Mark Obbie's Blog, page 18

September 13, 2014

On the nightstand: Saturday, 9/13/14

Today’s good reads in criminal-justice journalism, with an emphasis on longform narrative stories on crime and original reporting on crime victims and reforms in sentencing and prisons: Ian Shapira overcomes his subjects’ reticence to go public to show the grief and remorse of parents of mass shooters. They speak to the victims through this finely […]
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Published on September 13, 2014 06:58

September 11, 2014

A night in the park

I spent my last afternoon and evening in South Los Angeles with Adela Barajas, an advocate for crime victims and crime prevention. She took up this cause when her sister-in-law was murdered in the cross-fire of gang warfare. For the past seven years, she has worked toward peace on LA’s violence-torn south side. Tonight, Barajas’ youth […]
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Published on September 11, 2014 23:51

September 9, 2014

On the nightstand: Tuesday, 9/9/14

Today’s good reads in criminal-justice journalism, with an emphasis on longform narrative stories on crime and original reporting on crime victims and reforms in sentencing and prisons: Robert Kolker explores the case of Michael Egan, who claims powerful Hollywood executives exploited him sexually when he was a minor. Because of Egan’s involvement in a group of […]
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Published on September 09, 2014 07:40

September 7, 2014

Road report: Los Angeles

Today was day 3 of a weeklong reporting trip in LA for my series on crime victims. After the first day, I posted a brief comment about one remarkable session, where a group of grieving mothers and sisters of murder and assault victims told their stories to each other and learned techniques to soothe themselves […]
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Published on September 07, 2014 17:49

On the nightstand: Sunday, 9/7/14

Today’s good reads in criminal-justice journalism, with an emphasis on longform narrative stories on crime and original reporting on crime victims and reforms in sentencing and prisons: Lois Beckett tells the story of a mother traumatized by gun violence with essential context about the effects on victims even when they are “lucky.” The story provides […]
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Published on September 07, 2014 11:33

September 5, 2014

Group healing in South Central

My high school and college Spanish classes were too long ago to help me tonight as I sat in on a meeting of mothers and sisters of murder victims in South Central Los Angeles. Despite the language barrier, though, I witnessed something powerful as these brave Latinas sat in prayer circles, led by a restorative-justice […]
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Published on September 05, 2014 21:44

September 4, 2014

On the nightstand: Thursday, 9/4/14

Today’s good reads in criminal-justice journalism, with an emphasis on longform narrative stories on crime and original reporting on crime victims and reforms in sentencing and prisons: Radley Balko, on a story many others have covered post-#Ferguson, digs deeply for powerful anecdotes and stats showing how tiny towns around St. Louis soak the poor with […]
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Published on September 04, 2014 14:16

Off to LA

Tomorrow I begin a weeklong reporting trip to Los Angeles for my upcoming series on crime victims. The story this time: how victims and their advocates in high-crime neighborhoods work toward solutions beyond the one that has driven criminal-justice policy for decades: severe punishment. Working with police and social-service agencies, these survivors and their allies are finding […]
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Published on September 04, 2014 08:39

September 3, 2014

Time and healing

A 15-year-old commits rape and murder and is sentenced to life without parole. Twenty-four years later, as a function of changes in laws governing juvenile crime, state policy dictates that he be released — over the objections of his victim’s family. Now imagine those facts, more or less, with one significant change: the victim’s mother […]
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Published on September 03, 2014 04:58

September 2, 2014

On the nightstand: Tuesday, 9/2/14

Today’s good reads in criminal-justice journalism, with an emphasis on longform narrative stories on crime and original reporting on crime victims and reforms in sentencing and prisons: Ian Frazier shows what a long narrative can do to transform a well-worn topic (in this case, talk about abuse of painkillers and heroin and overdoses) into something compelling, […]
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Published on September 02, 2014 13:39