General Background The events in Cincinnati were often referred to as the largest riot or rebellion since 1992 in Los Angeles and/or the largest riot or rebellion in Cincinnati since the 1960s. On Saturday April 7 2001, 19 year old Timothy Thomas was shot and killed while running away from
Read moreCincinnati 2001 Protests: A First-hand account
A narrative by Carl Sack about his experience during the 2001 Cincinnati protests. Carl wrote this narrative at the request of Pam Oliver, who had heard him describe these incidents. Carl is a White man who is now a PhD Geographer who is on the faculty of a community college. This
Read morePaths for Reducing Mass Incarceration
This paper “What the Numbers Say about How to Reduce Imprisonment: Offenses, Returns, and Turnover” is somewhat out of date as it is based on 2016 data and was published in2020, but a conversation brought it to mind. The paper asks: what would it take to get US imprisonment back
Read moreSchool safety without police: Kaziah’s story
I want to tell you a story that came up at a monthly meeting of folks from different Madison-area groups who get together to talk about how to build support for police-free schools. You may recall that last year there was a big fight at East High where police were
Read morePrison Gerrymandering (From Prison Policy)
This post from Prison Policy explains why local prison gerrymandering is a problem and how local governments have been prohibited from addressing the issue by a 1981 Wisconsin attorney general decision.
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Racial Disparity in Wisconsin Felony Sentences
Columnist Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the news last week that Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack has been sitting on a year-old study that showed a clear pattern of racial disparity in Wisconsin prison sentences. Specifically, the study shows substantial racial differences in the likelihood
Read moreWhen the NYPD Rioted
(updated March 4, 2024 to include quotations from Black newspapers & December 6, 2024 to include a citation to a 2021 article in New York Magazine about the riot. ) In New York in 1992, about 10,000 off-duty police officers and their supporters protested and about 4,000 of them rioted
Read moreRecent Anti-Police Brutality Protests Since George Floyd’s Death are Far Larger than Previous Black Lives Matter Protest Waves
Much excellent work has been written about the need for systemic reform of policing in the US, the discrimination and inequalities faced by Black Americans, and the brave struggles of anti-racist protesters amidst the ongoing police repression and the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic. As social movements go, the ongoing mobilizations
Read moreThe Importance of Demonstrating that Communities Can Police Themselves
Chloe Haimson, University of Wisconsin-Madison, haimson@wisc.edu Note: This piece is based on research collected for a forthcoming paper in Mobilization. In recent weeks, heated interactions nationwide between protesters and police, were sparked by the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, by a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.
Read moreDismantling the Minneapolis Police Department
Note: This post originally featured on scatterplot. Over the past 4 years, I’ve studied community perceptions of the Minneapolis Police Department. With a team of students, we conducted qualitative interviews with over 100 residents and 20 leaders of police reform/transformation/abolition groups; tracked reform efforts by the MPD; and attended city
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