Criminal Justice
Accountability in Crime and Law
A Year Before Trump’s Crime Rhetoric, Dallas Voted to Increase Police. The City Is Wrestling With the Consequences.
Leaders at Dallas HERO argued the city was descending into anarchy despite falling violent crime rates. Residents, including some law enforcement officials and at least one prominent Trump supporter, fear the push could be used as a playbook.
The Complicated Case of Jorge Ruiz
A 19-year-old was arrested and charged with murder after a fatal car accident in Alabama. His lawyers have come to believe that one factor changed the course of the case, starting in the first moments after the crash.
DNA Finally Tied a Man to Her Rape. It Didn’t Matter.
Seventeen years after Louise was raped, Boston police told her they had a DNA match for her alleged rapist. But under Massachusetts state law, the case would be almost impossible to prosecute.
Local Reporting Network
What One Man’s 45-Year-Old Case Tells Us About the “Jim Crow Juries” Haunting Louisiana
Today, a split verdict would mean a mistrial. But in 1980s Louisiana, when nonunanimous juries were still legal, 19-year-old Lloyd Gray, a Black man, was sentenced to prison for life — even though the only two Black jurors had voted not guilty.
Local Reporting Network
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison
Retired officer Jeffrey Kriv acknowledged repeatedly lying under oath to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets. Prosecutors have dropped at least 92 cases in which Kriv was a key witness because of credibility issues.
New Uvalde Records Reveal Details About School Safety Concerns and Shooter’s Behavioral Issues
The release is part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit that news organizations brought against state and local governments. The fight continues to get the Texas Department of Public Safety to release its own records.
Four Years After Cop Was Filmed Slamming Black Woman to the Ground, Louisiana Passes Accountability Law
Despite being caught in a 2021 video ripping out Shantel Arnold’s hair, sheriff’s Deputy Julio Alvarado failed to report the incident. A new law authored by Arnold’s attorney will mandate excessive-force reporting for all law enforcement agencies.
Local Reporting Network
Series
Series: Criminal Justice Rollback: How Louisiana Is Keeping People in Prison
Series: Slow Justice: Why Some Alaska Criminal Cases Drag on for Years
Series: Guns in Dangerous Hands: How Tennessee’s Justice System Allows Domestic Abusers to Keep Their Firearms
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
Series: Law & Disorder: After Katrina, New Orleans Police Under Scrutiny
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
