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News
August 7, 2019
Racism Tainted Their Trials. Should They Still Be Executed?
North Carolina Supreme Court hearings raise broad questions of systemic bias in the state judicial system.
By
Jack Brook
Life Inside
August 11, 2016
I'm a Judge and I Think Criminal Court Is Horrifying
“I was shocked at the casual racism emanating from the bench.”
By
Hon. Shelley C. Chapman
News
May 11, 2020
A Growing Number of State Courts Are Confronting Unconscious Racism In Jury Selection
“A judge who deals with prosecutors every day is not going to say, ‘You intentionally discriminated on the basis of race, and you lied about it with pretextual reasons.’”
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
June 11, 2020
New Hope for People Who Claim Racism Tainted Their Death Sentence
The North Carolina state Supreme Court has upheld the controversial Racial Justice Act, which opponents repealed in 2013
By
Joseph Neff
and
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
December 3, 2020
Coronavirus Has Sparked Another Epidemic in My Prison: Anti-Asian Racism
The racial slurs, dumb comments and news reports of hate violence have me on edge.
By
Felix Sitthivong
Commentary
July 8, 2015
Why Dylann Roof’s Racism Will Only be Nurtured in Prison
An author and former prisoner reflects on the white supremacist’s potential fate.
By
James Kilgore
Closing Argument
November 19, 2022
Policing the Police: A Week of Racism, Abuse and Misconduct
Federal civil rights investigations can examine an entire agency — but they are not the only way to check for police misconduct.
By
Jamiles Lartey
News Inside
August 13, 2020
The New Normal
The fifth edition of The Marshall Project’s print publication explores a world transformed by COVID-19 and the George Floyd protests.
By
Lawrence Bartley
Analysis
February 22, 2017
The Case of Duane Buck
Was he sentenced to death “because he is black”?
By
Maurice Chammah
Coronavirus
May 28, 2020
Is COVID-19 Falling Harder on Black Prisoners? Officials Won’t Tell Us.
Some prison systems aren’t collecting race data. Others won’t disclose it. Experts say these are big mistakes.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Tom Meagher
Commentary
March 30, 2016
It’s Been 40 Years Since the Supreme Court Tried to Fix the Death Penalty — Here’s How It Failed
A close look at the grand compromise of 1976.
By
Evan J. Mandery
News
February 4, 2015
When Police Go Rogue on Facebook
And you thought it was only teenagers...
By
Ken Armstrong
Closing Argument
May 11
When Bad Cops Become Private Security Guards
There’s growing evidence that former officers with troubling histories of abuse can easily find second careers in private security.
By
Shoshana Walter
Analysis
March 9, 2016
Seven Things to Know About Repeat Offenders
A new report looks at recidivism among inmates released from federal prisons.
By
Bill Keller
Justice Lab
January 15, 2015
‘Blame Liberals’
A new book faults Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and the NAACP for our prison state.
By
Dana Goldstein
The Frame
January 6, 2015
The Writing on the Walls
Photographer Mark Perrott examines the graffiti, and the lives, of the prisoners of E Block.
Photographs by
Mark Perrott
News
June 8, 2020
The Short, Fraught History of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ American Flag
The controversial version of the U.S. flag has been hailed as a sign of police solidarity and criticized as a symbol of white supremacy.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Cary Aspinwall
News and Awards
October 6, 2021
The Marshall Project Expands, Adding to Audience Development and Product
Heather Ciras will focus on growth of the organization’s readership; Ryan Murphy joins as a developer
By
The Marshall Project
Cleveland
December 12, 2022
How Children End Up in Cleveland’s Adult Courts: A Bindover Explainer
Cuyahoga County transfers more children — most of whom are Black — to adult court than any other Ohio county.
By
Abbey Marshall
,
Stephanie Casanova
,
Helen Maynard
,
Rachel Dissell
and
Cid Standifer
News
June 19, 2015
When is a Crime a Hate Crime?
Dylann Roof and the challenges of proving bias.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
July 1, 2019
Can Racist Algorithms Be Fixed?
A new study adds to the debate over racial bias in risk assessment tools widely used in courtrooms.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
June 25, 2020
How My White Privilege Protected Me In Jail
Being locked up for a crime I didn’t commit was hard. But nothing compares to the humiliation and harassment that my elderly, disabled, Black cellmate experienced.
By
Michelle Hadley
Life Inside
August 24, 2017
“Prison is a Real-Life Example of the World White Supremacists Want”
Charlottesville: Views from the cellblock.
error in byline
Analysis
August 21, 2020
COVID-19’s Toll on People of Color Is Worse Than We Knew
New data shows deaths from all causes—COVID and otherwise—have gone up 9 percent among White Americans, but more than 30 percent in communities of color.
By
Anna Flagg
,
Damini Sharma
,
Larry Fenn
and
Mike Stobbe
Inside Out
February 3, 2022
Prosecutors Who Want to Curb Mass Incarceration Hit a Roadblock: Tough-on-Crime Lawmakers
In an age-old battle over local control, some legislators seek to wrest power from prosecutors who aim to curb mass incarceration
By
Keri Blakinger
Closing Argument
January 27
New Execution Methods, Old Problems
What the first execution by nitrogen in the U.S. says about capital punishment.
By
Jamiles Lartey
News
January 18, 2017
How Obama Disappointed on the Death Penalty
Two commutations this week was less than many had hoped for.
By
Maurice Chammah
Commentary
July 30, 2018
What Solitary Did To Moochie — But Not Manafort
Isolation leaves lasting marks beyond incarceration
Issac Bailey
News
March 19, 2015
Behind the Hashtag
#Blacklivesmatter wants to stay black.
By
Simone Weichselbaum
News
April 30, 2018
Rewriting the Story of Civil Rights
A Marshall Project journey to Montgomery, Alabama.
By
Carroll Bogert
News
April 23, 2015
‘There is a Visceral Hatred for the People Who Wear This Uniform.’
Baltimore’s chief on policing in black communities.
By
Christie Thompson
Commentary
January 24, 2018
How Post-Prison Reentry Programs Fail Queer Women
Having a man counts as a plan in some reentry programs.
Erin Kerrison
News
May 2, 2016
Do Public Defenders Spend Less Time on Black Clients?
Some suspect “implicit bias” is not just a problem for police, prosecutors, and judges.
By
Maurice Chammah
Commentary
April 23, 2018
Fear of a Black Patron
In retail, fear of black criminality regularly shows up in policies and practices across stores and sectors.
Aaron Ross Coleman
Life Inside
July 9, 2020
I Am Not Your “Other”
I’m a Cambodian-American from Long Beach, California. But to a prison system that limits its population categories to “Black,” “White” and “Hispanic,” I’m the race version of a misfit toy.
By
Kunlyna Tauch
Analysis
November 6, 2020
“Law and Order” Still Reigns in State Supreme Court Elections
A Nevada state supreme court candidate was one of very few nationwide to run on a message of reform. Most campaigns leaned on “tough on crime” strategy yet again.
By
Christie Thompson
The Language Project
April 12, 2021
What Words We Use — and Avoid — When Covering People and Incarceration
Journalism is a discipline of clarity. That’s why we’ve solidified our policy about how we talk about people who are currently in or have previously been in prison and jail.
By
Akiba Solomon
News and Awards
October 20, 2021
Neil Barsky’s Farewell to The Marshall Project
Our founder and board chair’s letter on criminal justice reform and the nonprofit journalism sector
By
Neil Barsky
Cleveland
December 1, 2022
Ohio Lawmaker Wants Law Requiring Police to Record Race During Traffic Stops
The Cleveland Democrat says “the only way we can make systemic change is with the data.”
By
Mark Puente
and
Stan Donaldson Jr.
Looking Back
March 1, 2018
The Kerner Omission
How a landmark report on the 1960s race riots fell short on police reform
By
Nicole Lewis
Commentary
December 18, 2019
Our 2019 Picks for Criminal Justice in Movies, TV and Podcasts
The Marshall Project staff shares some of our favorite things to watch and listen to.
By
The Marshall Project
Feature
August 30, 2021
The Black Mortality Gap, and a Century-Old Document
1 in 5 African American deaths happens earlier than if they were White. Black doctors say the Flexner Report holds clues to the health system’s role in racial health disparities.
By
Anna Flagg
Closing Argument
January 28
Tyre Nichols’ Death: How Black Officers Alone Can’t Stop Brutal Policing
A dialogue with Wilbert L. Cooper, a reporter from a family of Black officers, on why Black officers are no cure for police violence.
By
Jamiles Lartey
and
Wilbert L. Cooper
Jackson
April 4
How Mississippi’s Jim Crow Laws Still Haunt Black Voters Today
After the U.S. Civil War, white supremacists used felony disenfranchisement to suppress the Black vote. Even now, restoring rights has hit a roadblock.
By
Daja E. Henry
Commentary
July 13, 2018
It’s Still ‘Show Me’ the Money
Post-Ferguson, St. Louis County courts initiate reforms, but bail hasn’t yet gone away.
By
Eddie Roth
Commentary
October 17, 2017
‘Black Identity Extremists’ and the Dark Side of the FBI
Leaked documents remind us of the agency’s history of dirty tricks.
David Dennis
Q&A
July 23, 2015
‘A Black Man’s Guide to Survival’
Rule Number 1: Comply now, contest later.
By
Carl Stoffers
News
June 22, 2015
What to Read: The Charleston Massacre
Selected news and comment from this morning’s Opening Statement.
By
Andrew Cohen
Commentary
February 9, 2016
Does Predictive Policing Lead to More Police in Black Communities? Readers React
What you had to say about our latest story on predictive policing.
By
Maurice Chammah
Commentary
July 31, 2016
The Overlooked Promise in Hillary Clinton’s Speech
A call for criminal justice reform.
By
Ames C. Grawert
News
May 19, 2015
ATF’s Greatest Hits
Is it time to dismantle the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives?
By
Tom Meagher
News
July 7, 2020
You Can Get Kicked Out of a Jury Pool For Supporting Black Lives Matter
But is it legal? A California appeals court is going to decide.
By
Abbie VanSickle
Commentary
December 20, 2018
Out From the Holocaust
Germany reckoned with its past to build a better justice system. America should too.
By
Amy L. Solomon
News
January 28, 2015
What You Should Read About Loretta Lynch
A selective guide to the reporting on the next attorney general.
By
Andrew Cohen
News
June 18, 2020
Which States Are Taking on Police Reform After George Floyd?
Lawmakers in 16 states have introduced bills to improve police oversight and accountability.
By
Weihua Li
and
Humera Lodhi
Justice Lab
October 28, 2020
When Does Murder Make The News? It Depends On The Victim’s Race.
Mainstream media is less likely to cover Black homicide victims and less likely to portray them as complex human beings, a new study shows.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
June 18, 2020
My Dad Went to Prison When I Was 5. Now I Write About Families Like Mine
Growing up with a father who was incarcerated didn’t define me. But it certainly taught me to challenge stereotypes and ask better questions.
By
Sylvia A. Harvey
Life Inside
January 23, 2020
How I Finally Learned That Trauma Does Not Define Me
“It can be exhausting to tell and retell your painful story just to get people to listen to you about other things.”
By
Marlon Peterson
The Language Project
April 12, 2021
I Am Not Your ‘Inmate’
I didn’t always detest this term. But hearing officers use it as an insult reminded me to call incarcerated people — including myself — by our names.
By
Lawrence Bartley
Closing Argument
November 5, 2022
Ahead of Midterms, Most Americans Say Crime is Up. What Does the Data Say?
More people than ever believe crime is up in their area, polls show. But public perception doesn’t always match reality.
By
Jamiles Lartey
,
Weihua Li
and
Liset Cruz
Closing Argument
March 25
New FBI Data Shows More Hate Crimes. These Groups Saw The Sharpest Rise.
Bias-related crimes rose in 2021 to nearly 11,000 incidents.
By
Weihua Li
and
Jamiles Lartey
News
July 6
‘This is Major Trauma’: New Accounts of Abuse at Federal Prison Prompt Calls for Investigations
More than 120 prisoners held at a special unit in Thomson Penitentiary reported mistreatment, lawyers’ committee report says.
By
Christie Thompson
, The Marshall Project and
Joseph Shapiro
, NPR
Closing Argument
December 2
What’s a Hate Crime? Depends on Where You Live
A hodgepodge of state and local laws makes some violence a hate crime in some places, but not in others.
By
Lakeidra Chavis
News and Awards
January 7, 2022
The Marshall Project: Diversity and Inclusion, 2021
Our fifth annual diversity report notes significant developments in 2021 and lays out our goals for the year ahead.
error in byline
News and Awards
January 6, 2021
The Marshall Project: Diversity and Inclusion, 2020
Our fourth annual diversity report notes significant developments in 2020 and lays out our goals for the year ahead.
error in byline
Closing Argument
December 16, 2023
What Bodycams Tell Us About the Challenges of Policing the Police
The cameras and other police accountability steps are popular with the public — but not always particularly effective.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Q&A
July 15, 2016
Dallas’s Deputy Chief on Race, Despair, and Learning from Police Shootings
“My life has to matter, too.”
By
Corey G. Johnson
Feature
October 18, 2022
Does Your Sheriff Think He’s More Powerful Than the President?
Richard Mack has built a “Constitutional sheriff” movement to resist state and federal authority on guns, COVID-19 and now election results. A new survey shows just how many sheriffs agree with him.
By
Maurice Chammah
News
May 3, 2018
The Legacy of a Lynching
A memorial, a pilgrimage, a reconciliation.
By
Robin Washington
Southside
October 30, 2018
Payback
Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his crew tortured false confessions out of hundreds of black men. Decades later, the survivors fought for reparations.
By
Natalie Y. Moore
News
November 24, 2014
Do Convicted Killers Deserve Free Speech?
In the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pennsylvania says no.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Coronavirus
April 17, 2020
Court Is Closed Due to Coronavirus. But You Still Owe Those Fines and Fees.
As states and cities face budget shortfalls amid the COVID-19 crisis, many courts seek payments largely owed by the poor.
By
Eli Hager
Analysis
July 29, 2015
Meet Dylann Roof’s Defender
Representing an avowed racist, a champion of racial justice.
By
Andrew Cohen
Feature
January 15, 2016
Where the Democratic Presidential Candidates Stand on Criminal Justice
A look at Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley in their fourth debate.
By
The Marshall Project
News
June 9, 2020
Support For Defunding The Police Department Is Growing. Here’s Why It’s Not A Silver Bullet.
Past budget cuts have had unintended consequences. Now, proponents say it’s time to fundamentally reimagine the role of the police.
By
Simone Weichselbaum
and
Nicole Lewis
Analysis
June 10, 2020
A Major Obstacle to Police Reform: The Whiteness of Their Union Bosses
Even in the 15 largest departments where the majority of officers are people of color, only one union leader is black, our analysis shows.
By
Eli Hager
and
Weihua Li
News
June 26, 2020
What Are Cops Really Thinking When Routine Arrests Turn Violent?
“You have to use a lot of force, or you are going to die.”
By
Simone Weichselbaum
and
Jamiles Lartey
Q&A
January 2, 2017
John Grisham on the State of Criminal Justice
“There are thousands of innocent people in prison serving long sentences for crimes committed by others.”
By
Bill Keller
Crime on the Ballot
October 23, 2016
Death by Another Name
California Prop 62 would repeal the death penalty. A lifer says it doesn’t go far enough.
By
Kenneth E. Hartman
News
December 4, 2014
The Garner Decision in Black and White
Reckoning with the great justice divide.
By
Andrew Cohen
News
February 26, 2018
👀 👀 👀 the Prosecutors
Court Watch NYC is the latest local group monitoring the criminal justice system as it happens.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Analysis
November 11, 2020
Will Drug Legalization Leave Black People Behind?
Even in states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana possession, Black people are still more likely to be arrested for it than White people. These organizers are working to change that.
By
Wilbert L. Cooper
and
Christie Thompson
Life Inside
February 4, 2021
I’ve Been Strip-Frisked Over 1,000 Times in Prison. I Consider It Sexual Assault
Strip-searching us for contraband is a perfectly legal way to rob incarcerated people of our humanity.
By
Corey Devon Arthur
News
March 4, 2021
Six Years After Tamir Rice, Cleveland Makes New Rules About Policing Kids
Critics say a new policy for police encounters with children doesn’t go far enough.
By
Abbie VanSickle
and
Jamiles Lartey
Inside Out
April 7, 2022
Out of Prison, TikTok Influencers Are Reshaping How We Think About Life Behind Bars
But a dearth of content creators of color raises questions about the app’s algorithm.
By
Keri Blakinger
Closing Argument
October 15, 2022
Don’t Expect Mass Prison Releases From Biden’s Marijuana Clemency
The president’s mass pardon may signal a shift in the federal approach to cannabis, but it won’t let anyone out of prison.
By
Jamiles Lartey
The Language Project
April 13, 2021
How I Convinced My Incarcerated Peers to Make Language a Priority
Rahsaan Thomas, an imprisoned journalist, has long fought to change the way outside media describe people in prison. One of his toughest crowds? His fellow reporters.
By
Rahsaan Thomas
Closing Argument
June 24, 2023
What the Fight Over Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Reveals About Policing of Protests
Opponents of the proposed police training facility have launched a petition for a vote — and some face charges as domestic terrorists.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Closing Argument
April 29, 2023
When ‘Shoot-First Culture’ Meets ‘Fear and Paranoia’
In less than a week, seven people were shot after doing the ordinary — ringing a doorbell or turning around in a driveway.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Closing Argument
June 3, 2023
Three Years After George Floyd’s Murder, Police Reforms Are Slow-Paced
There have been mostly modest changes following protests that galvanized the country in 2020.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Election 2020
March 11, 2020
What Do We Really Know About the Politics of People Behind Bars?
More than 8,000 people responded to a first-of-its-kind political survey. Here is what they said.
By
Nicole Lewis
,
Aviva Shen
and
Anna Flagg
Commentary
February 8, 2016
Black and Unarmed: Behind the Numbers
What the Black Lives Matter movement misses about those police shootings.
By
Heather Mac Donald
Feature
December 15, 2020
Cops Could Use First Aid to Save Lives. Many Never Try.
Most officers get training to respond to injuries, but are often not required to use it.
By
Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge
Feature
September 24, 2017
How Conservatives Learned to Love Free Lawyers for the Poor
By reframing the issue around the evils of big government, Republicans are notching victories that have eluded more liberal legislatures.
By
Alysia Santo
Life Inside
March 22, 2018
Death Row’s First Ever Talent Show
Featuring an “impresario,” a gyrating orange juggler, and an audience-pleasing grand finale.
By
George T. Wilkerson
Commentary
December 22, 2016
Our Favorite Criminal Justice Reporting in 2016
Some of the best work from across the country.
The Marshall Project
News
December 9, 2015
Highlights From Our Death Penalty Discussion
Journalists Liliana Segura, Gabriel Dance and Maurice Chammah took your questions about the death penalty and criminal justice reporting. Here are some of the highlights.
By
Pedro Burgos
Analysis
September 29, 2016
Criminal Justice Reform: An Obituary
Obama and Newt Gingrich. Koch Industries and the ACLU. With friends like that, how could it lose?
By
Bill Keller
Feature
February 1, 2018
The First Ever Marshall Project Guide to the Super Bowl
A criminal justice matchup
By
Justin George