criminal justice

In Florida, African Americans make up 16% of the voting population but account for more than 20% of those who have lost their right to vote due to prior felony convictions. Even after a permanent ban on voting was lifted for people with felonies on their records, the state continues to bar them from casting ballots until they have paid...

Proposition 25 would uphold Senate Bill 10, which would replace cash bail with risk assessments for detained suspects awaiting trials. NBC4’s Conan Nolan explains.

A Kentucky grand jury has decided not to indict any of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor with homicide or manslaughter, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be additional charges in the future to hold the officers responsible for her death. Attorney Michael Starr Hopkins explains that federal charges could still be possible under a...

Incidents of racism have become more visible due to cell phone cameras and social media, but hate crimes are still underreported across the U.S., according to Roy L. Austin, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice. The reasons include distrust between the Black community and law enforcement, and a lack of incentive for officials to report...

Roc Nation’s philanthropy arm, Team Roc, filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections earlier this year on behalf of over 150 inmates in the state’s Parchman prison in response to conditions described as “barbaric.” Attorney Jessica Rice, who is working with Team Roc, explains why this case is important in Mississippi and details the long history of...

Cyntoia Brown Long says sex trafficking is often not “black and white” and there is no “perfect victim,” as evidenced by her own case and the ongoing case of Chrystul Kizer, a teenager who is accused of killing her alleged sex trafficker and was released on bond last week.

Andrea Ritchie of the Barnard Center for Research on Women says Black women are more likely to be killed by police than Black men, as evidenced by the shooting of Breonna Taylor. She says Breonna’s Law, while a positive step, doesn’t do enough to protect them.

Months before Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by a police officer outside a Wendy’s in Atlanta, Georgia, he spoke about his experience with the U.S. criminal justice system and the struggles he faced after being incarcerated, NBC News reports. Brooks’ interview in February 2020 was conducted by Reconnect, a Maine-based public benefit corporation, as part of a project about...

Rayshard Brooks, the man who was shot and killed by police last week at an Atlanta, Georgia, drive-through, gave an interview in February about the inequalities of the U.S. criminal justice system. Brooks’ interview was conducted by Reconnect as part of a project about individuals on probation or parole.

Louis Reed, a national organizer for #CUT50 who served almost 14 years in federal prison, explained the harsh long-term consequences suffered by exonerated and released convicts.