Apr 08 Former felons in Florida still fighting for voting rights By Candice Norwood Under Florida’s 2019 law, at least 774,000 former felons are still ineligible to vote in the state due to outstanding debts, according to a report. Continue reading
Mar 06 Alabama executes man convicted in officers’ murders amid calls to save inmate By Kim Chandler, Associated Press Alabama's first execution of the year came after a last minute bid to stop it, that included support from the son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Continue reading
Jan 16 12-year sentence for having a phone in jail is ‘failure,’ Mississippi justice says By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press The Mississippi Supreme Court's confirmation of a 12-year prison sentence for an African American man who carried his mobile phone into a county jail cell is being slammed as a brutal example of racial injustice. Continue reading
Jan 10 Watch 5:30 Mississippi inmate deaths expose a corrections system in crisis In a single week, five people incarcerated in Mississippi jails have died at the hands of other inmates. The deaths have highlighted a system in dire condition, suffering from staffing problems and deteriorating facilities. Jerry Mitchell, founder of the Mississippi… Continue watching
Dec 20 Watch 6:38 For-profit prisons reap business benefit from Trump’s immigration stance A new investigation reveals the rapid growth of for-profit prisons being used to house immigrants. While the phenomenon has generated tremendous revenue for the industry, it has also resulted in hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and mistreatment in those… Continue watching
Dec 18 Justice Dept. plans crackdown on violent crime in 7 cities By Michael Balsamo, Associated Press The Justice Department will intensify federal law enforcement resources in the seven cities — Detroit, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis and Milwaukee — which have violent crime rates high above the national average. Continue reading
Dec 10 Watch 8:36 In Maryland, many juvenile offenders languish in prison without parole By John Yang Nearly a year ago, President Trump signed a bipartisan federal criminal justice reform bill that reduced mandatory sentences. Many states followed suit -- but not Maryland. In collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, John Yang… Continue watching
Dec 05 Watch 7:29 After 23 years wrongly imprisoned, Ricky Kidd is free — and using his voice The exoneration of Ricky Kidd, a wrongly convicted man in Missouri who spent more than two decades in prison, highlights major problems with U.S. criminal justice. As covered in our Broken Justice podcast, Kidd was freed largely due to pro… Continue watching
Nov 07 Watch 6:47 A father took an at-home DNA test. His son was then falsely accused of murder By William Brangham, Nsikan Akpan, Rhana Natour Genetic genealogy, the technique millions of people are using to learn about their family history, has now become a potent tool with which law enforcement can solve crimes. But the method has major privacy implications that are prompting some critics… Continue watching
Nov 06 Watch 6:42 How at-home DNA tests helped solve this 30-year-old murder By William Brangham, Rhana Natour, Nsikan Akpan In 2019, American law enforcement agencies have identified over 70 suspects using a new technique called genetic genealogy, which California detectives leveraged in 2018 to identify the Golden State Killer. In the first of a two-part series, William Brangham shares… Continue watching