Are there too many police or are there too few? In the months since Black Lives Matter activists first organized protests against police violence, the concept of over-policing has become key in understanding the dynamic against which they fight, especially in dramatically over-policed places like Ferguson. Some… »11/09/15 1:02pm11/09/15 1:02pm

Synthia China Blast is a Latina trans woman who, according to her family, has been in involuntary protective custody (IPC), a glorified form of solitary confinement, for almost 20 years. When we spoke, Synthia was incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility, a men’s prison about two hours north of New York City.
»11/03/15 2:47pm11/03/15 2:47pm

How many Americans do you think were killed by police in, let’s say, 2012? You don’t know? Neither do I, and neither does anyone else—including the FBI. »10/15/15 4:14pm10/15/15 4:14pm

Beginning next month, 6,000 federal inmates, mostly drug offenders, will be released from prison early. You might believe that this is good reason to be afraid—wild men and addicts running loose on the street! But it will be just fine. Last time it happened, it was just fine, too. »10/07/15 2:56pm10/07/15 2:56pm

Next time you have your ass handed to you by a member of New York’s finest—be it a hotheaded rookie who plays by his own rules or a grizzled veteran who’s too old for this shit—you’ll have the comfort of knowing that the officer is under strict orders to carefully report every aspect of the smackdown. Will he actually… »10/01/15 1:26pm10/01/15 1:26pm

He stared at me like he knew me. Like, if we lived in the same hood, we would kick it. We probably would. Hennessy is my favorite drink, too. »9/28/15 5:14pm9/28/15 5:14pm

“There are a few things that people don’t know about my brother Samuel Harrell. He wasn’t just an inmate,” Cerissa Harrell tells a group of nearly 50 prepared to blockade the Dutchess County District Attorney’s office on Poughkeepsie’s very public Main Street. Cerissa stands with Diane Harrell, Samuel’s widow. Hands… »9/19/15 1:07pm9/19/15 1:07pm

On North Avenue in the Station North Arts district—a midpoint between East and West Baltimore—a wall is affixed with a wheatpaste image of legendary dirt-biker Wheelie Wayne popping his namesake alongside the words, “Pick up a bike, put down a gun.” It’s popular slogan among the 12 O’Clock Boys, a black dirt-bike crew… »9/10/15 5:03pm9/10/15 5:03pm

Last week, a Baltimore judge upheld charges against six city police officers in relation to the April death of Freddie Gray and also ruled that each would go to trial individually. In the meantime, the city has agreed to pay Gray’s family $6.4 million. »9/08/15 12:26pm9/08/15 12:26pm

The NYPD is frequently deceitful, but rarely is it as hilariously so as it was yesterday, when Commissioner Bill Bratton, during a press conference about the perceived dangers of synthetic marijuana, showed video he said was of “out-of-state” officers arresting a man under the influence of the drug, but which was… »8/05/15 7:55pm8/05/15 7:55pm

University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing has been charged with murder in the killing of Sam DuBose, a black man, during a traffic stop two weeks ago. Prosecutors today announced the indictment and released video from Tensing’s body camera that shows him shooting DuBose in the head.
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Living black in a world formed from the crucible of anti-black slavery imposes many moments of visceral absurdity, leaving you in a vast fissure between hysterical laughter, unstoppable streams of tears, and rage hot enough to burn a body. But what body should burn? The end of April imposed a moment on me that made… »7/11/15 2:02pm7/11/15 2:02pm

It seems fairly easy to be a corrupt cop in America these days and still hold down a job. Don’t do anything insanely horrendous or stupid and you’ll probably be fine. Hell, do something both horrendous and stupid and you’ll still probably be fine. Officer Wardell Johnson of the New Orleans Police Department did both… »7/09/15 1:42pm7/09/15 1:42pm

The above video, shot on April 3 or 4 and published this week, shows a group of Philadelphia police officers punching, kicking, and tasering an unarmed black man. By the end of the clip, at least a dozen officers have arrived to the scene. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, police have launched an internal… »7/09/15 1:25pm7/09/15 1:25pm