Social Issues

Thought-provoking reporting and documentaries on the forces shaping society and culture, from technology, health care and sexual harassment to gun laws, human trafficking and more.

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How Maine’s Novel ‘Yellow Flag’ Law Endured After the Lewiston Mass Shooting
Maine’s law is a compromise rooted in a tradition of gun rights that crosses the political aisle.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 30, 2024
1h 24m
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American Voices
FRONTLINE follows the changing views and experiences of Americans from the 2020 election season to today.
October 29, 2024
Thousands of Children Adopted by Americans Are Without Citizenship. Congress Is Unwilling To Act
The U.S. celebrated saving foreign orphans. But thousands were left without citizenship, at risk of deportation, because of loopholes in American law.
October 25, 2024
A Year After the Lewiston Mass Shooting, Six Portraits of Grief
Eighteen people were killed, 13 were shot and survived, and many others witnessed the deadliest attack in Maine’s history. A year later, a look at how some have navigated the aftermath.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 24, 2024
A Maine Law Could Have Forced the Lewiston Mass Shooter Into Mental Health Treatment. Why Wasn’t It Used?
Like nearly every other state, Maine can compel those with serious mental illnesses to comply with outpatient treatment. But the law is rarely used. Some fear it threatens to return America to a dark era of institutionalization.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 18, 2024
Who Am I? A South Korean Adoptee Finds Answers About the Past — Just Not the Ones She Wants
Thousands of South Korean adoptees are looking to satisfy a raw, compelling urge that much of the world takes for granted: the search for identity. Rebecca Kimmel, one of them, has stumbled into a web of switched photos, made-up stories and false documents that erase the very identity she desperately wants to find.
October 14, 2024
Uvalde City Officials Release Dozens of Missing Videos From Officers Responding to Robb Elementary Massacre
The new material largely affirms prior reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE detailing law enforcement’s failures to engage the teen shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers in 2022.
October 9, 2024
How Tucson Police Handled a Death Like George Floyd’s When Leaders Thought It Would Never Happen
Like many American cities, in June 2020 Tucson was struggling with the murder of George Floyd. What protesters didn’t know was that their city had two undisclosed deaths of Latino men who — like Floyd — said they could not breathe after officers pinned them face down.
October 8, 2024
A Series of Deaths and the ‘Big Fight’: Uncovering Police Force in One Midwestern City
Police leaders called the training “routine” when one recruit died and another was badly injured at their academy.
October 8, 2024
Did This Happen to Me Also? Korean Adoptees Question Their Past and Ask How To Find Their Families
Dozens of South Korean adoptees, many in tears, have responded to an investigation led by The Associated Press and documented by FRONTLINE on adoptions from South Korea. The investigation reported dubious child-gathering practices and fraudulent paperwork involving South Korea's foreign adoption program, which peaked in the 1970s and '80s.
October 3, 2024
Behind ‘South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning’
Kim Tong-hyung and Claire Galofaro of The Associated Press and filmmaker Lora Moftah discuss ‘South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning.’ 
September 27, 2024
Neo-Nazi Telegram Users Panic Amid Crackdown and Arrest of Alleged Leaders of Online Extremist Group
An analysis by ProPublica and FRONTLINE shows a surge in activity on Telegram channels aligned with the Terrorgram Collective, as allies tried to rally support for their comrades in custody and sought to oust users they believed to be federal agents.
September 25, 2024