criminal justice
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Philly Rallies Behind Meek Mill as Rapper Awaits Judge’s Decision on Possible Retrial
Meek Mill is seeking justice, and his city is behind him. Fans gathered in droves Monday outside the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia, where Judge Genece Brinkley heard arguments about granting the 31-year-old rapper a new trial on gun- and drug-related charges he faced when he was 19. The rapper’s lawyers…
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I See My Dad When I Look in the Mirror, and I’m Terrified I’ll Repeat His Mistakes
I was 34 years old when I could no longer escape the man I never wanted to see again. For the past 30 years, the day designated to celebrate men’s investment in their children has not brought me a great deal of joy. In 1988, just two weeks after Father’s Day, my dad was convicted…
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Black Woman Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Casting Illegal Ballot Will Not Get New Trial
A Texas woman and ex-offender who received a harsh five-year jail sentence for voting illegally will not get a new trial, a judge decided Monday. According to the New York Times, Judge Ruben Gonzalez, the same judge who sentenced 43-year-old Crystal Mason to the lengthy jail term, turned down her bid for a retrial. In…
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The True Danger of Trump: How White, Republican Judges Sentence Black People to Longer Prison Terms
While you were worried about Russian collusion, Kardashian pardons, national anthem protests, trade tariffs, border walls and Melania Trump’s secret face-lift kidney surgery, the Trump administration has been successfully implementing an insidious plan that threatens to reverberate in black America for decades to come. When it comes to the black community, despite what media headlines…
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Innocent Man Who Served 20 Years for a Crime He Didn’t Commit Forced to Take Plea Deal in Exchange for His Freedom
The wheels of justice turn ever so slowly when you are a black man caught up in a system designed to hold you down. It’s even worse when those who work within that system intentionally do their best to keep you there. Such is the story of Corey Williams of Shreveport, La. Williams is impaired…
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John Bunn, Convicted at 14 for a Crime He Didn’t Commit, Is Finally Exonerated. But Justice Still Hasn’t Been Served
At 14 years old, John Bunn went on trial for murder; the proceeding lasted just one day. Accused in August 1991 of murdering a corrections officer, the Brooklyn, N.Y., teenager was convicted by a jury based on tainted evidence provided by former New York City Police Detective Louis Scarcella. Bunn served 17 years behind bars,…
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2 Men Wrongfully Imprisoned for Rape Exonerated After Accuser Recants Story
Two men wrongfully imprisoned for a kidnapping and rape they didn’t commit were exonerated Monday in state Supreme Court in New York City. Cumulatively, the men had served decades in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. VanDyke Perry and Gregory Counts were just 19 and 21 years old, respectively, when they were charged with…
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White Judge Sentenced to Probation for Election Fraud in Same County Where Black Woman Received 5 Years
Right now, there is a black woman sitting in prison, reading about a Texas judge who was found guilty of the same crime she committed. She probably noticed that the judge was sentenced to five years’ probation in the same county that sentenced her to five years in jail. More than likely, she also noticed…
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Watch: To Understand How Harmful Juvenile Incarceration Is, Listen to This Poem
In a spoken-word poem, Dwayne Betts details the emotional impacts of juvenile incarceration. In partnership with WNYC Studios, we present Caught. #CaughtPodcast
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Where’s My Village?
Editor’s note: This is the second of two essays The Root is publishing in partnership with Caught, a new podcast from WNYC Studios about the juvenile-justice system. We hope to generate a conversation about how we can support rather than merely punish young people who are in crisis, and we want to hear from you…