A weekend visit to family on Long Island, New York, turned into Kenneth Hogan’s last days of freedom. At 20 years old, Hogan was a father of two and his mother’s main support system. Hogan says he sold drugs in Albany, New York, to financially survive and yet he aspired to break his family’s generational […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
What to Do If You Witness Possible Police Misconduct
Disturbing cellphone and police body camera footage of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy tackling a Black woman to the ground as she filmed the arrest of a man raises questions about how bystanders can protect themselves while documenting possible police misconduct. In police body camera footage released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
A Broken Justice System Is Only Deepening the Grief of Sinzae Reed’s Family
Megan Reed was in the middle of cooking dinner when she was startled by someone repeatedly banging on the front door of her Columbus, Ohio, apartment. A neighbor alerted her that her youngest son, Sinzae Reed, was shot. Reed rushed out of their second-floor apartment in the Wedgewood Village Apartments complex with food still cooking […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Mississippi Police Department Faces a $400M Federal Lawsuit for Shooting Man in Jaw
A Mississippi man who barely survived being shot in the mouth while six white Rankin County police officers held him and his friend during an alleged drug raid has filed a $400 million federal lawsuit. Michael Corey Jenkins, 32, and Eddie T. Parker, 35, both Black, say their civil rights were violated on Jan. 24 […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
The Thwarted Promise of Black Women Prosecutors
When Kimberly M. Foxx was sworn in as the first Black woman in Illinois to lead the Cook County attorney’s office in 2016, she also joined the “Sisters Circle” with 20 other Black female prosecutors. Over Foxx’s two terms, she has seen the support group’s numbers fluctuate – yet members’ concerns remain the same. “In […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
Shooting of Black Teen Is a Symptom of Kansas City’s Racist History
Alvin Brooks remembers growing up as the only Black kid in an all white, but poor white, Leeds-Dunbar neighborhood during the 1940s in Kansas City, Missouri. Although he made friends, he was reminded that in other parts of the city he was not welcome. Sometimes the streetcar’s white motorman charged him a nickel to board […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
Sinzae Reed’s Admitted Killer Evades Homicide Charges
The mother of Sinzae Reed is furious after a grand jury decided not to file homicide-related charges against the man who admitted to killing her 13-year-old son last year. After two days of testimony this week, a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, instead decided to file felony charges against Krieg Allen Butler, 37, of tampering […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
Black Men Continue to Be Overrepresented in Annual Wrongful Conviction Report
A majority of wrongful convictions have been tied to drug possession allegations that were brought on by corrupt police officers who targeted Black people, a new report revealed. The National Registry of Exonerations tallied 233 exonerations in 2022, of which a majority stemmed from patterns of misconduct by police officers. In addition, NRE researchers found […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man Who Fatally Choked Jordan Neely Arraigned on Criminal Charge
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 […]
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 […]