PCJ News and Commentary

What happens when cash bail ends in Illinois? In other states, there have been successes but the debate continues
Chicago Sun Times, December 27, 2022
Cited: Research by Sandra Susan Smith and Isabella Jorgensen

Army of Snitches: How law enforcement’s over-reliance on confidential informants further corrodes the criminal justice system
The Indypendent, December 26, 2022
Featured: Alexandra Natapoff

Harvard Names Three New University Professors
The Harvard Gazette, November 28, 2022
Featured: Robert J. Sampson

Harvard Law School Graduates Discuss Careers in Death Penalty Defense
The Harvard Crimson, November 16, 2022
Featured: Carol Steiker

Creating justice in real time: The campaign for Callie House
HKS Policy Topic, November 16, 2022
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

Government can minimize racial inequality in criminal justice by reducing police stops, detention, and long sentences
Phys.org, November 15, 2022
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Bail Reform
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), October 30, 2022
Cited: Research by Sandra Susan Smith and Isabella Jorgensen

We Need a New Paradigm to Halt the Unprecedented Growth of Electronic Monitoring
Truthout, October 24, 2022
Cited: Research by Sandra Susan Smith and Cierra Robson

San Francisco has fewer pretrial detainees in jail. But at what cost?
HKS Policy Topic, September 16, 2022
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith and Cierra Robson

Police stop Black drivers more often than Whites. We found out why.
The Washington Post, September 15, 2022
Analysis by Johann Gaebler, William Cai and Sharad Goel

‘My emancipation proclamation’: the man fighting to free millions from their criminal records
The Guardian, September 14, 2022
Quoted: Sandra Susan Smith

Katy Naples-Mitchell joins HKS as the new PCJ Program Director
September 7, 2022

Sandra Susan Smith aims to eradicate disparities in criminal courts
HKS Magazine, Summer 2022
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

Sandra Susan Smith Awarded Grant to Study How Misdemeanor Nonprosecution Affects Racial Disparities in Penal System Outcomes
July 28, 2022

Will ongoing gun violence bring a stop-and-frisk resurgence to Philly? It wouldn’t be the first time
WHYY, July 15, 2022
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

It’s time for Massachusetts to eliminate cash bail
CommonWealth, April 30, 2022
Commentary by Isabella Jorgensen and Sandra Susan Smith

Professor Sandra Susan Smith named faculty director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Kennedy School, April 18, 2022
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

What happens when jurors are disproportionately white? Not justice.
The Boston Globe, April 12, 2022
Op-ed by Geraldine S. Hines, Sandra Susan Smith, and Nina Chernoff

Experts argue that more work is needed to remove the stigma of a criminal record on job applications
HKS Policy Topic, March 23, 2022
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

SJC takes big step backward on racial justice
Commonwealth, February 12, 2022
Commentary by Deborah Ramirez and Sandra Susan Smith

Adams Wants Tougher Bail Laws. Can He Get Other Democrats to Agree?
The New York Times, February 8, 2022
Cited: New report by Isabella Jorgensen and Sandra Susan Smith

Boston’s gang database should be dismantled
Boston Globe, January 31, 2022
Op-ed by Sandra Susan Smith, Felix Owusu, and Stacey Borden
(Related: Police removed 600-plus names from a Boston gang database. For some councilors, it’s not enough.)

Majority in ‘Sweeting-Bailey’ ignored what SJC itself warned against year ago
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, January 6, 2022
Opinion by Nancy Gertner

Looking at role of prosecutors, politics in mass incarceration
The Harvard Gazette, December 8, 2021
Featured: Chika Okafor

Legal historian traces ‘racism on the road’
The Harvard Gazette, November 22, 2021
Featured: Reimagining Community Safety Speaker Series

The Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict Exposes America’s Divide Over Who Gets to Carry a Gun
Politico, November 20, 2021
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

Behind the Fight to Reinstate Parole in Illinois
The Takeaway (WNYC), November 9, 2021
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Where white people go, where Black people go: Cellphone data reveals how segregated Bostonians are in their movements
The Boston Globe, October 29, 2021
Featured: Robert Sampson

Let the Punishment Fit the Crime
The New York Times, October 23, 2021
Op-ed by Ben Austen and Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Where are we now, 16 months after George Floyd?
The Harvard Gazette, October 18, 2021
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Democracy demands: Make a filibuster exception to stop police violence and voter suppression
USA Today, October 13, 2021
Op-ed by Cornell William Brooks

Randall Kennedy's reflections on race, culture and law in America
WBUR, October 8, 2021
Featured: Randall Kennedy

A life’s mission sparked by disbelief over Tuskegee study
The Harvard Gazette, September 30, 2021
Featured: Marcella Alsan

George Floyd’s murder discouraged Americans from calling the police
The Economist, September 21, 2021
Featured: Desmond Ang

Randall Kennedy on Obama’s Legacy, Defunding the Police, and Respectability Politics
The Bakari Sellers Podcast, September 13, 2021
Featured: Randall Kennedy

Maxed Out
Inquest, August 25, 2021
Essay by Schuyler Daum

Unfinished Business
Inquest, August 3, 2021
Essay by Nancy Gertner

The Keeper and the Kept
Inquest, July 27, 2021
Essay by Kaia Stern

Why We Need Good Police
Dissent, Summer 2021
Essay by Randall Kennedy

Restoring Justice: Exploring an alternative to crime and punishment
Harvard Magazine, July-August 2021
Featured: Nancy Gertner

Republicans Want You (Not the Rich) to Pay for Infrastructure
New York Times, June 23, 2021
Op-ed by Brian Highsmith

Best predictor of arrest rates? The ‘birth lottery of history’
The Harvard Gazette, June 22, 2021
Featured: Robert Sampson

The significance of Juneteenth, America’s first new federal holiday in decades
PBS New Hour, June 17, 2021
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Justice for all
Harvard Law Today, June 9, 2021
Featured: Andrew Manuel Crespo

From Colombia to U.S., Police Violence Pushes Protests Into Mass Movements
New York Times, May 19, 2021
Quoted: Yanilda González

How communities of color are policed
WCVB, May 9, 2021
Interview with Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Harvard Law professors discuss the Derek Chauvin trial, its implications, and potential paths forward
Harvard Law Today, April 22, 2021
Featured: Randall Kennedy, Carol Steiker, and Dehlia Umunna

In Nubian Square, Black Bostonians Exhale After Chauvin Verdict, But Fear Unjust Police Killings Will Happen Again
WGBH, April 21, 2021
Quoted: Sandra Susan Smith and Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Ensuring the Floyd trial becomes a turning point
The Harvard Gazette, April 21, 2021
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

Policing in U.S. Was Built on Racism & Should Be Put on Trial
Democracy Now! April 21, 2021
Interview with Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Former NAACP president: Police contracts are seemingly bulletproof
CNN, April 18, 2021
Interview with Cornell William Brooks

Experts stress that more training won't eradicate police violence
NBC News, April 15, 2021
Quoted: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

The lessons of Beulah Mae Donald, the mother who took down the Klan
CNN, April 11, 2021
Op-ed by Cornell William Brooks

Founders of Nonprofit Dedicated to BGLTQ, Black Rights Advocate Defunding the Police at HKS Event
The Harvard Crimson, April 2, 2021
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith and Christopher Winship

Origins of a storm and the roots of a reckoning
The Harvard Gazette, March 26, 2021
Featured: Lawrence Bobo

Supreme Court To Consider Reimposing Tsarnaev Death Penalty
WBUR, March 22, 2021
Featured: Nancy Gertner

Alternatives to Policing
Harvard Magazine, March 18, 2021
Featured: Alexandra Natapoff and Sandra Susan Smith

Harvard Law School Film Screening, Discussion Scrutinize Influence of Misdemeanors in Criminal Justice System
The Harvard Crimson, March 12, 2021
Featured: Alexandra Natapoff and Sandra Susan Smith

Massachusetts State Senator Discusses Police Reform Bill at HKS Event
The Harvard Crimson, March 11, 2021

Just a misdemeanor? Think again
The Harvard Gazette, March 10, 2021
Featured: Alexandra Natapoff

'Creating Justice In Real Time' Allows Students to Help Cities Reimagine Policing
WBUR, March 9, 2021
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

Predicting homicides in disadvantaged neighborhoods
The Harvard Gazette, March 8, 2021
Featured: Rob Sampson

George Floyd’s killing started a movement. Nine months later, what’s changed?
Politico, March 2, 2021
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

Solving racial disparities in policing
The Harvard Gazette, February 23, 2021
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Sandra Susan Smith, Alexandra Natapoff, Andrew Crespo, Nancy Gertner, Christopher Winship

Rooting Out Racial Bias
MassINC, February 5, 2021
Featured: Felix Owusu

And now, the way forward
The Harvard Gazette, January 20, 2021
Featured: Danielle Allen and Sandra Susan Smith

Racial justice leaders are reeling from the 'hypocrisy' in the police response to the US Capitol riots
CNN, January 08, 2021
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

What Trump’s pardons say about criminal justice
The Boston Globe, December 29, 2020
Op-ed by Nancy Gertner and Dean A. Strang

Burrell case exposes need for reform of jailhouse snitch prosecutions
Star Tribune, December 28, 2020
Featured: Alexandra Natapoff

Incarcerated people are suffering from covid-19 more than most. They should be among the first vaccinated.
The Washington Post, December 9, 2020
Op-ed by Danielle Allen

Center for Policing Equity Co-Founder Discusses Reimagining Community Safety at Kennedy School Event
The Harvard Crimson, December 3, 2020
Featured: Sandra Smith and Chris Winship

The work ahead: policy challenges and solutions for the new administration
HKS Policy Topic, November 12, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

Harvard Faculty, Administrators Discuss Election Impact on Youth
The Harvard Crimson, November 11, 2020
Featured: Desmond Ang

Harvard Kennedy School offers new race and policy course for incoming students
HKS Policy Topic, November 04, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Sandra Susan Smith

Activists Promote Education in Prisons at Harvard Radcliffe Institute
The Harvard Crimson, October 30, 2020
Featured:  Kaia Stern and Lynette Tannis

Americans are hungry and desperate. California shouldn’t respond by cracking down on food theft
The Washington Post, October 26, 2020
Op-ed by Alexandra Natapoff

Courts delay permission to start in-person jury trials
The Daily Free Press, October 22, 2020
Featured: Nancy Gertner

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for change’
Harvard Law Today, October 20, 2020
Featured:  Andrew Manuel Crespo, Alexandra Natapoff, and Randall Kennedy

We’ve seen these proposed Boston police reforms before — they don’t work
The Boston Globe, October 16, 2020
Op-ed by Sandra Susan Smith

Harvard Law School, Kennedy School professors talk racial inequalities during COVID-19
Harvard Crimson, October 7, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

America’s Refusal to Address the Roots of Violence
The New York Times, October 5, 2020
Khalil Gibran Muhammad review of A Peculiar Indifference: The Neglected Toll of Violence on Black America

The end of us-versus-them policing: a tough road ahead for reform
HKS PolicyCast, October 5, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith and Yanilda González 

Expansive racial justice movements ‘make other worlds possible’
Harvard Law Today, September 30, 2020
Featured: Randall Kennedy

Q&A with Sandra Susan Smith: Understanding injustices and striving to make lives better
HKS Policy Topic, September 29, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

Will Tuesday’s presidential debate change the course of the election?
Harvard Gazette, September 28, 2020
Featured: Yanilda María González

How decision in Breonna Taylor case could impact the U.S. election
CBC, September 27, 2020
Featured: Cornell William Brooks

The origins of policing in America
The Washington Post, September 24, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

A 'reckoning' for policing in America
Harvard Law School News, September 23, 2020
Featured: Andrew Manuel Crespo and Alexandra Natapoff

How should the U.S. presidential candidates think about criminal justice reform?
HKS Policy Topic, September 23, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith, Desmond Ang, Joscha Legewie, Yanilda María González, Lynette N. Tannis, Philip L. Torrey, and Kaia Stern

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was all I wanted to be
The Washington Post, September 19, 2020
Op-ed by Nancy Gertner

That Harvard racial disparities study: What’s left out
The Boston Globe, September 11, 2020
Op-ed by Nancy Gertner

Voters Seem to Think Biden Is the ‘Law and Order’ Candidate
The New York Times, September 9, 2020
Quoted: Robert Sampson and William Julius Wilson

My cousin had his best year fighting fires as an inmate. But the system failed him.
The Washington Post, August 26, 2020
Op-ed by Danielle Allen

Peduto and his police: What’s in the Pittsburgh mayor’s power when it comes to law enforcement?
Public Source, August 21, 2020
Quoted: Sandra Susan Smith

The Massachusetts Bail Fund is on the right side of the law — and justice
The Boston Globe, August 18, 2020
Op-ed by Sandra Susan Smith

Racist police practices like mug shots normalize the criminalization of Black Americans
NBC News, August 6, 2020
Quoted: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

'Black-on-black crime': A loaded and controversial phrase often heard amid calls for police reform
ABC News, August 1, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

“Black-on-Black Crime” Is a Dangerous Myth
Teen Vogue, July 28, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

How The Fossil Fuel Industry Funds The Police
HuffPost, July 27, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Unpacking DHS’s Troubling Explanation of the Portland Van Video
LawFare, July 25, 2020
Analysis by Andrew Manuel Crespo

The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are
The Washington Post, July 24, 2020
Op-ed by Andrew Manuel Crespo

Boston police are not Minneapolis police
The Boston Globe, July 13, 2020
Op-ed by Eugene Rivers and Christopher Winship

Why Police Reform Doesn't Work In The U.S.
Buzzfeed Videos, July 6, 2020
Featured: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Law enforcement struggles with policing in reckoning moment
The Associated Press, June 25, 2020
Quoted: Sandra Smith

Killing of George Floyd shows that years of police reform fall far short
Star Tribune, June 20, 2020
Featured: Sandra Susan Smith

These protests feel different, but we have to be realistic. There's a long road ahead
The Guardian, June 14, 2020
Op-ed by Sandra Susan Smith

Sandra Susan Smith joins HKS as the new PCJ faculty director
July 1, 2020

What 'defund the police' might look like
The Washington Post, June 12, 2020
Interviewed: Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Police unions must police their members
The Boston Globe, June 4, 2020
Op-ed: Frank Hartmann and Edward Davis

California jail population plummets during pandemic. Could this lead to long-term change?
The Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2020
Quoted: Sandra Susan Smith

In Milwaukee, ‘Justice’ is About More Than Punishment
The Crime Report, January 23, 2020
Featured: Executive Session on Community Corrections