Election night marked a historic day for Black women in politics, despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks have been elected as the fourth and fifth Black women to win a Senate seat. It will be the first time in history that two Black women will serve in the […]
Christina Carrega
Christina Carrega is the criminal justice reporter at Capital B. Follow her on Bluesky @chriscarrega.bsky.social.
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
A Trump Win, Against the Will of Most Black Voters
For the overwhelming majority of Black voters, a political nightmare is becoming a reality: Donald Trump secured enough Electoral College votes to win the 2024 presidential election, according to the Associated Press. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. In the weeks leading up to Election […]
Posted inCourts, Elections, LGBTQ
Why Judicial Elections Matter
It was a moment in a Detroit courtroom that went viral. A judge ordered that a 15-year-old girl be handcuffed and dressed in a prison uniform. Her offense? She fell asleep in his courtroom during a class trip. The incident was caught on the cameras in state District Court Judge Kenneth J. King’s courtroom, the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Exonerated Five Sue Trump for Defamation
The five men exonerated in connection with the Central Park jogger case have called on a federal judge to put a stop to what they described as an ongoing campaign of falsehoods being leveled against them by former president Donald Trump. Since May 1, 1989, Trump has publicized his “hate” for the five Black and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
The Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls in Wisconsin
Sheena Scarbrough had read the headlines about missing and murdered Black people in Wisconsin and across the country — but never imagined it would hit so close to home. On April 1, she spoke to her daughter Sade Carleena Robinson via FaceTime. On April 3 she found out the 19-year-old was missing. Scarbrough says she […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Split Verdict Closes One Chapter for Tyre Nichols’ Family, Yet The Fight Isn’t Over
It’s been a grief-stricken road for RowVaughn Wells nearly two years after the fatal beating of her son Tyre Nichols. On Thursday, the Memphis, Tennessee, mother was able to close one chapter after three of the five former police officers were found guilty of federal witness tampering charges in the fatal beating. But they were […]
Posted inCourts, Politics & Policy
How Presidential Elections Can Change the Judicial Landscape
Donald Trump left the White House after having appointed more than 200 judges to the federal bench and three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, securing a Republican supermajority. These lifetime appointments, and the decisions in historic court cases that have followed, have influenced countless legal precedents and policies.. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Why Mayor Eric Adams’ Scandal Doesn’t Shock Black New Yorkers
Outside the steps of New York City’s Gracie Mansion, Mayor Eric Leroy Adams, surrounded by more than a dozen Black clergy members and civil rights activists, approached the podium to make a statement before his indictment on bribery and other charges. But a hefty male voice from the crowd interrupted. “Your policies are anti-Black. You […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Why Missouri’s AG Keeps Blocking Innocent People From Freedom
DNA evidence had suggested for years that Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams was wrongfully convicted for the murder of Felicia Gayle, and yet, the final weeks before the Sept. 24 execution date had been a series of twists and turns. That evidence was enough for Gayle’s family and Missouri’s former attorney general in 2017. This January, […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Incarceration, Policing, Public Safety
DOJ Launches Investigation Into This Mississippi County’s Infamous ‘Goon Squad’
Nearly two years after Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker survived hours of a sadistic torture plot conjured up by six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers, the U.S. Justice Department has launched a pattern or practice investigation into Rankin County, and its sheriff’s department. On behalf of Jenkins and Parker, their attorneys Malik […]