Criminal Justice
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New York City ‘Subway Snatcher’ Says He Was Trying to Save Woman, Seeking Boxing Match With People Who Beat Him Up
Who was it who once said that social media will be the death of society? The New York City man who was caught on camera literally picking up a sleeping woman on a subway and carrying her off is now chasing fame on the ’Gram. And he’s trying to promote a boxing match with the…
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Some Good News: Chicago's Crime Rate Down for 3rd Consecutive Year
Just in time to bring in a little New Year cheer, the Chicago Police Department announced that the murder rate in the city declined 13 percent in 2019 from the prior year. Interim Police Superintendent Charlie Beck announced Wednesday that the number of murders decreased from 567 in 2018 to 492 in 2019, giving the…
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Finally! New York to Eliminate Bail for Misdemeanors and Nonviolent Crimes Starting Jan. 1
Effective Jan. 1, a New York law eliminating cash bail for most nonviolent crimes will go into effect. While criminal justice reformers praise the move, some police chiefs, district attorneys and lawmakers oppose the change. The law is part of a group of changes designed to reform the criminal justice system, passed by the state…
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NYPD Detain, Release 14-Year-Old Boy in Connection with Fatal Stabbing of 18-Year-Old Barnard Student
On Thursday, New York City Police detained a 14-year-old they suspect took part in the murder of 18-year-old Barnard College student Tessa Majors, who was stabbed to death in a Harlem park earlier this month. The teenage boy, whose photos were circulated by the NYPD earlier in the week, was released after being questioned, but…
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‘The More Things Change…’: Cyntoia Brown-Long Pens Op-Ed in Support of 17-Year-Old Chrystul Kizer
Cyntoia Brown-Long, freed in August after spending half her life behind bars for killing the man who had trafficked her for sex, vowed upon her release to work on behalf of other survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation. In the months since, Brown-Long has been a fierce public advocate for these women and girls, particularly…
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Black Woman Faces Prison Over Voting Law Created to ‘Rescue White People From the Curse of Negro Domination’
The morning after suffering a miscarriage in July, Lanisha Bratcher came face-to-face with yet another cruel reality of being black in America. Police barged into her North Carolina home “like the Dukes of Hazzard” and according to the Guardian, she was informed that despite the unspeakable loss that she was still processing, there was a…
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New Kentucky Governor Restores Voting Rights to More Than 100,000 Formerly Incarcerated
Fresh into his new job as governor of Kentucky, Democrat Andy Beshear signed an executive order Thursday to restore voting rights to more than 140,000 formerly incarcerated Kentuckians—a move that inordinately affects voting rights for African Americans in the Bluegrass State. As the Washington Post reports: On its face, Mr. Beshear’s executive order is race-blind.…
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Chicago’s Top Prosecutor Tosses Out More Than 1,000 Marijuana Convictions Ahead of State Legalization Law
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx took the first step toward wiping more than 1,000 marijuana convictions off the books, appearing at a court hearing Wednesday afternoon to call for the expungement of low-level cannabis convictions. As the Chicago Sun-Times reports, the move is part of Illinois’ new recreational marijuana law, which legalizes weed in…
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Tennessee Supreme Court Puts Execution of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman on Hold Amid Concerns of Racial Bias
For the first time since resuming capital punishment last year, the Tennessee Supreme Court has pumped the brakes on an execution scheduled for April 16. The reason? Racism. From the Tennessean: The high court delayed Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman’s April 16 execution to allow a lower court time to consider if racial bias surrounding his trial should…
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‘David Duke in Uniform’: NYPD Officers Say Top Cop Told Them to Target Black and Latinx Commuters on Subways
A high-ranking NYPD leader who oversees the department’s subway policing division has come under increased scrutiny in the last week as former subordinates have publicly called out the leader on his racism—even going so far as to refer to him as “David Duke in uniform.” Recent reporting from The New York Times and Gothamist have…