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Criminal Justice

Accountability in Crime and Law

477 stories published since 2008

St. Louis’ Private Police Forces Make Security a Luxury of the Rich

Early Results on DNA Evidence From Decades-Old Rape Cases Are Both Promising and Alarming

Public Defenders and Defense Attorneys: Help ProPublica Report on Criminal Justice

Richard Glossip Has Eaten Three Last Meals on Death Row. Years Later, the State Is Still Trying to Execute Him.

Michigan Proposes Juvenile Justice Reforms After Story of Teen Locked Up for Missing Homework Exposed Gaps in System

Two Cities Took Different Approaches to Pandemic Court Closures. They Got Different Results.

Louisiana Limits Solitary Confinement for Youth

Shielded From Public View, Misconduct by Corrections Staff in Illinois Prisons Received Scant Discipline

Trial Diary: A Journalist Sits on a Baltimore Jury

Daniel Taylor Was Innocent. He Spent Decades in Prison Trying to Fix the State’s Mistake.

Wrongly Convicted Man Receives $7.5 Million Settlement in Indiana

They Built the Wall. Problems Remain After Founder’s Guilty Plea.

Louisiana Lawmakers Could Limit Solitary Confinement for Teens Following Alarming Revelations

Maine Will Soon Hire Its First Five Public Defenders. Most of the State Remains Without Them.

Conditions at Mississippi’s Most Notorious Prison Violate the Constitution, DOJ Says

Changes in Police Policy, Payouts to Latino Victims of Traffic Stops and Arrests Following Investigations

The Invisible Hand of Steve Twist

St. Louis’ Murder Total Has Fallen, but Some Killings Went Uncounted

DOJ Charges Defendants With Harassing and Spying On Chinese Americans for Beijing

Shackles and Solitary: Inside Louisiana’s Harshest Juvenile Lockup

ACLU Sues Maine for Providing Ineffective Defense Counsel

Testing Rape Kits Can Deliver Exonerations, Closure and Cost Savings. Why Does It Still Take So Long to Do?

Years Before a Police Union Leader Was Raided by the FBI, Local Investigators Didn’t Pursue Allegations Against Him

Citizens Hide From Active Shooters as Alaska Is Slow to Deliver on 2019 Promise of Village Troopers

Judge Says NYPD Illegally Withheld Footage in Police Shootings

Police Watchdog Calls for Full Access to Body Cam Footage. The NYPD Says No.

A Union Scandal Landed Hundreds of NYPD Officers on a Secret Watchlist. That Hasn’t Stopped Some From Jeopardizing Cases.

Tennessee Children Were Illegally Jailed. Now Members of Congress Are Asking For an Investigation.

A Guantanamo Detainee’s Case Has Been Languishing Without Action Since 2008. The Supreme Court Wants to Know Why.

​​Will the United States Officially Acknowledge That It Had a Secret Torture Site in Poland?

Survivors and Families of Victims of a 1981 El Salvador Massacre See Justice Slip Away Again

This State’s Legislators Want to Overhaul the System That Lets Law Enforcement Keep People’s Money

He Admitted to a Rape 41 Years After the Fact. For One Survivor: “It’s the Most Freeing Experience in the World”

Massachusetts Police Can Easily Seize Your Money. The DA of One County Makes It Nearly Impossible to Get It Back.

School District That Employed Principal Despite Sex Abuse Complaints Will Pay $3.8 Million to His Victims

Alaskan Law Requires DNA From Accused Criminals, but Officials Failed to Collect Samples From 21,000 People

What Philadelphia Reveals About America’s Homicide Surge

Michigan Supreme Court Limits Use of Restraints on Juveniles

County Officials in Texas Settle Lawsuit Alleging Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases

Facing New Complaint, South Carolina Magistrate Removed as County’s Chief Judge

New Records Show the NYPD’s Favored Punishment: Less Vacation Time

How Our Investigation Into Untested DNA Evidence Helped Solve a 1983 Murder

Few Cops We Found Using Force on George Floyd Protesters Are Known to Have Faced Discipline

“The Best Bargain in the History of Law Enforcement” — and the High Cost of Not Testing Backlogged Rape Kits

After NYPD Found “No Wrongdoing” in Officer’s Killing of Kawaski Trawick, a Watchdog Finds Fireable Offenses

“City Hall Put the Kibosh on That”: The Inside Story of How de Blasio Promised, Then Thwarted NYPD Accountability

After Grace’s Story, Michigan Will Study Its Juvenile Justice System

Amid Calls for Reform, Maine’s Criminal Defense System Reaches a “Breaking Point”

There Have Been Huge Gaps in FBI Hate Crime Data for Years. A New Law Aims to Fix That.

Following a DUI Arrest, Maine Defense Lawyer Banned From Representing Defendants