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 "Texas Department of Criminal Justice" ...
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Dirty Money
Some law enforcement agencies have become addicted to seizing drug money. This story found:</p> <p>*Police agencies are seizing bulk cash from drivers and alleging it's drug money without finding any drugs, or, in many cases, without ever filing criminal money laundering charges.</p> <p>* Underfunded, usually rural police and prosecutor's offices have become dependent on seizing suspected drug money to carry out the basic functions of their offices, a state of affairs specifically discouraged by federal asset forfeiture laws.</P> <p>* In the extreme, some corrupt police forces are setting up "forfeiture traps," reminiscent of small-town speed traps, to catch suspected drug couriers and take their currency, a practice some attorneys call "highway robbery"</p> <p>* Some sheriff's departments have become more interested in confiscating cash than drugs, i.d. working southbound lanes into Mexico -- "our piggybank," one South Texas sheriff told me -- where they're more likely to catch money couriers. The reporters also found that these departments are not interested in investigating the couriers as a way to disrupt cartel activities -- all they're interested in is seizing the cash.</p> <p>* With little oversight built into state or federal asset forfeiture laws, some prosecutors' office are misspending their seized drug funds on things like margarita machines for the annual picnic and soccer uniforms for the police soccer team.</p> <p>* More and more law enforcement agencies are taking advantage of the "piggy banks" on their highways. According to the US Justice Department, in the past four years seized assets tripled from $567 million to $1.6 billion.</p>
Tags: Drug enforcement; seizure of money; US Justice Department; radio; forfeiture traps
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To Catch a Predator: A Sting Gone Bad
"This story examined what can go wrong when the news media and police get a little too close. It detailed what went on behind the scenes of a sexual predator sting operation when the Murphy, Texas police department made a deal to team up with Dateline NBC and the Internet vigilante group Perverted Justice. The deal allowed Dateline NBC to record all aspects of the sting while allowing members of Perverted Justice, hired by Dateline NBC, to actually set up and run the operation. Prosecutors had strongly recommended against such an agreement... Despite the warning, the sting took place and resulted in the suicide of a prominent man and criminal charges being dropped against 23 alleged sexual predators due to flawed evidence."
Tags: sexual predator; law; entertainment; Dateline; police; Perverted Justice
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Prisoners Best Friend
Reporters Todd Bensman and Robert Riggs from CBS-11 News, Dallas, investigated tips that State Representative Terri Hodge solicited campaign contributions from inmates families in return for intervening in their loved ones' cases. Not all those campaign contributions were reported. Bensman and Riggs found over 60 instances where Rep. Hodge obtained confidential prison files under a legislative privilege designed to assist in law-making. "As a legislator, Hodge served on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and frequently sat in on hearings before the COrrections COmmittee, which oversees the Texas Prison system. In her role, Hodge had power over budgets and prison jobs."
Tags: Terri Hodge; campaign contributions; parole board; disciplinary refractions; influence; victims rights groups; Texas Public Information Act; Texas Inmate Families Association; TIFA; legislative privilege; campaign finance reports; Texas Criminal Jurisprudence Committee; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; TDCJ; Texas Corrections Committee; Justice for All; Texas Ethics Commission
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Criminal Justice Chaos
This story compilation addresses numerous problems within the Texas Department of Corrections. Investigators found violations of government policies, parole officers with disciplinary problems, repeated employee negligence and even some of the worst criminals slipping through holes in the system to find new victims.
Tags: Texas; department of corrections; criminal justice; courts; probation and parole; crime; law enforcement; prisons; public safety; criminals
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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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Trouble in mind
The Houston Press reports that "as many as 17 percent of those (140,000) inmates are either mentally ill or mentally retarded, yet the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has fewer than 4,600 beds designated for the mentally impaired... the number of state-funded nonprison beds for the mentally challenged has dropped from 8,000 to fewer than 5,500. In essence, the state of Texas is warehousing its mental patients in its prison system..."
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No title (id: 13316)
During the Gargantuan Buildup of the Texas prison system, everyone wanted in on the action--even Andy Collins, the boss himself. This article shows how greed, fear, and Vitapro produced the state's costliest scandal. The evidence suggests that Collins viewed his last six months in office as a window of opportunity to ingratiate himself with potential employers by awarding them fat contracts. (May 1996)
Tags: Draper The great texas prison mess Crime Texas Department of Criminal Justice 12 pgs
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No title (id: 9402)
Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram computer-assisted series gives an overview of crime and the criminal justice system in Fort Worth; shows a shocking annual toll, an understaffed police department, a district attorney's office that set free one of every three criminals, and a court system that heard fewer cases, took longer to hear them and gave lighter sentences than those in Texas' other urban counties; convicts serve, on average, 48 days for every year of their sentence, Aug. 23 - 27, 1992.