Category: Criminal Justice Reform

By Matthew Green, KQED The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to permanently end the practice of charging those in county jail for phone calls, and to stop marking up items sold in jail stores. The measure, among the first of its kind in the nation, codifies a set of reforms that […]

By George Hunter, The Detroit News Detroit — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy plans to regularly release to the public the names of police officers who are unable to testify in court cases because they were found guilty of being untruthful. The first list of names is expected to be released later this week, and Worthy said Wednesday she will […]

A restaurant with Black employees is prioritizing its workers’ mental health as they navigate the coronavirus and the protests against racial injustice. By James Estrin, The New York Times The employees of Grandchamps, a Haitian restaurant in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, were closing up after a long, hot day of filling takeout orders in […]

Ms. Kizer was charged with premeditated murder in the 2018 death of Randall Volar. Her case attracted widespread attention, and a Chicago bail fund paid $400,000 for her release on Monday. By Jacey Fortin, The New York Times Chrystul Kizer, a 19-year-old who was charged in the 2018 killing of a man who prosecutors said […]

By Grace Hauck, USA TODAY People running, screaming and shouting words of disbelief. Bodies thrown in the air, lifted onto windshields or trapped under cars and semitrucks. It’s become a horrifying and familiar scene in recent weeks. Amid thousands of protests nationwide against police brutality, dozens of drivers have plowed into crowds of protesters marching in roadways, raising questions about the […]

By Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press On June10, 1954, governors and representatives from twelve Southern states met in Richmond, Virginia, and resolved to defiantly resist the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education.Released less than a month earlier, the Brown decision struck down racial segregation laws — prevalent in the South — that required separate public schools for […]

By EJI Staff, EJI, Equal Justice Initiative On July 10, 1887, the grand jury of Hinds County, Mississippi, released a report revealing the horrific conditions state prisoners endured under convict leasing — a system that permitted private companies to lease prisoners from the state to labor for no pay. The grand jury observed that many prisoners who […]

Ms. Cooper, who is white, is facing a charge of filing a false police report after she claimed a Black birdwatcher threatened her in Central Park during a dispute over her dog. By Jan Ransom, The New York Times The Manhattan district attorney’s decision to charge a white woman with filing a false police report against a […]

By Robert T. Smith (aka Kush-I), San Francisco Bay View In the Old Testament Scriptures, the God in the prophet Daniel’s vision had wooly hair: “And the hair of his head was like pure wool.” (Daniel 7:9) In the book of Revelation in the New Testament, the God in John’s vision also had wooly hair. […]

By Tanasia Kenney, The News & Observer Deputies in Clayton County, Ga., made a “disturbing” discovery while executing a search warrant at a suspected meth house. Deputies raided the home in Jonesboro late Tuesday to find drugs, including several ounces of methamphetamine and a small amount of weed, according to a press release from the Clayton County […]