Investigations
Baltimore’s homicide clearance rate is rising, but arrests for murder remain flat
Murders have declined and the mayor calls the city a model for violence reduction. But arrests for murder have largely remained the same.
Investigations
YNW Melly's Trials Highlight Florida's Unconstitutional Death Penalty Law
If convicted in a double homicide, Melly could be sentenced to death by a non-unanimous jury — a practice with deep roots in Jim Crow.
Investigations
Bail Is A Longstanding Problem in Baltimore. Is Maryland Searching For A Solution?
Maryland's pre-trial population has increased since bail reform was enacted in 2017. But Illinois has a reform model that might work for the state.
Reports
Who Is Voting For Reform Prosecutors?
A Split Ticket/Garrison Project data analysis of recent reform prosecutor elections.
Commentary
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.
Investigations
California Lets Defendants Challenge Racism In Court. Few Have Succeeded.
A Garrison Project and CalMatters analysis of the Racial Justice Act found about a dozen successful cases in which judges took action on racial bias in the legal process.
Investigations
Baltimore Residents Held In Jail At Higher Rates Than Before Bail Reform
A 2017 state bail reform effort led to a paradox: use of cash bail has plummeted, but most initial appearances end in a bail denial.
Investigations
North Carolina Parole System Accused Of Blocking Release For People Who Committed Crimes As Children
A lawsuit from a prisoner who been denied release more than 20 times claims that the state holds parole "perpetually out of realistic reach."
Investigations
Reports and Body-cam Video Raise Familiar Concerns About Baltimore Police Plainclothes Unit
In May, a detective pointed his service weapon to the temple of a prone and restrained man.
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.
Investigations
Taking a hard look at Baltimore's Gun Violence Reduction Strategy
An analysis of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott's key anti-violence strategy.
Investigations
Were Black jurors in North Carolina struck because of their race?
The question looms over capital cases in the state.
Commentary
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.
Investigations
Feds Closed a Prison Notorious for Abuse. Things Only Got Worse
Dozens of women were assaulted at the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin, California, before it was shut down. Now, prisoners are facing “mass retaliation and bullying”
Commentary
New Laws Are Turning Police Into 'Super Citizens'
A series of legislative and judicial efforts have removed police oversight from oversight boards and communities.
Latest
GOP Senate Candidate’s Error-Laden Memoir Villainized Baltimore, Freddie Gray
Larry Hogan, the former Maryland Republican governor, has a moderate reputation — but spent his career wrongfully demonizing Baltimore
Latest
In historic North Carolina hearing, Joe Freeman Britt’s troubled past as prosecutor looms
The proceedings are before a Johnston County Superior judge, but former Roberson and Scotland County prosecutor Britt's legacy hangs over them.
Investigations
Terrence Carter spent three years in jail and on house arrest in a case in which police and prosecutors relied on the surveillance plane.
Commentary
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.
Features
Harris County had big plans to reform its criminal justice system. What went wrong?
Features
An ‘Execute-Them-At-Any-Cost Mentality’: The Supreme Court’s New, Bloodthirsty Era
The death penalty survived decades of decline. Now it’s back, thanks to capital punishment-prone prosecutors and a compliant Supreme Court.
Features
Though they once applauded the jail’s federal reforms, community groups and political leaders in New Orleans oppose a key mandate: the construction of a $109 million mental health jail.
Investigations
The short history and long tail of “zero tolerance” policing in Baltimore.
Investigations
Baltimore Police Unit Under Fire for Deadly Shootings, Questionable Stops
District Action Team officers fatally shot someone again on Tuesday. But concerns about the unit have been rising for months.
Latest
Reality Policing TV Is Back And More Pervasive Than Ever
After George Floyd's murder, reality policing shows were cancelled, and network execs promised they'd never return. But three years later, they're back—and thriving.
Investigations
Does The Allegheny County DA's Criminal Justice Strategy Unfairly Punish Black people?
An analysis of the county's criminal court cases shows that Black people have been prosecuted by the DA’s office at 5.8 times the rate of white people, and charged with felonies more frequently.
Latest
Former Death Row Prisoner Files Lawsuit Against Moonlighting Prosecutor
Clinton Young is suing a prosecutor who simultaneously worked for judges presiding over his cases.
Commentary
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.
Commentary
Liberals have lost the Supreme Court for a generation. Their only hope is to seize state courts and launch a counterrevolution.
Latest
Data Undercuts Key Law Enforcement Claim About San Francisco's Fentanyl Trafficking Crackdown
San Francisco’s top prosecutor says massive resources are needed to rebut human trafficking defenses, but it’s hard to find many instances where that has happened.
Investigations
"We establish our own probable cause," a District Action Team officer said in a piece of video footage captured after a 2022 arrest.
Features
This Cop Unleashed A Reign Of Terror, Say The Wrongfully Accused
For years, people in Raleigh were arrested for heroin possession—without having the drug. Now, they’re demanding answers
Investigations
What If The Worst Crime Imaginable Never Happened
Jimmie Duncan is on death row in Louisiana based on fraudulent science—but that might not matter if the state’s governorship flips this fall.
Features
Deaths, Use of Solitary Soar At The Allegheny County Jail Even As Its Population Has Dropped From Pre-Pandemic Highs.
Features
Last year, Gerald Thomas was sent to the Allegheny County Jail after charges against him were dropped, and died inside 17 days later. The judge who berated him is now facing a federal lawsuit.
Features
A Cop Sexually Assaulted Their Son. Then Child Protective Services Retaliated.
How a family in Missouri almost lost their kid, and couldn't fight back thanks to qualified immunity laws.
Features
Why Are So Few Being Released?
They were sentenced to long prison terms for crimes they committed in their teens. But North Carolina opened a potential door to get them out.
Features
Celeb Prosecutor's Own Kidnapping Is Now A True Crime Fiasco
She survived a brutal kidnapping and attempted rape—and wrote a book about it. But did it happen the way she says?
Features
The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley’s Prophet of Urban Doom
Like his pals Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, Sacks is using his wealth and online clout to unite conservatives and former leftists in a reactionary movement against liberalism.
Latest
Police Are Bragging About Big Fentanyl Busts, Repeating the Drug War’s Dark History
Politicians and lawmakers are equating large-scale fentanyl seizures with progress in combating the drug’s epidemic, forgetting the lessons from the age of crack.
Latest
How States Will Target Pregnant People Now that Roe Has Fallen
After the Dobbs decision, every pregnancy is a potential crime scene.
Commentary
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.
Features
‘We don't know how many women are out there like that’
Anna Borkowski accused three men of rape. Why did prosecutors stop her?
Commentary
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.
Features
How Texas Became the Most Virulently Anti-Trans State in America
Governor Greg Abbott’s notorious order to investigate gender-affirming care as child abuse was years in the making.
Commentary
The Wrong Prosecutors Are Getting Recalled
Some prosecutors confront recalls over their policies, while others facing misconduct allegations could be re-elected.
Commentary
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.
Investigations
The Biggest Threat to Trans Kids in Texas is Child Protective Services
Texas Is targeting trans kids. But weaponizing Child Protective Services against them could be a threat everywhere.
Commentary
Myths about the role of prescription opioids have fueled decades of misguided policies. A new report from The Stanford-Lancet Commission reinforces those falsehoods.
Commentary
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.
Commentary
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.
Reports
Major Media Outlets Can’t Stop Describing Police Violence As ‘Officer Involved’ Incidents
Following the murder of George Floyd, The Associated Press issued guidance that reporters should not describe instances where police shot someone with neutral language. It didn't work.
Features
David Simon Made Baltimore Detectives Famous. Now Their Cases Are Falling Apart.
Has reality caught up to the “Murder Police”?
Features
She Was Open To Her Child Being Trans. Then The State Separated Them.
Is the case of Katee Churchill just the beginning?
Commentary
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.
Features
The state’s appellate courts could give new trials to two Black men who claim prosecutors discriminated against potential jurors.
Investigations
Human Trafficking Sting Nets No Human Trafficking Charges
A Florida sheriff boasted of 125 arrests as part of a massive anti-human trafficking operation. But none of the charges were for human trafficking—nearly all were for misdemeanor solicitation.
Commentary
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.
Commentary
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.
Features
In 1992, thousands of furious, drunken cops descended on City Hall — and changed New York history.