The man who used a lethal choke hold on Jordan Neely inside a New York City subway car is facing a felony charge of second-degree manslaughter — but the Neely family’s attorneys say the charge doesn’t go far enough. Daniel Penny has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content, Policing
Amid National Scrutiny of Policing, HBCU Chiefs Work to Remake Relationships With Students
Ace Conyers isn’t the typical South Carolina State University student. His father is the university’s president. But that connection hasn’t always kept Conyers feeling comfortable on campus. He remembers a particularly helpless moment during his freshman year. It was his first night on campus. He was playing music and sitting outside of Earle, a male […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
A Year After Tragedy Gripped Buffalo, Its Black Community Waits For Promises to be Kept
The Rev. Diann Holt lived in a food desert in Cold Springs, the Blackest community in Buffalo, New York, for most of her life — until a racist and deadly mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket last year. “I got sick of being deprived of what I should have,” she says about her […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Families and Survivors of Police Brutality Continue Their Call to End Qualified Immunity
Four years ago, Vicky Lewis was having a heart-to-heart conversation with her 17-year-old son about his future. He was killed 24 hours later. High school senior Isaiah Lewis was just two months away from turning 18 and three weeks from graduating when he was fatally shot on April 29, 2019, by a police officer in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
How This Democrat Wants to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley wants to end the school-to-prison pipeline by passing legislation that would establish new federal grants to support schools and states committed to change. Schools across the country continue to implement unfair and discriminatory school disciplinary practices, such as suspension and expulsion, that affect Black children as early as preschool at disproportionate […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Family of Black Mom Shot 17 Times in the Back by Police Sues
Last summer, Jada Elizabeth Johnson was shot in the back 17 times by a police officer after she was disarmed and pinned down by another officer during a mental health crisis, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed April 7, provides more details about what happened inside her grandfather’s Fayetteville, North Carolina, home on July […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
Sinzae Reed Was Killed Six Months Ago. His Admitted Killer Remains Free.
It has been six months since a Black teenager was shot to death within feet of his home in Columbus, Ohio, and prosecutors are still investigating whether his admitted killer should be charged. Sinzae Reed’s family and the community remain frustrated months after the 13-year-old was gunned down in October at the Wedgewood Village Apartments. […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
The Courthouse Where Trump Surrendered Conjures an Ugly History
Donald Trump on Tuesday entered the same Manhattan courthouse where five Black and Latino teenage boys were wrongfully convicted of raping a white female jogger more than 30 years ago — a case he attached himself to by taking out a full-page ad in the city’s major newspapers to “bring back” the death penalty in New […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Irvo Otieno’s Death Hits Home For Another Virginia Family
Princess Blanding and her family have endured the pain of losing two relatives experiencing a mental health crisis to police violence within a five-year period. The trauma of watching body camera footage of the minutes before her “brothers” died is acute. And the recent death of Irvo Otieno in Virginia is reigniting her call to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Public Safety
The Criminal Legal System Continues to Fail Pieper Lewis, a Survivor of Sex Trafficking
Pieper Lewis’ harrowing experience as a sex trafficking victim and her entrance into the criminal legal system underscore the ripple effects of sexual violence on Black girls and young women. This week, the 18-year-old is facing up to a year in jail after pleading guilty earlier this month to escaping custody. She also faces additional […]