Democratic Pundits Have A Pernicious Crime Problem
They say fact-checking perceptions of crime is a fool's errand because they're rooted in vibes. But they ignore that the vibes are coming from somewhere: media.
Category Commentary
The COVID-19 Homicide Spike Has Vanished
There's a story for politicians to tell of not just crime declines, but non-police interventions that made cities safer.
The Biggest Myth About the 1994 Crime Bill Still Haunts Joe Biden. It Shouldn’t.
The law is routinely blamed for a very real problem it had nothing to do with.
New Laws Are Turning Police Into 'Super Citizens'
A series of legislative and judicial efforts have removed police oversight from oversight boards and communities.
A Potent Weapon For State Legislatures To Undermine Reform Prosecutors
Preemption is being used by red and blue states alike to roll back the power of reform prosecutors.
Florida Has Found A New Way To Thwart Reform Prosecutors
A plan in Florida to review its judicial circuits will disenfranchise Black voters, the most reliable political base for reform prosecutors.
Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With "Death Star" Law
This story was produced in partnership with Slate. On Sept. 1, a bill with the pithy title “An Act Relating to State Preemption of and the Effect of Certain State or Federal Law on Certain Municipal...
Liberals have lost the Supreme Court for a generation. Their only hope is to seize state courts and launch a counterrevolution.
The Fashionable Police Strategy That Is Just Mass Incarceration By Another Name
This story was published in partnership with Slate. Police departments, politicians, academics, and policymakers are again embracing focused deterrence, a violence reduction strategy that relies on...
Biden’s Focus on Marijuana Is Part of the Problem
This story was published in partnership with Slate. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden released a three-prong plan to fulfill a campaign promise to roll back punishments for people convicted of...
Why Even Progressive Prosecutors Won’t Be Able to Keep Women Who Have Abortions Out of Jail
This article was published in partnership with Slate. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 90 elected prosecutors signed a letter written by the...
What the San Francisco DA Recall Really Tells Us. And What it Doesn’t.
The city's demographics mattered, as did Chesa Boudin's outsider status. But the politics of punishment are still too complicated to draw a neat conclusion.
Hochul’s Regressive Bail Rollbacks Untethered From Evidence
The bail reform debate turns on data from data from New York State’s Office of Court Administration. But that data cannot answer the question of whether reform works.
The Wrong Prosecutors Are Getting Recalled
Some prosecutors confront recalls over their policies, while others facing misconduct allegations could be re-elected.
The Real Reason Democrats Can't Agree On How To Address Rising Crime
The criminal legal reform divide is between moderate mayors and progressive prosecutors.
Myths about the role of prescription opioids have fueled decades of misguided policies. A new report from The Stanford-Lancet Commission reinforces those falsehoods.
What an Analysis of 2,000 Shootings Tells Us About How to End Gun Violence
This story was published in partnership with Slate. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ “Blueprint to End Gun Violence” received an extraordinary amount of attention from the media and politicians,...
Eric Adams’ “Blueprint To End Gun Violence” Is a Trojan Horse
The New York Mayor’s blueprint isn’t really an anti-violence plan—it's an assault on modest discovery, bail and juvenile justice reforms.
The Manhattan DA Started a Panic with Supposedly Soft-on-Crime Policies. His Critics Are Wrong.
Like other progressive prosecutors, Alvin Bragg is trying to acknowledge that prison time doesn’t fight crime.
Over 100,000 overdose deaths happened last year, driven by volatile and lethal fentanyl. The safe supply movement may have an answer for the crisis.
Crime Rates Rise And Fall. The Police Mostly Have Nothing To Do With It.
Policing expansions don't do much to reduce crime. Instead, they manage people and communities to serve the interests of the powerful.
Why Our Fixation On The Murder Rate Is Killing Us
Deaths by suicide, drug overdose, and car accidents are all strongly influenced by our reliance on—and unwillingness to move away from—policing.