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Maybe Cops Shouldn't Handle Domestic Violence Calls

Melissa Jeltsen

September 22, 2021 |

The Cut |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Moab, Utah

The case of Gabby Petito illustrates how decades-old laws meant to make police take domestic violence more seriously can backfire on the people who most need protection. Mandatory-arrest laws require police responding to a domestic-violence complaint to determine who is the primary aggressor, as a prelude to an arrest. In Petito's case, as in many, Moab, Utah, police deemed her the aggressor based on a cursory investigation, and possibly based on ingrained biases against women. This does nothing to get at the root of the problem and get people the help they need.

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He Beat Her Repeatedly. Family Court Tried to Give Him Joint Custody of Their Children.

Megan O'Matz

September 16, 2021 |

ProPublica |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a leader in the movement to treat fathers as equal caregivers and to prioritize shared custody in divorces. But this fathers' rights reform, combined with outmoded ideas about women who allege domestic violence, often forces domestic violence victims to maintain frequent communication with their abusers and to turn over their children to violent former spouses for visits. Although the shared-custody law does exempt cases of serious domestic violence, advocates say the law allows large exceptions, makes proving allegations too hard, and is overseen by courts dismissive of women's allegations.

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‘Every man was drinking': how much do bans on alcohol help women in India?

Preeti Jha

September 14, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Bihar

The Bihar, India, state government banned drinking and selling alcohol in 2016 after women in the mostly rural state mounted protests blaming men's alcohol abuse for rampant violence against women. Hundreds of thousands of arrests, carrying severe penalties, resulted from the ban. Previous bans in Bihar and other states failed because of unpopularity and loopholes. This one has some evidence to suggest a 15% decline in drinking, but only a 4% decline in violence, while bootlegging and other crimes have increased. The prohibition protests have spread to other states.

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Seattle police intervening in fewer mental health calls, data show

David Kroman

September 13, 2021 |

Crosscut |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Washington state legislators imposed new restrictions on the use of force by police, including strict limits on physically restraining someone who is not suspected of committing a crime. At a time when non-police responders to mental health crises are not yet fully staffed, the use-of-force reforms have had the unintended consequence in Seattle of denying some people in mental health crises the emergency care they need. Police believe they are not allowed to restrain someone in order to involuntarily commit them to a mental hospital. Involuntary commitments have dropped by almost half.

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‘Black Capitalism' Promised a Better City for Everyone. What Happened?

Michael Corkery

September 12, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

The partnership between Black social activists and corporations in Rochester during the 1960s failed to bring about tangible progress in subsequent decades. Systemic issues of racism and poverty were unaffected by “community capitalism.”

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As homicides surged, Oakland's premier anti-violence program went quiet

Rachel Swan

September 07, 2021 |

San Francisco Chronicle |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Oakland Ceasefire's "delicate architecture" balancing law enforcement and community-based responses to gun violence, which seemed to have helped lower the city's gun violence by half since 2012, came crashing down during the pandemic. While arrests continued, the alternative offered to people at high risk of violence – an array of services to turn their lives around – withered with a virtual ban on in-person meetings. Violence in the city surged as years of progress unraveled. The program is working to rebuild, while questioning if it should distance itself more from the police.

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Turning workers' challenges into workplace assets

Jodi Hausen

September 02, 2021 |

Boulder Weekly |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado legislation now bans wages that are even lower than the minimum wage for employees with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). The antiquated law was initially enacted as an incentive for business owners but has been abolished by several states. The new law also provides access to job coaching, which disability advocates are thrilled about.

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Cincinnati Was a Model for Police Reform. What Happened?

Fola Akinnibi

September 02, 2021 |

Bloomberg Businessweek |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cincinnati, Ohio

A 2002 agreement with the U.S. Justice Department made Cincinnati a model of police reform. After a series of controversial shootings of residents, police committed to a less harsh, more publicly accountable approach that, for a time, seemed to work. Arrests and crime both fell. Public support for the police grew. But now the city is a model for something else: how progress can be undercut if a city grows complacent and fails to perform the hard work of sustaining a different sort of policing.

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How calls to ‘defund the police' took Austin to a crossroads of police reform

Tony Plohetski

August 31, 2021 |

Austin American-Statesman |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

The 2020 protests over abusive policing nationwide led to Austin city leaders' decision to be the first major city to make major cuts in their police budget. These early and rapid "defund-the-police" measures, cutting hiring of new police and moving $150 million to other agencies, led to a political backlash that has further polarized the local debate over policing. The police budget was restored and is now at its highest ever with some residents complaining that they need better protection. Now the city is rethinking, more deliberately, where to go from here.

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Undocumented crime victims who assist police are often denied help in getting visa

Yilun Cheng

August 23, 2021 |

The Columbus Dispatch |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Whitehall, Ohio

Congress created the U visa program in 2000 to encourage undocumented immigrants to report crimes to the police and cooperate with investigations and prosecutions. The visa legalizes an immigrant's status, if certified by a law enforcement agency and approved by the federal government. Some police departments, like Whitehall, Ohio's, routinely reject requests for certification because they want to avoid entanglements in immigration matters, or simply because they are anti-immigrant. No national rules require agencies to comply with the system, though some states do.

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