Two Democratic Mississippi lawmakers have introduced bills to restrict the use of Tasers by police following an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times.
In Mississippi, police agencies set their own rules about Taser use, and many departments allow officers to shock virtually anyone, for any behavior they see as threatening, with little fear of repercussions.
The stories of investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell have helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars. His stories have also helped free two people from death row, exposed injustices and corruption, prompting investigations and reforms as well as the firings of boards and officials. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a longtime member of Investigative Reporters & Editors, and a winner of more than 30 other national awards, including a $500,000 MacArthur “genius” grant. After working for three decades for the statewide Clarion-Ledger, Mitchell left in 2019 and founded the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. More by Jerry Mitchell
Mukta Joshi is an investigative reporting fellow at Mississippi Today through the 2024 Columbia Journalism School + INN Internship Program. . Mukta graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2024 as a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, where her master’s thesis explored the growing South Asian influence on American politics. She is also a professional photojournalist, and her work has been published in TIME, Al Jazeera, WDR, New York Focus and Autostraddle.
One of her recent investigations, a combination of ground reporting, photojournalism and legal analysis, was selected by the Global Investigative Journalism Network as one of the eight best investigations from India in 2023.
Mukta is a 2019 graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She began her career as a corporate lawyer and most recently, led the legal research vertical at Land Conflict Watch, investigating and writing about land governance, environmental law and forest policy in India More by Mukta Joshi
Quinn is a Roy Howard Fellow at Mississippi Today focusing on criminal justice. In May 2024, she graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She reported on juvenile justice for Capital News Service and was chosen as a student leader on two projects at UMD’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, including a partnership with The Associated Press on “Lethal Restraint.” Quinn also reported on Minnesota’s fragmented system of oversight of animal rescue organization as an intern at The Minnesota Star Tribune.
With a Ph.D. in history, she brings to her reporting a decade of experience researching how migrant laborers and women shaped urban life in Namibia during apartheid. After earning her doctorate from Stanford University in 2019, Quinn held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Free State in South Africa, where she lived for more than three years. More by Steph Quinn
Brian Howey is an award-winning investigative reporter at the Mississippi Center of Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today. His stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. His stories have also appeared in WIRED magazine. He earned his master’s degree at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and has worked as a freelancer covering everything from policing to wedgefish. More by Brian Howey
Nate Rosenfield is an investigative reporter at the Mississippi Center of Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today, where he is working with The New York Times on a series on the abuse of power by sheriffs across Mississippi. A 2023 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he was a Stabile Investigative Fellow at Columbia Journalism School, where he completed an investigation into the impacts of heat illness on outdoor workers, which was published by the Guardian and Grist. He is the recipient of the Brown Institute’s Magic Grant for his project Commons, a tool he and a team of data journalists are designing for investigative reporters that uses AI to analyze public comments on proposed federal regulations. More by Nate Rosenfield
