Criminal Justice
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Fight Over Boston Bomber's Death Sentence
President Joe Biden campaigned on ending the federal death penalty, but he’s been quiet about it since taking office.
The Dream of the '90s Died in Portland
Once an up-and-coming city, Portland was destroyed from within by radical activism and political ineptitude.
This Florida Drug Smuggler Escaped 7 Life Sentences—Twice
Dickie Lynn's story shows how the drug war warped the criminal justice system.
Government Censorship Is the Worst Cancel Culture of All
Politicians on the right and the left are coming for your free speech.
The Media Got It Wrong: Police Captain Didn't Say the Atlanta Spa Killer Was Having a 'Bad Day'
The full video shows that Jay Baker was paraphrasing what Robert Aaron Long told investigators about his motivations.
The Cops Who Drew Guns and Forced an Innocent Family To Lie on the Pavement Were Dismayed by the Angry Response
After gratuitously terrifying a 6-year-old girl, the officers blamed her mother, who also had done nothing illegal.
40 Years a Prisoner
The new HBO documentary looks at what happened before, during, and after the 1978 MOVE shootout in Philadelphia.
Bill de Blasio Says the NYPD Should Warn People Not To Be Haters
"If someone has done something wrong, but not rising to a criminal level, it's perfectly appropriate for an NYPD officer to talk to them."
New York Legislature Passes Bill To Limit Solitary Confinement
The HALT Act would allow incarcerated people to be held in solitary confinement for no more than 15 days.
California Lawmakers Try Again To Create a System To Decertify Bad Cops
Union resistance shut down last year’s effort.
'The Best Chief in America,' Newly Hired To Run Miami's Police Department, Presided Over Deadly Corruption in Houston
Art Acevedo responded to a 2019 drug raid that killed a middle-aged couple with reflexive defensiveness and obstinate obfuscation.
Massage Parlor Massacre: 8 Killed in Atlanta, Media Speculate About Anti-Asian Motive
Plus: Columbus, Ohio, wants six months in jail for first-time sex customers, Texas' new social media bill is a mess, and more...
In Further Defense of Law Reviews, More or Less
Our system of legal publishing reflects what legal scholarship is like
Two California Cops Charged With Extorting Cash and Marijuana From Motorists
After news investigations uncovered numerous allegations that cops in a small California town were robbing motorists of cash and weed, two former officers are now facing federal charges.
A Lawyer for George Floyd's Family Says a Record-Breaking Settlement Gives Cities '27 Million Reasons' To Curtail Police Abuse
But the agreement could complicate Derek Chauvin's murder trial, and it leaves unresolved the question of whether qualified immunity would have blocked the lawsuit.
743 Years and 3 Months. 117 Years. 51 Years. Why Are These Men's Sentences So Long?
For possessing a gun while committing a crime—even when no one is killed—too many defendants are slammed with sentences decades or even centuries longer than justice demands.
Lawsuit Challenges Clearview's Use of Scraped Social Media Images for Facial Recognition
Databases of involuntarily supplied identities make for a plug-and-play surveillance state.
The Kentucky Bill That Would Criminalize Words That Offend Cops Also Would Authorize Arrests for Distributing Water Bottles
The heavy-handed measure, a direct response to the protests provoked by the shooting of Breonna Taylor, looks like an attempt to deter constitutionally protected activity.
A Reinstated Third-Degree Murder Charge Gives Jurors Another Option To Convict Derek Chauvin for Killing George Floyd
Like the felony murder charge, it carries a presumptive sentence more than eight years longer than the manslaughter charge.
'If You Wear a Federal Badge, You Can Inflict Excessive Force on Someone With Little Fear of Liability,' Complains Judge Don Willett
A federal judge protests the Supreme Court’s “rights-without-remedies” Bivens doctrine.
Iowa Reporter Acquitted After Being Arrested While Covering George Floyd Protests
The case drew national outrage from press freedom groups, who called the prosecution excessive and a threat to journalism.
Cops Who Assaulted and Arrested a Man for Standing Outside His Own House Got Qualified Immunity. SCOTUS Won't Hear the Case.
The Supreme Court delivers another blow to a victim of egregious police abuse.
A SWAT Team Destroyed This Innocent Woman's House While Chasing a Fugitive. The City Refuses To Pay for Damages.
"I've lost everything," says Vicki Baker.