Blog
Writing on bail and pretrial justice, policing and community, and race in the criminal courts. Newer essays, drawn from the podcast, arrive by email in The Messenger Dispatch.
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Bail and pretrial justice
Denying Bail is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The purpose of bail is to ensure the appearance of the accused in court, not to punish people who are presumed innocent. On Delaware Senate Bill 60 and what the research says about pretrial detention.
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Policing and community
Community-Oriented Policing
It was designed to be a non-traditional way of making the streets safe. The data show it did the opposite. Four suggestions for repairing the relationship between police and communities of color.
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Book review
Racial Reckoning: Prosecuting America's Civil Rights Murders
A review of Renee C. Romano's history of the civil rights era murder trials, and the story of a great-grandfather who went fishing one Saturday morning and never came home.
The Messenger Dispatch
The publication home for Dr. Starks' original essays, scholarship, research-informed analysis, and Messenger Memos.