Criminal Justice

Agents with the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general’s office arrested more than 300 people last year. Roughly two dozen were government employees or contractors.Courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General The watchdog agency that polices the Homeland Security Department for waste, fraud and abuse may have given the wrong impression on […]

National Guard personnel provide security at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.Mallory Benedict/PBS NewsHour via Flickr Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act more than 130 years ago to restrict the use of military personnel on U.S. soil, and the nation has long possessed an aversion to armed forces being relied upon for enforcement actions […]

Charles Edwards, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting inspector general, testifies before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee in June 2011.Donna Burton/U.S. Customs and Border Protection In the latest sign of trouble for the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, the watchdog agency removed five oversight reports from its website last week pending an internal […]

Last October, California began a massive overhaul of its prison system under Gov. Jerry Brown’s Public Safety Realignment Act. Under pressure from the courts to improve inmate health care and reduce prison overcrowding, the state has transferred responsibility for thousands of non-violent felons to county jails and local law enforcement. The plan aims to reduce […]

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to end California’s decades-long prison crisis has a daunting to-do list: Reduce overcrowding, improve inmate health care, end federal court oversight, cut recidivism and slash the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s massive $10 billion budget. Brown’s 2011 Public Safety Realignment Act redirects low-level offenders from state lockups to county jails, while […]

For decades, Richard Aoki touted radical ideas and beliefs as a member of groups like the Black Panthers and Socialist Workers Party. At the same time, though, FBI documents show that he was informing on these groups and their activities. Explore the timeline to learn more about the double life Aoki led.