Law & Justice

Law & Justice, Politics

The Problem Isn't Just Police—It's Politics

In this interview, sociologist Alex Vitale explains how the policing crisis in the United States begins with politics—the decision to embrace neoliberal austerity and to turn the social problems it creates over to police.

Alex Vitale, Scott Casleton

Law & Justice

Getting Judges on the Side of Abolition

Success in transforming the criminal justice system will depend on convincing judges to shift how they relate to—and rely upon—police in their criminal courtrooms.

Matthew Clair

Law & Justice, Race

How Police Abuse the Charge of Resisting Arrest

We must reject the current legal regime under which resisting arrest is so widely accepted as a justification for police brutality and officer shootings.

Lisa Cacho, Jodi Melamed

Law & Justice

Policing the World

Since World War II, the United States has spread its style of policing—and police technology—around the world as a way to exert control. This link between modern policing and the national security state means they will have to be democratized together.

Andrew Lanham

Law & Justice, Politics

A Perfect Storm of Vulnerabilities Could Determine the 2020 Election

Here’s what we should do.

Jake Braun

Law & Justice

Accept Nothing Less Than Police Abolition

As post-Katrina New Orleans illustrates, even ambitious attempts to reform police leave intact the structures of racial violence. Worse yet, such efforts drain public money that could instead have been invested in caring for communities.

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs

Law & Justice, Politics

Power over Policing

A special project from Boston Review. 

Law & Justice

We Can End Qualified Immunity Tomorrow

We need not wait for Congress or the Supreme Court to deny police officers qualified immunity when they violate constitutional rights. State attorneys general and city law departments can—and should—lead the charge themselves.

Alex Reinert

Law & Justice

Hold Prosecutors Accountable, Too

In order to achieve lasting change, we must focus on systemic problems across the criminal justice system. That includes holding prosecutors accountable, not just police.

Kate Levine, Joanna Schwartz

Law & Justice, Race

The Pain Just Stays in Your Head

Police brutality is not isolated and exceptional. As Chicago’s decades-long history of police torture illustrates, it is built into the systemic nature of racial violence.

Gili Kliger

Law & Justice

Power over Policing

Reform efforts will fail. Only a power shift to communities can improve public safety.

Jocelyn Simonson

Law & Justice, Philosophy & Religion

Rights in a Pandemic

The COVID-19 crisis creates a conflict not between individual rights and the community, but rather between individual rights themselves—including, above all, the right to health.

Attila Mraz