Mexico’s Outrage over Los 43

After the Mass Disappearance of Students in Guerrero, Mexicans Are Refusing to Accept Violence as Usual

Forty three students from a small rural teachers’ college in Mexico’s mountainous southern backwater have jolted this nation out of its decade-long immunity to a proper outrage to mass violence, and threatened to hijack President Enrique Peña Nieto’s triumphant narrative that Mexico was back on track, destined for First Worldliness. These poor students did this, tragically, by disappearing, at the hands of local security forces that seem to operate as a public-private partnership between government and organized crime.

By now you’ve probably heard the basic outlines of the story: On September …

It’s Not Easy to Field an Ethical Fantasy Football Team

Why Doesn’t Anyone Know Who the Real Good Guys Are in the NFL?

Most people laughed when I told them that I was only drafting ethical players on my fantasy football team.

Now, three weeks into the season, the laughter has stopped.

I am …

Can We Be Optimistic with Millions Behind Bars?

The Way Americans Talk About Prisons Has Shifted. The Nation’s Policies Have Yet to Catch Up.

Should we be optimistic about the criminal justice and prison systems in America? This was the question Tim Golden, The Marshall Project’s managing editor for investigations and news, posed to …

The Shooting That Didn’t Kill Westwood

The 1988 Murder of Karen Toshima Was Not the Beginning of the End for One L.A. Neighborhood. But It Did Focus the Entire City on the Problem of Gang Violence.

Last year Los Angeles magazine published a list of the “Eight Crimes that Changed L.A.” The names and monikers of the killers and victims composed a grim roll call: The …

Walking Home Alone at Night in Buenos Aires

In Argentina, Like Elsewhere in Latin America, Fear of Crime Is a Way of Life

A debate dominates the end of my dinners at my parents’ house: how to get home? I live a mere seven blocks away, a brief walk across a park. Though …

When L.A.’s Mayors Were Crooks

The Legendary Owner of Clifton’s Cafeteria Fought to Keep the City Clean

Flipping channels recently one night I landed on the 2012 film Gangster Squad. A vague memory of the pre-release studio trailer played in my head, followed by the thought that …