The passage of California’s flavored tobacco law in 2022 is groundbreaking because it was designed to avoid further criminalizing Black and Brown folks.
A White Philadelphia police officer became distraught when he learned that a Black motorist he fatally shot after a high-speed chase was unarmed, his lawyer said as the ex-officer’s third-degree murder trial began on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
The Arts and Healing Justice Network uses art to help youth impacted by the criminal justice system like 23-year-old Kevin Rodas.
Few Americans believe there has been significant progress over the last 50 years in achieving equal treatment for Black people in dealings with police and the criminal justice system, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The new report revealed that at least 28 percent of those killed were African Americans, who make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. Although this figure is staggering, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that it is almost certainly under-represents the actual number of civilians who died while in the custody of the criminal justice system.
This historic first is crucial at this time as they both take on the challenges of police reform, prison guard standards and their modes of operation.
The truth in our courtrooms is rarely so clear. Instead, there are layers of issues beyond guilt, including systemic injustice, rushed proceedings, undue pressure, and broad prosecutorial discretion on what charges are filed and the length of sentence that will result.
Jackie Lacey has been a member of my church since she was five years old. She was baptized here and met her husband of 50 years in the youth choir group when she was 17. Today, she and her family have been active members and I know that her life has been shaped by the extraordinary church leaders that have counseled her over the years.
“And so this march must go beyond this historic moment. We must support the strong. We must give courage to the timid. We must remind the indifferent, and we must warn the opposed. Civil rights, which are God-given and constitutionally guaranteed, are not negotiable in 1963.” – National Urban League President Whitney M. Young, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice
In the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd, we witnessed an outpouring of grief and support. We have also begun a long-overdue conversation about police & community interaction, most notably concerning the use of violence by police officers towards people of color. As an African American man and a former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, I welcome this conversation and believe that much good can arise from this discussion.
John Adams and his son, John Quincy, were the only two of our first 12 Presidents who didn’t own slaves.
I mention this for two reasons: first, to demonstrate how the control and devaluation of Black lives formed the foundation of our political thought; and second, to reinforce that Adams may be more qualified than most founding fathers to speak about justice.
He wrote, “we are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer.”
Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney, reopened the case earlier this year because of lingering questions and recent revelations of corruption in the city’s police department that allegedly stretched back for decades.
Former Dorsey Football star Antonio Carrion was once considered to be the best wide receiver in southern California and the nation. His battle with Bipolar Paranoid Schizophrenia led him to homelessness and the Criminal Justice System, showing the lack of institutional resources put in place for people living with mental illness.
Hosted by the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, a nonprofit founded by a bipartisan group of African American leaders from across the country who advocate for criminal justice reform, the event includes a host of Democratic presidential hopefuls, local officials, and other stakeholders.
Opponents of the ban fear that it would give police another reason to profile African Americans.