The Nation of Islam’s Role in US Prisons
The Nation of Islam is controversial. Its practical purposes for incarcerated people transcend both politics and religion.
The Invention of Incarceration
Prisons have been controversial since their beginnings in the late 1700s — why do they keep failing to live up to expectations?
Why Aren’t There More Dogs at the Doctor’s Office?
Dogs can use their superb sense of smell to identify disease in human patients. What’s keeping them from using this ability in the healthcare industry?
Philanthropy and the Gilded Age
As the HBO series The Gilded Age suggests, charity allowed wealthy women to play a visible role in public life. It was also a site of inter-class animosity.
Crime Waves and Moral Panics
From train robberies to organized retail theft to murder, are we really gripped by a crime wave?
What Happens When Police Use AI to Predict and Prevent Crime?
With the dawn of artificial intelligence, a slew of new machine learning tools promise to help protect us with data.
Donald Goines, Detroit’s Crime Writer Par Excellence
The writer used hard-boiled fiction as a wide lens to accurately capture the widescreen disparity of Black life in the 1970s.
The Prince of Wales’ 1921 Trip to India Was a Royal Disaster
Prince Edward's visit began the end of the monarchy’s influence in India.
John B. Cade’s Project to Document the Stories of the Formerly Enslaved
A recently digitized slave narrative collection consists of original manuscripts compiled by John Brother Cade and his students at Southern University.
Writing Poetry in Prison as an Act of Resistance
A writer recounts her uncle's experiences writing poetry in prison and advocating for Indigenous rights. His death and his typewriter are intertwined.