Criminal Justice
Related Stories
Still Here: Cycling Between the Jail and the Mental Health Hospital
WFAE's series began with the story of John, a 32-year-old man living with severe mental illness and intellectual disabilities. He was arrested more than five years ago, but he’s remained in custody and never had a trial. WFAE was finally able to speak with him a few weeks ago.
WFAE
August 1, 2023
How One Alabama County Declared War on Pregnant Women Who Use Drugs
Our partner The Marshall Project examines how some women were prosecuted for
smoking marijuana before they even knew they were expecting.
July 26, 2023
These States Are Using Fetal Personhood to Put Women Behind Bars
Our partner The Marshall Project investigates how hundreds of women who used drugs while pregnant have faced criminal charges — even when they deliver healthy babies.
July 25, 2023
Miami’s Model for Defendants With Severe Mental Illness
As WFAE has been reporting, locking up defendants with serious mental illness can make their mental health worse. It’s expensive, and it's often not very effective at reducing crime. In Miami, public officials have been managing defendants with mental illness very differently.
WFAE
July 18, 2023
How North Carolina Hopes to Cut the Waits for State Psychiatric Hospital Beds
WFAE has been exploring the crisis brewing in North Carolina’s mental health system. That includes a shortage of state hospital beds. Now North Carolina is piloting a program it hopes will alleviate the crisis.
WFAE
July 6, 2023
Kids, Trauma and Mental Health
The mental health system in North Carolina isn’t designed to treat traumatized kids before they predictably worsen. WFAE examines how kids have to get sick before they can get help.
WFAE
June 20, 2023
When Criminal Justice Systems Have to Deal with Mental Illness
Mental health court data shows graduates of its program are less likely to re-offend. But what happens if one isn't eligible?
WFAE
June 6, 2023
The Mental Health Crisis in North Carolina’s Emergency Rooms
The emergency room isn't supposed to be a place to live for days or weeks. But that’s what’s been happening for many North Carolinians in the midst of a mental health crisis, our Local Journalism Initiative partner WFAE reports.
WFAE
May 16, 2023
How North Carolina Got the Math Wrong on Mental Health
WFAE has been reporting on the struggles of inmates living with mental illness waiting for a state hospital bed. But it isn’t just inmates who wait. On average, North Carolinians who go to an emergency room in crisis, wait 16 days for a state psychiatric hospital bed.
WFAE
May 9, 2023
Inmates With Both Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders Cycle Through Jails Relentlessly
WFAE examines ways to help former inmates living with mental illness stay out of jail and the ways the system in North Carolina fails to do that.
WFAE
May 2, 2023
Life Sentence on the Installment Plan
WFAE examines the issue of inmates living with mental illness who cycle in and out of jail in North Carolina, serving what many in the court system call a “life sentence on the installment plan.”
WFAE
April 25, 2023
Fractured: The Wait Inmates With Mental Illness Endure Because They're Too Sick For Trial
WFAE examines why getting access to mental health care has been difficult in North Carolina and reports on why it burdens the jails, the courts, even crime victims.
WFAE
April 18, 2023