The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "court corruption" ...
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The Deadliest Place in Mexico
The Juarez Valley, a narrow corridor of green farmland carved from the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande, was once known for its cotton, which rivaled Egypt’s. But that was before the Juarez cartel moved in to set up a lucrative drug smuggling trade. “The Deadliest Place in Mexico” explores untold aspects of Mexico’s drug war as it has played out in the small farming communities of this valley. The violence began in 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel moved in to take over the Juarez cartel’s turf. The Mexican government sent in the military to quell the violence — but instead the murder rate exploded. While the bloodshed in the nearby City of Juarez attracted widespread media attention, the violence spilling into the rural Juarez Valley received far less, eve as the killings began to escalate in brutal ways. Community advocates, elected officials, even police officers were shot down in the streets. Several residents were stabbed in the face with ice picks. By 2009, the valley, with a population of 20,000, had a murder rate six times higher than Juarez itself. Newspapers began to call the rural farming region the “Valley of Death.” This investigation uses extensive Freedom of Information Act requests, court documents, and difficult-to-obtain interviews in Spanish and English with current and former Juarez Valley residents, Mexican officials, narcotraffickers and U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, to reveal that many of these shocking deaths were perpetrated with the participation of Mexican authorities. It shows scenes of devastation — households where six members of a single family were killed, without a single police investigation. It uncovers targeted killings by masked gunmen of community activists and innocent residents for speaking out against violence and repression facilitated by corrupt military and government officials. And it gathers multiple witnesses who describe soldiers themselves, working in league with the Sinaloa cartel, perpetrating violence against civilians. "The cemeteries are all full. There isn't anywhere left to bury the bodies," one former resident said. "You'll find nothing there but ghost towns and soldiers."
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Broken Justice in Phillips County
A five-part series preceded by an initial investigation into dysfunction in the criminal justice system in an Arkansas Delta county known for corruption and poverty. The year-long investigation uncovered errors and archaic practices in the handling of fugitive warrants and speedy trials that allowed felony suspects to remain free for years without fear of answering to the charges against them. As a result, prosecutors had to drop hundreds of cases for failure to take them to trial in a timely manner. Since publication, the Phillips County sheriff has made changes in how his office handles failure-to-appear warrants, and court officials have reduced case backlogs. Nevertheless, problems persist.
Tags: Criminal justice system; corruption; poverty; fugitive warrants
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Judge Sylvia James: Access Denied, Chief Judge Under fire
This series examines a chief judge who appears to be using her power and position to do as she pleases. WXYZ used FOIA extensively in their investigation which lead the city to put her on administrative leave as well as leading to inquiries and audits from the State Court Administrator, the Judicial Tenure Commission and a formal complaint containing 192 specific allegations.
Tags: judges; corruption; broadcast
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Probate Court: A Troubled System
The investigation exposed a corrupt system within Arizona's probate courts that permitted lawyers and for-profit fiduciary businesses to take advantage of the welfare of vulnerable adults. The Arizona Republic found that in many cases, lawyers appointed to protect the welfare of incapacitated adults were actually paying themselves enormous fees out of their assets of these individuals. Judges, state regulators, and social service agencies violated court orders, disregarded procedure, and failed to keep this from happening.
Tags: probate courts; legal system; court corruption; elderly; welfare
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"Justice in the Balance"
USA Today started investigating the topic of potentially corrupt federal prosecutors after the case against Sen. Ted Stevens was dropped. Reporters looked at "tens of thousands"of "routine cases" that were filed in federal court to locate any mishandling of the proceedings. The outcome was startling. Federal prosecutors have "violated the law to win convictions," setting guilty people free and landing "innocent people in jail."
Tags: Ted Stevens; prosecutors; U.S. Justice Department; Nino Lyons; Lexis; PACER; database; FOIA
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Juvenile Justice
“A massive conspiracy had corrupted the juvenile system of one Pennsylvania County”. Two judges, who are to use their power for good were using it to make money. They were working together to send teen offenders to prisons, even for their first minor offenses. These judges were making money from a private jail owners for every teen sent to prison.
Tags: Mark Ciavarella; courtroom; court; legal system; Michael Conahan; detention center; law enforcement
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Killing Fields: Long Road to Justice
“An investigation of Khmer Rouge tribunal being held in Cambodia and allegations of corruption”. Further, the investigation began with the hunt for Ta Chan who was the chief interrogator and suspected of living in a remote Cambodian village. Also, torture was a daily experience for many of the prisoners being held and resulted in a number of deaths.
Tags: S-21 prison; camp; trial; charges; jungle; death camp; court; prosecution; horrific; institutions; Vietnamese; crimes
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Above the Law
"Despite that no one wanted this information revealed, our stories document a disturbing pattern of abuse of power, ethical misconduct and corruption by the Chief Federal Judge of the U.S. District Court of Colorado."
Tags: witness tampering; perjury; U.S. district court; Colorado; judge; abuse of power; corruption; misconduct; ethics; FOIA
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In Their Dust
The Baltimore Sun discovered that unbeknownst to state regulators and legislators, non-profit hospitals were suing tens of thousands of patients in local courts over unpaid bills even though those bills were covered through the rate-setting system. Some of the hospitals that filed the most lawsuits were also collecting consistent surpluses on unpaid and charity care through the rate-setting formula, something that the rate-setting commission could not explain. Patients were often railroaded through the legal system. And hospitals violated state laws or contracts with insurance companies by suing patients for amounts they were not permitted to collect.
Tags: hospitals; patient billing fraud; non-profit corruption; health care; debt collection; ground rent; hospital rates; suing patients
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Conflicted Justice
The series found "major problems with a little-known but significant aspect of indigent defense in Nevada. When two or more indigent defendants are charge in the same case, each defendant's testimony might implicate another. To avoid conflicts of interest that would occur if co-defendants were represented by a county public defender, that office represents only one, and private lawyers are hired by judges to represent the rest. Alan Maimon's reporting revealed that some conflict attorneys claimed to work more than 24 hours in a single day. Some spent excessive time on certain cases that paid a higher hourly rate, and tended to hastily offer guilty pleas on cases that did not pay as well."
Tags: courts; legal; justice; conflict attorneys; criminal defense; court corruption; lawyers; civil defense