Every year, thousands of people are assaulted in federal prisons and left to deal with their trauma. Chuck Coma, a two-time combat veteran incarcerated for armed robbery, was nearly killed by his cellmate. When he was eventually released, Chuck returned home unable to remember years of his life and suffering from uncontrollable tremors.
criminal justice
Posted inStory
The Final Five Percent
If traumatic brain injuries can impact the parts of the brain responsible for personality, judgment, and impulse control, maybe injury should be a mitigating factor in criminal trials — but one neuroscientist discovers that assigning crime a biological basis creates more issues than it solves.
Posted inCrime, Current Events, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
How Thailand’s Rich Escape Prosecution
Thailand’s criminal justice system is plauged by an accepted double standard, where corruption prevails.
Posted inEditor's Pick
It Took Deputies 24 Hours to Find a Body in This California Jail. Its Problems Aren’t Fixed
California has set aside $2.1 billion in funding for construction projects to upgrade old jails, some of which have been branded as having “deplorable” conditions. But a majority of the projects have been delayed due to bureaucratic roadblocks and critical errors in planning. Meanwhile design flaws in the aging facilities have been contributing to deaths […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Crime, Current Events, Essays & Criticism, Story
True Crime and the Trash Balance
True crime has a reputation for being trashy, but a recent renaissance has it tipping into advocacy.
Posted inCrime, Current Events, Highlight, Quotes
No Justice For Old Men
In 2018, we’re inured to stories of a powerful men taking advantage of girls and getting away with it, but Jeffrey Epstein’s story still manages to horrify.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
The Rising Tide of Wrongful Convictions
Wrongful convictions are not isolated events. They happen in every state. They happen multiple times a week. Here’s a breakdown of how and why the innocent are locked up in America.
Posted inCrime, Highlight, Quotes
An Accident Compounded By Injustice
Wendell Lindsey, convicted of murdering his 10-year-old daughter in a fake drowning, has consistently maintained his innocence — and there’s a lot to suggest he’s telling the truth.
Posted inCrime, Quotes, Science & Nature
You’re Putting My Brain Where, Exactly?
When you donate your body to science, you don’t get a whole lot of say over what happens to your parts.
Posted inCrime, investigations, Quotes
In Just 40 Hours, You Too Can Be an Expert
Pamela Colloff took the same 40-hour course that is the sum total of the training many blood spatter experts claim… and it did not inspire confidence in the reliability of this particular forensic “science.”