Law and Justice

Guns in the Family

A childhood steeped in guns shows that toxic masculinity and racism are at the heart of U.S. gun culture.

  • Walter Johnson

Brazilian Democracy in Peril

Brazil has been in disarray since 2016’s presidential impeachment, but after the murder of the country’s most exciting progressive politician, Brazilians must decide whether to be outraged or resigned.

  • Gianpaolo Baiocchi
  • Marcelo K. Silva

A Political Philosophy of Self-Defense

Self-defense is not merely an individual right; it is collective political resistance.

  • Chad Kautzer

Will Feminism’s Past Mistakes Haunt #MeToo?

#MeToo must go beyond the demand for punishment.

  • Judith Levine

No Rights Which the White Man Is Bound to Respect

The spectre of Dred Scott is haunting St. Louis.

  • Walter Johnson

What Does Police Abolition Mean?

Abolition is not about transforming the police; it is about transforming the nation.

  • Derecka Purnell

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Abolish the Police?

Is policing a public good gone bad?

  • Tracey L. Meares
  • Vesla M. Weaver

Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad

Policing as we know it must be abolished before it can be transformed.

  • Tracey L. Meares

Is Stealthing a Sex Crime?

Prosecuting stealthing may not be the best way to end the practice.

  • Judith Levine

He Said, He Said: The Feminization of James Comey

Conservatives routinely deny that gender is fluid. Yet they have feminized Comey in order to bring him down.

  • Bonnie Honig

Refuge for Fugitives

We can learn from the surprising coalition of people who sheltered and rescued escaped slaves.

  • Stephen Kantrowitz

How Immigrants Became Criminals

Most Americans are blind to the separate and unequal justice system that governs immigration detention and deportation.

  • Alan A. Aja
  • Alejandra Marchevsky

Whom Do Sanctuary Cities Protect?

Trump’s grand narrative is simply wrong.

  • Lauren Carasik

Slaves of the State: Prison Uprisings and the Legacy of Attica

A historian uncovered an archive of massacre at Attica—only to have the records disappear.

  • Robert T. Chase

Trump’s Call For Dystopian Policing

Stop-and-frisk and broken-windows policing have ravaged black communities, while failing to make cities any safer.

  • Victor Ray

On Ice

In U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities, the law’s reach is tenuous.

  • Colin Dayan

Bad News for Brazilian Democracy

Dilma Rousseff's impeachment circumvented the democratic process.

  • Gianpaolo Baiocchi

Will Peace Bring Justice to Colombia?

Will victims of the war be served by the call for restorative justice?

  • Lauren Carasik

Black Nationalism and Liberation

Integration doesn’t guarantee equality or freedom.

  • Garrett Felber

No Easy End to Prison Profiteering

The DOJ says it will stop using private prisons. The truth is more complicated.

  • Christopher Petrella

Paying for Punishment

Debt still sends many people—especially black people—to jail.

  • Donna Murch

Lynching by Any Other Name

Prosecutors are corrupting the intent of lynching laws.

  • Christopher Lebron

The Problem of Punishment

Rapists should be held accountable. But is more incarceration the best way?

  • Judith Levine

That Lonesome Whistle

Edward Snowden’s actions can be justified, but not as civil disobedience.

  • Candice Delmas
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