criminal justice
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Black N.C. Mother Charged With Drowning Death of Her Toddler During Hurricane Florence Gets Support From NAACP
When Hurricane Florence battered the Carolinas in September, Dazia Lee’s tragic story made national headlines. Thinking the storm had passed on Sept. 16, the 20-year-old Lee headed out to her grandmother’s house with her 1-year-old son, Kaiden, strapped in his car seat. The drive took a tragic turn when a flash flood overcame the car,…
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Washington State Abolishes the Death Penalty, Finding the Punishment ‘Racially Biased’
Washington state’s Supreme Court abolished the death penalty on Thursday on the grounds that it was applied randomly and “in a racially biased manner,” thus violating the state’s constitution. With the decision, Washington is now the 20th U.S. state to ban capital punishment. The case striking down capital punishment was brought forward by a black…
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What Black People Should Take Away From the Kavanaugh Hearing: A Lack of Due Process Will Always Hurt Us the Most
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was the perfect witness. She was credible. She had taken the time during a brutal, agonizing attack to study her rapist’s face, to make sure she would later be able to bring him to justice. She remained strong through an agonizing rape kit—twice, because the first attempt was botched; through a penicillin shot;…
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Minor Damage: The Criminal Injustice of Black Youth Tried As Adults
No one knew. When 25-year-old guard Keriana Alexcee found the body of Jaquin Thomas hanging in a New Orleans jail cell, she didn’t know that Thomas had been dead for more than 90 minutes. According to the Advocate, Alexcee had not been trained to check on Thomas every 15 minutes—as mandated by a federal consent…
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Chicago Judge Exonerates 18 People Framed By Crooked Cops
On March 23, 2005, police officers arrested 32-year-old Ben Baker for dealing heroin in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells housing projects. After his arrest, Baker filed a complaint claiming he was framed by the officers. In December 2005, the same police officers arrested Baker and his wife during a traffic stop after officers said they found…
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Brother of Kalief Browder Endorses Cynthia Nixon for New York Governor
A little more than two weeks before the New York Democratic gubernatorial primary, candidate Cynthia Nixon has released a new video endorsement from Akeem Browder, the brother of Kalief Browder, a New York City teen who took his own life after being locked in jail for years without going to trial. While Browder first declared…
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Bernie Sanders Takes on Unjust Cash Bail System, but Still Doesn't Make Direct Connection to Institutional Racism
In a bold attempt to correct a major flaw in America’s criminal (in)justice system, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would end cash bail at the federal level and incentivize states that follow suit. Named the No Money Bail Act, the bill (pdf) would formally end the use of secured bonds in…
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Woman Who Beat Elderly Mexican Man with a Brick on July 4 Charged With Attempted Murder
Laquisha Jones, the black woman accused of beating 91-year-old Rodolfo Rodriguez with a cement brick as he was taking his nightly walk, will face attempted murder charges. Jones was arraigned at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. KCAL reports that she pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and elder abuse. The 30-year-old…