Criminal Justice
A Cop Killed a Suicidal Man and Got Qualified Immunity. Justice Sotomayor Isn't Happy About It.
Qualified immunity "does not protect an officer who inflicts deadly force on a person who is only a threat to himself."
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Louisiana's Defense of a Law That Stamped 'SEX OFFENDER' on Driver's Licenses
The policy imposed an additional form of ritual humiliation on a reviled category of people without any plausible public-safety justification.
Victims of Rights-Violating California Cops May Finally Get Justice in Court
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S.B. 2 into law, despite some objections from police unions.
The FBI's Secret FISA Court Surveillance Applications Are Chock Full of Screw-Ups
More than 400 problems were found with 29 warrant requests, twice the number previously revealed.
The Excessive, Unjust Enforcement of Petty Traffic Laws Causes Too Many Americans To Lose their Driver's Licenses
Since lacking licenses can lead to lacking the ability to work (and pay fines), offenses like parking tickets or failing to come to a complete halt at stop signs can upend lives unjustly.
55 Percent of Police Killings Are Misclassified as Other Causes of Death
Plus: Christian flag case coming to SCOTUS, Merck pill could treat COVID-19, a reversal on migrant expulsions, and more...
The Innocence Files
Netflix's limited series documents how bad forensics, faulty witness testimony, and misconduct by police and prosecutors let us down.
Marijuana Arrests Plunged Last Year, Reflecting the Impact of Legalization
The 36 percent drop may also be partly due to pandemic-related restrictions that drove cannabis consumers indoors.
A Good Day for the Fourth Amendment
"We are not eager—more the reverse—to print a new permission slip for entering the home without a warrant," declared Justice Kagan in Lange v. California.
Georgia Tax Crimes Unit Illegally Spent Asset Forfeiture Funds on Trinkets and Swag
A state watchdog concluded an office in the Georgia Department of Tax Revenue illegally kept $5 million in forfeiture funds and spent it partially on swag like sunglasses and engraved guns
Cops Get Qualified Immunity After Jailing Florida Man for 'I Eat Ass' Bumper Sticker
Dillon Shane Webb will thus not be able to sue for the alleged violation of his free speech rights.
House Passes EQUAL Act to Erase Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine
The Senate now has the chance to finally end one of the most disastrous legacies of the drug war.
Judge Explains First Amendment Basics to Wisconsin Sheriff Who Threatened Teen with Jail for Instagramming Her COVID Infection
No, law enforcement and school officials cannot order students to remove posts about exposure to the coronavirus.
185 Americans Wrongly Sentenced to Death Have Been Freed in the Last Half-Century
For every 8.3 executions in the United States, one innocent person on death row has been exonerated.
When the 'Native Son' Became 'The Man Who Lived Underground'
One of Richard Wright's best books went unpublished in his lifetime, due to "unbearable" scenes of police brutality. Now at last it is in print.
An Inmate Allegedly 'Leaking Blood All Over' Was Denied Medical Treatment for Hours. The Prison Guard Gets Qualified Immunity
The legal doctrine continues to render juries irrelevant.
New York City's Jails See Two Deaths in Single Week
One at Rikers, one at a nearby jail barge, marking 12 deaths this year
The DHS Agent Who Tried To Kill Kevin Byrd Can't Be Sued—Because He Works for the Federal Government
It's almost impossible to hold federal officers to account.
The Government Let a U.S. Citizen Spend Months in a Foreign Prison for No Good Reason
Amir Meshal was never charged with a crime.
Pennsylvania Could Put a Homeless Man in Prison Over 43 Cents
Overzealous three-strikes laws claim another victim.
Rikers Island Offers a Glimpse of America's Hellhole Prisons
Formal sentences cover for informal penalties including crowding, poor sanitation, beatings, and rape.
Do We Really Need New Anti-Asian Hate Crime Laws?
A holistic look at the data shatters the narrative about bias-based violence.
Cashed Out
What happens when a community bail fund stops paying bail and starts trying to abolish it?
A New Report on the Aurora, Colorado, Police Department Documents a Pattern of Excessive Force and Racial Disparities
The report from the attorney general's office also found that Aurora paramedics used ketamine illegally to treat "excited delirium."
Arkansas Deputy Charged With Manslaughter for Fatally Shooting Teen Who Was Fixing a Truck
The Lonoke County sergeant was already fired for not turning on his body camera during the encounter.
