criminal justice
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Kevin Sneed Acquitted of 'Attempted Murder' of Maryland Cop Who Jumped Into His Car [Corrected]
Kevin Sneed of Prince George’s County, Maryland, was pulled over for a broken taillight. He ended up with an attempted murder charge. But after a two-year battle, and with help from local advocacy groups, Sneed can continue being a freed man. Sometimes the justice system gets it right. According to NBC Washington 4, the officer…
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From Defendant to Defender: Theo Shaw, Once Almost Railroaded by the Justice System as One of the Jena 6, Is Now Officially a Lawyer
A Louisiana man whose life was almost thrown away by the criminal justice system when he was overcharged in a case that came to be known as the “Jena 6” is now officially a lawyer. Theo Shaw was sworn in to the bar of the District of Columbia on Friday, according to the New Orleans…
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C.J. Wallace, Son of Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans, Launches Cannabis Line to Benefit the Prison Arts Project
“Smoking blunts was a daily routine, since 13,” Biggie once famously rapped. But now his son, C.J., is showing the public that marijuana use goes far beyond the typical “Party and Bullshit” of most rap lyrics. C.J. Wallace is best known for playing the role of his iconic father in 2009’s Notorious biopic. Now, 10…
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Man on Death Row for 33 Years Will Get New Hearing After 'Damning Revelations' of Police Misconduct
Following years of appeals, a Utah man sentenced to death for a 1985 murder is set to get a new hearing after the main witnesses in the case—who vanished into thin air after his conviction—resurfaced after 25 years to allege that investigators threatened them with deportation and paid them to lie in their testimony. In…
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Chicago’s New GPS-Tracking Ankle Monitors Can Record Kids Without Their Consent
As cities and towns across America come to grips with the country’s mass incarceration problem, many jurisdictions are looking to digital surveillance, particularly ankle monitors, for solutions. But as a new report detailing Chicago’s use of electronic monitoring reveals, these technologies can be every bit as harmful to the people wearing them as putting them…
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Don’t Try This If You’re Black: Court Rules Woman Who Gave Cop the Middle Finger Is Protected by Constitution
Offering a peek into an entirely different justice system and police procedures that black people had no idea existed, a federal court ruled that a law enforcement officer violated a citizen’s constitutional rights by issuing a speeding ticket to a woman because she gave him the middle finger. After hearing the case of Debra Lee…
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ACLU Sues Philadelphia Courts Over Money Bail Practices
In 2015, Eugene Lee spent three months in jail for a botched armed robbery. While that might not seem like a long time, you should know that Lee was not convicted before being sent to jail. He was also not the gunman in the incident. In fact, the robbery involved a toy gun that someone…
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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 Friend of My Enemy Is … Van Jones?
I like Van Jones. I like Van Jones in the same way I like Cardi B, Barack Obama and grits, which is to say I like the idea of Van Jones. I’ve agreed with a lot of his commentary on CNN, and I support his efforts on criminal justice reform, most recently as CEO of…