Justice
June 12, 2013 -
The NAACP-led protesters who've been gathering weekly at the North Carolina General Assembly have offered a textbook example of how to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience. But the reaction from some of the state's elected officials has been less than respectful -- and has evoked an ugly chapter of Southern history.
June 11, 2013 -
Georgia and South Carolina are among the states with the highest rates of sexual assault of juvenile detainees, and most of the abuse involves the very staff members charged with supervising and counseling the troubled youngsters.
June 7, 2013 -
North Carolina lawmakers this week voted to repeal the Racial Justice Act, a groundbreaking state law that allows death row inmates to have their sentences commuted to life without parole if they can prove racial bias played a role in their cases.
June 7, 2013 -
Human rights advocate Chokwe Lumumba's election this week as mayor of Jackson, Miss. is the result of work by a new Black-led progressive coalition that intends to fight for power in a state too often written off as redneck Tea Party territory.
May 31, 2013 -
Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled a plan this week to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent felons in a state where one in five African-American adults is disenfranchised due to an unusually harsh law. Civil rights advocates praised the move, but some say the governor should go further.
May 30, 2013 -
A chemical spill from a natural gas facility has been sickening residents of an African-American community near Mobile, Ala. for five years now -- and it could take years to clean up the mess.
May 28, 2013 -
Amid a shortage of drugs used for executions, some states are searching for new suppliers and different drugs. Others -- including Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee -- have amended public records laws to keep the names of suppliers and manufacturers of alternative drugs secret.