Welcome to Gavel Drop, our roundup of legal news, headlines, and head-shaking moments in the courts.

This piece on race, privilege, and the work of a criminal defense attorney in rape cases like those of ex-Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner case is a devastating, can’t-miss read.

Outrage over the Turner case has extended to potential jurors refusing to serve on juries for the judge who sentenced him.

Here’s another terrible (former) judge, this time in Arkansas: Joseph Boeckmann Jr. resigned in May after allegations of sexual misconduct, including luring male defendants to his home and coercing them into taking nude photographs if they wanted lighter fines.

Mass shootings and domestic violence share a common motivation for their perpetrators: control and fear.

Private prisons operate with very little oversight to begin with. The idea that federal officials ignored warnings about prison deaths for years, even when warnings came from inside those institutions, is simply inexcusable.

Dawn Porter, the documentary filmmaker responsible for Trapped, has this compelling column in the New York Times on Dr. Yashica Robinson, a Black woman physician performing abortions in Alabama.

A reminder that the laws aimed at discriminating against LGBTQ people hurt people of color as well.

Free, long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) like the IUD could be a powerful tool in helping prevent unwanted pregnancies, especially for teenagers. Which is exactly why conservatives in places like Texas often don’t want teens to know about LARCs at all.

A Columbus, Ohio, Planned Parenthood health care clinic may soon have a new buffer zone, but the ACLU has raised concerns that the measure improperly stifles free speech.