Illinois is expunging marijuana convictions from nearly 800,000 criminal records | CNN

Ryan Prior, CNN Yarygin, serazetdinov/iStock. Featured Image [dropcap]C[/dropcap]NN If you’ve been arrested for weed in Illinois, you can breathe a sigh of relief. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker just signed HB 1438 this week, which makes cannabis legal in the state for individuals 21 and over, along with sweeping criminal criminal justice reforms designed […]

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New Criminal Justice Film Series from The Marshall Project Highlights Chicago Witnesses to System’s Injustices | Chicago Defender

By Ariel Parrella-Aureli, Chicago Defender Harold Washington Library Center’s Cindy Pritzker Auditorium was a full house at the opening screening of a new local series focusing on injustices in the criminal justice system. On Sept. 12, The Marshall Project released 15 video testimonies of Chicago voices affected by the justice system, “We Are Witnesses: Chicago,” is […]

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Police in Alabama planted drugs and guns on over 1,000 innocent Black men | Rolling Out

A.R. SHAW, Rolling Out Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by Michael Blann/Thinkstock. Featured Image [dropcap]B[/dropcap]lack men in Alabama were racially profiled and made criminals by a group of racist police. According to the Henry County Report, the incidents occurred in Dothan, Alabama where at least 12 White police officers involved. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] The officers […]

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Thirty years later, Yusuf Hawkins’ murder still shocks in a changed Brooklyn | The City

Clifford Michel, The City, The City A memorial for Yusuf Hawkins in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Aug. 22, 2019. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY. Featured Image [dropcap]Until[/dropcap] this week, Mohamed Kootabeda never heard the name Yusuf Hawkins. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Kootabeda was shocked to learn the story of the African-American 16-year-old who was set upon by a mob of […]

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