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  • How Sweden's new consent law led to a 75% rise in rape convictions

    June 16, 2020 |

    The Local |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Sweden

    In the nearly two years since Sweden broadened the definition of rape offenses to include cases in which a victim fails to signal consent, both the reports of alleged rapes and convictions have risen. During that time, 76 convictions were in cases that previously would not have been classified as rape because they lacked evidence of force, threat, or sex with an incapacitated victim. Rapes still go largely unreported to police and there's still no evidence that the new law will achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of rape.

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  • How Decades Of Bans On Police Chokeholds Have Fallen Short

    June 16, 2020 |

    NPR |

    Radio |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States

    One of the key police reforms sought after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, bans on chokeholds and other neck restraints, has failed to curb abuses in some of the nation’s largest police departments because of lax enforcement and easily found loopholes in such policies. Despite existing bans, some as old as 30-40 years, multiple people in those cities have died when neck restraints were used during their arrests with few repercussions. Lack of effective training and disagreements over such tactics’ efficacy are among other reasons experts say the practice persists.

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  • How nonprofits are getting people out of metro Detroit jails during COVID-19 pandemic

    June 16, 2020 |

    Detroit Free Press |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

    Nonprofit bail funds, which use donated money to pay the bail of low-income people held in jail on pending charges, have won the release of about 55 people in Detroit during the COVID-19 crisis. Beyond the immediate need to free more people from an environment that makes social distancing difficult, the bail funds are part of a larger movement challenging a system that disproportionately affects people of color. The combination of bail payments, bond reductions, and administrative releases have reduced Wayne County's jail population by almost half.

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  • Two Countries Dismantled Their Police to Start Fresh. It Worked—Up to a Point.

    June 13, 2020 |

    Wall Street Journal |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Ukraine

    Georgia and Ukraine offer cautionary advice to Americans whose mass protests seek structural changes in policing, even abolishing entire police forces. The same was true in those two countries. But, in both cases, initial successes at replacing corrupt police forces ended up reversed or at least limited by backsliding, as other parts of government and society resisted the changes.

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  • How Massachusetts v. EPA Forced the U.S. Government to Take On Climate Change

    June 13, 2020 |

    New Hampshire Public Radio |

    Radio |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

    In order to get the U.S. government to take action on climate change, 30 environmental groups and 12 state governments joined forces to sue the Environmental Protection Agency arguing that it was required to regulate greenhouse gas emissions according to the Clean Air Act. While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor in the landmark Massachusetts v. EPA case in 2007, the justices’ decision didn’t specify how to reduce that pollution and future lawsuits could challenge the government’s requirement to reign in those emissions.

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  • The City that Really Did Abolish the Police Audio icon

    June 12, 2020 |

    Politico |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Camden, New Jersey

    A decade after Camden crime and police relations hit bottom, and five years after President Obama lauded its new police department as a model for reform, the city's successful reboot of its police force offers both encouragement and cautionary notes for a radical makeover of a police department. Excessive force rates and homicides have both dropped. A toothless disciplinary system has been replaced. But, while residents agree conditions have improved, they point to a number of changes still needed after the entire department was replaced.

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  • Community groups have consistently failed to improve policing. These advocates are pushing a new way.

    June 11, 2020 |

    Mother Jones |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Civilian oversight panels serving as watchdogs and disciplinary enforcers for police departments have a generally poor record of effectiveness, thanks to multiple structural flaws. But examples of successful oversight are multiplying, and thanks to protests of police violence many more cities are working to establish bodies with real power to investigate wrongdoing in specific cases and effect change throughout an agency. One city getting high marks for its program is Denver, where the Office of Independent Monitor succeeded in pressing for new use-of-force rules, which cut incidents by 21% in a year.

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  • This is how the Police Advisory Commission should work in Philadelphia

    June 10, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Truly independent citizen review boards can serve as an effective check on police misconduct if they are structured properly, but too many cities are like Philadelphia, where a lack of power and resources means they serve mainly as window dressing. The history of the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission shows how initial efforts by community groups to establish real oversight fizzled through political gamesmanship and limits on the panel’s power to investigate and discipline. More promising models exist in Phoenix, Denver, and St. Louis.

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  • Democracy isn't working: five ideas that are already helping to fix the problem

    June 10, 2020 |

    The Correspondent |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Kenya

    Communities around the world are increasing citizen participation in political decision-making in innovative ways. Participatory budgets allow locals to decide how cities spend money and in some Kenyan cities this has successfully engaged marginalized communities. Citizens’ Initiative Reviews in Oregon and Representative Population Samples in Brazil have allowed the public to weigh in on important policies. In Taiwan, citizen-led digital participation platforms helped to control the coronavirus and avoid major shutdowns. These alternatives require funding and public trust, both of which can be hard to get.

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  • Major Labels Are Donating Millions for Racial Justice. That Isn't Enough

    June 10, 2020 |

    Vice |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    In the aftermath of George Floyd's death, the 'big three' major record labels - Sony, Warner, and Universal have taken meaningless actions to address the racial inequity in the music industry. Donations, diversity panels, and statements of support fail to address the lack of diversity among executive leadership, or the lack of ownership and power the artists have over their own music, nor do they address the lack of diversity in the types of artists being invested in or the lack of professional support for black artists. Their gestures are only paying lip service to racial justice.

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