COLORLINES - Criminal Justice

Video Shows D.C. Cop Abuse of Elderly Man in Wheelchair

by Thoai Lu on May 24 2011, 2:12PM

In the video taken outside the U Street-Cardozo Metro Station, two D.C. Metro Police officers are seen slamming Dwight Harris to the ground.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Supreme Court Demands California Release 30,000 Inmates

by Julianne Hing on May 24 2011, 9:32AM

Just how bad is the state’s prison overcrowding? More than 40 inmates had to share one toilet. And that’s just the beginning.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Sean Bell Community Center Opens in New York

by Asraa Mustufa on May 23 2011, 11:20AM

Five years after Sean Bell was killed in a hail of police gunfire, a community center named in his honor opened Friday in the Queens neighborhood where he grew up.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Still More Questions Than Answers in Aiyana Stanley Jones’ Killing

by Jamilah King on May 18 2011, 9:35AM

The Detroit police’s shooting of a 7-year-old girl has generated a lot of outrage, but a year later there’s been no demonstrable change.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Arizona SWAT Team Shoots Latino Former Marine Dozens of Times

by Thoai Lu on May 17 2011, 4:11AM

Now, authorities won’t release information on what led to the raid on 26-year-old Jose Guerena’s Arizona home.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Oakland Prepares for Johannes Mehserle’s Potential Summer Release

by Julianne Hing on May 12 2011, 2:27PM

The former transit cop is due back in court June 1.

Topics: Criminal Justice

NYPD Filmed in Bloody Arrest of Elderly Chinese Musician

by Channing Kennedy on May 11 2011, 11:34AM

Residents say this is part of a larger trend of gentrification and police negligence in Chinese neighborhoods.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Black Juror to Court: Justice Impossible With Confederate Flag Flying

by Thoai Lu on May 9 2011, 2:25PM

A Louisiana man who refused to serve in a death penalty trial now challenges the conviction, too.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Prison Reformers Push to Stop Troy Davis’s Execution

by Asraa Mustufa on April 28 2011, 10:21AM

The NAACP, Amnesty International, and Color of Change are circulating action items urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to grant Davis clemency.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Mumia Abu-Jamal Gets New Sentencing Hearing

by Jamilah King on April 27 2011, 11:41AM

A U.S. Appeals court has ruled that the prolific writer and activist must be granted a new sentencing hearing within six months.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Transgender Inmate Sues State for Sex Reassignment

by Asraa Mustufa on April 21 2011, 1:36PM

California inmate Lyralisa Stevens says that the surgery could save her from being harassed and sexually assaulted in a male prison.

Topics: Criminal Justice, Gender & Sexuality

Second Sikh Man Dies After Suspected Hate Crime Attack

by Julianne Hing on April 19 2011, 9:28AM

Gurmeh Atwal passed away from injuries he sustained in March. Police are still trying to determine whether the attack was a hate crime.

Topics: Criminal Justice

NAACP and Newt Gingrich Agree: Too Much Money for Prisons

by Asraa Mustufa on April 7 2011, 4:58PM

A bevy of conservative politicos line up alongside the NAACP to talk about criminal justice reform.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Gov. Haley Barbour Won’t Hold His Breath for Scott Sisters Pardon

by Asraa Mustufa on April 4 2011, 3:25PM

Gladys and Jamie Scott, two sisters who served nearly 17 years in prison for an $11 armed robbery, will not be granted a pardon from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. “I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Barbour told the Associated Press, when…

Topics: Criminal Justice