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 "Division of Criminal Justice" ...
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Justice in the Shadows
Although immigration is one of America’s most divisive, visceral, and hotly debated issues, the public rarely gets a close look at the vast law enforcement network that every year detains more than 400,000 suspected illegal immigrants. Courts often operate inside prisons, far from view. Immigration officials play by rules that would not be permitted for the police or the FBI. Here is a system heavily shielded from public scrutiny. Reporting even routine activities is a challenge. Boston Globe reporters Maria Sacchetti and Milton J. Valencia, however, penetrated the wall of secrecy. Their three-part series, “Justice in the Shadows,” revealed a dysfunctional and largely unaccountable system that locks up people who pose little threat while releasing dangerous criminals back to US streets because their home countries won’t take them back. The results, Sacchetti and Valencia showed, at times can be deadly for Americans and foreigners alike. The reporting was anything but quick or easy. Sacchetti and Valencia filed more than 20 Freedom of Information Act requests to federal agencies that comprise the immigration system. Nearly all of them were partially or wholly denied, purportedly to protect the privacy of the immigrants. With the federal government blocking the way, Sacchetti and Valencia found other avenues to document what was happening inside this Byzantine system, investing a year to do so. The effort to shed light on the immigration system continues: The Globe has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to force the agency to reveal the names of more than 8,000 criminal foreigners released in the US because they couldn’t be deported.
Tags: security; Department of Homeland Security; illegal immigrants; FBI
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The Mark Foley Investigation
Almost a year after the media received the first emails Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) sent to underage Congressional pages, ABCNews.com's investigative team went online with the story. Using the interactive function of their website, former pages forwarded to ABC more email exchanges they’d had with Foley, some of which were sexually explicit. After the first posting, Foley staffers claimed the pages "misunderstood", and that political opponents were smearing Foley. When the more explicit emails were read back to Foley, he tried to bargain with the investigative team: he would resign if the site didn't post the emails. ABC said no deal, and Foley resigned the next day. The issue morphed into "who knew" and why Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert had done nothing before to stop Foley's behavior. The story sparked an investigation by the FBI's Cyber Division, and criminal charges were filed against Foley in Florida. This series includes interviews with Brian Ross on breaking the story, and other media stories about the ABCNews.com coverage.
Tags: Capitol Hill Page; Congressional Pages; Page Alumni Association; House Ethics Committee; sexually explicit messages to minors; Congressman Mark Foley; email messages; AOL Instant Messenger; Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert; FBI investigation; FBI's Cyber Division; House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children; Department of Justice; pedophile; Wired Safety
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Investigation of a Cabinet Member
This investigation uncovered a "culture of corruption and questionable ethics" in the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission. Specifically, Commerce Secretary William Watley and his Chief of Staff, Lesly Devereaux abused their positions and cost the taxpayers a lot of money. After these articles were published, Watley resigned and Devereaux was indicted on criminal charges.
Tags: FOIA; OPRA; fraud; St. James AME Church; attorney general; Division of Criminal Justice; lobbyists.
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Deals and Dismissals
The News reports on how a system of plea deals at the Buffalo City Court has resulted in ill-advised bargaining and few serious convictions. In two years, the report says, the court has made itself out to be one of deals and dismissals, where defendents are far less likely to leave with a misdemeanor conviction. Some statistics will help: nearly three-fourths of those who walk into this court facing criminar charges walk out without a criminal record. Furthermore, the most common sentence for even those who are convicted with severe penalities is a conditional discharge - stay out of trouble for an year and follow court instructions, then there are no punishments.
Tags: Erie County District; State Division of Criminal Justice Services; VOICE-Buffalo; judges; court
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Penned In
This story is about the conviction and 40-year sentence of John Michael Harvey for the rape of a four-year old girl. Harvey protests his innocence, and so does the jury foreman, the judge in his trial, appellate attorneys, investigators, and even the findings of a lie detector. Even the victim says he didn't do it, and that her family members and the prosecutor coached her into saying Harvey did it. Since Harvey's conviction, the victim and her mother have signed affidavits professing Harvey's innocence. The trial judge wrote a letter supporting Harvey's parole, and the jury foremen says he made a mistake. He's going to testify on Harvey's behalf at the appeal.
Tags: rape; child abuse examiner; prosecutor; forensic examination techniques; Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; policy on sex offender treatment; parole division policies on sex offenders; sex offenders; wrongful conviction; child molester; wrongful conviction; appeal
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Uneven Justice
The Albany Times-Union analyzed arrest data from the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services and found disparities in the way different counties handled felons. Many counties reduced a high percentage of felonies to lesser charges.
Tags: None
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A Question of Color: Thirty years after 'The Dream'
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that "Many whites are tired of hearing about it. Most blacks wish it would go away. All seem powerless to move it. Thirty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. described his dream of a colorblind America, race seems as huge and divisive a force as ever... We selected five areas where differences between blacks and whites in our community could be measured - overall attitudes, housing, education, economics and crime."
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No title (id: 2282)
A Courier-News computer-assisted investigation finds flaws in the New Jersey Public Contracts Law that allowed a private attorney to reap thousands of dollars in unearned payments from school board coffers.
Tags: Fraud Division of Criminal Justice Taxes Union County Technical Institute and Vocational School