Joseph Shapiro

There may be a model for court reform in Ferguson, Mo., in a legal settlement that happened quietly this week in Alabama.

The city of Montgomery agreed to new polices to avoid jailing people who say they are too poor to pay traffic tickets. In that Alabama city, as ...

The Campus SaVE Act clarifies the rights of victims of same-sex sexual attacks to go to local police, get referrals for health care and be guaranteed a fair hearing process.

In 2009, Henry Davis was charged with destruction of property after he scuffled with police officers and his blood dirtied their uniforms.

The council in the Missouri town met Tuesday for the first time since the shooting of Michael Brown. A plan introduced would address one source of tension: heavy collection of court fines and fees.

The protests in Ferguson are a response to the shooting death of Michael Brown, but the heavy use of court fines and fees helps explain why there's so much anger directed at local police.

A controversial practice to tie, hold down or seclude agitated students mostly impacts kids with disabilities. Schools say it's for safety, but opponents say it's dangerous and a civil rights issue.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that local courts cannot charge indiscriminate fees to defendants.

U.S. lawmakers are feeling some urgency to solve the same problem: how to stop sending people to jail simply for failing to pay court fines and fees, often because they're too poor to afford them.

An exclusive state-by-state survey by NPR found that 49 states now allow or require criminal defendants to pay for their court-ordered electronic monitoring bracelets.

The use of fines and fees charged to criminal defendants has exploded. People who can't afford those charges can go to jail for not paying. Hundreds of thousands are hiding from police and the courts.

In 1983, the high court ruled judges can't jail people because they're too poor to pay their fines and fees. But an NPR investigation found judges still use jail time as punishment for nonpayment.

In the next installment of an NPR investigation, Joseph Shapiro goes to New Orleans to look at the ways poor people are charged for their public defender in court.

Debtors' prisons were outlawed in the United States back before the Civil War. But an NPR state-by-state survey found that people still get sent to jail for unpaid court fines and fees.

An NPR investigation has found an explosion in the use of fees charged to criminal defendants across the country, which has created a system of justice that targets the poor.

The White House told colleges and universities to take tougher actions to stop sexual assault. The Education Department released a list of schools under investigation for their handling of assaults.

Data from the Department of Education show an increase in sexual assault reports, but college officials say new federal guidelines are helping more students come forward.

With the Army's disclosure that Army Spc. Ivan Lopez was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder before he went on a shooting rampage Wednesday, there were once again questions about whether the Army could have prevented the violence at Fort Hood.

Experts in mental health say (even as more ...

Dr. Michael Mastromarino died Sunday after battling liver and bone cancer. He was 49.

Mastromarino pleaded guilty to "body stealing." In 2008, he was sentenced to up to 58 years in prison.

But he continued to insist that he'd been misunderstood. He spoke to NPR, working with the International Consortium ...

NPR correspondent Joseph Shapiro and his daughter Eva spent the weekend at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Eva, 15, won the "Best in Grade" award, one of two for ninth-grade writers, for a short story. She takes writing classes with Writopia Lab in Washington, D.C.

To hear recent ...

Six years ago, the FBI took on a challenge: To review what it called cold-case killings from the civil rights era. The investigation into 112 cases from the 1950s and 1960s is winding down, and civil rights activists are weighing the FBI's efforts.

The review comes with word this week ...