Criminal Justice
Sell Flavored Tobacco in Massachusetts, Go To Jail
Massachusetts outlawed flavored tobacco. Now, just as criminal justice groups warned, a vape shop owner is serving time.
Albuquerque's Ever-Expanding Police Corruption Scandal Goes Back Decades and Involves 'Many Officers'
In the latest guilty plea, a local defense attorney says he had been bribing cops to make DWI cases disappear "since at least the late 1990s."
North Dakota's 'Truth-in-Sentencing' Bill Could Cost More Than $250 Million
The bill would also create mandatory minimum jail sentences for fleeing the police.
Little Rock, Arkansas, Drops Intrusive, Ineffective ShotSpotter System
For all the money spent on it, the gunshot detection system has a spotty record at best.
Marc Fogel, Who Was Imprisoned in Russia for Having Medical Marijuana, Is Freed
Fogel's story closely mirrored that of Brittney Griner's. But he did not receive the same urgency from the Biden administration, even though he was arrested six months prior.
Corrupt Albuquerque Cops Had Friends in High Places, Including Internal Affairs
For a decade and a half, officers made DWI cases go away in exchange for bribes, relying on protection from senior officers implicated in the same racket.
5 of the Worst USAID Scandals in History
The agency's low points, from working with child sex abusers to enabling drug trafficking
This Judge Tried To Get Out of Jury Duty by Saying Everyone Appearing Before Him Is Guilty
"I know they are guilty," otherwise "they would not be in front of me," said town justice Richard Snyder, who resigned in December.
'Human Trafficking' Sting Yields 547 Arrests, but Only 1 for Human Trafficking
A(nother) look at how human trafficking panic gets made.
Trump's FBI Purges Could Reduce Danger Posed by the Bureau—or Make It His Weapon
A defanged FBI could minimize our reliance on politicians’ (rarely) good intentions.
Alabama Cops Cooked Up Bogus Charges After Arresting Man They Tased While Handcuffed, Lawsuit Says
Video of the incident shows Micah Washington screaming as a Reform, Alabama, police officer deploys a Taser directly into his back.
El Salvador Offers To House Violent U.S. Criminals and Deportees
Yet its penitentiary centers are already running at over 300 percent capacity.
FBI Nominee Kash Patel, Who Vowed To 'Come After' Trump's Enemies, Disclaims 'Retributive Actions'
At his confirmation hearing, the president's pick to run the nation's leading law enforcement agency ran away from his record as a MAGA zealot.
California's Rationalist-Linked Death Cult
Plus: Air traffic control failures that led to a plane crash, "why shit not working" in New York City, and more...
Los Angeles Sheriff Misused Confidential Database Thousands of Times To Run Concealed Carry Background Checks
Public records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show how sensitive police databases are used and abused.
4 States Consider Bills To Treat Women Who Get Abortions as Murderers
These bills—in Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina—could also imperil IVF practices and threaten care for women with pregnancy complications.
A Guilty Plea Implicates 'Almost the Entire' Albuquerque DWI Unit in Longstanding Police Corruption
Federal prosecutors say the city's police department was the main focus of a 15-year bribery scheme that also involved the sheriff's office and the state police.
Rise of the 'Constitutional Sheriffs'
Two new books dissect the "constitutional sheriffs" movement, which seeks to nullify laws adherents see as unconstitutional.
The FBI Wrongly Raided This Family's Home. Now the Supreme Court Will Hear Their Case.
Curtrina Martin's petition attracted support from a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
El Salvador's Bukele: Authoritarian or Model President?
Frontier magazine's Peter Gietl and Salvadoran journalist Ricardo Avelar debate the merits of Nayib Bukele's criminal justice policies.
A Small Minnesota County Pumps Out 40 Percent of the State's Drug-Free Zone Sentences
Local news reports detail how Polk County, Minnesota, charges drivers and petty offenders with drug-free zone violations like no other county in the state.
Covering for Their Own Failures, U.K. Officials Blame Violent Crime on Access to Knives
Politicians who’ve dropped the ball inevitably see the solution as reducing people's freedom.
Amanda Knox Was Falsely Charged With Murder. Italy Calls Her Coerced Confession 'Slander.'
"I can tell you that I have never been put in a position of doubting my own sanity like I was in the hands of those police officers," Knox tells Reason.
Trump's Orders Feature Nonexistent Emergencies, Illegal Power Grabs, and Blatant Inconsistencies
But at least he restored respect for a tariff-loving predecessor by renaming a mountain.
State 'Bias Response Hotlines' Encourage People To Snitch on Their Neighbors for 'Hate Speech'
By the end of 2025, as many as 100 million Americans could live in a state where they can be reported for protected expression.
Syracuse Police Handcuffed an 11-Year-Old After Wrongly Accusing Her of Stealing a Car
"I can't make sense of it. I couldn't even finish watching the video," said the girl's mother. "That's not how you handle children."
Why Texas Lawmakers Tried To Stop America's First 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' Execution
Robert Roberson was sentenced to death based on outdated and largely discredited scientific evidence.
Trump's Aggressively Broad Executive Order on Transgender People
Like many of his other "Day 1" decrees, the order seems more concerned with scoring points in the culture war than advancing sensible policy.
The Country's Largest Police Union, Which Repeatedly Endorsed Trump, Is Dismayed by His Capitol Riot Pardons
The Fraternal Order of Police mistakenly thought that the president "supports our law enforcement officers" and "has our backs."
Biden and Trump Show Presidents How To Abuse Clemency
Biden’s preemptive pardons and Trump’s blanket relief for Capitol rioters both set dangerous precedents.
Trump's Blanket Clemency for Capitol Rioters Excuses Political Violence
The president drew no distinction between people who merely entered the building and people who vandalized it or assaulted police officers.
Trump's Death Penalty Executive Order Aims To Expand Execution
The order directs the attorney general to ensure that states have the drug cocktails to carry out lethal injections.
Trump Goes After Mexico by Designating Drug Cartels Terrorist Organizations
Designating cartels as terrorist organizations could allow the feds to prosecute people who pay protection money—and might pave the way for undeclared war.
Biden's Preemptive Pardons Undermine Official Accountability and the Rule of Law
His last-minute acts of clemency invite Trump and future presidents to shield their underlings from the consequences of committing crimes in office.
