Criminal law

Advocates gather outside the county building in McHenry County, Woodstock, Illinois, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

ICE contracts at local, regional level spark contentious debate

Immigration

Without a federal mandate to end immigration detention in county jails and private detention centers, advocates continue turn to local and state lawmakers to act.

Three men wearing orange prison suits fold their hands in their laps and wear blue shoes.

ICE detainees go on hunger strike to press for COVID-19 protections

Immigration
Members of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hold stencils made by French street artist C215 representing portraits of emprisonned Turkish journalists,

FBI is dismantling its war crimes unit

the facebook logo

Crucial video evidence of war crimes is being deleted. How can it be saved?

Media
trump cia

Trump’s new pick for CIA director has a murky past with torture programs

Conflict
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Field Office Director Jorge Field (L), 53, arrests an Iranian immigrant in San Clemente, California.

ICE agents are increasingly playing the roles of both police and judge

Conflict

Under President Donald Trump, immigration arrests have jumped by nearly 35 percent. They’re happening at courthouses, restaurants and in front of people’s homes. And these days, anyone who isn’t authorized to be in the country — from gang members to church pastors — is fair game.

When a rape isn’t a rape: FBI statistics ignore many cities’ rapes

Global Politics

Because of differences in definitions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime statistics intentionally ignore the rapes reported in many cities. Chicago reported 1400 rapes last year, but none were listed in FBI reports.

Purvi Patel was sentenced March 30, 2015 for feticide and child neglect.

Purvi Patel faces 20 years in prison for feticide and child neglect

Justice

Indian American mother Purvi Patel already had become Indiana’s first woman convicted of feticide, for what she said was a miscarriage. Now she’s been sentenced to 20 years in prison, alarming advocates for immigrants and reproductive rights.

The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia March 3, 2005.

There may be reason for optimism following the CIA torture report

Justice

Is the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report the start of real change at the CIA? Some people believe the airing of gruesome details will force the agency to be more accountable to Congress.

Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area watched by military police at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray in 2002.

How the US provides inspiration for terrorists groups like ISIS

Conflict

It’s no coincidence that ISIS prisoners are kept in bright orange jumpsuits. The terrorist group took the idea from the US, who places Guantanamo Bay prisoners in the same garb — and that’s not the only way terrorists have been able to crib from American actions.