{"id":1416,"date":"2021-09-01T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumnus-wins-pulitzer-prize-for-editorials-chronicling-criminal-justice-reform\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:35:58","slug":"robert-greene-pulitzer-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/robert-greene-pulitzer-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus wins Pulitzer Prize for editorials chronicling criminal justice reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3542-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3542-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Alumnus wins Pulitzer Prize for editorials chronicling criminal justice reform\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Native Angeleno and <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> editorialist Robert Green \u201981. (Photo: Jay L. Clendenin\/Copyright 2021. <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>. Reprinted with Permission.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=alumni\">Alumni<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Alumnus wins Pulitzer Prize for editorials chronicling criminal justice reform<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Buoyed by his background as a lawyer and his USC Dornsife degree in English, Robert Greene has spent decades covering criminal justice and the legal system. <strong>[4\u00bc min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Meredith McGroarty<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">September 1, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>By the end of the 20th century, with its three-strikes law and notoriously bad prison conditions, California had built a reputation as being \u201ctough on crime,\u201d according to\u00a0<em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>\u00a0editorial writer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/people\/robert-greene\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Greene<\/a>. But that standing came with a steep price as, among other effects, overcrowding in prisons landed the state in deep financial and constitutional trouble.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, Greene says, recent reforms and public advocacy have moved the state away from a justice system favoring punishment to one that is more multifaceted.<\/p>\n<p>Greene, who graduated in 1981 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/engl\/\">English<\/a>\u00a0from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has almost certainly contributed to that reform. He has covered the state\u2019s legal system for three decades, pointing out its shortcoming and lauding its progress. This year, his work gained its own exceptional notice, winning the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pulitzer.org\/winners\/robert-greene-los-angeles-times\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>From lawyer to journalist<\/h2>\n<p>A native Angeleno, Greene grew up in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Woodland Hills and attended El Camino Real High School. From there, he enrolled at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, where he decided to major in English based on his love of literature. But in the course of his studies, Greene found himself enjoying nonfiction works as much as fiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI assumed that fiction was the more interesting stuff to read, and yet the classes that I took in addition to fiction required reading a lot of essays. I was really taken aback at some of the essays that I read and how well the authors used language,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>After earning his degree in 1981, Greene enrolled in law school at Georgetown University and upon earning his law degree, returned to L.A. to work as an attorney. But the work wasn\u2019t exciting, Greene says, so he jumped at the opportunity to exercise those nonfiction skills he\u2019d developed as a USC Dornsife undergrad through a position at the\u00a0<em>Metropolitan News-Enterprise<\/em>, a legal newspaper located across the street from the\u00a0<em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Greene worked at that paper for 11 years, writing about crime and the courts and the legal system daily. He credits that paper with teaching him how to become a journalist and getting him interested in criminal justice issues.<\/p>\n<p>After a couple of years writing for the\u00a0<em>LA Weekly<\/em>, Greene moved to the\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>\u00a0in 2006. He started out writing about state government in Sacramento, particularly the state\u2019s financial and governance problems. After taking an extended medical leave for illness in 2010, he returned to the\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia had just adopted a law to change the way we imprison people convicted of crimes \u2014 how we divvy people up between county jails and state prisons \u2014 and I was interested in that. That\u2019s when I began writing about the criminal justice system at the\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n<h2>Living in interesting times<\/h2>\n<p>Some of the editorials that won Greene the Pulitzer had to do with the way COVID-19 was being handled in prisons. Others addressed the criminal justice system as a whole: the legacy of the \u201cwar on drugs,\u201d the bail system, and sentencing for juveniles. While many addressed problems that still need solutions, Greene points to signs of progress in some areas of social justice reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re finding out more things, like how people who are in county jail have the right to vote, but they often don\u2019t realize it. And the folks who run the jail, the Sheriff\u2019s department, really didn\u2019t do much to permit them to vote,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, because there\u2019s more attention, the Sheriff\u2019s department does a much better job of granting people their constitutional rights to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greene also notes that L.A. in particular is looking at alternative ways to address other needs, such as diversion from the court system for people who have underlying mental health problems and providing alternatives to policing for people who have come to the police\u2019s attention but not committed any crimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are looking at programs where people who are homeless or have mental health problems or substance abuse problems could be addressed by other officials, whether they\u2019re government officials, peers, or private or nonprofit workers who are specialists in mental health or substance use disorder. In Los Angeles, we haven\u2019t really gotten beyond the small-scale phase, but there are plans to do so, and those are worth watching,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>One nationwide effort that Greene is excited about is the introduction of a toll-free telephone number, 988, for mental health crises. It will work similar to the 911 emergency services number. All phone carriers are required to implement 988 by July 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The 988 line will allow people to call if they are experiencing a mental health emergency without involving the police, says Greene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you see somebody whose behavior you\u2019re concerned about but who you don\u2019t think is committing a crime, you can call there. You can call if you are feeling suicidal or just depressed, or you just need someone to talk to. It will be an opportunity for a whole new approach to health, but also to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/today.usc.edu\/mark-and-mary-stevens-give-200-million-to-power-ai-research-across-usc\/\" \n         target=\"_blank\"                 class=\"\" \n      >Mark and Mary Stevens give $200 million to power AI research across USC<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/alumnus-george-stiffman-wants-you-to-rethink-tofu\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Alumnus George Stiffman wants you to rethink tofu<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/dexter-holland-the-offspring-usc-dornsife-commencement-speaker-2026\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Dexter Holland, frontman for rock band The Offspring, to deliver USC Dornsife commencement address<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buoyed by his background as a lawyer and his USC Dornsife degree in English, Robert Greene has spent decades covering criminal justice and the legal system. <strong>[4\u00bc min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[74,374],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-english","tag-pulitzer-prize"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alumnus wins Pulitzer Prize for editorials chronicling criminal justice reform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Buoyed by his background as a lawyer and his USC Dornsife degree in English, Robert Greene has spent decades covering criminal justice and the legal system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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