In New York, almost 120,000 black men between the ages of 25 and 54 are missing from everyday life. In Chicago, 45,000 are, and more than 30,000 are missing in Philadelphia. Across the South — from North Charleston, S.C., through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and up into Ferguson, Mo. — hundreds of thousands more are missing. They are missing, largely …
Support for the Death Penalty at Lowest Point in 40 Years – Terrell Jermaine Starr
While most Americans still favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder, support for capital punishment is lower than it has been in 40 years, according to the Pew Research Center [3]. Today, 56 percent of Americans favor the death penalty, six points lower than the 62 percent of people who favored it back 2011. In 1996, support for the death …
Murders of Earth’s Defenders: The Deadly Trend Continues – Andrea Germanos
“How many more people will die before the world takes notice?” That’s a question posed by the organization Global Witness, whose new report, How Many More?, exposes what it calls a “hidden crisis” of murders of those who defend the earth from environmental destruction. The “overarching theme” of the killings last year, which averaged more than two a week, involved disputes over …
US admits FBI falsified evidence to obtain convictions – Kate Randall
The US Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that over a more than two-decade period before 2000, nearly every FBI examiner gave flawed forensic hair testimony in almost all trials of criminal defendants reviewed so far, according to a report in the Washington Post. The cases examined include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death, 14 of whom have been either executed …
‘Profiting From Misery’: Private Prison Corporations Driving Harsh Immigration Policies – Sarah Lazare
Private prison companies are spending millions of dollars to lobby the U.S. government for harsher immigration laws that, in turn, spike corporate profits by driving up incarceration levels, a new report from the national social justice organization Grassroots Leadership reveals. Entitled Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota, the report’s release on Wednesday coincided with a renewed …
At least 29 million health records breached by overt criminal activity
Between 2010 and 2013, data breaches of protected health information reported by HIPAA-covered entities increased and involved approximately 29 million records, with most data breaches resulting from overt criminal activity, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA. Reports of data breaches have increased during the past decade. Compared with other industries, these breaches are estimated to be …
Twenty Years Later: Facts About the OKC Bombing That Go Unreported
Next week will mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people including 19 children. The mainstream media will undoubtedly focus its attention on Timothy McVeigh, who was put to death in June 2001 for his part in the crime. They might also mention Terry Nichols, who was convicted of …
The police can’t police themselves. And now the public is too scared to cooperate with them.
When Feidin Santana recorded Walter Scott’s murder, his first thought was fear of reprisal from police. In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Santana said he was tempted to delete the video and move for his own safety. Though he ultimately gave the video to Scott’s family, who then turned it over to the press, he still fears reprisals. Like Scott’s family, Santana …
Rolling Back the Police State
We’ve heard the lie before. When accused murderer and former North Charleston Patrolman Michael Thomas Slager’s lawyer said his client “felt threatened,” it wasn’t his life that had been threatened. What was threatened was his sense of authority. Sometimes, that can be the beginning of a life-ending escalation. Running away is a threat to some officers’ sense of authority. It …
Same Surveillance State, Different War
It’s been a long 22 months since the first of thousands of classified government documents became public in what has turned into a drumbeat of astonishing revelations about the scope of mass surveillance carried out by the United States government. On Tuesday evening, USA Today detailed a massive surveillance operation, run by the intelligence arm of the Drug Enforcement Agency, that began in …









