Criminal Justice
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Patrisse Cullors, LA Reform Jails Tackle Mental Health, Mass Incarceration with Mental Health Matters Summit + Day Party
In its commitment to addressing the failures of the prison industrial complex—as it pertains to mental health, drug dependency, chronic homelessness, and other issues—Patrisse Cullors, founder of Reform L.A. Jails, knew her organization would require a unique strategy in order to build a stronger rapport with Los Angeles residents and educate them on the unspeakable…
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#FreeRodneyReed Family Members, Supporters (Including Kim Kardashian West) Demand Justice for Death Row Inmate Weeks Before Execution
Kim Kardashian West for the people! Family, friends and supporters of Rodney Reed—including the social media and reality TV superstar—want justice, and they are making their voices heard far and wide about what is considered a miscarriage of justice, by some, including Kim Kardashian West. On Saturday, nearly a hundred supporters rallied outside of the…
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When NY Ended Money Bail, a Prosecutor Trained DAs to Keep People in Jail
As New York joined a handful of other states in passing sweeping criminal justice reforms, one of the state’s top prosecutors helped attorneys and legislators find loopholes to subvert laws intended to end money bail and guarantee speedy trials. In April, New York Democrats, who controlled the governorship and both legislative branches, passed measures that…
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Exonerated Five Fighting to Stop Cops From Lying, Using Innocent People’s DNA and Other Things You Probably Thought Were Already Illegal
Innocent until proven guilty is one of the foundational tenets of American jurisprudence. Even when a person is arrested and jailed for a crime, they are afforded the same presumption of innocence as Ivanka Trump, Jesus Christ, the white people in lotion commercials or any other unblemished, blue-eyed blonde American. Of course, if you’re black,…
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Heartbreak: Body of 3-Year-Old Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney Found in Alabama Dumpster; 2 People Charged
Investigators searching for Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney—the 3-year-old abducted from a birthday party more than a week ago—found her body in a dumpster Tuesday night, and authorities are charging two people earlier identified as “persons of interest” with murder, Birmingham, Ala., police said. “Tonight our entire city is mourning,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said, the Tuscaloosa…
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Innocence Project New Orleans: A Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years Is Forced to Trade the Truth for His Freedom
A New Orleans man who has long maintained he was wrongly convicted of murder experienced freedom for the first time in 42 years after a virtual deal with the devil won him his liberty, if not true justice. Elvis Brooks, now 62, walked out of Louisiana’s infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, nicknamed “Angola,” on Wednesday after…
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Elder Fight Club: Staffers at Assisted-Living Facility Are Accused of Pitting Dementia Patients Against One Another
Three women who worked at a North Carolina eldercare facility have been arrested on charges they baited elderly dementia patients into fighting one another. Marilyn Latish McKey, 32, Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were arrested earlier this month on charges of assault on an individual with a disability, according to the…
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'We Stand Here to Honor Her Life': Melina Matsoukas and Lena Waithe Memorialized #AtatianaJefferson at Elle's Women in Hollywood Awards
Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas was somber as she accepted her award at Elle’s 2019 Women in Hollywood awards ceremony on Monday night. As she explained to the assembled guests, her mind was on Atatiana Jefferson, the 28-year-old killed in her own home on Saturday by police officer Aaron Dean in Fort Worth, Texas.…
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Supremes to Review Whether Lee Boyd Malvo, Serving Life as Accomplice to the DC Sniper, Deserves a New Sentence
The nation’s highest court on Wednesday is set to review the life sentences handed down in the early aughts to a then-teenage Lee Boyd Malvo, convicted of multiple murders as an active accomplice of John Allen Muhammad, the serial killer known as the D.C. Sniper—a review that has even won the support of some whom…