The Distance Between Dying and Death
Jamaal Howard is set to die this Wednesday, the first scheduled U.S. execution after one was badly botched in Tennessee. As his spiritual advisor, I'll be in the room with him.
Criminal Justice
Houston Is Testing Whether Trump’s ICE Is Above Texas Law
After the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, local authorities have struggled to stake their claim on an investigation into a killing within the most populous Texas city’s limits.
A Jailhouse Snitch and the System that Made Him
Pamela Colloff’s debut book is a propulsive study of a fatally flawed tactic beloved by prosecutors in Texas and beyond.
In Texas Schools, a Crisis of Arrests of Kids as Young as 10
A groundbreaking data analysis shows how districts across the state are arresting and citing children for common misbehavior, leaving lasting trauma as the Legislature rejects bills to raise the age of criminal responsibility and floods schools with even more police.
Throwing the Book at Books in Prison
Inside Books Project volunteers have sent used books to Texas inmates for nearly 30 years. A new crackdown is threatening their work.
As License Plate Readers Expand in Texas, Privacy Advocates Are Fighting Back
The Kyle City Council voted to apply for more state grant money for Flock Safety cameras despite a string of local-level contract cancellations of the booming surveillance company’s services.
Texas’ Top Criminal Court Has Stymied the State’s ‘Junk Science’ Law. Will SCOTUS Intervene?
If the U.S. Supreme Court renders a decision in favor of Charles Flores and others, it would likely force the Court of Criminal Appeals to relax its extremely strict handling of appeals based on shoddy and outdated science.
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A Looming Execution Raises Questions of Race, Responsibility, and Rap
James Broadnax is set to be executed April 30. But someone else has admitted to the crime.
‘Riding Shotgun’
The Observer has forayed into podcasting with the story of the dubious capital conviction of Charles Flores.
A Motley Crew of Dems Vie to Become New Bexar County DA
Eight candidates are running to be the Democratic nominee in the open race for the district attorney’s office. None are frontrunners.