The Intercept’s criminal justice coverage has long focused on wrongful convictions and the death penalty. 2018 was no exception. Our investigations into the unconstitutional policing, junk science, and prosecutorial misconduct that invariably contribute to the unjust incarceration of innocent people were joined by important work on predictive policing, voting rights, and the #MeToo movement.

Murderville, Georgia

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Photo: Ryan Christopher Jones

A brutal murder rocked a small Southern town. Cops quickly closed the case. Then came another murder. And another. Did putting the wrong man in jail let a real killer go free? Welcome to Murderville.
By Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith

A Father Took His 10-Year-Old Fishing. She Fell in the Water and Drowned. It Was a Tragic Accident — Then He Was Charged With Murder.

Photo: Ilana Panich-Linsman

Wendell Lindsey is serving life in a Texas prison, but his conviction relied on dubious drowning science and a key witness with secrets of her own.
By Jordan Smith

New York Gang Database Expanded by 70 Percent Under Mayor Bill de Blasio

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Photo: Robert Stolarik/Redux

New Yorkers have been added to the NYPD gang database under de Blasio at a rate of 342 people per month, nearly three times the rate of the prior decade.
By Alice Speri

 
 

His Conviction Was Overturned. Why Is Arizona Doing Everything in Its Power to Keep Barry Jones on Death Row?

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Photo: Caitlin O’Hara

Rather than allow its case against Jones to withstand the scrutiny of a new trial, the state is determined to undo the order that threw out his conviction.
By Liliana Segura

Chicago Faces a Defining Moment in Police Reform and Civil Order

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Photo: Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Getty Images

Chicago has a unique opportunity to confront fundamental issues of racial justice as it debates a consent decree on police reform.
By Jamie Kalven

Chilling Testimony in a Tennessee Trial Exposes Lethal Injection as Court-Sanctioned Torture

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Photo Illustration: Elise Swain, AP

The trial was a case study in the twisted legacy of Glossip v. Gross — and a close-up look at the botched executions that continue amid little controversy.
By Liliana Segura

Indigenous Women Have Been Disappearing for Generations. Politicians Are Finally Starting to Notice.

Photo: Denver Post/Getty Images

U.S. lawmakers are beginning to grapple with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Canada’s inquiry suggests the road ahead will be steep.
By Alleen Brown

No, Aziz Ansari’s Accuser Is Not Breaking Up #MeToo — the Divisions Have Been There All Along

Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/Getty Images

The debates birthed by Ansari’s accuser reveal where fractures have always existed: along ideological, generational, class, and political lines.
By Natasha Lennard

Jessica Robertson Got Sick Working as an Inspector at a Poultry Plant. Now She’s Speaking Out to Defend Workers Exposed to Chemicals.

Still: Armando Aparicio

In Moroni, Utah, USDA inspectors raised alarms about the potential health effects of chemicals sprayed on poultry carcasses. Their complaints were ignored.
By Eyal Press

Inside a Sleazy FBI Sting Involving Diet Clinics, Fitness Models, Money Laundering, and a Supposed Plot to Hire a Hitman

Illustration: Cun Shi

Emile Bouari was an unprincipled businessman who’d been accused of ripping people off. But it would take Operation Bo-Tox to get him to launder money.
By Trevor Aaronson

As FBI Whistleblower Terry Albury Faces Sentencing, His Lawyers Say He Was Motivated by Racism and Abuses at the Bureau

Photo: GoFundMe

Terry Albury could get up to 52 months in prison for leaking FBI documents. He’d come to believe the bureau harassed and intimidated minority communities.
By Alice Speri

Standing Rock Pitches Last-Ditch Fight for the Right to Vote in North Dakota

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Still: Jihan Hafiz

Standing Rock tribal members were skeptical of supporting Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Then Republicans attempted to stop them from voting at all.
By Alleen Brown