Besides the pending case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others for allegedly attempting to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, the trial of rapper Young Thug — legal name Jeffery Lamar Williams — may be the most significant criminal proceeding in Atlanta since the public school cheating scandal nearly a decade ago. The trial, […]
Madeline Thigpen
Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta's criminal justice reporter.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
How to Get Free Legal Help in ATL
Legal aid services are for people who need legal assistance or representation but are unable to access it due to prohibitive costs. These services are primarily focused on civil legal matters because criminal prosecution in Georgia is handled by county district attorney’s offices with criminal defense for the indigent provided free of charge by the […]
Posted inEducation, K-12
APS Candidates Talk School Discipline and Racial Inequities
School disciplinary practices and the inequities they highlight are one of the major issues parents and stakeholders are paying attention to as the upcoming election for Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education nears. For a district that was 72.2% Black in 2022, Black students made up 93.5% of out-of-school suspensions and 100% of expulsions. These numbers […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘Release the Tape!’ Johnny Hollman’s Relatives Bring Emotional Pleas to City Council
The Atlanta City Council on Monday called for police to release body camera video of Johnny Hollman’s fatal encounter with an officer, responding to nearly two months of passionate pleas from the 62-year-old church deacon’s relatives. The council members unanimously approved a resolution urging Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta Police Department to release the […]
Posted inCop City
Lawmaker Nixes Plan to Introduce ‘Cop City’ Measure After City Attorney Input
The latest effort to let Atlanta voters weigh in on the public safety training center, dubbed “Cop City” by critics, via a ballot referendum was upended by municipal attorneys Monday afternoon, according to a lawmaker. Post 3 At-Large Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites said she and fellow lawmaker Liliana Bakhtiari had planned to […]
Posted inCity Politics
Two City Council Members Will Push to Put ‘Cop City’ on the Ballot
Two Atlanta City Council members are drafting legislation that would put plans to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City,” up for a ballot referendum in November. Their efforts come in the aftermath of the city attorney announcing on Monday that officials would not begin to verify the 116,000 signatures collected by […]
Posted inVoting
Why Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions Matters
Kareemah Hanifa is an Atlanta-based community organizer and activist who helps people with felony convictions restore their voting rights. She leads the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s No Taxation Without Representation campaign, fighting state laws that bar many Georgians with criminal records from casting ballots. But Hanifa was advocating for people behind bars decades before she […]
Posted inUncategorized
Is City Hall Using a Voter Suppression Tactic Against the ‘Cop City’ Vote Coalition?
Georgia’s leading voting rights groups say Atlanta officials’ plan to verify petition signatures gathered by opponents of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center contradicts the city’s legacy as “the cradle of the modern civil rights movement.” The petition forms will be reviewed manually, line-by-line, in a process overseen by the municipal clerk’s office. In order […]
Posted inCop City
Organizers Make Final Push on ‘Cop City’ Referendum
Mary Hooks was the first person to sign the petition for a ballot referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City.” More than six weeks later, she now spends her days canvassing the streets of Atlanta collecting signatures from registered voters to get the issue on the ballot. The Cop City Vote […]
Posted inCop City
Mayor’s Task Force Proposes Community-Centric Changes for Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’
A task force assembled by Mayor Andre Dickens has announced its recommendations to make the controversial public safety training center known as “Cop City” more “community-oriented.” The group proposes involving community members in developing anti-bias courses and other police training curriculum that acknowledge the “difficult history” of policing in Atlanta. “[The task force subgroups] all […]