Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
    • Reason TV
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • Free Media
    • The Reason Interview
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • Freed Up
    • The Soho Forum Debates
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Log In

Create new account

Snitching

Billy Binion appears on the left. Pamela Colloff appears on the right. An image of two male inmates behind prison bars appears in the center square. Bold text across the top of the screen reads "Is the System Corrupt?" | Illustration: Adani Samat

Criminal Justice

How Jailhouse Snitches Send Innocent People to Death Row

Pamela Colloff discusses the dangers of incentivized testimony, the difficulty of overturning wrongful convictions, and how the justice system compounds its own errors.

Billy Binion | 7.29.2026 11:00 AM

The flag of Ukraine on a pole | Denys Bozduhan | Dreamstime.com

Snitching

Brickbat: Big Neighbor Is Watching

Charles Oliver | 12.6.2023 4:00 AM

A smartphone against a yellow background, next to a pile of marijuana buds, with a marijuana bud on the phone's screen. | Kyrylo Vasyliev | Dreamstime.com

Surveillance

New Senate Bill Would Turn Online Services Into Narcs

An expanded surveillance state can’t solve problems created by drug prohibition.

J.D. Tuccille | 5.3.2023 7:00 AM

zumaamericasthirtytwo274676 | Bob Daemmrich/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Abortion

GoDaddy Shuts Down Web Hosting for Pro-Life Organization's Abortion Whistleblowing Site

Pro-lifers and pro-choicers have one thing in common: a passion for snitching

Liz Wolfe | 9.9.2021 4:30 PM

altopress065036(1) | Anne-Sophie Bost/A. Bost / Altopress/Newscom

Coronavirus

The Pandemic Brings Out Americans' Inner Snitches

Setting the cops on social-distancing scofflaws is dangerous to public health and a free society.

J.D. Tuccille | 4.15.2020 10:50 AM

James Dailey | Florida Department of Corrections

Death Penalty

A Group of Prosecutors Want SCOTUS To Save Death Row Inmate James Dailey

Former prosecutor Bennett Gershman: "The use of jailhouse informants...is one of the great abuses in criminal trials across America."

Zuri Davis | 2.5.2020 12:30 PM

Large image on homepages | Chanel/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Social Media

The #ThotAudit Is Deeply, Painfully Stupid

The snitch crusade is ostensibly about making sure hot women aren't making money off their hotness without giving the government a cut.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 11.26.2018 4:30 PM

Large image on homepages | Brian Enright / Dreamstime.com

Snitching

A Summer-of-Snitches Subversion: City Helps Teen Rather Than Shut Down Unlicensed Hot Dog Stand

When he grows up and gets that food truck, though, he'll probably have a very different experience.

Scott Shackford | 7.25.2018 12:40 PM

Large image for longform feature pages. | Illustration: Joanna Andreasson; coloring: Livia Moynihan

DARE

Recognize, Resist, Report

America's long history of teaching kids to identify with the police

Joshua Reeves | 4.16.2017 6:00 AM

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS Add Reason to Google

© 2026 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Reason's July 4 Special!

For America's 250th, Get 2 Years of Reason for $17.76

Celebrate your independence with a subscription to Reason magazine, your most trusted source of honest, insightful news and analysis.

Subscribe to Reason