“For three decades, a little-known group of ‘mitigation specialists’ has helped save death-penalty defendants by documenting their childhood traumas. A rare look inside one case.”
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Posted inEditor's Pick
In Her Defence
“After suffering decades of abuse, Helen Naslund was sentenced for killing her husband on their Alberta farm.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Rachel Greenley, Annalisa Quinn, Amit Katwala, Jamie Loftus, and Werner Herzog. (Yes, that Werner Herzog.)
Posted inNonfiction
‘Raphael Couldn’t Have Painted Something More Beautiful’
The couple who saved an imprisoned artist’s life — and the extraordinary gift he gave in return.
Posted inEditor's Pick
She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?
Oklahoma incarcerates more women than almost any other state. Under its punishing, under-the-radar “failure to protect” law, mothers — even those who are victims of domestic violence — can be sent to prison because of their supposed failure to keep their children out of harm’s way. In this devastating read, Samantha Michaels tells the story […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
After the Hit-and-Run
“Can restorative justice offer crash victims like me—and the drivers who harmed us—the healing we need?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Future for Susanville
Prisons such as the California Correctional Center in Susanville, California, drive the local economy in the rural town, and its residents are just as tied to these facilities as the incarcerated ones. Piper French offers a nuanced portrait of the town, as locals in support of CCC, incarcerated organizers on the inside, and urban abolitionist […]
Posted inCuration, Nonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend stories by Eric Borsuk, Aaron Gell, Laurie Penny, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Will Rees.
Posted inEditor's Pick
When Innocence Isn’t Enough
Christopher Dunn has been in prison for over 30 years for a murder in St. Louis that he and others say he didn’t commit. Even though new evidence has emerged in favor of Dunn, the state of Missouri says he must stay in prison — because he wasn’t sentenced to death. He continued, “This Court does […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Trump’s Killing Spree: The Inside Story of His Race to Execute Every Prisoner He Could
“Before 2020, there had been three federal executions in 60 years. Then Trump put 13 people to death in six months.”
