I started the story after a friend, who is a social worker and civil rights activist, told me that he knew several kids from a large Crew Cut raid in Brooklyn, and that they were good kids who had left the city for college, but been dragged back by a conspiracy indictment relating to a crew they left years earlier. Very similar to Asheem's situation.

As I worked on the story for two years I became pretty depressed at times. I mostly write about technology - new gadgets and startups - which keep me feeling generally excited and optimistic about the future. With this story i really came to grips with the way the deck is stacked against poor people, doubly do for poor people of color growing up in high crime areas.

I didn't come away from this thinking anyone was 100% guilty or innocent. But I certainly know, based on what I was like in high school, that I would have made the same or worse choices as these two boys if my teenage reality had been like theirs.

That's exactly what it was IMO

The DA needs to present enough evidence at a grand jury to get an indictment. After that, at least in NY, much of the evidence does not have to be shared until trial. Plea deals in these big crew conspiracy cases often occur without the defendant seeing much of the evidence against them.

Do any DAs in any case seem to care at all about what they're doing to the future of anyone in the name of being "tough on crime?" Regardless of the situation.

It seem that a fair number of them consider their jobs as simply to prosecute the person in front of them, not get to any kind of truth or justice.