Sentencing hearings this week for six law enforcement officers, some of whom were members of the Goon Squad, revealed a disturbing portrait of a Mississippi sheriff’s department that encouraged deputies to use extreme violence as a policing tool. Prosecutors, along with several of the deputies who were sentenced, described a toxic culture in which senior…
Chicago is expected to end 2023 with a double-digit decline in both shootings and homicides, a sign that the pandemic-era rise in gun violence is beginning to recede. But citywide data shows that a small subset of Chicago’s shootings — those involving domestic violence — have accelerated this year, a spike that is prompting new…
David DePape lived a solitary life, worked carpentry jobs and was seemingly obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories on the internet, where he railed about “wokism,” questioned the Holocaust and embraced Pizzagate and QAnon. Then in October 2022, the police said, Mr. DePape, 43, busted into Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and bludgeoned her husband, when…
“U.S. allies and partners are concerned about U.S. overstretch,” said Stephen Wertheim, a historian of American foreign policy and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But paradoxically, if they have put enough chips to date in the U.S. basket” of military ties, he added, “they want to seek closer relationships and more…
As news spread over the weekend that gunmen from Hamas, the Palestinian faction that governs the Gaza Strip, had killed hundreds and taken hostages in a surprise attack on Israel, Zarefah Baroud watched in horror from Seattle. Ms. Baroud, a doctoral student and activist who is Palestinian American, said she felt deep sadness for the…
This article is also a weekly newsletter. Sign up for Race/Related here. “It’s almost paranoia, a paranoia that there’s no safe place,” said Thomas Mayes, a 70-year-old pastor from Aurora, Colorado, reacting to police brutality against Black people. When police officers injure or kill someone, the psychological effects can stretch beyond those who are directly…
LaVonte’e Williams couldn’t read yet, but he loved the Bible. His grandfather even called him Preacher. In August, a day after his baptism, he accidentally shot himself at a park and died at just 5 years old. Juan Carlos Robles-Corona Jr. had mastered viral TikTok dances. He would perform them at an Auntie Anne’s, where…