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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Jacksonville’s jail death rate tripled after privatizing medical care
by Nichole Manna July 25, 2023 Some of those deaths include people who died in custody, like 33-year-old Amanda Howard and 28-year-old Lina Odom. Others, not reported by the Sheriff’s Office, died shortly after their release, like Dexter Barry. Barry, 54, went two days in jail without anti-rejection medications for his transplanted heart and died after he…
How many trans and intersex people live in the U.S.? Anti-LGBTQ laws will affect millions
There is particularly scant data about intersex people, those born with physical traits that don’t fit typical definitions for male or female. July 27, 2023, 3:36 PM EDT / Source: The Associated Press By Associated Press People gather in support of transgender youth at a rally at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City in January.Rick Bowmer /…
Michigan Democratic governor signs ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for minors
By Kaanita Iyer, CNN Published 7:51 AM EDT, Thu July 27, 2023 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a press conference in Romulus, Michigan, February 13, 2023.Rebecca Cook/ReutersCNN — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed two bills banning so-called conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice intended to change a person’s sexual orientation, for minors in the state,…