Mark Obbie's Blog
January 10, 2018
An outtake’s third life
Today I have a new story at The Crime Report that is a testament to persistence — or stubbornness. Back in December 2015, I went to St. Louis on an assignment for The New York Times. There I met a federal judge whose story interested me. My editors cut that part out of the story, … Continue reading An outtake’s third life →
January 4, 2018
#NoNotoriety: A plea for responsible reporting
For at least a couple of years, I’ve been aware of the push by victim advocates to discourage mass shooters by denying them news coverage that could inspire copycats. I see merit in the idea, not least because the evidence is clear that rampage shooters often seek a twisted sort of fame with their crimes, … Continue reading #NoNotoriety: A plea for responsible reporting →
September 7, 2017
Photo finish
Covering gun violence and policing has taught me that no matter how long the reporting, writing, and editing of a story might take, the stories can change in an instant, right on deadline. That happened to me, for example, when I wrote this story for TakePart on Minneapolis. After months of reporting, writing, and editing, we … Continue reading Photo finish →
March 1, 2017
Our images of crime victims
Back in December, I said I would remain deliberately vague for now about my book project. That’s still the case, but I’ll drop a little hint about what’s on my mind by talking about the lecture I’ll give today. I’m honored to be invited back to the Syracuse University College of Law and to a class … Continue reading Our images of crime victims →
February 16, 2017
Justice reinvestment resources
The Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice sponsors the H.F. Guggenheim Annual Symposium on Crime in America, a who’s who of crime-policy researchers and practitioners and the journalists who cover criminal justice. At this year’s symposium, I am moderating a panel on sentencing policy, specifically justice reinvestment … Continue reading Justice reinvestment resources →
December 28, 2016
An update on my work
Since the end of my Soros Justice Fellowship in 2015, I have hoped and planned to continue focusing on how we respond to crime victims. Throughout much of 2016 I worked on a variety of assignments, all concerning criminal justice policy, but I realized this fall that unless I set aside that work temporarily, I … Continue reading An update on my work →
October 17, 2016
Sandy Hook’s hidden story
Law and news nerd that I am, I find great satisfaction in discovering new angles to litigation stories that others have missed. Last February, I did that for The Trace in a preview of the coming fight over the legal claims made by the families of the Sandy Hook mass shooting victims. Now that the … Continue reading Sandy Hook’s hidden story →
October 3, 2016
Caught in the middle
I’ve written in the past about a scenario I find important and intriguing: cities where police departments are led by relatively progressive, reform-friendly chiefs who find themselves caught between protesters and their own departments’ history and rank-and-file officers. That was the case when I wrote about New York City and Minneapolis. And it’s the case … Continue reading Caught in the middle →
September 19, 2016
A red state struggles with reform
What constitutes real criminal-justice reform? Advocates have warned for years that it’s a mistake to limit sentencing reforms to nonviolent drug offenses. Marie Gottschalk explores this in depth in a penetrating critique of the reform movement in Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics, where she talks about the policies aimed only at “non, non, nons” (nonviolent, … Continue reading A red state struggles with reform →
September 15, 2016
Prison buildup: the documentary
The Crime Report today published my Q&A with Regan Hines, director of a new documentary on the massive expansion of America’s prison population. The film, Incarcerating US, traces the history of sentencing policy since the 1970s, laying most of the blame for that on war-on-drugs policies like mandatory-minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. In my … Continue reading Prison buildup: the documentary →
