Browsing: TCR Special Reports

Stories by The Crime Report staff and nationwide network of contributors.

American and British experts are quietly helping Pakistan modernize a weak and corrupt justice system. But it needs to be a bigger priority for Western policymakers hoping to achieve regional stability, writes a former UK senior police official.

The small number of individuals involved in shootings within any given community are connected by a web of social relationships in which violence follows the same predictable pathways as any pathogen, suggests Chicago criminologist Andrew Papachristos. In the latest installment of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation “Crossroads” interviews, he explains how that research finding can inform efforts to reduce gun violence.

The campaign to remove District Attorney George Gascón in the nation’s largest prosecutorial office failed to get enough signatures to place a vote on the ballot the first time around, but supporters worry that it has added to the growing pains of a city that voted for an overhaul in its legal system last December. 

Hailed as alternatives to police, crisis counselors have struggled and triumphed over the past year. A year after nationwide protests against police violence, a TCR Special Report examines how crisis centers have changed, and their evolving relationship with law enforcement.

Police officers have a responsibility to report what happens when interactions with civilians involve the use of deadly force. However, what they document and what they leave out, accidentally or purposely, is often ignored as a contributing factor to the loss of trust with communities.

A collection of 13 essays published by the Brennan Center at NYU School of Law probes the relationship between guns and race, policing, domestic violence, and democracy. Three of the authors spoke recently with The Crime Report about their conclusions.

Facing a monumental case backlog, attorneys say virtual proceedings might ease the accumulation of civil cases. But the convenient and cost-saving appeal of remote appearances can’t replicate key aspects of the courtroom, others say.