criminal justice system
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Two Black Men Who Spent Nearly 18 Years in a Michigan Prison for a Crime They Didn't Commit File $160 Million Lawsuit
It’s not always easy being a writer whose main focus is documenting racism and racial injustice in America. It’s a job that consistently requires the covering of sad and often infuriating stories. Among the hardest stories to cover are those that involve Black people spending years and even decades in prison for crimes they didn’t…
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Black Man Who Spent 25 Years Incarcerated for a Murder He Didn’t Commit Has Been Exonerated
A Black man from Queens has been released from prison after being incarcerated for 25 years for a crime he didn’t commit. According to ABC 7, Jaythan Kendrick was exonerated on Thursday and released from incarceration. Kendrick, who is now 62, maintained his innocence from the start, and it took years of support from his…
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Penn. Judge Resigns the Day Before His Misconduct Trial Over Alleged Racist Comments Was Set to Start
The only thing worse than a racist is a cowardly racist. Yeah, I know: All racists are cowards. But every once in a while we get to see a racist tuck their tail between their legs and run just before they’re officially confronted with their racist behavior. Such appears to be the case for now-former…
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Exonerated Five's Kevin Richardson Reflects On Receiving Honorary Degree from Syracuse University, Using It As an Opportunity to Inspire Others
In 2019, many of us learned the story of Kevin Richardson, who was one of five teenagers wrongly convicted for the 1989 rape of a white woman jogging in New York City’s Central Park. Netflix’s When They See Us gave us a glimpse into Richardson’s life before and after it was derailed by our corrupted…
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A Judge Asked Harvard to Find Out Why So Many Black People Were In Prison. They Could Only Find 1 Answer: Systemic Racism
It wasn’t Black-on-Black crime. Violent video games and rap songs had nothing to do with it; nor did poverty, education, two-parent homes or the international “bootstraps” shortage. When a judge tasked researchers with explaining why Massachusetts’ Black and Latinx incarceration was so high, a four-year study came up with one conclusion. Racism. It was always…
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Michigan Appeals Court Grants Release of Black Girl Who Was Detained After Not Doing Online Homework
A 15-year-old Black girl who was being detained in a juvenile facility in Detroit for failing to complete online schoolwork has been granted release by the Michigan Court of Appeals. The teenage girl in question, referred to as Grace to protect her privacy, had been held in detention at the Children’s Village center for 78…
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A Majority of Americans Support Black Lives Matter, but Are Divided on the Policy Changes the Movement Has Championed
Americans agree that racism in the criminal justice system is a problem. Where they’re still divided is how to address it—and how far to go. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll published earlier this week, a record-high number of Americans acknowledge that Black people and other minorities are treated differently than white people in…
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The Spectacular Assassination of Nathaniel Woods
Assassinate: 1. to kill someone by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons or to injure or destroy unexpectedly and treacherously. text We can be almost sure that there is someone in America’s past who has been wrongfully executed. The law is not infallible. But Nathaniel Woods’ case is different. The state of Alabama…
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You Get a Pardon! And You Get a Pardon! Career Criminal Donald Trump Passes Out Get Out of Jail Free Cards to Disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Others
There are some words and phrases in the English language that are open to interpretation, while others—like “criminal”—are pretty cut-and-dried. Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a fucking criminal. While most would point to his terrible dye job as proof that he belongs behind bars, there’s also the fact that he racked up an astounding…