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Justice (courts/crime/law)
Code enforcement violations dismissed
Jeff Raymond of The Brownsville Herald examined five years of code enforcement violations — more than 11,000 records overall — to determine the number of cases municipal judges and prosecutors were dismissing and why. The investigation found a disproportionate number of animal-related violations but few cases involving junked homes, rusted appliances in front yards and…
Read MoreLA Fire Department faces costly lawsuits
Dan Laidman and Jason Kandel of the Los Angeles Daily News used records from the City Attorney’s Office to show that, despite a decade of efforts to end harassment and discrimination within the Los Angeles Fire Department, the agency still faces frequent costly lawsuits. The number has ebbed and flowed over the years, but rose…
Read MoreN.J. Megan’s Law deemed one of nation’s weakest
A team or reporters and editors with the Gannett New Jersey newspapers and Gannett News Service examine loopholes in Megan’s Law in a three-part series. The investigation found that New Jersey’s law stands as one of the weakest in the nation in immediately warning residents when an offender moves into their neighborhood. “In New Jersey,…
Read MoreRCFP finds cases disappear into hidden dockets
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press’ quarterly magazine, The News Media & the Law, reports “more than 450 cases in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., were completely hidden from the public through the use of a hidden docketing system that two federal appeals courts have declared unconstitutional.” The report, written by Reporters…
Read MoreWash. court records improperly sealed
Ken Armstrong, Justin Mayo and Steve Miletich of The Seattle Times used court records to show that since 1990, at least 420 civil suits have been sealed in King County, Wa. “These sealed records hold secrets of potential dangers in our medicine cabinets and refrigerators; of molesters in our day-care centers, schools and churches; of…
Read MoreJuvenile crimes treated harshly in Colorado
Miles Moffeit and Kevin Simpson of The Denver Post found Colorado has one of the harshest systems in the country for handling juveniles in the adult criminal justice system, in a four-part series looking at teen crimes. Prosecutors, wielding broad discretionary powers found in only 14 other states, convicted kids in 1,244 cases since 1998.…
Read MoreHawaii’s backlog allows many to escape charges
Ken Kobayashi and Jim Dooley of The Honolulu Advertiser used traffic records to show that O’ahu, Hawaii, has an estimated backlog of 61,500 bench warrants, costing the state a potential $20 million in unpaid fines and fees and allowing defendants to avoid charges as routine as running a red light and serious as negligent homicide.…
Read MoreDemand for pardons creates backlog
Rich Cholodofsky of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review analyzed applications for pardons dating to 2000 and found that as the country’s security concerns increased in the wake of 9/11, along with intensified background checks implemented in the late 1990s as a result of the Brady Bill, the number of people seeking to have records of criminal convictions…
Read MoreEx-adviser gets out of jail early, but victims get little
Brent Schrotenboer of The San Diego Union-Tribune used court records in an investigation of John W. Gillette Jr., a former financial adviser to high-profile athletes. He is four years removed from prison after fleecing those athletes out of more than $11 million. He serves as the chief operations officer at Shadow Mountain Community Church in…
Read MoreProblem officers responsible for using excessive force
Susan Sward, Bill Wallace and Elizabeth Fernandez, with contributions from Lois Jermyn, of the San Francisco Chronicle used city police logs to create a database tracking the use of force by officers, finding that, for years, the San Francisco Police Department has failed to control officers who repeatedly resort to force, hitting, choking, clubbing and…
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