260 Search results for "court system"

Black man: “give me a lawyer, dog.” Racist court system says he wasn’t asking for a lawyer
In common everyday usage, the term “dog” when used by Black people almost never refers to a literal dog, and when Warren Demesme used this parlance in a police interview, they claim actually thought Demesme was asking for a literal lawyer dog. As absurd as that should be in a court system that let Darren […]
REPORT: Black Youth Receive HARSHER Treatment In Juvenile Court Systems
According to a scathing report released yesterday by the Justice Department, the Memphis and Shelby County juvenile justice system routinely treats black youth more harshly than their white counterparts. How do we fight the institutional racism that continues to criminalize and demonize our youth?
#UnderHisEye and the erasure of Black women in the carceral system
This essay contains discussions of racialized sexual violence and mentions r/pe and molestation. by Mekleit Dix The Handmaid’s Tale is a wildly popular American Television show based on a novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. It portrays a dystopian nightmare: sterility in women becomes a widespread epidemic resulting in a break down of […]
There’s no such thing as a “progressive prosecutor” in a system designed to criminalize Blackness
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring Black Liberation & Organizing, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How do we hold politicians accountable to Black communities? Is that even possible? What should be our role in the electoral politics? What does abolition look like in practice? What […]
How the media & justice system re-traumatize sexual assault survivors
Editor’s Note: This Sexual Health and Awareness month, we will be exploring related issues at BYP, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. What does sexual health look like outside of cishetero norms? Where does the #MeToo movement go from here? What can we do to better support survivors, including survivors […]
Parents outraged as New Orleans votes to become the first major city in America with an all charter school system
According to Nola.com, the Orleans Parish School board voted 5-2 to establish InspireNOLA Charter Schools as the operator of McDonough 35 Senior High School, which was established in 1917 as the first Black public school in New Orleans. This vote makes New Orleans the first major city in America with a charter school exclusive school […]
Beleaguered Harris County judge releases juvenile offenders after losing election, highlighting problems with the system
Following his loss to Democratic candidate Natalia Oakes, Harris County Family Judge Glenn Devlin immediately began releasing all of the juvenile offenders who had pending cases, according to the Texas Tribune. Devlin simply asked all of the defendants whether or not they planned to kill anybody, then released them from detention.
The story of Black queer women imprisoned for defending themselves to reminds us this criminal system cannot save us
By Gabrielle Noel The legal system was never built with Black queer people in mind. This system assigns victimhood, or refuses it, according to social biases, and society’s perception of who is more likely to be a victim or more credible thus affects who is allowed to receive justice. When it comes to sexual harassment, […]
AP investigation of 2-year-old separated from mother at border exposes systemwide exploitation
A new investigation by the Associated Press, as reported by KHOU in Houston, is further revealing the extent of the burden faced by parents who are at risk of being deported by the United States. After being separated from her parents after they were arrested crossing the Texas border under the Obama administration, 2-year-old Alexa Ramos […]
Ontario Judge gives light sentence to Black offender citing systemic racism
Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru is garnering attention for noting systemic anti-Black racism in a lenient sentence to a Black offender who arrested on gun offenses. This is Nakatsuru’s second time to cite systemic racism in a legal sentence. Previously, he gave a light sentence to Jamaal Jackson, who was also charged with unauthorized […]
PA Supreme Court publishes bombshell report on clergy abuse, 300 priests named over 30 years
This past Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court published the most thorough investigation into Catholic clergy abuse the nation has seen. The 1,400 legal report names about 300 priests as child sexual abusers with more than 1,000 victims over a period of 30 years
New study confirms that innocent people are pleading guilty because the system is rigged
While the Constitution supposedly ensures everyone is afforded a fair trial, a new paper by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) says that exercising the right to trial poses many high risks. Because of this, many federal criminal defendants are encouraged to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit in order to […]