Andrew Cohen

Andrew Cohen is a senior editor at The Marshall Project and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Joshua Lott/Reuters

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: The Most Lawless Lawman in America

The Arizona sheriff is in trouble again, just in time for a new run for governor—this time for getting caught on videotape disrespecting a federal court order that highlighted his longstanding discriminatory police practices.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 26, 2014
Churchill Downs / Reed Palmer Photography / AP

The Ugly Truth About Horse Racing

An exposé by PETA, published in The New York Times, shows a side of the sport that the industry has tried hard to shield from public view.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 24, 2014
Wazimu0/Flickr

Why Does Mississippi Want to Execute Michelle Byrom?

The state wants to execute a 56-year-old mentally ill woman on March 27th, even though no one now seems to believe that she murdered the husband who had battered and abused her for years.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 24, 2014
Mercy for Animals

The Law That Makes It Illegal to Report on Animal Cruelty

What makes Idaho's agricultural industry deserve special protection from journalists and activists?
- Andrew Cohen
- March 19, 2014
Gary Clements

Glenn Ford's First Days of Freedom After 30 Years on Death Row

Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Metal spoons. What's re-entry like for a man who last breathed free during Ronald Reagan's first term as president?
- Andrew Cohen
- March 14, 2014
James R. McClure/Caddo Parish Indigent Defender Office

Freedom After 30 Years on Death Row

A case involving a black man convicted by an all-white jury in Louisiana decades ago may be reopened.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 11, 2014
AP

Today Is the 50th Anniversary of the (Re-)Birth of the First Amendment

On March 9, 1964, a unanimous Supreme Court reversed a libel verdict against The New York Times in a case brought by Alabama officials who complained about a civil rights advertisement in the paper. The First Amendment, thankfully, hasn't been the same since.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 9, 2014
Alex Brandon/Associated Press

What John Roberts Can Say About the Rule of Law and Debo Adegbile

The Senate's rejection of the nominee for a Justice Department post imperils the bond between attorney and client. The chief justice needs to speak to shore up that bond.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 6, 2014
Evan Vucci/Associated Press

2014: Senate Race Baiting Sinks a Nomination for Civil-Rights Chief

The failure of Debo Adegbile's nomination to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sets a sad precedent for young lawyers.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 5, 2014
Ross D. Franklin/AP

When Prosecutors Admit to Cheating

Federal attorneys in San Diego knew they had gotten an unfair conviction. And to their immense credit, they asked an appeals court to make things right.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 4, 2014
Trent Nelson/AP

Should a Defense Lawyer Have to Decide How His Client Should Die?

Legal ethicists are alarmed by a recent federal appeals court ruling that requires attorneys to suggest alternatives to the lethal injection procedures they deem unconstitutional.
- Andrew Cohen
- March 3, 2014
Serge Melki/Flickr

Supreme Court Case May Stop States That Still Execute Mentally Disabled

The justices banned execution of mentally disabled people in 2002. Now they are poised to tell death penalty states that they really meant it.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 28, 2014
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

What Does the Supreme Court Really Think About the Right to Counsel?

The chief justice pens a paean to criminal defense attorneys, never mentioning the national crisis the Court has helped perpetuate.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 27, 2014
Paul Sakuma/AP

How a Colorado Judge Just Blocked the Victims' Right Movement

According to a new ruling, the parents of a murdered man are not allowed to tell jurors that they oppose the death penalty.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 27, 2014
National Museum of Crime and Punishment

American Exceptionalism, Crime-and-Punishment Edition

It is part of human nature to punish, and often cruelly so, but a provocative new book persuasively explains why American punishments remain so relentlessly harsh even in the 21st Century.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 24, 2014
Colorado Department of Corrections/AP

Colorado's Prison Director Spent 20 Hours in Solitary—but That's Not Enough

Rick Raemisch subjected himself to hours of isolation and wrote a stirring op-ed for the New York Times. But will he offer relief to the mentally ill inmates who have been suffering for years under the system's inhumane treatment?
- Andrew Cohen
- February 24, 2014
Morteza Nikoubazi/Reuters

The Ghost of Herbert Smulls Haunts Missouri's Death Penalty Plans

It's been just three weeks since Missouri executed Herbert Smulls before his appeals were exhausted. And virtually nothing has gone right for the state in its efforts to implement the death penalty since.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 21, 2014
Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Can a State Carry Out the Death Penalty in Secret?

The Georgia Supreme Court ponders whether death-row inmates can demand to know about the drugs being used to kill them—a question with profound national significance.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 19, 2014
Jason Reed/Reuters

Another Chance for the Justices to Say No to Prosecutorial Misconduct

Virginia prosecutors hid exculpatory evidence and defied a federal judge in a death-penalty case. Will the Supreme Court let them get away with it?
- Andrew Cohen
- February 18, 2014
Federal Bureau of Prisons

An Experiment in Atlanta May Transform Care of Mentally Ill Prisoners

Faced with allegations of systemic abuse and neglect, federal prison officials move—quietly and, so far, effectively—to improve the level of care and treatment those inmates receive.
- Andrew Cohen
- February 11, 2014