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Law & Justice

The Metastasis of the Misdemeanor System

The misdemeanor system is four times the size of the felony system. With so many gradations of minor crimes—many involving fines in a very informal process—prejudice and inequality shapes prosecution.

Brandon L. Garrett

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Law & Justice

Law & Justice

Whom Do Sanctuary Cities Protect?

Public safety is precisely why sanctuary cities are a good idea.

Lauren Carasik

Law & Justice

Slaves of the State: Prison Uprisings and the Legacy of Attica

A historian uncovered an archive of massacre at Attica—only to have the records disappear.

Robert Chase

Law & Justice, Race

How the Government Built a Trap for Black Youth

Throughout the twentieth century, bipartisan consensus was that black youth were latent criminals in need of abundant policing.

Kelly Lytle Hernández

Law & Justice, Race

Mass. High Court Says Black Fears Matter

A Massachusetts high court ruling acknowledges that black men aren’t wrong for wanting to run from police.

Simon Waxman

Global Justice, Law & Justice

On Ice

Undocumented immigrants face horrible conditions in U.S. detention, with little legal recourse.

Colin Dayan

Class & Inequality, Law & Justice

No Easy End to Prison Profiteering

The DOJ says it will stop using private prisons. The truth is more complicated.

Christopher Petrella

Law & Justice, Race

Paying for Punishment

Debt still sends many people—especially black people—to jail.

Donna Murch

Law & Justice, Politics

Racial Violence in Black and White

Images of police violence against African Americans have a radical heritage.

Benjamin Balthaser

Law & Justice, Politics

Waiting at Guantánamo

After fourteen years, Mohamedou Ould Slahi may finally have a chance at freedom.

Henry Ace Knight

Gender & Sexuality, Law & Justice

The Problem of Punishment

Rapists should be held accountable. But is more incarceration the best way?

Judith Levine

Global Justice, Law & Justice

That Lonesome Whistle

Edward Snowden’s actions can be justified, but not as civil disobedience.

Candice Delmas

Law & Justice, Politics

On Stone Mountain

White supremacy and the birth of the modern Democratic Party.

Christopher Petrella

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