Mark Obbie's Blog, page 21

August 8, 2014

On the nightstand: Friday, 8/8/14

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: Jamelle Bouie explains the findings of a study that shows how criminal-justice reformers and journalists who document evidence of racial injustice might see their efforts backfire, by feeding more […]
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Published on August 08, 2014 14:28

“Porch shooter” stories skip the legal stuff

In a racially charged trial that’s bound to generate angry, emotional public reactions no matter how it turns out, a local newspaper’s first duty is to tell the story in a way that puts light, not just heat, on the situation. On Wednesday, I criticized the Detroit News for failing that test in a story on […]
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Published on August 08, 2014 04:05

August 7, 2014

On the nightstand: Thursday, 8/7/14

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: Filmmaker Nadine Pequeneza’s documentary “15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story” tells a nuanced, important story about life-without-parole for juveniles (or, as advocates prefer to say, “sentencing children to die in prison”). […]
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Published on August 07, 2014 12:29

August 6, 2014

Just the facts

Detroit is about to endure a familiar public debate, and it’s journalists’ responsibility to inject relevant facts into that debate in hopes of replacing emotion with reason. If this Detroit News story is any indication, we’re in for a rough ride. Theodore Wafer is on trial in the shooting death of Renisha McBride. Wafer shot McBride […]
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Published on August 06, 2014 03:17

August 5, 2014

On the nightstand: Tuesday, 8/5/14

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: Months before the Department of Justice’s damning report on abuse of teen prisoners at New York’s Rikers Island, the Center for Investigative Reporting told a series of stories […]
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Published on August 05, 2014 14:02

A real tick-tock narrative

There’s nothing like a ticking bomb to establish dramatic tension in a long crime narrative. That’s the device (pun!) that journalist Adam Higginbotham uses in his new Atavist e-single A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite. The crime — an extortion plot involving a huge bomb planted at a Nevada casino — took place long ago, in […]
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Published on August 05, 2014 05:33

August 4, 2014

On the nightstand: Monday, 8/4/14

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: Maurice Possley writes The Marshall Project’s debut story, adding more damning evidence to the charge that Texas executed an innocent man. Cameron David Willingham was put to death […]
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Published on August 04, 2014 13:57

August 3, 2014

Pause before the big push

Last week, I attended my first conference of Soros justice fellows. The meeting, spanning four days in Albuquerque, reunited me with my fellow 2014 fellows three months after we first met. And it exposed me to the remarkable breadth and depth of the fellowship’s members, dating back to the inaugural cohort in 1997. I felt […]
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Published on August 03, 2014 11:57

July 29, 2014

On the nightstand: Tuesday, 7/29/14

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: Stephanie Clifford reports on Brooklyn federal judge John Gleeson’s dogged, ultimately successful campaign to undo the damage of an “absurd” sentence mandated by federal law. It wasn’t just the […]
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Published on July 29, 2014 12:51

July 26, 2014

On the nightstand: Saturday, 7/26/14

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: Would you buy a used quote from this man? Victoria Bekiempis writes a critical portrait of oft-quoted juvenile crime “expert” Phil Chalmers, making it clear she thinks he is winging […]
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Published on July 26, 2014 13:42