As Homeless Is A Media Double Standard That Unjustly Penalizes The Poor Leading with housing status for homeless people is a common trope in the news reporting business and one in urgent need of re-examining. Adam H. Johnson
In A Florida County, Sex Workers Are Ensnared In ‘Trafficking’ Raids Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister’s stings, conducted under the guise of targeting human trafficking, netted the largest number of arrests there since 2008. Sex workers say the operations put them at risk. Molly Minta
Police and Sheriff’s Departments Join Media Campaign Against Bail Reform In New York State A wave of sensationalist press is not just coming from New York City, but also from county sheriff and city police departments frustrated by bail reform that they claim is ‘too broad.’ Adam H. Johnson
New San Francisco D.A. Inherits Chance To Hold Police Accountable In Shooting Of Man With Mental Illness Activists hope Chesa Boudin will press charges, and push for systemic changes to address the criminalization of mental illness. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
‘Weird News,’ ‘Dumb Criminals’ and the Media’s Monetization of Human Misery There’s a cynical local-to-national news pipeline designed to mock the powerless under the guise of “odd” news stories. Adam H. Johnson
New Lawsuit Is Latest Example Of Residents Seeking Accountability For Wrongful Arrests In New York City Charges in each of four arrests of a city man were subsequently dropped. Now he has become one of a long line of New York City residents who have filed wrongful arrest lawsuits against the city. Dawn R. Wolfe
A City Council Resolution Could End Marijuana Arrests and Fines in Austin, Texas The move is made possible by a Texas law that legalized the production of hemp last year. Jay Willis
Providence Police Gang Database Policy ‘Tramples Fundamental Constitutional Rights,’ Lawsuit Says The department is targeting communities of color and violating local and federal law by using broad ‘association’ criteria to list people in a gang database, a Rhode Island community organization claims. Julia Rock, Lucas Smolcic Larson
U.S. Senate Candidate Endorses Ayanna Pressley’s Criminal Justice Reform Plan Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez of Texas told The Appeal about her vision for a complete overhaul of her state’s legal system. Kira Lerner
Internal Affairs Investigators Raid NYPD’s Special Victims Division for Third Time Logbooks were seized as part of an inquiry into misconduct allegations against high-ranking officers in the division that investigates sex crimes. Meg O'Connor
Illinois pardons are a reminder of the scale of marijuana arrests, past and present Vaidya Gullapalli
Illinois Man Alleges Police Illegally Forced Him To Undergo A Strip Search, Rectal Exam According to a complaint, police in Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago, subjected Tylus Allen Jr. to invasive searches, all of which turned up nothing. Aaron Morrison
‘They Can Do This To Anybody’ Misconduct complaints against officers in the NYPD’s 34th Precinct have risen for three years straight. In 2018, 15 officers had complaints against them substantiated, the most of any precinct in New York City. Ali Winston
In One California City, Police Kill With Near Impunity Since 2010, no Vallejo officer has been disciplined for using deadly force, despite multiple shootings of unarmed people—including a man holding a can of beer. And active police union leaders have been involved in the shooting investigations. Darwin BondGraham
Chicago’s Gang Database Can Have ‘Devastating’ Consequences, But There’s No Way To Be Removed From It. Social media posts, tattoos, or the unvetted word of an officer can lead to inclusion on the list, which is overwhelmingly composed of people of color. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Legislation on New York City’s Sprawling Systems of Surveillance Finally Gets A Hearing A City Council Committee considers a bill on NYPD surveillance today. Ali Winston
How to Rethink Drug Dealing and Punishment Criminalizing those who sell drugs by enacting more punitive laws may lead to more dangerous drug use and will disproportionately affect communities of color, a new report suggests. Zachary A. Siegel
Boston Law Enforcement Has Been Fighting A Court Order To Release Data On Who Police Target On Snapchat District Attorney Rachael Rollins ran as a reformer who would work to increase transparency, but her office and the police department have been fighting the order. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Crisis Of Murdered And Missing Indigenous Women And Why Tribes Need The Power To Address It Vaidya Gullapalli
Community Policing Is Not the Answer Investing billions of government dollars into programs that embed police in Black communities will not reduce police violence, nor repair years of injustice. Philip V. McHarris
There’s A Pattern Of Police Unions Attacking People Who Call For Criminal Justice Reform, Especially When They Are Black A Philadelphia police union’s recent attack on Players Coalition co-founder Malcolm Jenkins matches rhetorical tactics that officers’ groups are using in the face of outspoken support for criminal justice reforms. Aaron Morrison
Hundreds of Victim and Witness DNA Profiles Removed From New York City Database Advocates say the removals are more evidence of a troubling and unregulated law enforcement tool, overseen by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Aaron Morrison
In a Louisiana Parish, Hundreds of Cases May Be Tainted By Sheriff’s Office Misconduct During the tenure of Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal, deputies assaulted and harassed men inside the parish jail. Several deputies were convicted in federal court, and now cases brought by the office are under renewed scrutiny. Joshua Vaughn
Michael Bloomberg Should Apologize For More Than Stop-and-Frisk, Critics Say The billionaire and former New York City mayor defended the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslim Americans and mandatory minimum prison sentences for gun possession, among other policies. Aaron Morrison
Philadelphia Trauma Center Closure Could Mean More Shooting Deaths—And Tough-on-Crime Talk Research shows access to a trauma center is critical after a shooting. But as gun deaths are rising in Philly, one trauma center has closed. Experts say a rise in homicides may prompt more policing. Joshua Vaughn
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
New York City Voters May Expand Power of Civilian Review Board, Allowing It to Investigate Police Who Lie If passed, Question 2 would also allow the board to force police commissioners to provide more insight into disciplinary decisions. Aaron Morrison
New York Subway Police Make Us Less Safe Recent violent arrests in the city subways should make New Yorkers question the push by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to hire 500 new transit police. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
It’s Time to Fight the Democratic Mayors Who Are Champions of the Carceral State The mayors of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco wrap themselves in the language of progressivism, but when it comes to the criminal legal system they’re Trumpian. Kelly Hayes
People Behind the Girls Do Porn Website Were Just Charged With Sex Trafficking. But Complaints Were Filed About Them Years Ago. At least three women made police reports about Girls Do Porn in 2015, but recruiters continued to exploit women until the FBI stepped in last month. Meg O'Connor
‘A Green Light For Abuse’: Despite Reforms, California Counties Still Conceal Records On Police Use Of Force A lawsuit in Los Angeles and a motion in Orange County highlight battles to get key information. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
California Court Destroys Files In Historic Police Corruption Case Criminal case files from Oakland’s seminal Riders scandal were among documents shredded by the Alameda County Superior Court in 2015. Ali Winston, Darwin BondGraham
Austin Braces As Texas Officials Plan Crackdown On Homeless Encampments Last week, the City Council reinstated a “no camping” ordinance meant to discourage people experiencing homelessness from sleeping on sidewalks and outside a shelter. Advocates say the city is criminalizing poverty. Aaron Morrison
Virginia Sheriff Seeking Re-election Took Campaign Donations From Healthcare Provider For Jail He Oversees Sheriff Mike Chapman, who runs the Loudoun County jail, has received close to $15,000 in contributions from the provider since taking office in 2012. Aaron Morrison
New Lawsuit Focuses On Alleged L.A. County Deputy ‘Gangs’ Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva was elected on the promise of reforming the scandal-plagued sheriff’s department. But eight deputies now accuse Sheriff Villanueva of allowing a violent group, the Banditos, to thrive in his department's ranks. Ali Winston
Amber Guyger Should Not Go To Prison The former Dallas police officer should be held accountable for killing Botham Jean, but sending her to prison does not keep us safe. Elisabeth Epps
California Gang Laws Are Normalized Racism The gang database in the state gives police increased authority to approach and harass people for virtually no reason at all. Emily Galvin-Almanza
Mississippi Sheriff’s Department Accused Of Racial Profiling Agrees To Reforms That Settle Black Residents’ Lawsuit The Madison County Sheriff’s Department was sued in 2017 for allegedly subjecting Black motorists and pedestrians to unconstitutional stops and searches. Aaron Morrison
A California Sheriff And Prosecutor Want To Jail Homeless People. Their Plan Is Unlawful. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood and District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer intend to openly defy a 1975 state Supreme Court precedent that says law enforcement cannot intentionally discriminate against a person or group of people. Kate Chatfield
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
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
How Local Media Should Report on Safe Injection Sites In a rare case of local media nuance, a Boston TV news station provided a humane and health-focused segment on safe drug use. Adam H. Johnson
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
‘No Knock’ Warrants Spur Wave Of Civil Rights Lawsuits In Little Rock Police are accused of lying to obtain the warrants to conduct military-style raids on the homes of poor people and people of color. Joshua Vaughn
Meet the Latinx 19-Year-Old Running for Sheriff in a Majority-White Louisiana Parish Jose ‘Lil Joe’ Chapa says one way to make Beauregard Parish ‘great again’ is to stop construction of a new jail and divert resources to services that keep people out of lockup altogether. Aaron Morrison
New Lawsuit Claims a Sacramento Deputy Unlawfully Arrested Activist Who Protested Clearing Of Homeless Encampment Advocates and homeless people are suing Sacramento County over its treatment of homeless—and the city responded by filing a lawsuit against seven men for being a ‘public nuisance.‘ Meg O'Connor
Assuming Guilt While Reporting on Mass Arrests Kansas City news outlets called scores of people ‘violent criminals’ based solely on the word of police and the federal government. Adam H. Johnson
A Pennsylvania Police Department Is Accused Of Klan Involvement and Discrimination In a civil rights lawsuit, an officer in Allentown claims he was subjected to racial discrimination before he was fired. Joshua Vaughn
Pennsylvania County Owes $67 Million After Man Finds Arrest Records on Mugshots.com Elsewhere in the country, lawsuits and legislation seek to protect people from predatory mugshot sites. Katie Rose Quandt
‘Is This The Guy?’ Police and prosecutors claimed facial recognition technology wasn’t at the center of a shoplifting case, but defense attorneys say it was the sole basis for probable cause to arrest. Mike Hayes
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
Painting a Distorted Picture of Crime ‘Spikes’ in New York City Murder rates are at an all-time low in Brooklyn, but one would hardly know it reading the New York Times. Adam H. Johnson
A New Mexico Man Accused a Deputy of ‘Gestapo’-like Training. Then He Was Arrested. In Valencia County, a sheriff’s deputy who once faced allegations of excessive force in Albuquerque is accused of assaulting an elderly man. Joshua Vaughn
Rape Survivor Petitions Supreme Court Over How Police Handled Her Case Heather Marlowe, now an activist, says neglected kits are a reflection of who and what police prioritize. Raven Rakia
Pulling Back the Curtain on Boston’s ‘Operation Clean Sweep’ Most coverage of police raids targeting homeless people and substance users parroted official—and fraught—talking points. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Chicago Police Pointed Guns At And Traumatized Children in Botched Raids, Lawsuits Allege Children as young as 4 years old are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result, the complaints say. Lauren Gill
Oakland Police Have Been Systematically Underreporting Use Of Force A new internal audit shows that officers disproportionately strike, tussle with, and draw guns on Black people but then fail to disclose the incidents in their reports. Darwin BondGraham
‘See How Quickly They Behave Once We Put Our Foot Down?’ A federal lawsuit claims that Palo Alto, California, police falsely detained, arrested, and beat a gay Latinx man—then boasted about their brutality. Joshua Vaughn
Caught on Video: A Texas Man’s Fatal Pursuit By Police The family of Ricardo Treviño, an unarmed 21-year-old killed by police last year, says they’ve spent months waiting for answers on why he was shot. Aaron Morrison
For New York’s Police Union, Any Accountability For Eric Garner’s Death Is Too Much Vaidya Gullapalli
Protecting Campus Police The New Jersey General Assembly unanimously passed a bill to extend qualified immunity to police officers at private colleges and universities. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Mayors Running for President Take Heat on Police Brutality and Racial Profiling During Debates Current and former mayors were questioned about how they managed their police departments. Aaron Morrison
Stoking Hostility Toward Homeless People Dozens of reports about an indigent man in Bradenton, Florida, showed the cruel excesses of local news’s homelessness coverage. Adam H. Johnson
My Year As A New Orleans Consent Decree Insider The Crescent City is in the final stages of a multimillion-dollar federal police reform process. Here‘s why it and other programs like it fail to achieve real reform. Matthew Nesvet
‘We’ve Got One In The Sweep’ Three Bronx friends recount their 2012 arrests in the NYPD’s ‘Operation Crew Cut,’ along with their experiences with the court system and incarceration, and reflect on their lives seven years later. Olivia Heffernan
When Cops Lie, Should Prosecutors Rely Upon Their Testimony At Trial? In California, Texas and Florida, advocates sent letters to district attorneys, demanding that they refuse to work with officers with histories of misconduct. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
New York City’s Homeless Diversion Program is ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ Reform, Advocates Say A new effort to reduce arrests and summonses is criticized as continuing to criminalize homelessness. Raven Rakia
Florida Sheriffs Arrest Hundreds In ‘Trafficking’ Stings Offices across the state conduct operations under the guise of saving victims of human trafficking. But the vast majority of people detained, including sex workers, are charged with prostitution. Molly Minta
America’s New ‘Sheriff of the Year’ Pushed to Allow Teachers to Carry Weapons in School Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, Florida, is one of the state’s most controversial lawmen. Jessica Pishko
Media Frame: Stop Quoting Bill Bratton For far too long, the press has leaned on wrong-headed tough-on-crime officials like the former NYPD commissioner when reporting on the criminal legal system. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
In Pennsylvania, a Kidnapping Law Could Unravel a Life A Shippensburg man faces 15 years on the sex offense registry for offering a girl a ride. Joshua Vaughn
Oakland Police Conducted An Illegal Search And Then Lied About It. But They May Be Spared From Discipline. A California Superior Court ruling gives officers accused of misconduct access to investigator notes and files while cases are in progress. Darwin BondGraham
Media Frame: Fentanyl Panic Is Worsening the Overdose Crisis Sensational and false news reports about the drug are pushing lawmakers to enact harmful policies. Zachary A. Siegel, Maia Szalavitz
New Reports Highlight Behavior of Port Authority Police in ‘Lewd Act’ Arrests Expert reports in a 2017 federal lawsuit explore an alleged pattern of discrimination against men perceived to be gay. Kira Lerner
An Infamous Louisiana Sheriff Is On His Way Out. Now What? Louis Ackal has said he isn’t seeking re-election. But advocates fear that may not be enough to bring change. Jessica Pishko
Media Frame: A ‘War on Cops’ Narrative Without Evidence ABC News claims anti-police violence is on the rise but offers no data. Adam H. Johnson
‘A Town Without Pity’: Lawsuits Allege Police Cover-up of Sex Abuse by Officers in Maine The accusations span decades and involve two separate Biddeford cops and at least seven alleged victims. Roxanna Asgarian
Pennsylvania Police Department Accused of Sexism Brandi Courtesis lost her job with the Gettysburg force after saying a colleague sexually harassed her. The accused, fired for another reason, may be back in uniform soon. Joshua Vaughn
Media Frame: Time to Ban Ride-Along Police TV Reality shows like ‘The First 48,’ ‘Live PD,’ and ‘Cops’ are interfering in legal cases, exploiting people of color, and threatening lives. Adam H. Johnson
Fremont Police Said a Man Wielded a Deadly Weapon When They Shot Him. But Records Reveal He Waved a Tent Pole. The police union’s newly elected vice president led the investigation into the shooting that cleared Officer William Gourley of any wrongdoing. Darwin BondGraham
Spotlight: When Police Spread Racism and Hate Online, It Says Something About How They Work Vaidya Gullapalli
Orange County’s ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ The California county has a thin blue line that appears to protect not just the police, but also the DA’s office, criminal justice advocates say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Spotlight: Departing Alabama Sheriffs Deplete Funds and (Usually) Face No Consequences Sarah Lustbader
Arizona Man Faces Deportation After Filing Lawsuit Against Coconino County Sheriff Jose Montelongo-Morales challenged the jail’s immigration detainer policy. He and some of his family members were arrested months later. Lauren Gill
Floridians Are Suing a Cop Fired for Planting Drugs in Their Vehicles Thanks to the diligence of one assistant state attorney, 119 cases were thrown out and the officer is under state investigation. Katie Rose Quandt
Spotlight: De Blasio—The Circumstances of Layleen Polanco’s Death Shouldn’t Be So Perplexing Sarah Lustbader
Body Cameras And Tasers Rake In Billions For Axon, But They’re No Panacea For Police Violence The popularity of Axon’s tech soared after the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014, but it may be doing more harm than good in protecting people from excessive force. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Media Frame: Stoking Panic Over ‘Flood’ of ‘Juveniles’ in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor The sensationalist coverage of a handful of fights highlights local media’s misplaced priorities. Adam H. Johnson
Spotlight: Neighborhood Crime Apps Stoke Fears, Reinforce Racist Stereotypes, And Don’t Prevent Crime Sarah Lustbader
Spotlight: In A Study of Cops’ Facebook Accounts, 1 in 5 Had Posted Racist, Violent Content Vaidya Gullapalli
New Orleans Police Appear to Use Surveillance to Initiate Investigations City officials say its vast network of cameras are simply a tool when responding to 911 calls and complaints of criminal activity. But several cases suggest the system serves an additional purpose. Mike Hayes
A New Moral Panic Targets Moms In Pennsylvania, mothers are harshly penalized for leaving children unattended in vehicles, even for several minutes. Joshua Vaughn
It’s Time to Make Chicago Police Pay For Their Misdeeds—Out Of Their Own Budget Chicago hands out millions in settlements and legal fees for police misconduct. Its newly inaugurated mayor should take a dollar from the department’s budget for every dollar the city spends settling with its victims. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Commander Of Major California Narcotics Task Force Fired For A String Of Thefts And Lies Newly released records show that task force members faced allegations of theft and questionable overtime, all under the watch of a commander later fired for lying as the misconduct was investigated. Darwin BondGraham
State Trooper Said Man Took Bag From Fentanyl Supplier, But Video Demonstrated That The Deal Never Went Down Trooper testimony inconsistent with video and misconduct among state and local law enforcement in New Hampshire and Massachusetts have caused at least 15 drug cases to unravel. Zachary A. Siegel
Johns Hopkins University’s Private Police Force Would Bring More Cops To An Overpoliced Baltimore A former Baltimore officer says the Hopkins plan should be viewed skeptically because campus police have a history of deadly force and its officials come from troubled Baltimore Police units. Larry Smith
Incarceration Is Always a Policy Failure Instead of building ‘humane jails’ to replace Rikers Island, let’s push the NYPD to cut down on arrests. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Bronx Cops Celebrated A Copwatcher’s Arrest. They Had No Idea They Were Caught On Tape. New York City just paid Jose LaSalle of the Copwatch Patrol Unit nearly $900,000 over claims of false arrest related to the 2016 incident, but his fight for justice is far from over. Ashoka Jegroo
A White Woman Was Caught On Tape Selling Heroin, But Police Arrested A Black Woman Instead In a case of mistaken identity, Jada Noone was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police, spent 15 days in jail and faced a felony drug case before charges were dismissed. She’s now suing over her false arrest. Joshua Vaughn
Police In California Are Killing Sleeping People The fatal shooting by Oakland police of an unconscious man as he woke is putting pressure on the California department to rethink its deployment of force. Darwin BondGraham
Border Patrol in New Mexico Stood By As Right-Wing Militia Terrorized Migrants Videos and audio posted by the group and its supporters on social media raise questions about the agency’s role. Debbie Nathan
Are Sheriffs Necessary? Advocates are pushing to abolish the office in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Jessica Pishko
Houston Cop Who Led Botched Drug Raid Overwhelmingly Arrested Black People After a drug bust involving Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines turned deadly, questions are being raised about how he operated during his time on the force. Mike Hayes
‘It Was Almost Worse Than The Incident Itself’ New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault. Meg O'Connor
The Appeal Presents: Raided A new documentary explores the notorious ‘Bronx 120’ raid—and what it says about the evolution of policing in New York City. Simon Davis-Cohen
California Cities Have Shredded Decades of Police Misconduct Records Police union lawsuits delayed many local governments from complying with a new transparency law. In the meantime, some cities have destroyed files. Darwin BondGraham
‘Please Help Me, Sir’ In September, Marcus Smith experienced a mental health crisis and begged Greensboro, North Carolina police for help. Instead, they tied him with restraints. Moments later, his body went lifeless. William C. Anderson
Did Baltimore Cops ‘Conspire’ To Suppress Evidence, Leading to a Wrongful Murder Conviction? Attorneys for a man exonerated in a Baltimore murder say detectives suppressed exculpatory evidence and that the police’s homicide unit has a pattern and practice of similar conduct in decades of cases. Amelia McDonell-Parry
New York Lawmakers Want To Ban Sex Offenders From The Subway. That Won’t Solve Anything. Banishing people from the subway will only marginalize them without addressing the problem. Guy Hamilton-Smith
Women Describe How A Columbus Vice Cop Pressured Them to Trade Sex for Rent Andrew Mitchell, a former officer in Ohio who was recently indicted on charges he kidnapped women and forced them to have sex for their freedom, will soon face a grand jury for killing Donna Dalton during a prostitution arrest. Melissa Gira Grant
Florida Woman Faced 10 Years For ‘Meth’ That Was ‘Just a Rock’ A scandal of falsified drug arrests is spreading at a Florida sheriff’s office that has also spent more than $1.33 million settling excessive force lawsuits and is at the center of the increasingly troubled Robert Kraft case. Meg O'Connor
Women Say Pennsylvania Cop Committed Sexual Assaults, Recorded Them on Body Camera Their claims are part of a federal lawsuit; other women say they, too, were assaulted and the officer now faces a raft of criminal charges. Joshua Vaughn
Miami Police Arrest Thousands of Homeless But Leave Rapes, Robberies Unsolved In 2017, over 2,000 homeless people were arrested on charges including drinking in public and panhandling. That same year, roughly 1,400 people were arrested in Miami-Dade County for rape, murder, and robbery. Meg O'Connor
What Happens Before Police Press ‘Record’? Critics say New York’s new interrogation recording law falls short. Curtis Stephen
‘I’m Not Going Anywhere Until They Stop Killing People’ In 2009, Anaheim police shot and killed Theresa Smith’s son. A new California law promises police transparency, but her quest for answers faces a substantial cost. Aaron Morrison
Party Guests Suing Over Mass Arrest for Less Than An Ounce of Marijuana Attorneys representing the arrestees in Cartersville, Georgia, say they were mistreated in jail, lost jobs, and endured public humiliation. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Texas Sheriffs Stand Against Marijuana Policy Reform New bills would expand access to medical marijuana, but the state's sheriffs' association promises to fight even such modest legislation. Michael Arria
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
Chicago Cop’s Sentence For Killing A Black Teenager Is ‘Exceptionally Short’ Jason Van Dyke’s sentence for the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald is approximately half the average sentence for a person convicted of second-degree murder in Cook County, Illinois. Rob Arthur
‘The Police Act Like We Are Nothing’ A new coalition of people in the sex trades wants New York to become the first state to fully decriminalize their work. Melissa Gira Grant
Inside ‘The Stop-And-Frisk Capital of America’ Claims including sexual assault of a woman with mental illness to lying in reports haunt the Miami Gardens police; payouts in federal lawsuits have cost the city's taxpayers at least $3.5 million. Meg O'Connor
The Mayor of Jackson Wants to Hold Its Police Accountable. Easier Said Than Done. Since Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s 2017 election, at least five people have died at the hands of the law enforcement in Mississippi’s capital city. Ko Bragg
California Police Unions Fight New State Law Promising Transparency on Misconduct Records Senate Bill 1421 requires law enforcement agencies to make public investigative records of officer-involved shootings and uses of force resulting in great bodily harm. But law enforcement unions argue that the law threatens the privacy of their members. Darwin BondGraham
Police Policy for Sale Lexipol, a private for-profit company, has quietly become one of the most powerful voices in law enforcement policymaking in the country. Scott Morris
I Arrested A Man On Marijuana Charges. Then He Took His Own Life. A former Baltimore Police officer says it’s time for the department to stop wasteful, harmful marijuana arrests, especially after Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s announcement that her office would not prosecute cases of possession. Larry Smith
How A No-Knock Raid in Austin Turned Into a Lethal Shootout ‘There were explosions everywhere ... I had no idea who was in the house.’ Jessica Pishko
Family of Donna Dalton, Who Was Shot By a Columbus Police Officer During Arrest, Demands Independent Inquiry Advocates say the case hasn’t been handled fairly and there’s little hope for justice. Melissa Gira Grant
‘I Feel The Oxygen Going Out Of My Mouth’ In October 2018, Marshall Miles was taken into custody by Sacramento County sheriff‘s deputies outside a convenience store. About 14 hours later, he was dead. Aaron Morrison
New Study Finds Body Cameras Aren’t Objective Witnesses People who view body cam footage of an incident are less likely to attribute blame to a police officer than those who see the same incident through the lens of a dashboard camera. Nicole Wetsman
New York Agency Declines to Help Trans Woman Allegedly Harassed by Law Enforcement She is suing the Division of Human Rights for saying it’s not authorized to investigate her complaint. Emma Whitford
Battle Over Fare Evasion Decriminalization Boils Over in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed decriminalization legislation that advocates say would curb the discriminatory policing tactics associated with fare evasion enforcement. Today, the D.C. City Council will decide if it will override her veto. Ella Fassler
St. Louis County Is Profiting Off the ‘Muni Shuffle’ Long After Ferguson Protests A new proposal to abolish small police forces seeks to end the cycle of debt and incarceration. Teresa Mathew
Years After Protests, NYPD Retains Photos of Black Lives Matter Activists The records raise questions about the department’s compliance with its protest monitoring rules. George Joseph
Cannabis Alarmism Hinders Smart Regulations Alex Berenson says he’s concerned there’s not enough research into cannabis risks, but his misleading arguments set scientists back. Alex Gertner, Kelsey Priest
‘A Convenient Scapegoat’ Cherie Townsend is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after she says they falsely imprisoned her for murder and destroyed her reputation. Raven Rakia
Judge Attacks NYPD Practice of Seizing Teens’ DNA Without Parental Consent The decision also held that the city’s routine storage of DNA profiles from nonconvicted people in a permanent database violates state law. George Joseph
Trump Has Turned the War on Trafficking Into a War on Immigrants The president is drawing on two decades of bipartisan support for crackdowns on traffickers to secure support for his agenda at the border. Melissa Gira Grant, Debbie Nathan
ICE Is Using Driver’s License Applications To Arrest Immigrants More states are giving undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses, but many DMVs are sharing their information with ICE. Debbie Nathan
Louisiana Strip Club Dancers Fear More Crackdowns as ‘Anti-Trafficking’ Law Goes Into Effect A ban on dancers under 21 raises questions on the growing role of the state's Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control in policing clubs. Melissa Gira Grant
Video Shows Baton Rouge Police Pinning Man To The Ground and Beating Him The officers were part of the department's Street Crimes Unit, known among residents for its aggressive patrols. Daryl Khan, Clarissa Sosin
New Jersey Cop Sued Over Shooting Ranks First in His Department for Use of Force Officer Sheehan Miles of the Trenton Police Department had 43 force encounters between 2012 and 2016, according to a new database. George Joseph
Is The NYPD’s Special Victims Division Prematurely Closing Sexual Assault Cases? Advocates say victims are being pressured to sign ‘withdrawal’ forms to quickly close investigations and protect the department from legal liability. Meg O'Connor
NYPD Commander’s Text Messages Show How the Quota System Persists Officers say the language used now is more subtle but still encourages numbers-driven policing. George Joseph
‘Things Have Changed’: A New Texas Anti-Immigration Measure Feeds Fear of the Police SB 4 encourages officers to ask for the status of anyone they detain. Debbie Nathan
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
Immigrant Who Fled Gangs and Torture Challenges ICE Detainers Attorneys for a Honduran woman are suing over the widespread jailhouse practice of honoring ICE requests to hold incarcerated immigrants for pickup. Debbie Nathan
Georgia Woman Endured Arrest, Million-Dollar Bond, and Months of Jail Over ‘Meth’ That Was Actually Cotton Candy A notoriously unreliable roadside drug test administered by Monroe County sheriff's deputies led to Dasha Fincher being charged with methamphetamine trafficking. Lauren Gill
A Year After Police Shot Calvin Toney, His Family Still Doesn’t Know What Happened Baton Rouge residents say little has changed after Alton Sterling. Clarissa Sosin, Daryl Khan
Black Men Disproportionately Represented On Sex Offender Registries Even though it’s unlikely that they commit sexual assault at higher rates than other ethnic or racial groups, nearly one of every 100 Black men is on a sex offender registry, a rate double that of white men. Debbie Nathan
Could New Cash to Fight Homelessness in San Francisco Mean Less Reliance on Police? Supporters hope the passage of Prop C may herald a more compassionate—and effective—approach. Melissa Gira Grant
Is A Philadelphia Agency’s Seizure Of Vehicles A New Form of Civil Asset Forfeiture? The city’s experiment with civil asset forfeiture was supposed to end, but the practices of its parking agency and some in state law enforcement suggest that police may be turning to other forms of property confiscation. Ryan Briggs
Lawsuit Accuses A Louisiana Police Chief Of Punching a Man and Throwing His Wife to the Ground Then he ordered another officer to arrest the man. George Joseph
New Evidence Reveals Columbus Police Filed Misleading Reports on Stormy Daniels Arrest In internal documents obtained by The Appeal, the vice unit’s supervisor admits no specific complaints were lodged against Daniels or the club before the police took action. George Joseph
A Suit on Behalf of 6,000 Women Decries Law Enforcement’s Handling of Sexual Assault Cases In Travis County, detectives refused training that would have helped them interview victims of trauma. Kira Lerner
States Are Enacting Their Own Bans Against ‘Sanctuary City’ Policies In response, a new ‘Freedom Cities’ movement is rising to defend immigrants’ rights. Debbie Nathan
How Tuesday’s Sheriff Elections Dealt a Blow to ICE Local allies of the Trump administration fought challengers over immigration policy. Daniel Nichanian
North Carolina Sheriff Criticized For Unleashing K-9 Dogs On Black People Faces Re-Election Advocates say that Sheriff Donnie Harrison is unfit for a fifth term because of such abusive practices as well as his office's cooperation with ICE. George Joseph
In Allegheny County, People Arrested With Cell Phones Can Be Charged With ‘Possessing Instruments of Crime’ Advocates say these charges endanger sex workers and urge the police to stop using them. Melissa Gira Grant
A Trump Favorite For His Hardline Anti-Immigration Stance, Maryland Sheriff Now Faces Re-Election Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins seeks a fourth term as critics blast him for a record that includes poor jail conditions, in-custody suicides, and the deaths of two young people at the hands of his deputies. Raven Rakia
Rural Oregon Sheriffs Lead Charge to Repeal State’s Sanctuary Law More than one dozen sheriffs support Measure 105 that would allow for cooperation with federal authorities even when an immigrant suspect has not been apprehended for any crime. Mike Faulk
Baltimore’s ‘Eye in the Sky’ Plane Is Back With A New Pitch: Surveil The Police Dismal police accountability has made communities vulnerable to private vendors. Brandon Soderberg, Raven Rakia
This Florida County’s Sheriff Is Controversial. But His Election Won’t Be Close. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stands accused of violating immigrants’ rights and dismissing a shocking number of jail deaths. George Joseph
Program Meant To Fight Terrorism and Narcotrafficking Is Being Used to Target The Undocumented Community Opposition to Operation Stonegarden, however, is spreading; one Arizona county just rejected over $1 million of its funds. Debbie Nathan
U.S. Marshals Exaggerated A Recent ‘Child Recovery’ Sweep in Michigan. Here’s Why That Matters. Experts say playing up the risk of sex trafficking fuels anxiety and criminalization. Melissa Gira Grant
NYPD Unit That Monitored Proud Boys Event Has Troubled History The Strategic Response Group was created for counter-terrorism but it's involved in everything from Broken Windows policing to suppressing protest. Ashoka Jegroo
In Alabama, Black People Are 4 Times More Likely Than White People To Be Arrested For Marijuana Possession A new report details Alabama’s “War on Marijuana” ahead of a key DA election. George Joseph
Man Convicted Of Obstruction For Refusing To Open His Door For Police If his conviction stands, it could criminalize people who refuse to do things like unlock their phones or garages at police request. Levi Pulkkinen
Secretive Campus Cops Patrol Already Overpoliced Neighborhoods Campus police forces have become more professionalized, but critics say they operate behind a veil of secrecy and often exceed their jurisdiction. Ryan Briggs
The Appeal Podcast: How Activists Brought Down the Most Powerful Man in Chicago With writer Kelly Hayes. Adam H. Johnson
Baltimore’s Gun Offender Registry Is A Misfire Established to track anyone convicted of a gun-related offense, the registry has proved to be both racist and ineffective in reducing gun violence. Larry Smith
Suit Filed by Strip Club Workers in Columbus Sheds Light on Troubled Vice Squad The women, who were arrested alongside Stormy Daniels in July, allege that they were smeared by arresting officers, but they’re just the latest to raise concerns. Melissa Gira Grant
After Pittsburgh Decriminalizes Pot, Black People Are Still Disproportionately Charged With Possession About 51 percent of the people charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana in Allegheny County are Black. Joshua Vaughn
When Handing Out Candy To Trick-or-Treaters Means Risking Arrest Lawyer seeks end to Halloween restrictions that target people convicted of sex offenses. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Claims of Racism and Brutality Dog Los Angeles County Sheriff ‘Deputy Gangs’ A lawsuit brought by a Compton resident detailing an alleged beating by deputies is just one of nearly three dozen federal civil rights lawsuits alleging brutality and racial bias at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. George Joseph, Raven Rakia, Ethan Corey
Inside NY Courts Where Sex Workers are ‘Painted as Victims and Treated as Criminals’ Two new reports challenge the efficacy and ethics of prostitution diversion programs in New York City and nationwide. Melissa Gira Grant
In Washington State, It’s Nearly Impossible To Prosecute Police Killings This fall, however, an initiative goes to voters that would change the law on deadly force by the police, which has led to no officer there being convicted of wrongfully killing someone in the line of duty in more than 30 years. Mike Faulk
Public Defenders Say New York’s New Policy To Reduce Marijuana Arrests Doesn’t Go Far Enough The exceptions to the policy change could actually worsen the racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests, defense attorneys told The Appeal. Raven Rakia
Ohio State Rep: If Police Tase or Shoot a Child, She Probably Acted ‘Stupid’ or Was ‘a Punk’ Rep. John Becker doubles down on his recent comments about the tasing of an 11-year-old for allegedly shoplifting. Melissa Gira Grant
Just 6% of Columbus Police Officers Account for Half of All Force Reports Between 2001 and 2017, the department justified officers in 99 percent of use-of-force cases, according to data released through a public records request. Ethan Corey, George Joseph
A Grand Jury Indicted An Alabama Police Officer For Murder. Then A Mayor Came To His Defense. Jeffery Parker was shot to death by a police officer in his Huntsville home. A grand jury handed up an indictment for murder, but the mayor and City Council appear to be throwing their support behind the officer. Lauren Gill
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
Columbus Officer Was Under Investigation When He Shot and Killed Donna Dalton Community outrage mounts over Officer Andrew Mitchell’s killing of Dalton during an attempted prostitution arrest. Melissa Gira Grant
Two Cops Said They Saw A Man Grope Women. The Women Disagreed. The DA Charged Him Anyway An 11-month prosecution of a ‘forcible touching’ case in Manhattan sharply diverges from the office’s treatment of Harvey Weinstein, defense attorneys say. George Joseph, Simon Davis-Cohen
Louisiana Law Enforcement Officers Are Moonlighting For A Controversial Pipeline Company Off-duty law enforcement officers are using state resources to work side jobs for the pipeline company. Karen Savage
Doxxed By Berkeley Police Critics say the Berkeley Police Department’s unusual practice of posting anti-fascist protesters’ mugshots on Twitter endangers activists and violates free speech rights. Scott Morris
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
It Is Now Even Harder for Trafficking Survivors to Get Visas Local advocates are struggling with a new immigration memo that makes it more difficult to support these survivors. Melissa Gira Grant
Proposed Pennsylvania Bill Would Force Patients With Chronic Pain Into A Treatment Agreement A bill introduced in the state would require all chronic pain patients to enter into an agreement with their doctor before being prescribed opioid medication for the first time. Joshua Vaughn
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
An Inside Look At An Ohio Police Force’s Race Problem A white cop joked about bringing explosives to a Black Lives Matter protest in Columbus with no consequences. A black cop joked about ‘black on black’ crime and may be fired. George Joseph
In New York, A Harm-Reduction Organization Is Leveraging Participatory Defense To Empower Its Clients Grassroots group VOCAL-NY is teaching people with substance use disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system. Christopher Moraff
Against Innocence In the wake of Nia Wilson’s murder, it’s critical that calls for justice in response to anti-Black violence are not contingent upon appeals to white-approved notions of innocence and respectability. Zoé Samudzi
Meet ‘Bob Smith,’ The Fake Facebook Profile Memphis Police Allegedly Used To Spy On Black Activists New records obtained by the Appeal show the account seems to have been monitoring Black Lives Matter activists for years. George Joseph
After Hearing Concerns about ICE, Texas Sheriff Ran Apparent Traffic Sting That Led to Deportation Proceedings A community group met with the Bastrop County sheriff in an effort to build trust between the sheriff’s office and the immigrant community. Then, the sheriff ran a sting that led to more than one dozen arrestees being handed over to ICE. Michael Arria
Multiple Police Cars Summoned to Arrest Selma Civil Rights Activist for Allegedly Stealing a Campaign Sign Faya Rose Touré, a 73-year-old former judge, says she’s determined to fight the charges against her. Lauren Gill
Memphis Police Collected Black Lives Matter Activists’ Private Facebook Posts Police appear to have used a fake Facebook account to 'friend' activists and archive who 'liked' their posts. George Joseph
Drug Testing Organizations Save Lives, So Why Haven’t Rave and Concert Organizers Embraced Them? Groups like the Loop and DanceSafe test drugs like Ecstasy and warn users of high dosages and adulterants, but federal legislation from the early 2000s has live music promoters wary of their brand of harm reduction. Zachary A. Siegel
NYPD Detective With a Shady Past Helped Lock Up a Pot Dealer For Federal Conspiracy Jurors were barred from hearing about the eight civil rights lawsuits against Detective Jeremiah Williams. George Joseph
Former Baltimore Police Officer Criticizes The Department’s Gang Database A onetime gang liaison for the Baltimore Police Department writes that its database is racist and error-ridden. Larry Smith
A Distressed Man Came to a Police Station Looking for Help. Hours Later, He Was In a Coma. Earl McNeil’s family is demanding answers from the National City, California, police department. Max Rivlin-Nadler
Buffalo Lawsuit Challenges ‘Racial Profiling’ in Traffic Stops Advocacy group demands an end to traffic checkpoints concentrated in Black and Latinx areas. Prince Shakur
Immigrants Share Horror Stories From Inside Massachusetts’s ‘Worst’ Jail “Jail is not a country club,” the Bristol County sheriff said. “That’s why once you’ve done time in the Bristol County House of Corrections, you won’t want to come back.” Eoin Higgins
California County Law Enforcement Puts Kids On Probation for Bad Grades A new lawsuit says Riverside County’s probation officers threaten to prosecute kids for ‘pre-delinquent’ behavior. Carimah Townes
Austin Cops Said They Shot A Man Who Fired On Them–But It Turns Out He Didn’t Fire A Shot Lawrence Parrish faces charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and remains jailed on $500,000 bond even though the Austin police admitted he never shot at them. Michael Arria
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
A Black Man Called The Cops Nazis–And Was Charged With A Hate Crime A Pennsylvania hate crime statute is being used by law enforcement to punish angry arrestees. Joshua Vaughn
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
The Family Of An Unarmed High Schooler Shot By Police Begs For ‘Real Change’ The King County Sheriff's Office told reporters Tommy Le had a knife. He was actually holding a pen. Levi Pulkkinen
New Evidence in the Death of a Queens Massage Worker Surveillance video sheds some light on the police raid that killed Yang Song last year while, advocates say, the raids continue. Emma Whitford, Melissa Gira Grant
The New Orleans Police Raid That Launched A Dancer Resistance From local charities, to the editorial pages, to city politicians, New Orleans strip clubs were blamed for human trafficking, leading to abusive police raids – harming the dancers they claimed they were protecting, and pushing the dancers to fight back. Melissa Gira Grant
A Florida Sheriff’s Dramatic Drug Raid Went Viral, But It Wasn’t What It Seemed In the ‘fentanyl’ bust at a ‘narcotics house,’ no opioids were seized at all. George Joseph
Lawsuit Tests the Supreme Court’s ‘Immunity Protection Program’ for Police Officers Who Kill Kyle C. Barry
Two States Just Made It Easier to Take Babies Away From Mothers Who Use Drugs During Pregnancy Lisa Sangoi
Data Shows Police Brutality in America is Getting Worse — 2018 Could Be the Most Deadly in Years Shaun King
In Louisiana, Threatening to File a Complaint Against Police Can Lead to a Five-Year Prison Sentence Michael Stein
Chicago Activists Organize Against Massive Police Training Academy to Be Built As Schools Close Prince Shakur
Houston Police Chief Who Called Michael Bennett ‘Morally Corrupt’ is Quiet on Police Brutality Jessica Brand
Despite Leaders’ Progressive Promises, NYC Remains ’Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World’ Shaun King
NYC Transgender Activist Says She Was Criminalized For Defending Herself Against Abuser Her former partner assaulted her in her home. When the police arrived, she was arrested and he walked free. Emma Whitford
A National Campaign to Crack Down on Massage Businesses May Harm the Women it Wants to Help Melissa Gira Grant, Emma Whitford
Police Accountability and Public Defender Groups Demand Transparency on NYPD Gang Policing Max Rivlin-Nadler
NYC Agency Uses Brooklyn Gang Raid To Encourage Evictions Of Entire Families From Public Housing Emma Whitford
In ‘Anti-Trafficking’ New Orleans Strip Club Raids, Police Make No Trafficking Arrests Melissa Gira Grant
After New York Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Drug Policy Experts Warn That Legal Action Won’t Save Lives Zachary A. Siegel
How Philadelphia’s Social Media-Driven Gang Policing Is Stealing Years From Young People Max Rivlin-Nadler
Stop and Frisk Apologies Prove that the Mic Must be Passed to People Most Affected by the Police Josmar Trujillo
“Murder Every Day but the Spotlight on Bike Life”: Amid 343 Homicides, Baltimore Police Crack Down on Dirt Bikes Brandon Soderberg
Philly’s Gang Violence Strategy Doesn’t Work. Here’s Why. Philadelphia implemented the “focused deterrence” model of gang policing, which includes the promise of critical social services. The reality is much different. Maura Ewing
