Simon Davis-Cohen

I am a writer, filmmaker and investigative journalist. I also work in research and communications.

My own reporting on racial justice, climate change, state preemption, protester rights, Dillon’s Rule, and the punishment system has been published in outlets like Type Investigations, The Nation, Harper’s, Los Angeles Review of Books, In These Times, The Progressive, Common Dreams, Truthout, Fusion, The Leap, City Limits, Earth Island Journal, Salon, Project Censored, The Intercept, and We Out Here Magazine. 

This writing has been cited in or by Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, Fordham Urban Law Journal, Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Harvard Latinx Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Indian Health Law Review, Stanford Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, Council of State Governments Justice Center, Democracy Initiative, Univision, National Post (Canada), the NAACP, Center for Constitutional Rights, Democracy Institute, The Century Foundation, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Preemption Watch. I also authored a chapter in The New Press’s book The World We Need: Stories and Lessons From America’s Unsung Environmental Movement.

My documentary films have been distributed by The Nation, The Appeal and Now This. 

I edited a newsletter (“Ear to the Ground”) that tracked trends in political repression, state legislation of interest, under-reported local stories, grassroots press releases, corporate blogs, court developments and more.

My investigations have also helped initiate a New York City Council hearing on gang policing; led to the passage of a resolution by the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians condemning the prosecution and surveillance of indigenous Water Protectors; and sparked policy change in Chicago.

I am a first generation American, raised in Portland, Oregon. My mother is British and my father is Iraqi-Jewish.