An investigation by The Salt Lake Tribune found clustering of probationers and parolees “in specific neighborhoods and even apartment buildings, despite rules prohibiting people on supervision from associating with one another. Law enforcement and scholars say offenders are more likely to succeed if they are dispersed, but a lack of halfway houses and city ordinances [...]
Archive for the ‘Justice (courts/crime/law)’ Category
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Tracking gang activity in Tennessee
March 5th, 2010 
Beth The Tennessean’s three-part series on gangs reveals a growing problem across the state, particularly in suburbia and small towns. Law enforcement is overwhelmed and schools are ripe recruiting grounds in what’s part of a national trend of gangs expanding their influence to areas outside the urban core to sell drugs.
Thousands of rape kits went untested in Memphis
March 4th, 2010 Beth An investigation by Keli Rabon and Jim O’Donnell of WREG-TV in Memphis uncovered the failure of the Memphis Police Department to send thousands of rape kits off for testing leaving cases unsolved and potentially criminals on the street.
Lawyers to Ohio’s governor intervened in active criminal investigation
March 3rd, 2010 Beth An investigation by Randy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch revealed that the top two lawyers to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland intervened in an active criminal investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Despite fatalities, many police officers fail to wear seat belts
March 3rd, 2010 Beth An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found dozens of police officers across the country have died in car crashes while unbuckled — at least 64 between 2004 and 2008 alone.
Kingpin of illegal wildlife trade turns focus to tigers
March 2nd, 2010 Beth An investigation by Bryan Christy for National Geographic reveals that Anson Wong of Malaysia, “the Pablo Escobar of Illegal Wildlife Trade” is out of U.S. prison and has plans to specialize in a new tiger operation with help from his government.
Education Deparment’s enforcement of campus sexual assault cases is lacking
February 26th, 2010 Mark Horvit The Education Department is charged with enforcing laws on how schools deal with sexual assault, but its Office of Civil Rights rarely investigates student allegations of botched proceedings. When cases do go forward, the civil rights office rarely rules against the schools, and virtually never issues any sanctions against institutions, according to an investigation [...]
DUI checkpoints prove profitable for cities
February 18th, 2010 Beth “Sobriety checkpoints in California are increasingly turning into profitable operations for local police departments that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed motorists than catch drunken drivers,” according to a report by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and California Watch. It is estimated that in 2009 such checkpoints generated $40 million [...]
Many wrongly arrested by Louisville officer
February 18th, 2010 Beth A package of stories by The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) reveals that a Louisville Metro police detective has been accusing people of crimes they did not commit. Many of the accused have been juveniles. “Detective Crystal Marlowe has pursued charges against some defendants for crimes they could not have committed because they were already in jail. [...]
Police under investigation for fatal shooting days after Katrina
February 16th, 2010 Beth Times-Picayune reporters Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi and ProPublica’s A.C. Thompson report that “a former New Orleans police officer is under investigation for shooting Henry Glover” four days after Hurricane Katrina.
