On a March evening last year, death penalty lawyers, scholars and trained investigators gathered in an Atlanta hotel room to celebrate Wiggins v. Smith. The 20-year-old Supreme Court decision declared that defense lawyers in death penalty cases must thoroughly investigate the lives of those facing execution for evidence that might see them spared.

Nikolas Cruz was the rare mass killer in America to have his fate decided at trial; many die during the shooting. It’s a bedrock principle of American justice that every defendant, no matter how serious the crime, is owed a robust defense. For the first time, Cruz’s defense team told a reporter about how they dug into his troubled life and convinced a jury to spare him the death penalty. Joe Sexton got access to Cruz’s medical, school, adoption and other records, interviewed members of the defense team at length, talked with Florida legislators, and met with experts on fetal alcohol poisoning and death penalty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is what he learned:

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. When a team of researchers at Stanford Criminal Justice Center started surveying people in California women’s prisons who had been convicted...

More than 1,200 children accused of serious crimes in Cuyahoga County since 2020 were defended by court-appointed lawyers who lacked state-mandated qualifications, The Marshall Project - Cleveland found. Ohio reimburses counties for private attorneys to represent people who can’t afford them. However, the taxpayer money comes with strings: Attorneys must...

Hospitals use drug tests that return false positives from poppy seed bagels, decongestants and Zantac. Yet newborns are being taken from parents based on the results.

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the state will try to shut down its three large youth correctional facilities...

Listen to our investigation into how hospitals use unreliable test results to report parents to child welfare agencies. Imagine you’re going to have a baby. You have made plans — who will be there, how you expect it to go, what you’ll need to get the infant home. Now imagine the baby is born. You’re in your hospital bed, bonding with your newborn, when a doctor walks in and tells you that you have tested positive for drugs. But you know that’s wrong. Hospitals across the country routinely drug test people coming in to give birth, using pee-in-a-cup tests that are notoriously imprecise. People who have eaten poppy seed bagels or taken over-the-counter heartburn or cold medications can test positive for meth or opiates.

From following strict dress codes to being frisked, visiting a loved one at New Jersey State Prison has always been a headache. But lingering COVID-19 restrictions have created a whole new set of issues. Before the pandemic, people on our approved lists could simply show up at the prison during...

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. When a 2016 California law made it possible for Lance Gonzalez to shorten his prison sentence by completing more rehabilitation programs...

Content warning: This story contains details of sexual abuse and suicide. — Matthew Farwell brought ginger ale. Sandra Birchmore, 23, texted a friend the news in late January 2021. Farwell, then a police officer in Stoughton, Massachusetts, near Boston, had visited Birchmore’s apartment the night before, according to an affidavit accompanying Farwell’s indictment and arrest for killing her.

Even if a person does not directly commit a crime, they can still be sent to prison for it. Every state in the U.S. has a version of “accomplice liability” — laws that allow someone to be punished for assisting or supporting another person who commits a crime, in some cases, even if that participation is under the threat of violence. Arecent Marshall Project investigation found survivors of domestic and sexualized violence are particularly vulnerable to prosecution under these laws because of the control their abusers hold over them.

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. In the lead-up to this week’s Democratic National Convention, a Chicago mutual aid group began stockpiling toiletries, sleeping bags and tents....

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. This is our 100th essay since re-launching the weekly Closing Argument newsletter in 2022. Thanks to everyone who reads each week!

Angela Williams’ life was forever altered on Christmas Eve 2017 when she learned that Troy, Alabama, cops had severely beaten her 17-year-old son, Ulysses Wilkerson. Law enforcement officials said cops had approached the teen around midnight the day before because he was walking near a closed business. They claimed he fled and then reached for his waistband, prompting the officers to use physical force.

Learn more about who we are and how we choose what political stories to cover. Crime and criminal justice are once again common themes in this year’s presidential campaigns, leaving voters to sort through misinformation and misleading claims. We know it can be challenging for anyone to sift through the election noise to find what’s true. — Throughout this political season, The Marshall Project is focused on providing readers and viewers like you with accurate, timely context and analysis about relevant criminal justice and immigration stories, from the presidential level to some state and local races and ballot initiatives.

The violence at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 shocked a fractured country. In a decade that had seen its share of bloody riots over the fight for civil rights, the Chicago Police Department’s attacks on protesters, innocent bystanders and journalists outside the convention were broadcast live on television.

Sankin brings deep experience with ambitious data projects. The Marshall Project is happy to announce that Aaron Sankin is joining the organization as our new Deputy Data Editor. — Sankin has a passion for ambitious, team-based investigations combining rigorous data analysis and statistical methods with in-depth reporting. He will bring those skills to reporting on the U.S. criminal justice system, supporting the work of data team membersIlica Mahajan and Geoff Hing, and working closely with Data Editor David Eads.

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. It’s hot outside. Really, really hot. — I’m writing this newsletter from southern Louisiana, where the heat index haseasily cleared 100...

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, voters will turn their attention to his record on a variety of issues, including criminal justice. Crime will likely be a key theme on the campaign trail, and conservatives have already been attacking...

This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters. These days, Austin Handle works almost as many late nights as he did when he was a police officer. — He...