Shaila Dewan

New York Times reporters Andy Lehren and Shaila Dewan discuss their recent series, “No Money, No Mercy."

Following the decision not to indict two Cleveland police officers involved in the death of Tamir Rice, New York Times reporter Shaila Dewan examines the legal obstacles to conviction.

Since early 2007, 4 million families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Only now have state officials around the country begun to finalize a multi-billion dollar settlement with the biggest mortgage-providing banks that engaged in abusive or misleading practices, like robo-signing. Some critics, including those who have already had their homes go underwater, worry that it may let the banks off too easily.

In February 2007, the FBI and the Department of Justice announced that they would "do everything we can" to prosecute Civil Rights-era hate crimes. The Civil Rights-Era Cold Case Initiative was an attempt to put federal dollars and manpower into closing unsolved murder cases. However, these crimes are more than 40 years old. Few of the cases have been solved and key suspects are dying.

In 1996, Curtis Flowers, a 39 year-old African American, was accused of murdering four people in Mississippi. He now prepares to go to trial for a sixth time. The previous court appearances resulted in two mistrials and three overturned convictions. The stark racial divide in the small Mississippi community of Winona is making it nearly impossible to build a jury of Flowers’ peers, says Charlie Smith, news editor at The Greenwood Commonwealth, who has been following the trial.

Amy Bishop, who was charged with killing three people at the University of Alabama, may face the death penalty or life in prison. The Harvard-educated professor had been denied tenure and opened fire on her colleagues. New York Times reporter, Shaila Dewan gives us the details on the strange twists behind the violent story.