Analysis March 30

The Myth of the Criminal Immigrant

The link between immigration and crime exists in the imaginations of Americans, and nowhere else.

By Anna Flagg

Analysis October 18, 2017

A Long Decline in Executions Takes a Detour

Recent court rulings and start-stop access to lethal drugs push numbers up this year.

By Maurice Chammah and Tom Meagher

Analysis September 5, 2017

What’s Next for DACA?

President Trump tries to deflect a potentially thunderous blowback.

By Julia Preston

Analysis September 1, 2017

The Dreamers Won’t Go Quietly

And they’ve got a lot of allies.

By Julia Preston

Analysis August 14, 2017

Killings of Black Men by Whites are Far More Likely to be Ruled “Justifiable”

The disparity remains no matter the circumstances and has persisted for decades.

By Daniel Lathrop & Anna Flagg

Analysis July 19, 2017

Nine Lessons About Criminal Justice Reform

What Washington can learn from the states.

By Bill Keller

Analysis May 3, 2017

What You Miss if You Miss the News in Spanish

Forget Korea and Ivanka. It’s all immigration, all the time.

By John Carlos Frey

Analysis March 9, 2017

How We Crunched California’s Pay-to-Stay Data

A guide to our methodology.

By Anna Flagg

Analysis March 2, 2017

Trump’s Radical Departure on Immigration

A softer tone from the White House belies a harsher reality.

By Julia Preston

Analysis February 22, 2017

The Case of Duane Buck

Was he sentenced to death “because he is black”?

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis February 20, 2017

The Opposite of Sanctuary

Where the local lawmen serve as immigration enforcers.

By Anna Flagg

Analysis February 20, 2017

Trump’s First Roundup

What we learned from that surge of immigrant arrests

By Julia Preston

Analysis February 9, 2017

Everything You Think You Know About Mass Incarceration Is Wrong

Or at least misleading, says this contrarian scholar. Here’s why it matters.

By Eli Hager and Bill Keller

Analysis February 3, 2017

Decoding Trump’s Immigration Orders

What to watch as the system prepares for mass deportations.

By Julia Preston

Analysis January 31, 2017

Neil Gorsuch: Scalia Without the Scowl

Trump’s nominee has the ideology without the temper.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis January 19, 2017

Trump Budget Draft Targets Cops, Crime Victims

Also civil rights enforcement and legal aid for the poor.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis January 10, 2017

What Happened At Jeff Sessions' Senate Hearing

Senator laments a “corrosion of respect” for police in first day of testimony centered on crime and punishment.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis December 16, 2016

Why Congress May Bring Criminal Justice Reform Back to Life

Four reasons a bipartisan bill has a better chance than you think

By Bill Keller

Analysis December 15, 2016

How Blacks and Whites Die Differently in Prison

New federal data shows some stark racial disparities.

Story and graphics by Yolanda Martinez

Analysis November 30, 2016

Who’s in Solitary Confinement?

By Anna Flagg, Alex Tatusian and Christie Thompson

Analysis November 18, 2016

A Primer on Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s Pick for Attorney General

An extensive record as a prosecutor and a senator gives some hints of what to expect.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis October 20, 2016

Chipping Away at the Crime Wave Myth

This time, a survey of crime victims

By Tom Meagher and Anna Flagg

Analysis October 17, 2016

Could Donald Trump Have Gone to Jail for Groping a Woman?

How various states punish the act.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis October 14, 2016

In Florida, Only Seven Jurors Can Put You to Death

The other quirk in the state’s death penalty system.

By Maurice Chammah and Tom Meagher

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

Analysis September 26, 2016

Who is ICE Deporting?

Obama’s promise to focus on “felons not families” has fallen short

By Christie Thompson and Anna Flagg

Analysis September 15, 2016

Sandra Bland, One Year Later

Her death at a Texas jail spurred a striking amount of reform talk across political lines.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis August 14, 2016

Are Evangelicals Ditching the Death Penalty?

As demographics change, a move toward mercy.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis August 8, 2016

Why is Arkansas Flailing in Juvenile Justice?

Blame the good guys.

By Dick Mendel

Analysis August 2, 2016

The End of the Bratton Era

A new generation of chiefs favors a lighter touch.

By Simone Weichselbaum

Analysis August 1, 2016

Is the Internet Endangering Criminal Informants?

A judicial committee proposes more secrecy.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis July 29, 2016

Fact-checking the Democrats

A closer look at crime rates and how people really feel about police.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis July 22, 2016

Truth-testing Trump on Law and Order

“These are the facts,” he says. Mmmm, not so fast.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis July 19, 2016

Rhetoric and Reality at the RNC

Does America need to be made safe again? We fact-checked a handful of last night’s claims.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis July 18, 2016

Two Parties, Two Platforms on Criminal Justice

The Republicans nod to reforms, then take a sharp right turn.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis July 13, 2016

Protesting at the Republican Convention? Here’s How to Stay Out of Jail

Tip No. 1: Don’t talk back to a cop (and a lot of them will be there).

By Simone Weichselbaum

Analysis July 8, 2016

Can Justice Reform Efforts Survive Dallas?

Advocates have a sinking feeling.

By Simone Weichselbaum, Maurice Chammah and Ken Armstrong

Analysis June 30, 2016

It’s Been Almost Two Months Since the U.S. Executed Someone

We’re in the middle of one of the longest death penalty lulls in 24 years.

By Tom Meagher

Analysis June 16, 2016

Could Removing Brock Turner’s Judge Hurt Poor and Minority Defendants?

A group of public defenders says yes.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis June 14, 2016

So You Think a New Prison Will Save Your Town?

Six reasons you’re likely to be disappointed

By Tom Meagher & Christie Thompson

Analysis June 13, 2016

Should Jurors Refuse to Serve with the Judge in the Brock Turner Case?

The oddest fallout from the Stanford sexual assault

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis May 25, 2016

The Anomaly of Dylann Roof

White-on-black murders rarely result in a death sentence. Roof might be an exception.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis May 24, 2016

Why the Virginia GOP Can’t Thwart McAuliffe on Voting Rights

The state constitution is pretty clear, says a man who helped draft it.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis May 23, 2016

Can Courtroom Prejudice Be Proved?

The Supreme Court considers what it takes to show that prosecutors, when they pick juries, are discriminating against minorities.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis May 15, 2016

13 Important Questions About Criminal Justice We Can’t Answer

And the government can’t either.

By Tom Meagher

Analysis April 26, 2016

What Happens When There Aren’t Enough Judges to Go Around

84 federal vacancies, and a glacial confirmation rate, put extra stress on some districts

By Eli Hager

Analysis April 12, 2016

How the Drug Shortage Has Slowed the Death-Penalty Treadmill

Only 4 states are currently carrying out lethal injections, and 10 are considering other methods.

By Maurice Chammah and Tom Meagher

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

Analysis February 12, 2016

Justice Reform, RIP?

The vaunted bipartisan drive to enact federal criminal justice reform is not quite dead. But its pulse is faint.

By Bill Keller

Analysis January 27, 2016

There Are Practically No Juveniles in Federal Prison — Here’s Why

Obama takes bold action, but for a population of fewer than 30

By Beth Schwartzapfel

Analysis January 12, 2016

A New Blow to Florida’s Death Penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court says state judges cannot sentence death without a jury’s mandate

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis January 12, 2016

Could One of These Cases Spell the End of the Death Penalty?

Abolitionists seek the perfect case for a Supreme Court challenge.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis November 6, 2015

The Dissenters

Not everybody is aboard the criminal justice reform bandwagon. Here’s why.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis October 29, 2015

What You Need to Know About the New Federal Prisoner Release

Five reasons it is (and is not) a big deal.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis October 21, 2015

Congress Prepares to Deliver (a Little) Criminal Justice Reform

Is this the beginning — or the end?

By Bill Keller

Analysis October 20, 2015

Why is a Man Serving Life for a Murder that Feds Say Someone Else Committed?

The unusual case of Lamont McKoy.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis October 14, 2015

What Hillary Clinton Got Wrong About Marijuana

A fact check of the Democratic debate.

By Christie Thompson

Analysis September 25, 2015

The Disappearing Precedent

When courts “de-publish” rulings to limit their impact.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis August 12, 2015

When Heroin Hits the White Suburbs

Suddenly it’s not a crime problem, it’s a health problem.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis July 29, 2015

Meet Dylann Roof’s Defender

Representing an avowed racist, a champion of racial justice.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis July 22, 2015

The Nonviolent Offenders Congress Forgot

While prison reform gains momentum, the immigration debate remains “tough on crime.”

By Christie Thompson

Analysis July 15, 2015

‘Justice and Redemption Go Hand in Hand.’

A closer look at the president’s speech on criminal justice reform.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis July 13, 2015

The President Goes to Prison

But Congress is the place to watch.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis July 10, 2015

The Rise and Fall of Anthony Batts

He was more at home at Harvard than on the streets.

By Simone Weichselbaum

Analysis July 2, 2015

What Was Justice Breyer Really Saying?

And to whom was he saying it?

By Evan Mandery

Analysis June 29, 2015

A Victory for Lethal Injection

And a blazing battle over the death penalty itself.

By Andrew Cohen

Analysis June 26, 2015

Scott Walker on Crime and Punishment: Back to the ‘90s

As his rivals ease up, one candidate hangs tough

By Eli Hager

Analysis June 25, 2015

What Prisons Can Learn From Schools

Lessons from education reform on transforming an expensive, ineffective system.

By Eli Hager