Commentary May 15, 2017

Give Juveniles Their Due

Fifty years after a landmark Supreme Court case, juvenile courts still lack due process.

By Prya Murad

News and Awards February 5, 2017

Donovan X. Ramsey named Commentary Editor of The Marshall Project

Ramsey was previously deputy editor at Complex.com

By The Marshall Project

Commentary April 6, 2016

Oops, We Took 20 Years of Your Life by Mistake. Have a Nice Day.

What society owes the exonerated.

By Jarrett Adams

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

Commentary February 17, 2016

Scalia and the Right to Counsel

He would defend your liberty, but not your right to a lawyer.

By David Carroll

Commentary February 11, 2016

“Look at O.J. ... If He Had a Public Defender, He’d be in Jail.”

Why African-Americans don’t trust the courts, and why it matters.

By Sara Sternberg Greene

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

Commentary January 15, 2016

Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall and the Way to Justice

Two towering lives in a prequel to Black Lives Matter.

By Wil Haygood

Commentary January 11, 2016

A Most Violent Year

What the left and right got wrong about crime in 2015.

By Thomas P. Abt

Commentary December 22, 2015

Why We Need to Shut Down Juvie

“In my five years running the Washington system, I never saw one white youth in my correctional facility.”

By Vincent Schiraldi

Commentary December 17, 2015

Raphael Holiday was Put to Death, and His Lawyers Should Have Tried Harder to Stop It

Gretchen Sween was hired a month before Holiday was executed. This is what she saw.

By Gretchen Sween

Commentary December 16, 2015

Join Our Discussion: How Not To Handle A Rape Investigation

Thursday at 12:30 PM, The Marshall Project and ProPublica are hosting a Digg Dialog on how police should handle rape allegations.

By Blair Hickman

Commentary December 15, 2015

Who is Putting the Most People in Jail? Not New York, Chicago, or LA.

A new tool drills down on hidden incarceration rates.

By Jeremy Travis

Commentary December 2, 2015

New York Disarms the ‘Mentally Ill’

Why mental health experts are up in arms.

By James B. Jacobs and Zoe Fuhr

Commentary November 18, 2015

Five Things Wrong With Georgia’s Death Penalty

On the eve of the next execution, a look at the state’s history of bad lawyering and faulty evidence.

By Sara J. Totonchi

Commentary October 23, 2015

How to Build Trust in Policing

Measure what really matters.

By Susan Shah and Jim Burch

Commentary October 15, 2015

New York City’s Big Idea on Bail

Step one: let’s find out if it works.

By Elizabeth Glazer

Commentary October 13, 2015

What Can Reforming Solitary Confinement Teach Us About Reducing Mass Incarceration?

It’s not about non-violent offenders. And it won’t be cheap.

By Taylor Pendergrass

Commentary October 7, 2015

The Clintons Aren’t the Only Ones to Blame for the Crime Bill

Black leaders also embraced it.

By Michael Fortner

Commentary October 5, 2015

Let the Press In

Society won’t fix a prison system it can’t see.

By Bill Keller

Commentary September 15, 2015

Crime, Fear, and the Republicans

Can the GOP interest in criminal justice reform survive Donald Trump?

By Eric Lewis

Commentary September 9, 2015

Don’t End Broken Windows Policing, Fix It

Quality of life is not just for wealthy suburbanites.

By David Thacher

Commentary September 4, 2015

About Those Rising Murder Rates: Not So Fast

(And the same goes for the “Ferguson Effect.”)

By Bruce Frederick

Commentary August 13, 2015

Should Cops Get to Review the Video Before They Report?

Sorry, Mr. Bratton. Science says no.

By Kathy Pezdek

Commentary July 9, 2015

The Problem with NYC’s Bail Reform

It trades one burden for another.

By Robin Steinberg and David Feige

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

Commentary June 28, 2015

Join Our Facebook Chat On Rikers Island

Bill Keller, Dana Goldstein, Alysia Santo and Eli Hager will answer your questions on what life is like on Rikers, and recent reform efforts.

By Blair Hickman

Commentary June 26, 2015

Fact-Checking Season 3 of Orange Is the New Black

A former CO — and first-time OITNB-watcher — weighs in.

By Carl Stoffers

Commentary June 22, 2015

Kalief Browder was a Good Kid. Should That Matter?

The not-so-nice kids don’t deserve to be brutalized, either.

By Nell Bernstein

Commentary June 19, 2015

Why Carlos Montero Has Been in Rikers for Seven Years Without Trial

Blame the judge, lawyers, and DNA.

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary June 12, 2015

How Do We Hold a Child’s Mind Accountable?

A Colorado judge on why we don’t know nearly enough about the link between the young brains and behavior.

By Morris B. Hoffman

Commentary June 2, 2015

Diary of a Madman?

A psychiatrist analyzes the notebook of James Holmes.

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary May 28, 2015

How Nebraska Repealed the Death Penalty

A deep-red state shows the way, with conservatives in the lead.

By Shari Silberstein

News April 24, 2015

Why is it So Hard for the Justice Department to Curb Police Abuse?

Ask the experts in a Facebook chat Friday at noon ET.

By Blair Hickman

Commentary April 3, 2015

Inmate. Prisoner. Other. Discussed.

What to call incarcerated people: Your feedback

By Blair Hickman

Commentary March 30, 2015

A Courtroom Divided

What a battle between a Mississippi judge and a group of public defenders tells us about the state of indigent defense.

By Andrew Cohen and Clare Sestanovich

Commentary March 16, 2015

The Gatekeepers

Four ways prosecutors can improve their decision-making.

By Brian Elderbroom and Lauren-Brooke Eisen

Commentary March 13, 2015

How Not to Raise the Age

Governor Cuomo’s compromise leaves too many children behind.

By Alexandra Cox

Commentary February 25, 2015

The Missed Opportunity of Robert Woodson

One conservative black activist’s campaign for community crime control.

By Vesla M. Weaver

Commentary February 20, 2015

Where Right Meets Left

The odd-couple alliance on justice reform is not as odd as it seems.

By Bill Keller

Commentary February 19, 2015

What Are 30 Years Worth?

In the case of this wrongfully convicted man, Louisiana says $0.00.

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary February 18, 2015

Making Overseers into Advocates

A social worker’s take on the misery of probation.

By Jeff Deeney

Q&A January 12, 2015

‘Sure, People Are Talking About Prison Reform, but They Aren’t Actually Doing Anything.’

Inmate-turned-journalist Paul Wright on what he’s learned in his 25 years covering the prison system.

By Alysia Santo

Feature December 10, 2014

Our Jury Is In on “Serial”

The lawyers favor acquittal.

By Eli Hager