Police

This Paris suburb gets a facelift amid controversy ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games

Summer Olympics 2024

Paris won the bid to host this summer’s Olympics, in part, on a promise to rejuvenate one of the country’s most notorious suburbs: Seine-Saint-Denis. But not all residents are sure the transformation will work.

Haitians who were detained hold up their immigration status documents to prove they have work permits, in Haina, Dominican Republic, March 16, 2024.

‘We have different cultures, but we share the same island’: Dominican Republic priest says his country should do more to help Haiti

Conflict & Justice
A police officer searches and checks the documents of a man living in the Kiwanis Community, during a preventive patrol in search of gang members in Soyapango, El Salvador, Aug. 16, 2022, amid a state of exception.

El Salvador imprisons dozens of foreign visitors in crackdown on crime

Conflict & Justice
Soldiers line up before leaving to patrol the streets in Bogotá, Colombia, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. 

Use the force: Part II

Critical State
Supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan throw stones toward police during a protest against the arrest of Khan, in Karachi, Pakistan, May 9, 2023.

A shaky political situation in Pakistan could get worse with arrest of former PM Imran Khan

Leaders
protest

Israel’s ‘judicial coup’ protests are going strong. They still might fail.

After turning out tens of thousands of anti-government protesters every weekend for more than four months, they did it again. On Saturday night, more than 100,000 people turned out in central Tel Aviv to say no to the government’s plans for judicial reform.

Protesters, supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro, clash with the police after they stormed the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 8, 2023.

Brazil authorities seek to punish pro-Bolsonaro rioters

Protest

Brazilian authorities say they will punish the thousands supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s who stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace over the weekend.

In this file photo taken Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013, a Nigerian soldier patrols in an armored car, during Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Outsourced force: Part I

Critical State

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, take a deep dive this week into reasons why a government might choose to outsource its violence.

In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Oct. 1, 2022. 

Amid ongoing protests, Iran’s morality police ‘lies in ruins,’ analyst says

Protest

Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project, talked with The World’s host Marco Werman about how sustained protests in Iran may be impacting the power of the so-called “morality police.”  

woman in park

For labor-trafficked immigrants, T-visas are a lifesaving but flawed relief

The GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting spoke to nearly a dozen people in Massachusetts who say they were victims of forced labor, having to sneak down the back stairs to escape or call 911 for help. An ongoing GBH series on labor trafficking has found that those victims are often overlooked and their abusers go unpunished.