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California bail industry grapples with fallout from a new law

Sep 27, 2018
Starting next year, a judge, not ability to pay bail, will decide who remains jailed in the state before trial.
Bail companies posted nearly $1.75 billion in surety bonds with the Superior Court of Los Angeles County from May 2016 to May 2017, a recent report found. Above, an employee at Gotham Bail Bonds near downtown Los Angeles walks to her desk.
Benjamin Gottlieb/Marketplace

How forensic accountants help bring down white-collar criminals and drug kingpins

Sep 14, 2018
A forensic accountant gave key testimony in the first trial of Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse after being charged Oct. 30, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

5 things you should know about women who heist

Jun 1, 2018
Surprise ... it's not much like "Ocean's 8."
An office worker, circa 1955, fetches bond certificates from the vault of the Toronto General Trusts Corp., which is secured by a massive fifteen ton door.
Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images

The feminism behind "Ocean's 8"

"This is really just a story about women who are excellent at their jobs — they just happen to be criminals," said Olivia Milch, co-writer and producer for "Ocean's 8."
(L-R) Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, Cate Blanchett as Lou, Rihanna as Nine Ball, Mindy Kaling as Amita, Awkwafina as Constance, Helena Bonham Carter as Rose, Anne Hathaway as Daphne Kluger and Sarah Paulson as Tammy in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' "Oceans 8," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros.

In Virginia, the theft of an iPhone can result in a felony charge for life

Mar 15, 2018
Virginia’s felony threshold for property theft is tied with New Jersey for the lowest in the nation at $200. There’s bipartisan support to raise it to $500 this year, but that’s still far below the threshold for most states.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam recently struck a bipartisan deal to raise the state’s felony larceny threshold in exchange for restitution reform.
Courtesy of Craig Carper/WCVE News

Shooting survivors describe their long-term recovery

Feb 19, 2018
Even years after an event, the trauma lingers.
Barb Whitfield (R) and her grandson Wanya Whitfield, 15, visit at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the mass shooting at the Century 16 movie theater July 22, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. 
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Recovery resources and funding options for mass shooting survivors

Jan 31, 2018
“You are dealing with people whose lives have been destroyed and money is a pretty poor substitute for loss.”
People attend a candlelight vigil at Las Vegas City Hall October 2, 2017, after a gunman killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500 others when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada late October 1, 2017.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Small talk: Pink lights, games with cats, Google ads

The news that didn't quite make the headlines. This week: using pink lights to deter criminals, an interspecies iPad game you can play with your cat, Google replacing ringtones with ads.

When our social ills were solved with a little pink

Dec 26, 2017
In 1979, a psychologist presented a potential solution to rising crime levels. It became a phenomenon.
View of the holding cell 14 November 2006 of the newly painted Dallas County jail in Buffalo, Missouri, with the color scheme of pink with blue teddy bear accents. The Dallas County Detention Center is being repainted a soft shade of pink in an effort to better manage sometimes volatile detainees.
JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images

New York won't arrest you for stealing a subway ride anymore

Aug 31, 2017
"Most offenders aren’t looking to beat the system," a Legal Aid Society defender says.
Police officers watch a turnstile in New York City's Times Square subway station in 2005.
Mario Tama/Getty Images