A Big Legal Victory for Voting Rights in Florida, and a Rebuke Against its Republican Governor
James Borchuck/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA My colleague, and MoJo’s resident Big Brain on all things voting, pointed out this major legal win in Florida on Friday: A group of 20 people with felony convictions was suing the state over a new law requiring them to repay any fines or fees they owed before they could register…
The Largest–Ever Survey of Campus Sexual Assault Shows How Outrageously Common It Is
The Washington Post/Getty A new survey of campus sexual violence in the United States has found that more than 1 in 4 undergraduate women from 33 large universities have experienced sexual assault while they were students. Fewer than 30 percent of those women, who were assaulted by force or while they were unable to consent,…
Fort Worth Police Officer Fatally Shoots Black Woman in Her Own Home
RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images The Fort Worth police department is scrambling to explain how and why an officer shot and killed a woman in her own home over the weekend. Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, was declared dead early Saturday morning. The police received an “open structure” call around 2:30 a.m. from a neighbor who was concerned…
California Now Has the Nation’s Strictest Private Prison Ban
A guard walks with a detainee in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.Chris Carlson/AP In his inaugural address in January, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared private prisons an “outrage” and promised to end them “once and for all.” Today, he signed the strictest private prison ban in the country, setting the stage for thousands of immigration…
Women All Over the Country Are Suing Police for Failing to Test Their Rape Kits
Carolyn Cole/Getty Sometime after 2 a.m. in a dark exam room at the San Francisco General Hospital, a sexual assault nurse examiner turned on a handheld blacklight. Heather Marlowe looked down at her body. Her stomach and thighs were glowing. The nurse took swabs, and reassured her that when police analyzed her rape kit, they…
A Radical Approach to Helping Former Prisoners Start Over: Let Them Into Your Home
Sabina Crocette and London Croudy in the backyard of Crocette’s West Oakland townhouse. Cayce CliffordWhen she first got out, little things like crossing the street were difficult for London Croudy. “When you’re in prison, the only thing you’re thinking about is going home. You plan all these things in your mind, and then all of…