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 "US Department of Justice" ...
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Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border Parts 1 & 2
Few, if any, pieces published or broadcast in 2012 had as much impact as “Crossing the Line at the Border,” a joint project of the weekly PBS newsmagazine, “Need to Know,” and the Nation Institute that was in the best tradition of American investigative journalism. Within days of its broadcast, 16 members of Congress demanded that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the killing of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican whose death at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents was detailed in our report. A few months later, a U.S. attorney in convened a federal grand jury. It is currently considering criminal charges in the case. And months after that, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the incident had prompted it to launch a full-scale review of its use of force. Hernandez Rojas had a fatal heart attack shortly after being subdued by agents, beaten, and shot with a Taser gun at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28th, 2010. His death was largely ignored until the "Need to Know” team, in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, unearthed never-before-seen eyewitness video of the incident.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; border; killing; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Taser
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Locked up
A USA TODAY investigation found that the U.S. Justice Department was using its legal authority to decide who gets locked up for how long in ways that reward the guilty and punish the innocent. Our examination found that government lawyers were trying to keep dozens of men who they conceded were “legally innocent” imprisoned anyway. We found that the Justice Department had kept accused sexual predators locked up for years past the end of their prison sentences on the basis of faulty psychological assessments. And exposed a brazen pay-to-snitch enterprise that illustrated how the government rewards its informants — often hardened criminals — with shorter prison sentences.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; lawyers; sexual predators; criminals; prison sentences
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RGJ: ATF/US Attorney Rift
A months-long Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that after Reno’s chief U.S. Attorney told local ATF agents that her office would not prosecute their cases until certain unnamed “issues” were resolved, most of the agents transferred to new jobs outside Nevada, leaving Reno vulnerable to gun violence. The investigation found that the federal prosecutors dismissed or refused more than a dozen cases involving violent criminals. The RGJ probe also revealed that dozens of people who bought guns and later failed background checks were allowed to keep the guns because the rift emptied the Reno ATF office of the very agents who are tasked with retrieving those guns. The RGJ series led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and an independent review of the dropped cases. It also sparked Congressional action.
Tags: Department of Justice; guns; gun violence
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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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"A Crack in the Swiss Vault"
This investigative story takes an in-depth look into offshore banking, specifically in Switzerland. Bradley Birkenfeld is an American citizen serving extensive prison time for revealing to the U.S. Government that "he and his colleagues" had been secretly helping their "American customers evade hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes" through private banking divisions in Geneva.
Tags: taxes; tax evasion; Geneva; Switzerland; UBS; banking; investments; IRS; Department of Justice
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"No Means No"
This investigation, part of a nationwide collaboration that was led by the Center for Public Integrity, revealed that University of Massachusetts-Amherst officials often failed to take disciplinary action against students accused or found guilty of sexual assault. Reporters found that in a four-year period, "240 sexual assaults" were reported "to campus security," and only "four students were expelled." This report also found that many women who reported the assault often dropped the accusation.
Tags: sexual assault; harassment; New England; Amherst; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; U.S. Department of Justice; database; public records request; Office of Violence against Women
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"Justice in the Balance"
USA Today started investigating the topic of potentially corrupt federal prosecutors after the case against Sen. Ted Stevens was dropped. Reporters looked at "tens of thousands"of "routine cases" that were filed in federal court to locate any mishandling of the proceedings. The outcome was startling. Federal prosecutors have "violated the law to win convictions," setting guilty people free and landing "innocent people in jail."
Tags: Ted Stevens; prosecutors; U.S. Justice Department; Nino Lyons; Lexis; PACER; database; FOIA
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"Failed Drug War"
The AP launched an investigation to determine whether or not the policies put into place by the U.S. War on Drugs were working. By using 40 years worth of FOIAed federal health surveys and drug strategies, and by interviewing members of Congress involved in the voting on drug policies, the AP concluded that the drug war has failed. Some sources interviewed for the story suggested that the problem has actually intensified.
Tags: FOIA; drug cartels; Mexico; U.S. War on Drugs; Justice Department; Centers for Disease Control; National Drug Control Policy; Gil Kerlikowske
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Filling the void, Profiting from Colorado's Real Estate Avalanche
The state of Colorado has reached the historic highs of foreclosure numbers. With these numbers so high, fraud and confusion was created when the “real estate bubble finally burst”. As a result of the stories, US Marshalls arrested the subject of the investigation and the company was forced to shut down. Further, the stories prevented a number of people from becoming victims.
Tags: US Department of Justice; credit score; housing; market; landlord; Greg Castle; homeowner; Craigs list
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A Tampa Case of Stolen Valor
“A local man has been joining veteran’s organizations around the Tampa area”. He often comes dressed in a marine uniform, showing off his “Navy Cross”, which he was awarded while serving his country. It turns out that he never won the award, was never a part of the Marines, and never even served for the US Military. Further, he was charged with violating the “Stolen Valor Act” and forging government documents.
Tags: US Justice Department; Angel Ocasio; federal law; medal; nation; service; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW); decorations