Justice
Some police officers leave big cities for smaller towns to avoid heightened scrutiny
Four years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the police murder of George Floyd, many big-city law enforcement agencies are struggling to fill their ranks. Departments have tried offering hiring bonuses, expediting background checks and increasing salaries. Some have dropped bans on visible tattoos, lowered physical fitness exam requirements and expanded eligibility to […]
Swing-state legislatures diverge on election-year gun measures
Read more Stateline coverage of the 2024 election. States continued to diverge on gun policy this year, with especially intense debate in the swing states that will decide November’s election. In Michigan, legislators are considering at least half a dozen gun bills that would create storage requirements and establish gun-free zones. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers are still debating […]
Greater focus on crime sparks another wave of juvenile justice bills
For decades, state legislators and criminal justice advocates have worked to change the juvenile legal system, striving to expand access to rehabilitation and keep young people from returning to crime. During this year’s legislative session, nearly every state has considered some form of juvenile justice legislation, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures database. […]
Crime victims may get fewer services as federal aid drops. States weigh how to help.
Groups that assist crime victims across the United States are bracing for significant financial pain after the amount available from a major federal victim services fund plunged $700 million this year. Congress recently lowered spending to $1.2 billion from the fund, which provides grants to nonprofit and local programs across the country. This latest round […]
‘Transformative’: More college programs are slowly coming into prisons
When the U.S. Department of Education announced last summer that federal Pell Grants would become available to incarcerated college students, lawmakers and state corrections agencies scrambled to adjust statutes and step up potential partnerships with universities. But nearly a year later, colleges and agencies are recognizing the steep administrative challenge to winning approval from the […]
In reversal, more areas allow high-speed police chases
During several years of efforts to refine policing tactics — ranging from mandating body-worn cameras to limiting or banning excessive use of force — many states and law enforcement agencies nationwide imposed more restrictive car chase policies to protect civilians and officers. Now, state legislators and some local and state agencies are turning back the […]
As drag shows go ‘mainstream,’ some red states look to restrict them
Drag performances used to be found mostly in the confines of nightlife venues such as clubs and bars. But drag has stepped into the daylight, with elaborately costumed and made-up performers appearing at library readings and kid-friendly brunches, and a newfound visibility for gender-bending entertainment and self-expression. “Drag now versus 15 years ago is like […]
HIV is no longer a death sentence. But states still have laws targeting people who live with it.
This article originally appeared on The 19th. The morning of Feb. 4, 2007, started off like any other for 25-year-old Lashanda Salinas. She got up and made the 20-minute commute to her job as a front desk clerk at a Nashville hotel where she greeted guests and checked them in. Hours later, her life changed. […]
Texas’ new immigration law is blocked again
This article first appeared in The Texas Tribune. A federal appeals court late Tuesday night stopped a state law allowing Texas police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border — hours after the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed it to go into effect. Earlier in the day, the high court had allowed […]
‘Tough-on-crime’ policies are back in some places that had reimagined criminal justice
Fueled by public outrage over the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and other high-profile incidents of police violence, a seismic shift swept across the United States shortly afterward, with a wave of initiatives aimed at reining in police powers and reimagining criminal-legal systems. Yet less than half a decade later, […]
Bail clampdowns don’t match what research says about suspects, experts say
Crime is shaping up as a potent election issue, and one of the key points of debate is over bail: Which suspects should be jailed before trial, and which ones should be released on bond — and for how much money? Some conservatives argue that lenient bail policies put suspects who are likely to commit […]
Car thefts and carjackings are up. Unreliable data makes it hard to pinpoint why.
Carjackings and car thefts are up significantly compared with the number of incidents before the pandemic, prompting fear and calls for action in many American cities. Motor vehicle thefts increased by 29% in 2023 compared with the previous year, while carjackings slightly decreased by 5% in nearly 40 American cities, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s most […]