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 "drug courts" ...
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Hardly a Home; Crime, pests plague tenants; Many tenants want out; 'If nobody cares,' why bother, police wonder; Apartment woes are news to council members
This four-part investigative story focuses on a group of apartment complexes in Colorado Springs owned by Terry Ragan. The complexes, which are primarily occupied by low-income families, were not only found to be extremely dangerous, but were also found to provide unacceptable living conditions to tenants. The article describes problems in the complexes such as lack of heat, water leaks, cockroach infestation, sewage backups, drug dealing, and violence with weapons, among others. Due to yearly police and fire code inspections and court services, Ragan's complexes end up costing taxpayers about $1 million each year.
Tags: FOIA; sub-standard housing; Cedar Creek Apartments; El Vecino Apartments; Mountain Country Estates; Pine Creek Village Apartments; Pinons Apartments; Shannon Glen Apartments; South Pointe Apartments; The Timbers
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Criminals' assets help task force
From the questionnaire, "The story examined asset forfeitures by a drug task force and found that cash and property were used to strike deals for leniency, and that deals were made because the task force needed money to keep its federal grant and survive." In many cases, probation was offered in return for the defendants agreement not to fight forfeitures in court.
Tags: Seizures; justice; forfeiture; district attorney; plea bargain
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Freedom for Shawn
"Shawn Drumgold had served 14 years of a life sentence for murder when Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr took up his case. Today, Drumgold is a free man." Shawn Drumgold, a low-level drug dealer, had been convicted of murder for the 1988 shooting death of a 12-year-old girl named Darlene Tiffany Moore - a bystander to a "street gang revenge killing." Although Drumgold was not a member of a gang, he became the focus of the investigation, was charged within weeks with the murder, and subsequently convicted. Over a decade later, Lehr began his own investigation, and uncovered "major new evidence that case doubt on the conviction, and raised the strong possibility of police and prosecutorial misconduct." The articles published in the Globe pointed to questionable witnesses, dubious deals, the works. In the aftermath of Lehr's investigation, the district attorney asked the court to overturn Drumgold's murder conviction.
Tags: justice; court; conviction; wrongful; witness; innocent; prison; misconduct; corruption; reversal; lawyer; law; Roxbury; FOI; FOIA; prosecution; defense; attorney; drugs
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Lawmakers revive drug court debate
This story is about two Democratic lawmakers in eastern Connecticut who see the need to revive the state's former drug court system. It illustrates how the legislature and local law makers are working towards curbing the growing drug problem.
Tags: Drugs; Connecticut legislature; drug court system; Walter Pawelkiewicz; Donald Williams
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Addicted to Drug Courts
An insightful look at the Hennepin County Drug Court shows that it has not reduced the number of people incarcerated for drug offenses, nor has it reduced recidivism rates. According to the story, the state's largest drug court has actually increased the number of people prosecuted on drug charges by 50 percent. And most of those people are poor, inner city minorities.
Tags: Drug Court; lawyers; law; diversion
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Record number of drug arrests clogging King County court system: Crack cocaine still a scourge, analysis of cases for one month shows
According to the article, "Attorneys and judges at the King County Courthouse say they've read about the decline in murder and other violent crimes but haven't had much time to celebrate. The criminal calendar has never been so busy, choked by record numbers of felony drug cases. More people faced drug charges in the first six months of this year than in any comparable period in King County history. In March alone, a record 463 cases clogged the courts."
Tags: King County Courthouse; Seattle; crack cocaine; drugs; illegal; problems; felony; criminal; drug cases; courts
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Inmates Do More Than Phone Home: With the 1st amendment as a shield and monitoring spotty, prisoners make calls to arrange crimes that include murder
The L.A. Times investigates phone calls made by prisoners to commit crimes while behind bars. "Easy access to phone lines allows some inmates to continue their criminal enterprises" even while locked up. The story centers on the conflict between the 1st amendment right of prisoners to use the telephone, as ruled by the federal courts, and California prison officials attempt to deal with the problem of phone calls furthering more crimes. The article also finds many crimes go undetected because of a lack of monitoring by prison officials.
Tags: prison; 1st amendment; first amendment; inmate rights; inmate crimes; phone calls; phone access; drugs; murder
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Spotlight on False Confessions
The Miami Herald found that at least 38 murder confessions were thrown out in Broward County courts by judges, juries, police or prosecutors. Suspects were jailed for confessions that incorrectly stated basic facts of a crime. Confessions were taken from suspects who asked for attorneys or asked to remain silent. Detectives forced confessions out of people under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Broward County detectives also took confessions from the mentally disabled, from minors, and from the homeless.
Tags: false confessions; police misconduct; internal affairs; police; courts; confessions; crime; justice; cops; criminals; surveillance; juvenile justice
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Prescription for Pain
"Nobody knew how bad Eastern Kentucky's prescription drug problem was." After an eight-month investigation, the Lexington Herald-Leader series "Prescription for Pain," revealed that the region was "the painkiller capital of the United States. And nobody--not the doctors, the cops, the court system or society--was doing anything to stop the abuse."
Tags: drug trade; eastern Kentucky; prescription drugs; drug addiction; painkillers; narcotics; drug courts; DUI
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Justice Delayed, Justice Denied
The Courier-Journal investigates inept administration and case backlog at the Bullitt County, Ky., court system. The series reveals that "more than 200 felony indictments ... either were never prosecuted or else were incompletely prosecuted between 1998 and 2000," according to the contest entry summary. The mishandling was due to clerks' errors and inept record-keeping.
Tags: crime; prosecutors; judges; rape; drug-dealing; punishment; law enforcement