The memes show up on social media whenever a white mass shooter is taken into custody. On one side of the image is the face of a Black person who was gunned down by police after being stopped on suspicion of a minor crime. On the other side is the face of a young white […]
Christina Carrega
Christina Carrega is the criminal justice reporter at Capital B. Follow her on Bluesky @chriscarrega.bsky.social.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
The Mass Casualty Crime No One Is Talking About
A few hours of celebration turned into mourning at a high school graduation party in South Carolina in June when two vehicles pulled up and as many as 70 bullets were fired into the crowd, police said. Audrionna Kind, 32, was killed, and eight others — mostly teenagers — were injured. Kind, a mother of […]
Posted inHealth, Reproductive Health
How Overturning Abortion Rights Affects Black Women
This story has been updated. In a historic reversal, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that will limit abortion access in many states and potentially exacerbate racial disparities in maternal health. The impacts will fall disproportionately on Black people, who receive about a third of abortions nationwide. The opinion, released […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
The Land of the Free Leads the World in Incarceration. Why?
This story is part of a special Juneteenth project with Vox which explores the ongoing struggle for freedom for Black Americans. When Sylvester Shockley was 9 years old, he says he was arrested for breaking into businesses and sent to an “all-boys reform school” — what he later realized was a detention center for “juvenile delinquents.” […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
Biden’s policies aren’t the only possible solutions to America’s gun violence epidemic
As the number of mass shootings has surged beyond the number of days in 2022, President Joe Biden addressed the country in a televised primetime speech Thursday to advocate for policy solutions and urge lawmakers to “finally do something” about the nation’s gun violence epidemic. Following the massacres of 10 Black people in New York, […]
Posted inCulture, History
‘Don’t Forget About Us’: Generations of Neglect Preceded Attack on Black Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of this city’s main thoroughfares is crossed by a prominent, white archway marked with large black letters: “African American Heritage Corridor.” Michigan Avenue is home to historic buildings and stained-glass chapels, but the most important one sits beside the arch: a 177-year-old, red-brick church, memorialized as the last stop of the […]
Posted inHealth, Reproductive Health
The Fight Over Abortion Rights Is a Black Issue
Maternal health care advocates raised alarm Tuesday after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion suggested that the nation’s highest court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that would limit abortion access nationwide and could exacerbate racial disparities in births. Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the leaked opinion, published Monday […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
Lawmakers Have Promised to Reform Criminal Justice, But Bills Are Lingering in Congress
When Dawn Brooks recalls her time in prison, she uses a simple word: “unfathomable.” She remembers the lack of toilet paper and feminine and hygiene products. She remembers the lack of alcohol-based hand sanitizer in the midst of the COVID pandemic. She remembers having to miss meals because of her severe peanut allergy: The prison […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voices of Change
California’s Only Black District Attorney Promised to ‘Shake Up This Office.’ Now Her Deputy Is Running Against Her.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Capital B is talking to newsmakers from across the country who want to reshape American politics or galvanize Black voices in government. Our “Voices of Change” series will update periodically with insights from the candidates, activists, lawmakers, and political insiders who you should know. As the only Black elected chief […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
Exonerations of Black Americans Rise to More Than 1,600, Report Finds
More than two-thirds of people exonerated in wrongful conviction investigations last year were Black, including three on death row, according to an annual report from the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE). The cases included the overturned convictions of two men — Sherwood Brown and Eddie Lee Howard Jr. — who were taken off Mississippi’s death […]