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Category
Criminal Justice

Asking why and how, and what needs to be done.

Police tape blocks the street outside Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans at night, illuminated by colorful exterior lights following a shooting.

Four injured, one dead, after man enters Dooky Chase’s with gunman in pursuit

by Katy Reckdahl with photos by Gus Bennett January 17, 2026 Updated February 6, 2026

Ten years to justice

How a $40 accusation and inadequate representation cost a man 10 years of his life — and how he made it to freedom, with the help of lawyers from Innocence & Justice Louisiana.
by Bernard Smith December 22, 2025 Updated December 22, 2025

How cornbread dressing was banned from Angola prison’s Thanksgiving menu

by Bernard Smith November 26, 2025 Updated December 2, 2025

States’ death penalty policies are heading in sharply different directions

Forty-one people have been executed so far this year, the highest number since 2012.
by Amanda Watford, Stateline November 7, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025
Dominque Jones-Johnson sits at a table showing photos of her incarcerated father on her phone to a group of smiling young girls at the Daughters Beyond Incarceration headquarters in New Orleans.

When a parent goes to prison, a child pays the price

Louisiana spends too much of its budget on criminal justice while ranking low in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and economic wellbeing. We could redirect those resources.
by Dominque Johnson October 28, 2025 Updated October 28, 2025

‘I’ll fight for your rights like I fought for my own freedom’

Calvin Duncan, an uncommon man with an all-too-common story, is vying to become clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court – and his campaign may have gathered enough momentum to draw fire from high-powered Louisiana officials.
by Katy Reckdahl October 10, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025

Alfred Marshall, a voice of experience

Marshall is one of the main forces behind the Oct. 11 charter amendment that would amend the New Orleans Bill of Rights to add “conviction history” alongside race, religion, disability, and gender.
by Katie Sikora for ANTIGRAVITY magazine October 10, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025

Louisiana sues Food & Drug Administration to stop mailing of abortion medication

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill escalates her campaign against mail-order abortion pills, suing the FDA over its pandemic-era policy that permits remote prescriptions of mifepristone while pursuing criminal charges against out-of-state doctors she claims violated Louisiana’s strict abortion laws.
by Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator October 9, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025

Whatever we want to achieve in our city can be undermined by the lack of public safety

In recent months, public officials rushed to the microphone to take credit when the crime rate dropped. Will they now rush back to the microphone and take blame when the crime rate rises?
by Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr.* October 5, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025

FCC postpones long-awaited rules reducing ‘outrageous’ prison and jail phone rates, leaves families paying more

Expensive calls force families to choose between paying bills and staying connected to loved ones.
by Bernard Smith October 1, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026

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Most Popular

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The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region. Staunchly defending the public's right to know and deeply committed to sharing our knowledge with the community at large. We center human impact in all our work.
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For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

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