Special Report

• May It Please the Court

  Sasha Abramsky

  Problem-solving courts have a track record of lowering recidivism and incarceration costs, but they still don't reach enough offenders.

• The New Jim Crow

  Michelle Alexander

  How mass incarceration turns people of color into permanent second-class citizens

• Bipartisan Justice

  Kara Gotsch

  Fixing America?s punitive penal system has politicians crossing party lines.

• Indefensible

  Vanessa Gregory

  Five decades after a landmark Supreme Court case establishing the right to a public-defense lawyer, the poor still lack adequate legal representation.

• Education vs. Incarceration

  Steven Hawkins

  More money must go to schools than to prisons before high-crime neighborhoods can truly be reformed.

• Smarter Punishment, Less Crime

  Mark Kleiman

  Why reducing incarceration and victimization should be complementary goals

• Eyes on the Prize

  Rebecca Ruiz

  Our moral and ethical duty to end mass incarceration

• Permanent Lockdown

  Adam Serwer

  Forcing ex-offenders to pay for their incarceration is yet another perverse policy that makes successful re-entry next to impossible.

• On the Block

  Chris Smith

  A pilot program in Oakland, California, combines community policing with social services and gets at-risk young men off the street.