News

By Anabel Sosa On August 8, 2023 Renee Espinoza thought her first strip search at the hands of a California correctional officer would be her last. It happened during a visit to Centinela State Prison to see her incarcerated husband.  A few months later it happened again. And then again.  “It was the same process…

By Sarah Betancourt On August 22, 2023 A state commission released several thousand disciplinary records for law enforcement across Massachusetts on Tuesday in a long-awaited effortto improve police accountability. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, known as POST, released the database containing 3,413 records of over 2,100 officers from 273 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts.…

By Jordan Smith On August 18, 2023 Forensic genetic genealogists skirted GEDmatch privacy rules by searching users who explicitly opted out of sharing DNA with law enforcement. CECE MOORE, AN actress and director-turned-genetic genealogist, stood behind a lectern at New Jersey’s Ramapo College in late July. Propelled onto the national stage by the popular PBS show…

By Noah A. McGee On August 22, 2023 Despite their pledge to rebuild trust after the unfortunate death of Elijah McClain three years ago, the Aurora Police Department is still being accused of participating in violent and dangerous behavior. Over the weekend, Antonio Johnson, who is Black, filed a lawsuit against the department claiming that they used dragged him…

By Ben Conarck On August 15, 2023 Critical staffing shortages are preventing police from spending enough time getting to know the neighborhoods they patrol — a roadblock to regaining community trust, report finds After decades of discriminatory policing eroded trust in scores of neighborhoods across the city, the Baltimore Police Department is continuing an uphill…

By Noah Alcala Bach On August 10, 2023 More than 8 in 10 people charged by state troopers since they began helping Austin police have been people of color. In Southeast Austin, a neighborhood president calls it “outright racial profiling.” As the sun sets over Riverside Drive in Southeast Austin, a cluster of state troopers…

By Eric Leonard and Andrew Blankstein On August 7, 2023 The current police academy class, with only 29 recruits, is less than half full as the city struggles to attract new officers and retain retirement-eligible veterans. LOS ANGELES — The number of officers employed by the Los Angeles Police Department has dropped below 9,000, a…

By Ayanna Alexander On August 20, 2023 HOUSTON (AP) — Sylvia Ann Miller-Scarborough remembers when people of color had to pay a poll tax to vote in Houston. She recalls her grandmother, undeterred by such obstacles, reminding her how important it was to be heard at the ballot box. Miller-Scarborough worries that much of the…

By Anisa Husain On August 22, 2023 Niamey, Niger, August 5, 2023 —  In Niger, a country already affected by multiple crises, humanitarian NGOs are warning that further instability could strongly deteriorate the living conditions of the most vulnerable, including women and children who are often the most vulnerable during times of crisis, and hamper the humanitarian response. The combination…

On August 22, 2023 UN rights expert raises alarm over nearly decade-long detention of the former professor who is 90 percent disabled and bound to a wheelchair. A United Nations rights expert has slammed India’s prolonged detention of a rights activist with disabilities as “inhumane”, citing grave concerns for his health and demanding an immediate…