Justice

Criminalizing Work

The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance recently held a clothing donation drive to help immigrant workers that it says were laid off from a Morton meat-processing plant and a Jackson roofing company, among other businesses, in preparation for Senate Bill 2988 becoming law this July.

Melton Protégé Pleads

Mayor Frank Melton says he will be waiting for Michael Taylor to get out of prison, probably before he is 21. "He is too good of a kid to give up on," Melton told The Clarion-Ledger last week. "I will be there for him when he gets out." Currently, Melton is refusing to speak to the Jackson Free Press.

Seale Wants Freedom

The flawed record of Dr. Stephen Hayne was at issue when James Ford Seale took his 2007 conviction before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this week.

Congress Probes 'Witch Hunts'

With Congress nipping at its heels, the U.S. Justice Department is looking into its own alleged political prosecutions, including that of Paul Minor and Oliver Diaz in Mississippi.

Community Combats Crime

Standing at the corner of Florence and Valley Streets near the campus of Jackson State University, it is evident why Royce Smith Jr. is concerned about his business.

Blind Eye: Easier Times for Bingo Crimes?

Adam goes into depth about monetary abuses in bingo parlors, and why nothing has been done about it.

Berry Killed on His Birthday?

As Earl Berry's attorneys continue their protests that the state's method for killing inmates is flawed, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed a motion this week to reset the execution of Earl Berry for the 1987 murder of Mary Bounds to May 5incidentally Berry's 49th birthday.

Mother Stabbed to Death by Children's Father

A young mother of six, Tracy Collier, is the latest victim of domestic violence in Jackson. Police found Collier, 33, stabbed to death in her yard at 2408 Brookside Drive on Monday, April 14. As a final indignity, her accused attacker, Torrian Holmes, also 33, allegedly ran over her body with his car as she lay in the yard of her home. The autopsy on Collier's body, reportedly completed Monday night, should indicate whether she was already dead at the time.

The Untold Thousands

Life is bleak for many unwanted animals in Mississippi.

Owning Our Stories

The last time I talked to documentary filmmaker Micki Dickoff, we were standing on Center Avenue in my hometown during the Edgar Ray Killen trial. I was yelling at her for trying to own the story of long-overdue justice and the people who had fought for it for so long.

Voter ID: Up for the Final Count

Voter ID may be an issue in the Legislature again this week, though the bill ultimately has a slim chance of getting anywhere this session.

Be Part of the Crime Solution

The town-hall meeting that the local police union and the Jackson Free Press sponsored last week downtown was eye-opening and sobering. Audience members seemed genuinely flummoxed when they saw the PowerPoint slides of how few police officers are available in a given department at any one time. The numbers are grim—especially considering the naive ideas about crime-fighting pushed by local politicians and media.

Walker, Belafonte Appearing at JSU Civil Rights Conference

Actor Harry Belafonte Jr., writer Alice Walker and filmmaker Keith Beauchamp are headlining the third annual Conference of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement at Jackson State University starting this Thursday.

Workers Rally Against Human Trafficking

A group of about 70 Indian workers marched onto the Mississippi State Capitol Thursday, March 20, protesting treatment by Pascagoula construction company Signal International, LLC.

Let's Make a Deal

The Mississippi Center for Justice is still looking to buy the old library building at 301 N. State Street, the site of the historic "read-in" by nine Tougaloo College students during the Civil Rights Movement. MCJ, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm, wants to make the building—which had served as the city's "whites only" library until the read-in—the future site of its offices. MCJ President Martha Bergmark said the role the building played in the Civil Rights Movement made it a fitting location in synch with the nonprofit group's prime agenda of providing equal justice to everybody.

Ellington