Josiah Bates

Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence across the country, and is the author of In These Streets.

Recent Articles

The Fear Black America Knows

What feels like new anxiety for the country has been the daily cost of survival in Black America for generations, writes Josiah Bates.

By Josiah Bates

Police Are Turning to an Old Tactic to Fight the Surge in Violence

Hotspot policing has been criticized as also opening the door to police abuse.

By Josiah Bates

These Cities Reported the Highest Homicide Rates in 2021

The FBI's 2021 crime stats offer a window into the level of violence in some of America's biggest cities. Here's what the data says.

By Josiah Bates

Milwaukee's Homicide Rate Renews Debate Over Cash Bail

As Milwaukee sees one of the highest homicide rate spikes in the U.S., police and some activists blame Wisconsin's restrictive bail laws.

By Josiah Bates

Homicides Continued to Increase in 2021, According to the FBI's Flawed Crime Report

The estimated 22,900 murders and other killings last year would bring the nation's homicide rate to 6.9 per 100,000—the highest in almost 25 years.

By Josiah Bates

Curfews Don't Reduce Crime, but Cities Still Enforce Them

In Philadelphia, Chicago, and Maryland, local leaders and police are turning to curfews for teenagers. Researchers say that there is no evidence that curfews reduce crime

By Josiah Bates

Police Raided Breonna Taylor's Apartment After 'Gut Feeling': Plea

The affidavit from former Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Detective Kelly Goodlett pulls back the curtain on the investigation that led to the botched "no knock" police raid

By Josiah Bates

A Judge Paused a Local Assault-Weapons Ban

Experts say it could show the impact of a recent Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights

By Josiah Bates

Guilty Plea in Breonna Taylor Case Raises Questions About Possible Cooperation

Former Louisville Det. Kelly Goodlett is the first to plead guilty to federal charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor

By Josiah Bates

For Breonna Taylor's Supporters, Justice Finally Came

Four officers involved in the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor were arrested on federal charges more than two years after her death.

By Josiah Bates

Small-Town Cops Are Quitting en Masse

When all five full-time police officers in tiny Kenly, N.C. handed in their resignations last week, citing conflicts with the new town manager, it made national news

By Josiah Bates

U.S. Crime Rate Still Higher Than Pre-Pandemic

Homicides decreased by 2% in the first half of 2022—but still remain 39% higher than the same period in 2019

By Josiah Bates

'I Don't Want It to Happen Again.' Brave 11-Year-Old Who Survived Uvalde Shooting Testifies Before Congress

"He told my teacher 'Goodnight' and shot her in the head," Miah Cerrillo told lawmakers. "Then he shot some of my classmates."

By Josiah Bates

Mass Shootings: Gun Violence Across U.S. Likely to Get Worse

So far, there have been 247 mass shootings this year, and 13 in the first weekend of June. There have been nearly 19,000 deaths as a result of firearms in the U.S., which includes more than 8,300 homicides as of June 6.

By Josiah Bates

Mass Shootings Are Only 1% of Child Gun Deaths in the U.S.

Every year, more than 3,500 children and teens—defined as infants through age 19—are shot and killed in the U.S. About 35 children die as result of mass shootings each year.

By Josiah Bates

George Floyd Square's Uncertain Future

The intersection remains the subject of an ongoing debate over how to memorialize a man whose death jolted the nation out of complacency

By Janell Ross and Josiah Bates

Beto O'Rourke Confronts Greg Abbott During Uvalde Press Conference

O’Rourke is challenging Abbott in a long-shot bid for the Texas governor's mansion

By Josiah Bates

These Are the Victims of the Uvalde, Texas, School Shooting

The Uvalde elementary school shooting is now the third deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, with 21 victims

By Josiah Bates

Minneapolis' Struggle to Reform Police After George Floyd

"We can’t put our trust in a government system where, when they make a mistake, they can choose when they want to protect us and choose when they don’t want to protect us.”

By Josiah Bates and Janell Ross

Bill Cosby Is Facing Another Trial. Here's What to Know About the Judy Huth Case

Judy Huth, the plaintiff in the case, alleges that Cosby groped her while at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles 50 years ago

By Josiah Bates
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