Criminal Justice
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Police Identify 9-Year-Old Girl Found Dead in Duffel Bag in Southern California
After an “overwhelming response from the news media and tips received from the public,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says it has identified the 9-year-old girl found dead inside a duffel bag last week as Trinity Love Jones. According to the Los Angeles Times, investigators said Sunday night they’ve detained two persons of interest…
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Jussie Smollett Indicted on 16 Felony Charges Related to the Alleged Attack Against Him
An Illinois grand jury has indicted Empire actor Jussie Smollett on 16 felony charges related the alleged hate attack he reported on Jan. 29. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed with ABC7 that the 16-count indictment was returned by the grand jury on Thursday. On Feb. 20, Smollett was charged with one felony count…
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Prosecutors Around the Country Petition Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Lawmakers to End Cash Bail in New York
Earlier this week, 15 of the country’s most progressive prosecutors co-signed a letter urging New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to overhaul the state’s current detention policy by abolishing pretrial cash bail. The letter, sent to Albany on March 6, was signed by some of the country’s most prominent reform-minded prosecutors, including St. Louis County’s Wesley…
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Paul Manafort’s Sentence Proves White Lives Matter
I know black people like Paul Manafort. Like Manafort, Larry Langford, the former mayor of Birmingham, Ala., was essentially jailed for collusion after he directed $7.1 million in county bond business to investment bankers in exchange for $230,000 in cash, a few suits and some jewelry. Like Manafort, Larry Langford was found guilty in a…
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The Sad Connection Between Slavery and Police Presence in Schools
This year marks 400 “documented” years since enslaved Africans were brought to American shores. Centuries later, and we are still grappling with the ramifications of slavery. While African descendants are free in theory, a host of policies continue to criminalize black and brown people. Sadly, that criminalization begins in grade school and feeds the school-to-prison…
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Unable to Press Charges in Jail Death of Mentally Ill Man, Virginia Attorney Indicts Justice System
It should have been clear that Jamycheal Mitchell was not well. At least, that’s what a recent report from Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney for Portmouth says. Mitchell died at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2015, after being arrested several months prior for stealing $5 worth of snacks from a 7-Eleven. A judge ordered Mitchell, diagnosed with…
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Exclusive: ACLU Threatens Legal Action if North Carolina Doesn't Transfer Trans Inmate to Women's Prison
Despite numerous requests to be transferred, North Carolina continues to hold Kanautica Zayre-Brown, a trans woman, behind bars at a men’s correctional facility, a choice that imperils Zayre-Brown’s safety daily, she and her advocates say. On Monday night, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter (pdf) to North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety, demanding…
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Osundairo Brothers Apologize for Ruining Black History Month with Their Involvement in Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Attack
“See, what had happened was …” is a staple phrase in black households that typically proceeds a preposterous explanation for questionable behavior. But since Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo—the Nigerian-American siblings involved in the allegedly bogus attack on the self-proclaimed “gay 2Pac” Jussie Smollet—aren’t in a position to further incriminate the Empire star who’s…
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Mother and Daughter in Pennsylvania are Charged With Murdering 5 of Their Family Members
A mother and her teenage daughter were arrested Tuesday and charged with murdering five of their family members in their Morrisville, Pa., home. Shana S. Decree, 45, and her 19-year-old daughter Dominique K. Decree were charged with five counts of criminal homicide and one count of conspiracy for the deaths of Shana Decree’s children, Naa’Irah…
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This Black History Month, Let’s Recognize the African-American Prisoners Who Helped Build America
Like much of the rest of the discourse around jails, prisons and mass incarceration, Black History Month is not usually a time when we talk about the thousands of black prisoners that were forced to build America after the Civil War. It’s time to recognize them because the postwar South was literally rebuilt on their…