Criminal Justice
March 15, 2013 -
A federal judge recently reversed the controversial conviction of Black Panther Albert Woodfox for the 1972 killing of a guard at Louisiana's Angola prison. Amnesty International has launched a campaign asking the state attorney general not to appeal in the case that has come to be known as the "Angola 3" for the number of inmates held in prolonged solitary confinement following the guard's death.
February 26, 2013 -
It was a year ago today that an unarmed teen was shot to death in Sanford, Fla. by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The tragedy sparked questions about Florida's and other states' "stand your ground" self-defense laws, but they all remain on the books today.
February 14, 2013 -
Once known as the "most aggressively conservative" federal appeals court and the "black hole of capital litigation," the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has shifted to the center, thanks to six appointments by President Obama.
January 29, 2013 -
In New Orleans today, a federal judge approved a deal allowing BP to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges related to the Gulf disaster in exchange for a $4 billion fine, probation and monitoring. Some of the company's victims objected to the deal including Cherri Foytlin, who explained her reasons in this letter to the judge.
January 23, 2013 -
The North Carolina-based banking giant, including two companies acquired in 2008, has done so much harm in the mortgage and mortgage-backed securities markets that banishment would be the appropriate punishment -- yet it is taking a new run at the U.S. mortgage business.
January 4, 2013 -
Most of the $1.4 billion in fines and penalties that Transocean has agreed to pay for its negligence in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster will be sent to the Gulf Coast region to fund environmental restoration work.
December 17, 2012 -
The shocking massacre of 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut last week has led to calls for policy changes to curb gun violence. But in order to confront the problem honestly, we need to remember that the most likely victim of the U.S. violence epidemic is an African American living in poverty in the South.
