Camille Squires

1 month ago | boltsmag.org | Camille Squires |Piper French

When Louisiana reversed its “Raise the Age” law in early 2024, moving all 17-year-olds back into the adult criminal system, it became the first and only state in the nation to enact such a reform, intended to shield youth from adult prisons, only to then repeal it. Since then, sheriffs of some of the biggest parishes in the state have struggled to accommodate the influx of minors into their jails.

1 month ago | boltsmag.org | Camille Squires |Piper French

This article was produced as a collaboration between Bolts and Mother Jones. On a Saturday morning in December 1993, Jimmie Christian Duncan ran to his neighbor’s house and frantically banged on the door, pleading for help. He was holding the limp body of a toddler in his arms. The child, named Haley, belonged to Duncan’s then-girlfriend. The girl’s hair was wet. She wasn’t breathing. And even after one of the neighbors tried CPR, she wouldn’t wake. Duncan, who goes by Chris, had just turned 25.

2 months ago | boltsmag.org | Camille Squires |Daniel Nichanian

It’s a familiar sight in Arkansas: Canvassers stop passersby in front of a local grocery store or town library and ask them if they’d be willing to sign a petition to put an initiative on the ballot. In 2024, though, citizen efforts to expand medical marijuana, enable abortion access, and protect education funding all fumbled when GOP officials declared that organizers had messed up some regulatory minutiae.

2 months ago | thefacts.com | Camille Squires

Washington, DC (Bolts)Michael Barnett left the presidential portion of his ballot blank on Nov. 5. The 66-year-old didn't come to the James Wood Community Center in Los Angeles to choose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump; instead, he was much more interested in down-ballot races related to policing, healthcare, and housing that would impact Skid Row, his community of nearly a decade.

2 months ago | boltsmag.org | Camille Squires |Piper French

California Attorney General Rob Bonta stunned the Los Angeles political and criminal justice communities in April 2024 with his decision to prosecute Diana Teran, an advisor to then-District Attorney George Gascón, over her efforts to track cops with a history of misconduct.