Eight law enforcement officers were shot, four were killed, when they tried to serve a warrant on Monday at a residence in a suburban neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte Observer The suspect, wanted for a firearms violation, opened fire on members of a U.S. Marshals’ fugitive task force when they approached his home. The New York Times Four local police officers also were shot when they responded to the scene. The suspect was killed. Two others inside the home were later questioned. NBC News The victims are identified, lauded as “heroes,” after a day of drama and violence. WRAL
Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a building on the campus of Columbia University in New York early Tuesday, hours after school officials began suspending students who refused to leave an encampment there. The New York Times Police arrested protesters calling for divestment from Israel at the University of Georgia in Athens on Monday. Athens Banner-Herald Police also arrested protesters early Monday on the Virginia Tech campus. The Washington Post Thirteen people were arrested at a protest at Princeton University. NJ.com In New Orleans, police arrested at least 10 pro-Palestinian protesters. WWL More: Biden administration faces new pressure as antisemitic incidents rise on college campuses. NBC News
The racist trope of the Black suspect with “superhuman strength” persists decades after it was deployed in the Rodney King case, according to a new report that studied dozens of police use-of-force cases. Law enforcement agents continue to excuse or justify their decisions to use deadly force on suspects who exhibited extraordinary strength or so-called “excited delirium.” “Superhumanization is treating someone like a non-human,” says the author of a study on the topic. The Associated Press TMP Context: The media myth of the “superpredator” that demonized a generation of Black youths. The Marshall Project
“The border remains a contested zone — we can’t look away, and we can’t agree on what we see there.” Last week’s mistrial in the case of an Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man in 2023 is a microcosm of our conflict over immigration. Jurors couldn’t agree on a murder charge against George Kelly, who claimed self-defense, and whose case prompted Republican lawmakers in the state to try to enact a law to allow property owners to shoot people who were trespassing on their land. The New Yorker Related: Prosecutors said on Monday that they would not seek to retry Kelly. The Associated Press
Six months after Illinois ended its cash bail system, jail populations are down and advocates say the law is mostly “working as intended” in Cook County, which includes Chicago. Chicago Tribune TMP Context: Cash bail reform comes to California and Illinois. The Marshall Project
“It affects your mental state when it becomes so routine.” Former executioners in Oklahoma have asked the state’s attorney general to ease the pace of lethal injections to help corrections staff avoid the trauma some feel as they help kill condemned prisoners. The Guardian TMP Context: What 120 U.S. executions tell us about capital punishment. The Marshall Project
Thanks to the settlement of a lawsuit last month, Colorado corrections officials must provide the same gender-affirming health care covered by state Medicaid. Trans women must also be given the option to be housed with other incarcerated women. 19th News More: A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that state health-care plans in North Carolina and Virginia must pay for gender-affirming surgery. The Washington Post
The case of a murdered former police officer in Boston, Massachusetts, has raised questions about a state law that shields autopsy reports from the public. The Boston Globe
There are new reports of abuse inside the Calhoun County Correctional Facility in Michigan, one of four immigration detention facilities in the state. Immigration advocates and others have called for a federal investigation into claims of excessive force. MLive
The Trumpification of the U.S. Supreme Court. “The conservative justices have, over the years, seen harbingers of tyranny in union organizing, environmental regulations, civil-rights laws, and universal-health-care plans. When confronted with a legal theory that establishes actual tyranny, they were simply intrigued.” The Atlantic More: We can stop calling them “conservative” justices. The U.S. Supreme Court’s “radicals” are searching for ways to justify saving Trump from prosecutors, says a conservative former judge. The New Republic
On crime and immigration. “[T]he overall trend of declining violent crime nationally, and seeing no localized crime surges in the places I’d expect to see one if there was such a ‘wave’ strongly suggests that no such thing exists,” writes criminologist Jeff Asher. Substack TMP Context: The myth of the criminal immigrant. The Marshall Project
A new lesson of the Harvey Weinstein case following the reversal of his sex assault conviction. “It highlighted the striking gap between how we’ve come to believe women inside the courtroom and outside it.” The New York Times
Nothing “woke” about sleep deprivation lawsuits. “The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and other corrections agencies should stop fighting such lawsuits and start changing their practices to recognize the importance of sleep and improve other conditions of confinement.” The HIll
Ohio reaps a bitter harvest. Blame the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservatives for “allowing unbridled dark money pay-to-play corruption, which has now led to the biggest political bribery scandal in state history.” Ohio Capital Journal
A victory for transparency in jails in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Officials agreed last week to settle a lawsuit brought by journalist Brittany Hailer — now a Marshall Project staff writer — which challenged policies that had barred jail employees and contractors from speaking publicly with journalists without prior permission from their supervisors. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Police hiring ticked up in 2023 after years of declines, according to data submitted by hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The Associated Press TMP Context: It’s not just a police problem. People are opting out of government jobs. The Marshall Project
A jury sends a strong signal. A Pennsylvania jury awarded $16 million last week to a man who spent 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. James Dennis will receive the largest wrongful conviction payout in the city’s history. Philadelphia Inquirer
Smelling the ocean air after years in prison. “There's never been a night dark enough that the light of a sunrise cannot defeat, and I was thankful for that.” Condé Nast Traveler
Who speaks for the Democrats on immigration? Often, it’s Sen. Alex Padilla, now the senior senator from California. His influence at the White House has grown as border security and migrant crossings become campaign topics. The Associated Press
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