Before the Law
Jennifer Gonnerman on Kalief Browder, a Bronx teen-ager who was accused of stealing a backpack. He spent more than a thousand days awaiting trial.
"We're just going to take you to the precinct. Most likely you can go home." — The officer's words to Kalief Browder, sixteen, accused of stealing a backpack he said he didn't steal. He would spend three years at Rikers Island, much of it in solitary, before charges were dropped.