Books Have the Power to Rehabilitate. But Prisons Are Blocking Access to Them.
Behind the walls of California State Prison, Sacramento, six inmates gather in the library for their weekly short-story club. The librarian introduces the day’s pick, Doris Lessing’s A Sunrise on the Veld, and the men take turns reading it aloud. Some of them lean forward in their chairs as they listen; one traces the words…
When Your Rape Doesn’t Count
Something about the knock at the front door made Mary-Scott Hunter think a neighbor was in trouble. She had just arrived home from her job at a corporate training company, and she was mulling over an earlier fight with her girlfriend, but the sound jolted her out of it: five loud, fast raps. She could…
Michael Bloomberg Apologizes for “Stop and Frisk” Just a Few Months After Defending It
Thibault Camus/AP Since leaving office in 2013, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has consistently backed his police department’s “stop and frisk” program in which black and Latino people were nine times more likely to be stopped by police than white people, all in an effort to reduce crime. As recently as January of this…
Group Withdraws from Criminal Justice Forum After Giving Award to Trump
Scott Olson/Getty Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was one of ten Democratic presidential candidates slated to attend a bipartisan forum on criminal justice reform in South Carolina when she unexpectedly backed out after the event sponsor gave a “bipartisan justice” award to President Donald Trump. In a Twitter post Friday, the former California prosecutor said she…
A 9-Year-Old Is Facing Murder Charges in Illinois. The Judge Had to Teach Him What “Arson” and “Alleged” Mean.
A trailer home that was destroyed by fire northeast of Goodfield, Illinois. Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP On Monday, a nine-year-old boy in a checkered shirt sat in a juvenile court in Woodford County, Illinois, accused of murdering several of his relatives by setting fire to a mobile home. As he slid forward in his…
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…