Criminal Justice

Filter by topic:

Filter by TopicFilter by Type

Image from Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

According to experts who monitor the radical right, the white supremacist ideology that police say drove the Buffalo gunman has begun moving from the extremes into the mainstream. This is the fifth episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: A Surge in Violence

Extremism in America: A Surge in Violence

Violent attacks involving extremist ideology, like the Buffalo rampage, began to rise in the last decade, but officials were slow to recognize homegrown threats. This is the fourth episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: Missed Warnings

Extremism in America: Missed Warnings

In the years before Barack Obama was elected, many groups on the extreme right kept a relatively low profile. With the election of a Black president, that changed. This is the third episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: The Oklahoma City Bombing

Extremism in America: The Oklahoma City Bombing

Anti-government propaganda, military deployment and the F.B.I. raid in Waco, Texas, radicalized Timothy McVeigh and led to the Oklahoma City attack. This is the second episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: Emergence of The Order

Extremism in America: Emergence of The Order

The killing of radio host Alan Berg exposed a new kind of right-wing extremism. This is the first episode of a five-part series in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Dictators and Civil Wars: The Cold War in Latin America

Dictators and Civil Wars: The Cold War in Latin America

Driven by fears of the rise of communism, the United States adopted a policy of containment, intervening in the politics of countries across the globe. In Latin America, the consequences of those efforts are still unfolding.

Image from American Reckoning Trailer

American Reckoning Trailer

An untold story of the civil rights movement. American Reckoning is produced in collaboration with PBS Frontline.

Image from American Reckoning

American Reckoning

An untold story of the civil rights movement.

Image from American Reckoning: The Bombing (Excerpt)

American Reckoning: The Bombing (Excerpt)

After civil rights leader George Metcalfe was severely injured in a car bombing, the Black community in Natchez, Miss., organized their response.

Image from American Reckoning: Black Resistance (Excerpt)

American Reckoning: Black Resistance (Excerpt)

In the face of threats from the Ku Klux Klan, a group known as the Deacons for Defense helped to protect the Black community.

Image from American Reckoning: The Boycott (Excerpt)

American Reckoning: The Boycott (Excerpt)

The N.A.A.C.P. of Natchez, Miss., issued 12 demands for racial justice and organized a boycott of area businesses.

Image from American Reckoning: The Legacy (Excerpt)

American Reckoning: The Legacy (Excerpt)

In 1967, N.A.A.C.P. official Wharlest Jackson was killed in a car bombing. Nearly 60 years later, his family is still looking for answers.

Image from In El Salvador, a Journalist Faces New Limits. ‘We Want to Continue Shedding Light.’

In El Salvador, a Journalist Faces New Limits. ‘We Want to Continue Shedding Light.’

Nelson Rauda, an independent journalist, told us that El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, is putting the squeeze on press freedom.

Image from As Massacre Survivors Seek Justice, El Salvador Grapples With 1,000 Ghosts

As Massacre Survivors Seek Justice, El Salvador Grapples With 1,000 Ghosts

“Massacre in El Salvador,” a collaboration with Frontline and ProPublica, tells the story of the worst massacre in recent Latin American history, and why a final reckoning is at risk.

Image from The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action

The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action

The ‘Burning Bed’ killing put domestic violence in the headlines.

Image from Combating the Myth of the Superpredator

Combating the Myth of the Superpredator

In the 1990s, a handful of researchers inspired panic with a dire but flawed prediction: the imminent arrival of a new breed of “superpredators.”

Image from The Modern Bystander Effect

The Modern Bystander Effect

Why don’t people intervene when they encounter violence streaming live online?

Image from DNA Clues Solve Crimes . . . With a Privacy Cost

DNA Clues Solve Crimes . . . With a Privacy Cost

DNA information that is available on genealogy websites is doing more than satisfying curiosity – it’s solving crimes.

Image from Columbine at 20: Media Attention and Copycat Killers

Columbine at 20: Media Attention and Copycat Killers

Twenty years after Columbine, we examine the impact the attack has had on today’s youths – and how the media has more recently shifted its coverage of school shootings.

Image from How a Folk Singer’s Murder Forced Chile to Confront Its Past

How a Folk Singer’s Murder Forced Chile to Confront Its Past

Víctor Jara was a legendary Chilean folk singer and political activist, whose brutal killing during a military coup in 1973 went unsolved for decades. Now, his family may finally get justice.

Image from For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business

For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business

An inmate population surge in the 1980s led to the growth of for-profit prisons. Today, despite their mixed record, private prison companies are overseeing the vast majority of undocumented migrants.

Image from Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence

Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence

This is the story of cops, African-American pastors, gang members, and academics coming together to create positive change for Boston, while upending notions of traditional policing in a way that is especially pertinent today.

Image from What History Can Teach Us About Mass Killings

What History Can Teach Us About Mass Killings

A century ago, a culture rid itself of the problem of mass murder. How did that happen and what can the modern-day world learn from it?

Image from How ISIS Resembles the Doomsday Cults of the 1970s

How ISIS Resembles the Doomsday Cults of the 1970s

Can the lessons we learned from extremist cults decades ago be used to fight ISIS recruitment today?

Image from The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science

The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science

With the Trump administration’s move to end a commission investigating flaws in forensic science, Retro Report looks at the history of one now-challenged method: hair analysis.

Image from Remembering Kitty

Remembering Kitty

More than 50 years after Kitty Genovese’s murder became a symbol of urban apathy, her partner, Mary Ann Zielonko remembers Kitty’s life and impact.

Image from Argentina's Stolen Babies, and the Grandmothers Leading the Search

Argentina's Stolen Babies, and the Grandmothers Leading the Search

The Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women dedicated to finding babies who were taken by Argentina’s military regime in the 1970s and 1980s, have reunited their 130th family.

Image from Separated from Parents as a Child, Argentine Man Finds his Family

Separated from Parents as a Child, Argentine Man Finds his Family

The story of one man’s search for his identity after his parents disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

Image from Sisters Search for Lost Brother Separated by Argentine Dictatorship

Sisters Search for Lost Brother Separated by Argentine Dictatorship

Flavia Battistiol has turned to social media in hopes of being reunited with the sibling who disappeared in 1977, when the military junta ruled Argentina.

Image from Lessons from Columbine About School Shootings and Media Misinformation

Lessons from Columbine About School Shootings and Media Misinformation

The killing of twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999 continues to shape how we view and understand school shootings today.

Image from The Lawyer

The Lawyer

A mini-doc about the anatomy of a shaken baby case from the perspective of defense attorney Adele Bernhard.

Image from A Mother, a Dingo and an Australian Media Frenzy

A Mother, a Dingo and an Australian Media Frenzy

In 1982, an Australian mother was convicted of murdering her baby daughter. She was later exonerated, but soon fell victim to a joke that distracted the world from the real story.

Image from The Murder of US Churchwomen in El Salvador That Exposed a Government Coverup

The Murder of US Churchwomen in El Salvador That Exposed a Government Coverup

The murder of four American churchwomen focused attention on the United States’ involvement in El Salvador. Decades later, the case continues to take surprising turns.

Image from How the Shootout at Ruby Ridge Resonates in the Gun Debate Today

How the Shootout at Ruby Ridge Resonates in the Gun Debate Today

When armed suspects stand off against the law today, one event continues to cast a shadow on both sides of the police line: the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge.

Image from Flawed Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Crime Lab

Flawed Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Crime Lab

Before DNA testing, prosecutors relied on less sophisticated forensic techniques, including microscopic hair analysis, to put criminals behind bars. But how reliable was hair analysis?

Image from The Shame of the Church

The Shame of the Church

Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been making headlines for years. Some priests have been punished, but what about the bishops who shielded them?

Image from The Preschool Sex Abuse Case that Changed How Molestation is Investigated

The Preschool Sex Abuse Case that Changed How Molestation is Investigated

The nightmare began in 1983 when a 39-year-old mother called the police department in Manhattan Beach, California and accused a teacher at the McMartin Preschool, Raymond Buckey, of molesting her two and a half-year old son.

Image from Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets

Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets

Long before Edward Snowden, there was the greatest heist you’ve never heard of. On March 8, 1971, a group of eight Vietnam War protestors broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole hundreds of government documents that shocked a nation.

Image from Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out

Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out

After the 1993 murder of a California child, many states passed laws to lock up repeat offenders for life, but today those laws are raising new questions about how crime is handled in America.

Image from Wrongly Accused of Terrorism: The Sleeper Cell That Wasn't

Wrongly Accused of Terrorism: The Sleeper Cell That Wasn't

Six days after 9/11, the FBI’s raid on a sleeper cell signaled America’s resolve to fight terrorism. But, despite a celebrated conviction, there was one problem–they were wrong.

For teachers: This video is part of a collection of resources including four short films, each accompanied by a lesson plan and student activity.

Image from The Tawana Brawley Story

The Tawana Brawley Story

In 1988, the nation learned the truth about the alleged crimes against Tawana Brawley, but the shocking story was far from over.

Image from The Crack Baby Scare: From Faulty Science to Media Panic

The Crack Baby Scare: From Faulty Science to Media Panic

In the 1980s, images of tiny, jittery “crack babies” caused social outcry – crack-addicted pregnant mothers were prosecuted and the media warned that a generation of “crack babies” would plague our country. Turns out… they were wrong.

Donate