Articles

Most recent work edited by Ethan:

The COVID-19 Homicide Spike Has Vanished (The New Republic/The Garrison Project)

Controversial Arrest and Body-Cam Footage Raise Familiar Concerns About BPD’s Plainclothes Unit (Baltimore Magazine/The Garrison Project)

Were Black jurors struck because of race? Question looms over NC death penalty case (WFAE/NPR/The Garrison Project)

The Biggest Myth About the 1994 Crime Bill Still Haunts Joe Biden. It Shouldn’t. (Slate/The Garrison Project)

Feds Closed a Prison Notorious for Abuse. Things Only Got Worse (Rolling Stone/The Garrison Project)

Kim Ogg: DA Under Fire (The Texas Observer/The Garrison Project)

Baltimore’s ‘Spy Plane’ Was Ruled Unconstitutional in 2021. So Why Did One Murder Case Go to Trial Years Later? (Baltimore Magazine/The Garrison Project)

In historic NC hearing, Joe Freeman Britt’s troubled past as prosecutor looms (The Border Belt Independent/The Garrison Project)

An “Execute Them At Any Cost Mentality”: The Supreme Court’s New, Bloodthirsty Era (Politico Magazine/The Garrison Project)

Baltimore Police Unit Under Fire for Deadly Shootings, Questionable Stops (Baltimore Brew/The Garrison Project)

Does The Allegheny County DA’s Criminal Justice Strategy Unfairly Punish Black People? (Black Pittsburgh/The Garrison Project)

In Louisiana, Police Reform Led Directly to a “Torture Warehouse” (Slate/The Garrison Project)

Moonlighting Texas Prosecutor Sued (The Texas Observer/The Garrison Project)

Florida Has Found a New, Devious Way to Thwart Liberal Judges and Prosecutors (Slate/The Garrison Project)

Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level with Death Star Law (Slate/The Garrison Project)

Aim Lower. Liberals have lost the Supreme Court for a generation. Their only hope is to seize state courts and launch a counterrevolution. (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project)

After The Gun Trace Task Force Scandal, BPD Established New Plainclothes Units. Are They More Of The Same? (Baltimore Magazine/The Garrison Project)

What If The Worst Crime Imaginable Never Happened? (The New Republic/The Garrison Project)

This Cop Unleashed A Reign Of Terror, Say The Wrongfully Accused (Rolling Stone/The Garrison Project)

A Cop Sexually Assaulted Their Son. Then Child Protective Services Retaliated. (The New Republic/The Garrison Project)

Too few released from NC prisons decades after teen crime convictions, advocates say (News and Observer/The Garrison Project)

Celeb Prosecutor’s Own Kidnapping Is Now A True Crime Fiasco (The Daily Beast/The Garrison Project)

The Quiet Political Rise Of David Sacks (The New Republic/The Garrison Project).

The NYPD Brutalized Protesters In 2020. Will It Face A Reckoning? (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project).

‘We Don’t Know How Many Women Are Out There Like That’ (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project).

How Texas Became The Most Virulently Anti-Trans State in America (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project).

David Simon Made Baltimore Detectives Famous. Now Their Cases Are Falling Apart. (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project).

She Supported Her Child Being Trans. So The State Separated Them. (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project).

The Forgotten City Hall Riot (New York Magazine/The Garrison Project; Longform and Longreads pick).

Human Trafficking Sting Nets No Human Trafficking Charges (Slate/The Garrison Project).

Why Our Fixation On The Murder Rate Is Killing Us (Slate/The Garrison Project).

The Wrong Prosecutors Are Getting Recalled (Slate/The Garrison Project).

The Biggest Threat To Trans Kids In Texas Is Child Protective Services (Slate/The Garrison Project).

The Real Reason Democrats Can’t Agree On How To Address Rising Crime (Slate/The Garrison Project).

The Manhattan DA Started a Panic With Supposedly Soft-on-Crime Policies. His Critics Are Wrong. (The New Republic/The Garrison Project).

North Carolina Appeals Courts Have Never Found That Prosecutors Discriminated Against Black Jurors. Two Cases Could Change That. (The Intercept/The Garrison Project).

Eric Adams’ “Blueprint To End Gun Violence” Is a Trojan Horse (Slate/The Garrison Project)

Major Media Outlets Can’t Stop Describing Police Violence As ‘Officer-Involved’ Incidents (The Huffington Post/The Garrison Project)

Give People Safe Drugs (The New Republic/The Garrison Project)

Work edited by Ethan At The Appeal:

NYPD’s troubled Special Victims Division; an Alabama woman who faced life imprisonment for killing her rapist; “gang” raids in the Bronx; the mysterious death of a Queens sex worker; New York City prosecutors and “Brady Lists” of bad cops; a Houston police officer’s racially disparate arrests; the NYPD’s use of facial recognition technology; a federal police misconduct case that might imperil hundreds of criminal cases in a Louisiana parish; the informant history of a Philadelphia man who shot six police officers; the use of hate crime laws in Pennsylvania to suppress anti-law enforcement sentiment; conditions of confinement at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center; the misconduct history of officers at the NYPD’s 34th precinct; the death of a man in mental health crisis at the Sacramento County jail; a California court’s destruction of files in a historic Oakland police corruption case; a Louisiana Gulf War veteran sentenced to life in prison for selling $30 worth of marijuana under the state’s habitual offender statute; the death of a Black father as he awaited sentencing in a controversial case brought by Preet Bharara; drug induced homicide cases in Florida state court and federal court in Pennsylvania; the early death of a Louisiana woman cleared in a New Orleans murder case marred by police misconduct; a Florida State Attorney’s abysmal record prosecuting sexual battery cases; a Florida police department known as the “Stop-And-Frisk Capital of America“; the NYPD’s high rate of closing sexual assault cases under the code “C-3, Uncooperative Complainant”; the New Orleans police raid that launched a protest movement by the city’s sex workers; a pattern of police in California killing sleeping people; the Oakland Police Department systematically underreporting use of force; a California police department’s troubling investigation of an officer-involved shooting; Bronx police officers caught on tape celebrating a copwatcher’s arrest; abuse allegations at New York’s “shock incarceration” programs; the flaws inherent in “failure to appear” rates; incarcerated firefighters in Arizona;  “trafficking” operations by Florida sheriffs that ensnare people engaged in consensual sex work; a Louisiana Supreme Court decision on a New Orleans woman convicted of murder for killing her abusive husband; pre-trial detainees billed for their stay in jail; the Bronx DA’s prosecution of a victim in a subway fight; a law in Washington state that makes it nearly impossible to prosecute police killings; an epidemic of jail deaths in Erie County, New York; California law enforcement agencies shredding police misconduct files; a police shooting caught by Baltimore’s surveillance plane; a Florida probation court where defendants face humiliation from a judge; a heroin case prosecuted by Preet Bharara that drew “Breaking Bad” comparisons but ensnared a small-time dealer; a mysterious death in California turned into a homicide by a detective and prosecutor; a fired Louisiana prosecutor who had “whites only” signs in a property he owned; police misconduct that surfaced during the last jury trial in California before the COVID-19 lockdown; a DA’s efforts to decarcerate frustrated by Philadelphia judges as the novel coronavirus spread; an account of the death of Freddie Gray that yielded numerous unreported eyewitness accounts of force by officers; allegations of union busting and PPE shortages at a vegan meat company in North Carolina; West Virginia cities using evictions to combat the opioid epidemic; the history of true crime’s whiteness and obedience to police narratives; the slowing of reviews of wrongful convictions in Michigan thanks to COVID-19 (with Type Investigations); the IRS unlawfully clawing back stimulus checks meant for incarcerated people (with Type Investigations); the Missouri Attorney General’s push to keep innocent people in prison (with Injustice Watch); an NYPD unit tasked with policing protests that has dozens of officers with long histories of misconduct allegations; an analysis of The Doe Fund’s street sweeping program later cited in The New York Times’ obituary of George McDonald; Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s use of public transportation shutdowns and the raising of bridges to suppress racial justice protests; the fall of an FBI Agent who investigated a Louisiana DA who abused women for decades; a first of its kind study of women incarcerated for protecting themselves or a loved one from physical or sexual violence (with The New Republic and The Pulitzer center; Longreads pick; the piece is also the basis for a forthcoming book to be published by Ecco); informal childcare arrangements known as “shadow foster care” (with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism); the use of force history of a captain at one of the most troubled police departments in the U.S.; at least 5 insurrectionists who were involved in a violent “Patriot March” in San Diego just days after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol; a profile of the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court (Longform and Longreads pick); a pattern and practice of the Vallejo Police Department killing unarmed people; an examination of the troubling, often illegitimate tactics deployed by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gun Recovery Unit; and an investigation into widespread non-compliance by California law enforcement agencies with a state law mandating disclosure of records related to police shootings and police misconduct.

At The Appeal, I also edited commentary on plans to shutter Rikers Island; inequality—not violence—as a 21st century killer; a wrongful conviction in San Francisco under Kamala Harris; plainclothes policing in Baltimore; the Prison Litigation Reform Act; a Boston DA’s “do not prosecute” list; how prosecutors can address sexual violence in the #MeToo era; a sexual assault survivor’s embrace of abolition after Ken Starr’s handling of her rape case; a prison abolitionist’s argument that incarcerating Amber Guyger does not represent justice for Botham Jean; the carceral feminism of Central Park Five prosecutor Linda Fairstein; Amy Klobuchar’s troubled prosecution of Myon Burrell; a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge’s history of sexual harassment; lessons from Hurricane Katrina for the COVID-19 recovery to come; and a little-known legal mechanism that allows states to override progressive policies in cities.

Written and reported by Ethan:

The Man Who Cracked The Code of LA’s Notorious Sheriff’s Gangs (New York Magazine)

The incredible story of New Orleans’ first black female homicide detective (The Guardian/The Appeal)

Caging Kids Is An American Tradition (The Appeal)

US Attorney’s Office That Prosecuted Inauguration Day Protesters Has History of Misconduct Findings (The Appeal)

The Secret Story of Corruption Behind Meek Mill’s Incarceration (The Appeal; a Longform pick)

What the DOJ’s report on Baltimore teaches us about cops, sex workers and corruption (The Marshall Project)

Who Killed the Jeff Davis 8?  (Matter/Medium)

The Resurrection of Lil Boosie (Playboy)

To Live and Die in Chiraq (Playboy)

James Prince, Jas Prince, Drake and the Rap-A-Lot Empire in Houston (Playboy)

Obit of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin (Al Jazeera America)

Alpha Dog; profile of Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff; Vibe Magazine (PDF)

Bar Codes; piece about tensions between city and state officials on nightlife regulations; New York Magazine

Booked Club; examination of federal indictment of owner and employees of New York nightclub The Sound Factory; New York Magazine

Clear and Present Danger; investigative feature on use and manufacture of drugs GHB and GBL in New York City; New York Magazine

Closing Time?; piece about  “after hours” license proposed by Bloomberg administration; New York Magazine

Club Med; investigation into the use of private ambulance companies by New York nightclubs; New York Magazine

Crack Down; investigative feature about NYPD investigation into Harlem crack cocaine organization The Black Top Gang; New York Magazine

Criminal Treatment, Investigative Feature on the Murder of Federal Prosecutor Jonathan Luna; Men’s Vogue

“Crystal Ball,” investigative feature about the epidemic of crystal meth use among gay men in New York City; New York Magazine

Death and the City; piece about NOPD’s focus on non violent offenders during murder epidemic in New Orleans; The Gambit

Demolition Man; investigative feature about actor Wesley Snipes and his tax troubles and connections to the tax protestor/sovereign citizen movement; Radar Magazine

Dogs of War: David Simon, Generation Kill and Iraq Films; piece about films on the Iraq war; Mother Jones Magazine

E-Commerce ’99; piece about Ecstasy trafficking in New York City and rise of pills dubbed “Mitsubishis”

E-Commerce; cover story about Ecstasy use and Ecstasy trafficking in New York City; New York Magazine

Ecstasy Bandits by Frank Owen with additional reporting by Ethan Brown; investigative feature about Brooklyn street gang, BTS (Brooklyn Terror Squad); Details Magazine (PDF)

El-P: The Producer; profile of lyricist and hip-hop entrepreneur El-P; New York Magazine

Ex Coke Kingpin Turns Up His Nose At Miramax Biopic; interview with former drug kingpin AZ; New York Magazine

Fighting Mad; Q&A with former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter; New York Magazine

Fort Hood and the PTSD epidemic in the military; the Gambit Weekly

GHBusted; piece about feds’ bust of GHB and GBL manufacturers and dealers; New York Magazine

Ghetto-Tech; exploration of “ghetto-tech” scene in Detroit; Details Magazine (PDF)

Godot in the Lower 9th Ward; report on producion of Waiting for Godot staged in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans; The Guardian

Got Beef? cover story about the beginnings of the federal investigation into hip-hop record label Murder Inc; New York Magazine

Griselda Blanco; history of female drug kingpin Griselda Blanco; Maxim (PDF)

Gustav and New Orleans; report on the handling of Hurricane Gustav by the City of New Orleans; The Guardian

High Anxiety; piece about how post 9-11 changes in security at airports have affected drug trafficking; New York Magazine

Lafcadio Hearn and New Orleans’ new muckrakers; report on post-Katrina journalism and literature in the style of 19th Century writer Hearn; The Guardian.

Life and Debt; short report on the financial problems of slain RUN DMC DJ Jam Master Jay; New York Magazine

Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems; investigative feature on Atlanta based cocaine cartel Black Mafia Family; Vibe Magazine 

Murder and Mourning at Mardi Gras; piece about Mardi Gras 2009; The Guardian

The Neptunes; profile of Virginia Beach production duo; GQ (PDF)

New Orleans Murder Rate; examination of high murder rate in New Orleans; The Guardian

New Orleans’ epic housing crisis; piece about demolition of housing projects in New Orleans and crisis in affordable housing post Katrina; The Guardian

New York Undercover; piece about undercover narcotics cops in New York nightclubs; New York Magazine

Night Clubbed; piece about ‘quality of life’ crackdowns on nightclubs by Giuliani administration; New York Magazine

Overcoming the Katrina Myth; piece about Katrina falsehoods; The Guardian

Paradise Lost; rememberance of iconic nightclub the Paradise Garage; New York Magazine

Pay Dirt; piece about freelancer claims of nonpayment by hip-hop magazine The Source

Prince Paul; Oral History of hip-hop producer behind De La Soul, Gravediggaz and many other groups; The Source (PDF)

Production Values; profile of producer Rodney Jerkins as he began work on Michael Jackson comeback album; New York Magazine

Professor X; profile of chemist Alexander Shulgin and exploration of scene of amateur chemists who experiment with new psychedelic compounds; Wired Magazine

Puffed Out; short piece about the future of Sean “Diddy” Combs in the music business

Rap Sheet; profile of Antoine Clark, publisher of street crime magazine F.E.D.S.; New York Magazine

Rock Vs. Blow; piece about federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and powder cocaine; Mother Jones Magazine

Safe to Dance; examination of nightlife policy in New York City; New York Magazine

Soul On Ice; interview with ex Fugees member John Forte Interview who was jailed on drug charges and would later be pardoned by George W. Bush; New York Magazine

Take Back the Night; piece about move toward loosening regulations on New York nightlife; New York Magazine

The Harder They Fall; investigative feature on accountant Gabriele Smith who was involved in the federal money laundering case against Murder Inc; Vibe Magazine (PDF)

The New Mixtape; piece about the popularity of “DVD Magazines” in the hip-hop community; The Village Voice

The Trouble With Ray Nagin; profile of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; Details Magazine (PDF)

The War on Drugs and the Big Easy; piece about drug policy in New Orleans and elsewhere; The Guardian

Timbaland; profile of the hip-hop producer; Entertainment Weekly (PDF)

Troubled Water; investigative feature about the murder-suicide of Zackery Bowen and Addie Hall; Penthouse Magazine (PDF)

Tunnel Vision; report from nightclub The Tunnel on its highly popular hip-hop Sunday nights; New York Magazine

Unmade Man; investigative feature on federal investigation into Miami nightclub owner Chris Paciello