Criminal Justice
Accountability in Crime and Law
New Louisiana Law Serves as a Warning to Bystanders Who Film Police: Stay Away or Face Arrest
Louisiana is the fourth state to enact a so-called police buffer law, which allows officers to order people to keep their distance. Journalists say the law will make it harder to document when police use excessive force.
Local Reporting Network
A Judge Ruled a Louisiana Prison’s Health Care System Has Failed Inmates for Decades. A Federal Law Could Block Reforms.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act was passed to curtail the number of lawsuits filed by inmates over conditions behind bars. It has kept courts from forcing Louisiana to overhaul the medical system in its largest prison.
Local Reporting Network
He Was Convicted of Killing His Baby. The DA’s Office Says He’s Innocent, but That Might Not Be Enough.
When new scientific evidence casts doubt on convictions, the justice system has no easy path to freedom — even when it’s the prosecutors doing the asking.
The NYPD Commissioner Responded to Our Story That Revealed He’s Burying Police Brutality Cases. We Fact-Check Him.
In his five-page statement, Commissioner Edward Caban identified no inaccuracies in ProPublica's investigation but instead argued the story was unfair and that he’s “in compliance” with the guidelines. Our reporting shows otherwise.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
New York Lawmakers Call for Police Commissioner to Be Stripped of Power to Bury Brutality Cases
The City Council members’ call for reform comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban had repeatedly short-circuited disciplinary cases against officers accused of abuse.
Maryland Is on Track to Process a Nearly 50-Year-Old Backlog of Rape Kits
A new law extends the state’s sexual assault evidence protections to cover DNA samples. But getting justice in hundreds of cold cases will require more than just testing, survivors say.
NYPD Restores Thousands of Missing Records but Removes Case Numbers From Its Discipline Database
The department restored more than 2,000 missing discipline records to its public database of uniformed officers, weeks after ProPublica revealed data reliability issues. But it also removed case numbers, making future oversight more difficult.
Series
Series: Fields of Green: Chinese Mafias and the U.S. Black Market for Marijuana
Series: Black Boxes: How Police Undermined the Promise of Body Cameras
Series: Mayor, Judge and Jury: Louisiana’s Mayor’s Courts
Series: No Defense: How Mississippi Fails Poor Defendants
Series: Unguarded: Investigating Risks to the Incarcerated of Illinois
Series: Asset Mismanagement: How the Police Take Money and Keep It
Series: Defenseless: Investigating the Only State Without Public Defenders
Series: The NYPD Files: Investigating America’s Largest Police Force
Series: Unchecked Power: The Extraordinary Power of Alabama Sheriffs
Series: Lawless: Sexual Violence in Alaska
Series: Locked Down: An Investigation of Mississippi’s Prisons
Series: Overcorrection: Crisis in California Jails
Series: Blood Will Tell: Investigating a Forensic Science
Series: Accused in Elkhart: Justice in an Indiana County
Series: A Sick System: Repeat Attacks After Pleading Insanity
Series: Stuck Kids: Illinois Children Languish in Psychiatric Hospitals
Series: Police Accountability in Chicago: Monitoring the Chicago Police Department
Series: Ignoring Innocence: The Wrongfully Convicted Forced Into Plea Deals
Series: Busted: Examining Chemical Field Tests
Series: Nuisance Abatement: The NYPD’s Aggressive Enforcement of a Little-known Law
Series: Unbelievable: The Cost of Not Believing Rape Victims
Series: Out of Order: When Prosecutors Cross the Line
Series: Post Mortem: Death Investigation in America
