Just days before the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, the Justice Department said they will dismiss police investigations launched during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Harmeet Dhillon, the leader of the department’s Civil Rights Division, announced Wednesday plans to withdraw pending federal lawsuits against police departments in Louisville, Kentucky, following the death of Breonna […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content
5 Years After George Floyd’s Death, Activists Say the Promise of Change Remains Unfulfilled
Originally published by The 19th The fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s death is approaching, a time that many remember as a “racial reckoning” that heightened the world’s attention on police brutality and its deadly impact on Black people. Activists, leaders and community members believed five years ago that the country would point to this moment as […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Tyre Nichols Died. A Tennessee Jury Didn’t Convict Three Ex-Officers for His Death.
Just days after the controversial acquittal of three former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers in the death of Tyre Nichols, his family is condemning the “wanted” posters showing the men involved in his brutal beating that are appearing across the city. Since the verdict, the family has been “made aware of posters in public places around […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content, Policing, Public Safety, Social Welfare
Portland Police Overwhelmingly Use Force On Unhoused In Mental Health Calls
As Portland weighs expansion of an alternative crisis-response program, new data from a MindSite News-Medill investigation shows police often deploy force on residents who are unhoused or grappling with mental illness.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Diddy Faces Trial Amid Abuse Claims and Years of Industry Silence
The video begins with a barefoot woman walking fast toward the elevator lobby of a Los Angeles hotel. Within seconds, she is yanked violently by a man with a bath towel around his waist, who grabs her by the back of her neck and throws her to the ground before kicking and dragging her. Hip-hop […]
Posted inGun Violence, Politics & Policy
Years After Tragedy Gripped Buffalo, Its Black Community Waits for Change
As the month of May approaches each year, Marnetta Malcolm is brought to tears — mourning alongside former neighbors still reeling from the racist massacre that attempted to shatter her childhood community in Buffalo, New York. “It starts now,” Malcolm told Capital B in an interview nine days before the third anniversary of the murder […]
Posted inClimate Change, Criminal Justice, Environmental Justice, Health Equity
The End of DEI: What Trump’s Executive Orders Mean for Black Americans
President Donald Trump has spent the early months of his return to the White House dismantling the nation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The moves, he’s said, are designed to forge a “color-blind” society that rejects the sorts of race-conscious programs that are intended to make amends for the historical wrongs experienced by Black Americans […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
The Case of Brittany Martin: Punished Twice for the Same Incident
After spending more than two years in two different prisons in two different states, Brittany Martin believed her fight with the criminal legal system was finally over. She walked out of a South Carolina prison just before Thanksgiving, reunited with her family, and began to rebuild her life. But just three weeks later, the 37-year-old […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Juvenile Justice
They Got Life in Prison at 17. Now They’re Helping Others Avoid That Fate.
As a teenager, John Pace dreamed of playing football or becoming a police officer. But growing up in Philadelphia, he found himself drawn to older people in the neighborhood — especially those with negative habits who always seemed to have the freshest clothes and the most respect. In 1985, Pace learned exactly how some of […]
Posted inGun Violence, Policing, Public Safety
Family of Texas College Student Killed by Police Launches Their Own Investigation
This story has been updated. Sharon Jenkins received a late-night call at home in The Woodlands, Texas, from a Lubbock County officer the week of Thanksgiving 2024. She was told there had been a “horrible accident” involving her son. The words hit hard. Although she understood them, she couldn’t quite process the reality. She never […]