Justice (courts/crime/law)
Sex offenders live close to children
Tony Rizzo and Laura Bauer of The Kansas City Star studied court records and found that “roughly three in 10 sex offenders did not live where they were supposed to.” Additionally, “Many of the missing were the kinds of sex offenders parents most fear. Rapists. Child molesters. Repeat offenders. ” There are offenders who readily…
Read MoreJudicial conflicts of interest in Nev.
Michael J. Goodman and William C. Rempel of the Los Angeles Times analyzed court and campaign records and found that in Las Vegas, “some judges routinely rule in cases involving friends, former clients and business associates — and in favor of lawyers who fill their campaign coffers.” Federal and Nevada judicial canons say judges should…
Read MoreAbuse and neglect at Mo. mental health facilities
Carolyn Tuft and Joe Mahr of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviewed thousands of paper and electronic records from the Department of Mental Health and found that “mentally retarded and mentally ill people in Missouri have been sexually assaulted, beaten, injured and left to die by abusive and neglectful caregivers in a system that for years…
Read MorePolice break into six-figure club
Thomas J. Dolan of The Buffalo News analyzed police contracts and 2005 payrolls for seven towns and the City of Buffalo and found that “47 officers from Buffalo and the near suburbs broke the $100,000 mark in 2005, the last year for which complete figures were available. And nearly three dozen more are poised to…
Read MoreTracking of excessive force inconsistent in Texas
Nancy Martinez and Sarah Viren of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reviewed a database from the state Attorney General of in-custody deaths and found a lack of records of excessive force complaints and inconsistencies in the records that did exist. “No reports are sent outside the department unless someone dies, no agency collects comparable data on…
Read MoreSchool districts don’t know who drives the buses
Karen Eschbacher of The (Quincy, Mass.) Patriot Ledger found that most school districts on the South Shore hire private contractors to provide bus service for students. “Several South Shore communities fail to run background checks on school bus drivers, and others can’t even produce the names of people allowed behind the wheel.” “While state laws…
Read MorePrisoners paroled early despite lifetime sentences
Robert Patrick of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used court records and Department of Corrections data to show that prisoners who were sentenced to prison terms of double their lifetimes or more have been quietly released after doing only a fraction of their time in Missouri and Illinois. “In all, at least 189 murderers and 40…
Read MoreLawyers market to potential silicosis victims
Mike Tolson of the Houston Chronicle examined lawsuits related to silicosis, an occupational lung disease caused by exposure to silica which is used by industry in dozens of ways. He found that “To attorneys who had earned millions from asbestos settlements, it represented the next potential windfall.” The lawyers did not need sick people, only…
Read MoreFighting eminent domain mostly a losing battle
Steve Kemme and Gregory Korte of The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed real-estate sales records and found that those who sold their homes for an urban renewal project in suburban Norwood made more than twice what their homes were worth — while those who had their properties taken by eminent domain made three times their appraised value.…
Read MoreLegal claims, retirements paid by taxpayers
In a continuation of the “Conduct Unbecoming” series, Lewis Kamb of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer examined “state pension and payroll records of eight King County sheriff’s deputies and found example after example of how such problem officers continued drawing salaries and earning service credits for years.” The investigation also found that “taxpayers have paid hundreds of…
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