Justice (courts/crime/law)
Criminals as mortgage brokers
Cary Spivak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that hundreds of loan brokers in Wisconsin have criminal records, including ex-drug dealers, armed robbers and a killer. In his latest installment of the ongoing “Easy Money” series, Spivak mined state and court records to find that many of these license holders have gone on to defraud…
Read MoreDNA evidence exonerates another Ohio prisoner
In the latest developments from the The Columbus Dispatch series “Test of Convictions,” a Columbus man was declared innocent and freed from prison after serving 25 years. He is the second inmate to be tested and released as part of the ongoing investigation of inmate DNA testing. Ohio lawmakers are introducing a bill with sweeping…
Read MoreCourt documents never made public
A Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) investigation into filing practices in Monroe County state courts revealed that documents critical to the outcome of countless civil lawsuits have never been made public because they were never filed with the court as required by state rules. The investigation prompted the New York State Office of Court Administration to…
Read MorePhoenix emerges as kidnapping capital of U.S.
“In what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone,” according to a report by Brian Ross, Richard Esposito and Asa Eslocker…
Read MoreFormer police informant admits to lying
Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News report that a former police informant in Philadelphia claims that he and a narcotics officer lied about information used to convict alleged drug dealers. The informant, Ventura Martinez, said he fabricated information to earn money, fight the Philadelphia drug trade and to honor his close…
Read MoreU.S. citizens fall victim to escalating violence in Mexico
Over 200 U.S. citizens have been killed in Mexico since 2004, according to a report by Lise Olsen of the Houston Chronicle. “More U.S. citizens suffered unnatural deaths in Mexico than in any other foreign country — excluding military killed in combat zones — from 2004 to 2007, State Department statistics show.” Mexican Congressman Juan…
Read MoreOfficers use deadly deadly force against unarmed suspects
A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that over the last six years, police officers in Inglewood, Calif., have repeatedly resorted to physical or deadly force against suspects who were unarmed or accused of minor offenses. In the span of four months this year, Inglewood officers shot and killed four people, three of them unarmed. The…
Read MoreDelayed police raid may have cost editor his life
A report by Thomas Peele and Bob Butler of The Chauncey Bailey Project states that a delayed raid of Your Black Muslim Bakery likely cost Bailey his life. Sources have asserted that the raid was delayed for two days due to the vacation schedules of two senior SWAT commanders. “Officers familiar with the raid’s planning…
Read MoreNorth Carolina’s probation system riddled with problems
A series in The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the North Carolina probation system. The report reveals that, since 2000, 580 people have killed in North Carolina while under probation officer supervision. Outdated computer systems make it difficult to track new offenses by probationers. Problems, such as growing…
Read MoreThe art of mortgage fraud
In final installment of the The Miami Herald‘s Borrowers Betrayed series, reporters Jack Dolan, Matthew Haggman and Rob Barry show the anatomy of a massive mortgage fraud network in Florida that generated $550 million in loans during the housing boom years, and the failure of state regulators to stop one of its lead brokers.
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