The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/tcr-special-report/)
Stories by The Crime Report staff and nationwide network of contributors.
On Jan. 21, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order mandating masks on all forms of transit. But there’s little muscle behind the change, putting transit employees who report violators at physical risk. Other countries are faring no better, as reports of violence against transit workers increase.
Commentators argue that African Americans in law enforcement can play a primary role in tackling the historic legacy of police racism. But first they have to get in the door. In interviews with The Crime Report, senior Black officers say police recruitment practices are riddled with both overt and implicit bias.
Interviews with former and current Black police officers provide a sobering look at the frustrations of working in a law enforcement culture that leaves them disempowered. This is Part 1 of a series exploring the systemic racism which continues to distort American policing.
A bill introduced by New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman would give inmates aged 55 and older a chance for parole, regardless of their crime, as long as they have served 15 years of their sentence. In an interview with TCR, Hoylman says it’s a way to recognize the potential for rehabilitation.
Congress’s decision to reinstate financial aid for incarcerated students pursuing higher education has been hailed as a long-overdue achievement. But, the program will need careful monitoring to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place and that it is not exploited by for-profit colleges “looking for an easy buck,” experts tell The Crime Report.
The barriers faced by Kilroy Watkins to finding housing after his release from prison were formidable. But as advocates across the country pursue early release for non-violent inmates during COVID-19, the challenge of finding transitional housing in a world afflicted by the pandemic has exacerbated the already difficult barriers to successful reentry.
The recent decision to do away with lethal injections in Ohio has forced death-row inmates at Chillicothe Correctional Institution to wonder not only when they’ll be executed but also how.
State politicians who supported police reform and accountability measures could see future donations from law enforcement disappear. “We’re going to remember who was with us and we’re going to remember who wasn’t,” said Tom Daly, executive vice president of the New England Police Benevolent Association.
Inmates freed during the pandemic may have escaped one threat only to encounter fewer services and greater risk of infection from an already flawed reentry infrastructure that offers little help.
On Thursday, Brandon Bernard joined the list of individuals executed for a crime committed when he was an adolescent. Convicted for his part in a gruesome murder 21 years ago, Bernard also fell victim to a system that still fails to consider an offender’s youth and background, such as a history of abuse, as a mitigating circumstance.