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Plaintiffs in High-Profile Redistricting Case Urge Judges to Toss Out Alabama’s Controversial Congressional Map
By Fredreka Schouten, CNN Published 12:22 PM EDT, Sat July 29, 2023 Civil rights groups representing plaintiffs in a high-profile congressional redistricting case are urging a federal court in Alabama to reject a controversial new map crafted by the Republican-dominated legislature, saying it perpetuates a violation of the nation’s landmark voting rights law. In a late-night court filing Friday, the…
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Albany Police Block Misconduct Investigations, Neutering Landmark Oversight Law
By Chris Gelardi and Naina Purushothaman On August 2, 2023 Albany empowered its community oversight board. But the police department and the city’s top attorney are stonewalling. AT A JUNETEENTH celebration in Albany last year, a city cop allegedly threw a 12-year-old to the ground so hard his shoe flew off. The next day, local police shot a man in…
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NOPD use of facial recognition leads to zero arrests in nine months
By Michael Isaac Stein On July 26, 2023 Facial recognition technology that has been touted as an important tool to reduce violent crime in the city was used by the New Orleans Police Department only 13 times from Oct. 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, resulting in zero arrests, according to a new report from…
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Blacks and Latinos Are Half of L.A. Population—but 80 Percent of Arrests
By Tori Otten On July 27, 2023 A new study sheds light on the disproportionate rate of arrests in the second-biggest city in America. Los Angeles city police arrest a Black or Latino person nearly eight out of every 10 times, despite the fact that those two communities only make up about half the city’s…
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Court strikes down limits on filming of police in Arizona
On July 22, 2023 PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that an Arizona law limiting how close people can get to recording law enforcement is unconstitutional, citing infringement against a clearly established right to film police doing their jobs. The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi permanently blocks enforcement of…
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Their Families Said They Needed Treatment. Mississippi Officials Threw Them in Jail Without Charges.
By Isabelle Taft, Mollie Simon, ProPublica and Agnel Philip, ProPublica July 27, 2023 In Mississippi, serious mental illness or substance abuse can land you in jail, even if you aren’t charged with a crime. The state is a stark outlier in jailing so many people for so long, but many officials say they don’t have another option. This article…
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Bill to Ban Solitary Confinement in Federal Prisons Introduced in House
By Erik Ortiz July 27, 2023, 11:01 AM EDT / Updated July 27, 2023, 12:06 PM EDT The End Solitary Confinement Act would prohibit isolating inmates and detainees with limited exceptions while ensuring their due process rights. A bill that would broadly ban the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons, jails and detention centers was introduced by a coalition…
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Connecticut Has Done Something Remarkable With Crime
BY WAYNE D’ORIO JULY 27, 2023 In 1999 Connecticut had so many people in prison that it paid to send 500 of them to be incarcerated in Virginia. Nearly 25 years later, the state has not only sliced its number of imprisoned people in half, but been able to close more than 10 prisons while keeping its…
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How One Alabama County Declared War on Pregnant Women Who Use Drugs
By AMY YURKANIN July 26th, 2023 Chelsea Stewart waited on the bench of a north Alabama court in early 2019, holding tight to the big news she hoped might get her out of trouble. Gadsden police had caught Stewart, then 20 years old, smoking marijuana outside her house a month earlier. It was the first time…
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