Alexandra Arriaga

Alexandra Arriaga

Alex Arriaga is a reporter and writer based in Chicago. Her work focuses on how people engage and participate in democracy and how community reporting can empower that participation in different ways.

26 posts
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

Censorship behind bars: How prison book restrictions make up the nation’s largest book ban

In The New Jim Crow, civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander examines the ways in which today’s mass incarceration is a continuation of America’s history of racist policies. It’s been hailed for introducing a wide audience consisting of the public, policymakers, and politicians to the devastating impact of

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2 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

Los Tigres del Norte highlight the stories of Latino inmates with a visit to Folsom Prison

In long black peacoats, the five men of the most popular norteño Mexican group in the world, Los Tigres del Norte, walked inside the walls of Folsom Prison—a maximum security facility northeast of Sacramento, California. They were walking the footsteps of people like inmates Luis Flores, Melchor Juárez, and

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

For Jim Costa’s primary challenger, the door is open to reverse his punitive criminal justice legacy

As the criminal justice debate shifts among Democratic candidates and within American public opinion, old guard Democrats have become targets in the name of pushing reform. This plays out especially in the primary battle in California’s 16th Congressional District, where Rep. Jim Costa—chair of the conservative Democratic Blue

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3 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

New ‘Civics in Prison’ bill means IL reentering citizens will get educated on their right to vote

In 12 states, the right to vote is forfeited indefinitely following a felony conviction, or they are restored only after an extended parole period or with a governor’s pardon. In 22 states, they are restored after an extended period following time served, and various additional requirements such as the

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5 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

70 criminal justice leaders sign letter rejecting AG Barr’s backward ‘tough on crime’ attitude

After California engaged in a series of reforms to reduce incarceration, data shows crime has reached all-time lows. In Chicago, a report found violent crimes decreased by 8% during the same year when the number of sentences involving prison time fell by nearly one-fifth. An increase in homicides in Philadelphia

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

Community groups seek holistic approach to gun violence, urge against punitive knee-jerk reactions

In the same weekend as two devastating gun massacres were carried out in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shootings in Chicago left at least seven people dead and 46 others wounded. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the violence reached a peak Sunday morning when 17 people were shot in

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

A movement in Philadelphia to rise from poverty, end mass incarceration—and run Republicans out

Sitting in the corner of Fergie’s Pub in Center City, Philadelphia, Kendra Brooks wishes she could stay in the corner. She’s an introvert, she says, and the room is packed with guests who came to see her—a mother of four, grandmother of three, and a public education

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5 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Politics & Democracy

Black Voters Matter uses Southern tactics to register black Michigan voters during debates

Alabama Democrats were victorious in their fight to keep Republican nominee Roy Moore, an accused child molester, out of the Senate. The night of that special election in December 2017, Democratic Sen.-elect Doug Jones addressed his supporters in Birmingham, Alabama, and gave a shoutout to the black voters, especially

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Politics & Democracy

Ahead of 2020, state battles over student ID requirements could impact voter turnout

Watching Brett Kavanaugh at hearings on his nomination to the Supreme Court was a turning point. It was an eye-opening day for Shakoya Brown, who was a junior at the time at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. That process of approval of someone for the highest court

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6 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
Philadelphia DA wants state Supreme Court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional
Crime, Reform & Abolition

Philadelphia DA wants state Supreme Court to declare the death penalty unconstitutional

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare the death penalty system unconstitutional, a move in line with a national dwindling of support for the death penalty. “Because of the arbitrary manner in which it has been applied, the death penalty violates our state Constitution’

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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chicago

Jewish activists: Immigrant detention centers fit ‘every definition of a concentration camp’

The Mourner’s Kaddish was sung in Aramaic, and the names of six children who have died in government custody since September 2018 were recited as Jewish activists protested the treatment of migrants detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. On Monday, Never Again Action held a march in

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga
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Crime, Reform & Abolition

Civil rights groups mobilize to register ex-felon voters in battle against Florida poll tax law

Florida voters overwhelmingly chose to restore the voting rights of people with former felony convictions when they passed Amendment 4 in November last year, only to see Gov. Ron DeSantis sign a law seven months later that would deny that right if a former felon owes money to the state.

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4 Min
By: Alexandra Arriaga

Showing 12 of 26 total posts

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