JAY-Z and Meek Mill, two Hip-Hop stars whose personal lives have faced criminal-justice issues head-on, are partnering on something with the potential to change millions of lives. Together with best-selling author and CNN news commentator Van Jones and others, the rappers announced the formation of REFORM Alliance, an organization which... Read more

Meek Mill was released from prison late last month, and he has been on a mission ever since. The platinum, #1-charting Philadelphia MC was the focus of an NBC special Dateline episode that aired Sunday (May 6). Filmed just 18 hours after his April 24  release from a prison cell,... Read more

In 2016, much headway has been made to counteract some of the harmful lingering effects of the so-called "war on drugs." Criminal-justice reform has taken on invigorated energy, with more attention being focused on overturning the excessively harsh sentences placed on low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Marijuana continues to become more... Read more

Talib Kweli and Styles P have a storied history as collaborators, from 2004's "Buck 'Em Down" to 2015's "Mathematics" and elsewhere, the two New Yorkers have maintained a working relationship for well over a decade. In a recent interview with the United Kingdom's Acton Entertainment, Kweli shared news likely to... Read more

Far too often, a person's story of pain and struggle only receives its due attention when it's too late. It's true for Kalief Browder, who at 16 was arrested for a crime he didn't commit. After spending three years in prison without ever being convicted (let alone awarded his right... Read more

With his eleventh studio album, Common continued the conceptual theme he began with 2014's Nobody's Smiling, in which he addressed gun violence and other racially disproportionate issues plaguing his native Chicago. November's Black America Again takes a broader view of sociopolitical Hip-Hop, inspired in part by the gravity of 2016's... Read more

One of the most insidious byproducts of the horrendously destructive so-called "war on drugs" is its direct role in steering millions of Americans into a life of street crime. Dealing drugs can be a lucrative option, especially for those who live in communities in which other, legal opportunities are scarce.... Read more

In a massive step in the criminal-justice reform movement, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) today (August 18) announced it will no longer use private prisons. Long since a bone of contention by opponents of prison privatization, the facilities in question are overwhelmingly for-profit institutions which usually have contracts... Read more

In his 2004 single "99 Problems," Jay Z references an interaction with a police officer after being pulled over for a relatively harmless offense - "you was doing fifty-five in the fifty-four." What ensued, however, is an exercise in the kind of power dynamics that gives law enforcement a presumption... Read more

It has been a watershed several months for criminal justice reform. With much, much more to be done to offset the detrimental repercussions of political initiatives like the war on drugs, a few but altogether mighty moments have contributed to a deep-seated sense of impending change. In 2015, President Obama... Read more

Criminal justice reform has been an agenda-topping issue for many Americans for decades, and it's only in recent months that its visibility has landed into the living rooms of mainstream American politics. Just this year, President Obama became the first sitting president to visit federal inmates, a touching exchange caught... Read more

There is an undeniable problem in the United States criminal-justice system that even President Obama could no longer ignore. Recently, he became the first sitting President to visit federal inmates, and the historic event was captured by Vice in a special report called "Fixing the System." The statistics are staggering... Read more