Search results for "Criminal justice systems" ...

• Policing the Police

  Sward explains how she and other colleagues at the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the unnecessary force used by some members of the San Francisco Police Department. They ultimately exposed that one of the officers, the son of an assistant chief of police, was still on probation and had amassed a long string of incidents in which he used force on suspects, when he was accused of getting into a brawl with two civilians over a bag of steak fajitas. She explains what records they obtained, how their database was built and what they would do differently next time.

  Tags: law enforcement; crime; police officers; FOI; public records; criminal justice system

  By Susan Sward

  2006

• Investigating conflicts of interest of federal judges

  Evans's tipsheet is a step-by-step manual for investigating federal judges' financial conflicts of interest. It includes research methods, key sources, useful web sites and suggestions for communicating with judges.

  Tags: criminal justice system; judicial system; judiciary; federal judges; conflict of interest; financial disclosure; corruption; databases; CAR; web sites; interviewing

  By Will Evans

  2006

• Walking the graveyards: caring about victims and the powerless so that we drive closer to the truth

  This succinct tipsheet offers advice on conducting investigations of unsolved murders. Suggestions range from interview techniques to coping skills for the emotional weight that comes with immersion in murder stories to motivational techniques.

  Tags: murder; justice; crime; victims; investigations; criminal justice system; killings; law enforcement; interviewing; immersion journalism

  By Ruth Teichroeb, Bruce Shapiro, Miles Moffeit, Paul McEnroe, Scott North

  2006

• Investigating the past with results in the present

  Mitchell summarizes methods for constructing investigations that probe beyond the recent past. He suggests research methods, useful records and human sourcing techniques that he employed in his IRE Award-winning investigation of unresolved murder cases during the civil rights era in Mississippi.

  Tags: open records; courts; law enforcement; justice; criminal justice system; crime; public records; history; historical investigations; law

  By Jerry Mitchell

  2006

• Resources for analyzing criminal sentencing trends

  Roberts lists six resources for journalists doing in-depth work on the criminal justice system. The resources include the National Corrections Reporting Program and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. Roberts includes a description of each source, along with ways it can be useful for an investigation.

  Tags: crime; prison; criminals; courts; corrections; stage government; federal government; Census; jail

  By Janet Roberts

  2006

• Prison Reporting: Tips, Sources and Documents

  Prendergast provides tips on writing prison stories such as: where to find unusual sources, inside and outside prisons; different kinds of prison stories (medical, business and politics can all be possibilities); and information trails that may lead you to budgets, labor relations files and coroner's reports - all having to do with prisons and great starting points for stories.

  Tags: Criminal justice; prisons; private prisons; health care

  By Alan Prendergast

  2005

• The crime beat: The data & stats of injustice

  Milliron's tipsheet highlights what type of data is kept by the criminal justice system, how it is used by law enforcement, and how to get it. It also notes tips on creating your own database and summarizes the crime databases kept by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Additional material, saved as a separate pdf, includes copies of uniform crime reports and a specific listing of the various law enforcement forms and records that are available.

  Tags: crime; criminal justice; courts; criminals; records; data; police; law enforcement

  By David A. Milliron

  2004

• Behind the Criminal Justice System Veil

  Archibald's tipsheet offers a host of places to search out data to take crime reporting beyond the basics, and hold authority figures accountable. It notes databases from county coroners, prisons and DUI offenses and suggests story ideas, including the mapping of the locations of frequent crimes.

  Tags: crime; databases; CAR; computer-assisted reporting; FBI; coroner; prison; police; Tracfed; DUI; Arcview; GIS

  By John Archibald

  2004

• Sources for Evaluating Police Departments

  This tipsheet offers a list of possible sources that can be useful when investigating police departments.

  Tags: Police departments; Criminal justice systems; sources

  By James Rosica

  2003

• Additional Information on Crime Statistics

  A helpful list of websites with criminal justice statistics and various information about crime statistics. A helpful handout for anyone on a crime or justice beat.

  Tags: Crime; Statistics; Justice

  By Marianna W. Zawitz

  2003