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 "criminal trials" ...
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Broken Justice in Phillips County
A five-part series preceded by an initial investigation into dysfunction in the criminal justice system in an Arkansas Delta county known for corruption and poverty. The year-long investigation uncovered errors and archaic practices in the handling of fugitive warrants and speedy trials that allowed felony suspects to remain free for years without fear of answering to the charges against them. As a result, prosecutors had to drop hundreds of cases for failure to take them to trial in a timely manner. Since publication, the Phillips County sheriff has made changes in how his office handles failure-to-appear warrants, and court officials have reduced case backlogs. Nevertheless, problems persist.
Tags: Criminal justice system; corruption; poverty; fugitive warrants
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Grandma can’t accept your call: Inmates disconnected by phone costs
This series of stories started with a simple question. Why does it cost so much for inmates to make calls from the Cook County Jail? In the course of my reporting on criminal and legal affairs for WBEZ, the public radio station in Chicago, I had heard numerous people complain about the high cost of phone calls. Some digging confirmed that the price could be as high as $15.00 for 15 minute calls. Three or four calls a week at that price gets expensive even for financially stable middle class folks, but the people paying these fees were mostly the poorest residents in Chicago. That’s because most of the people in the Cook County Jail are there because they and their families couldn’t afford to post bond of a couple thousand, or sometimes even just hundreds of dollars to secure their freedom while awaiting trial. They are the people who are least able to afford such expensive phone calls. A few FOIA requests revealed the scheme (and scheme is the right word… I just looked it up: a crafty or secret plan of action). Cook County gave an exclusive phone contract to a company called Securus Technologies. Securus charged inflated phone rates and their exclusive deal in the jail meant inmates wanting to talk to their families or arrange their defense had no choice but to pay the rates. Securus then paid back to the county 57½ percent of the revenue from the calls. It netted the county about $4 million a year. Securus wouldn’t tell us their take but I imagine they did alright too. All of the money was coming out of the pockets of the poorest residents in Cook County, people who couldn’t even afford to post bond for their freedom. (As an aside, this isn’t just an issue in Cook County. According to its website Securus provides the phone systems for 850,000 inmates in 2,200 jails and prisons across the country.) Our reporting shed public light on a hugely profitable contract that no one was paying attention to. We documented the lives of the impoverished people getting hammered by the policy and then turned the hammer on the local elected officials to ask them to explain how this was a good policy. The public officials responded in a way that once again proved the genius of democracy. Our efforts and the results are detailed in subsequent answers below.
Tags: prison inmates; phone calls; fees
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Fugitives from Justice
Growing numbers of criminal suspects flee the U.S. each year to evade trial for murder, rape and other serious felonies. The investigation penetrated the government secrecy that shrouds America's interntaional fugitive extradition programs, giving a voice to forgotten victims.
Tags: murder; secrecy; extradition
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Baumgartner
At the start of 2011, the best known and probably most respected judge in Knoxville, Tenn., was Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, founder of Knox County's successful Drug Court and the judge who recently had presided over trials involving the most shocking crime in local memory, the carjacking, torture and murder of a young couple named Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. The trials of four suspects led to a death sentence, two life sentences and one very long prison term. But soon after the new year began, Baumgartner took an abrupt leave of absence, ostensible for health reasons.
Tags: judge; Knoxville; trials; criminal court
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Army slow to act as crime-lab worker falsified, botched tests
The reporters undertook a year-long inquiry into every facet of the often-opaque military justice system. Through more than two dozen stories, the series closely examined military criminal investigations, lab testing, trials, sentences and appeals.
Tags: military justice system; fabricated results; investigation; falsified tests;
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Honor Tarnished
"This year-long series looks into every facet of the often-opaque military justice system. Through more than two dozen stories, the series closely examined military criminal investigations, lab testing, trials, sentences and appeals."
Tags: military justice system
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Presumed Guilty
Over a ten year span, judges in Cuyahoga County, Ohio threw out more than 350 cases mid-trial because prosecutors did not present enough basic evidence. The results of the investigative series shows how the broken system allowed hundreds of defendants to walk free.
Tags: prosecutor; criminal defense; judges; prosecution; fair trial
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New Orleans's tech contracting scandal
Former top mayoral aide, Greg Meffert, was caught in a web of self-dealing and exposed free vacations that the mayor had received. The series “helped the FBI and other federal investigators track the payments and relationships”. Also, it eventually “led to a 63-count federal criminal indictment against Meffert, his wife and the city vendor, Mark St. Pierre”.
Tags: crime; Mayor Ray Nagin; technology chief; state government; corruption; gifts; city hall; civil trial; city government
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"Deporting Justice"
In an ongoing television series, WFAA-TV reveals that thousands of felons accused of murder, rape and assault are often deported instead of standing trial. In Dallas, many of the accused felons are Mexican citizens who, instead of facing criminal trial in the states, are put on a bus and shuttled back to Mexico where they are set free. Deporting the accused felons also decreases the chance of "jail overcrowding."
Tags: deportation; Dallas County; immigration; ICE; Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
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Professional Victim
This journalistic investigation is about using an agent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Prosecutor General's Office as a "victim." The office uses the "victim" in order to forge various criminal cases. There had always been rumors that the police used such agents, but the public in the country of Georgia did not have any real information about these agents. The faked victim in this case was Vagarshak (Gaikovich) Loris-Ruso. He has been used by the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to "disclose" criminal cases of bribery. From July 2004 to 2007, he took part in six criminal cases. The journalists became interested in his past and found him in four other criminal cases. The investigation showed that he had been cooperating with the police and helped them to arrest undesirable people. The investigation consisted of two parts. The first part of the story was about Alexhandre Mkheidze, and his detention, trial and verdict. In this case, Vagarshak admitted to cooperating with the police and receiving money for it. The second part of the investigation is about eight other criminal cases and shows the accusation, official grounds and certain objections for each case.
Tags: Georgia; international journalism; bribery; police departments; misconduct