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 "juvenile delinquents" ...
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Falling through the cracks
Philadelphia reports that "when an intrepid do-gooder wanders into the labyrinth that is Philadelphia family Court, she learns more about the system -- and the kids it handles -- than she bargained for."
Tags: Department of Human Services; lawyers; poverty; troubled children; juvenile delinquents; justice
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Tough Love
The News-Journal reports on abuse and neglect riddling the juvenile justice system in Volusia County, Fla. A teenager hangs himself in his cell, and the tragedy triggers an investigation to find what is behind the hundreds of abuse complaints and the soaring rates of delinquency and recidivism. The reporters find a system where more youths are committed for lesser offenses; guards make $7 per hour; training to ensure detainees' health and safety is neither required nor offered; and turnover among guards is encouraged rather than curbed.
Tags: teenagers; crime; offenders; courts; violence; CAR; adolescents; restraint chairs; restraints
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Community Justice: High hopes become harsh realities
An investigation of the Community Youth Investment Program, a nationally touted juvenile corrections pilot program in Deschutes County, Oregon. The program is designed to rehabilitate non-violent youth in the community with no enhanced public risk and at a lower cost. Yet, the report reveals that, despite the praises the program has received, CYIP juveniles continued to be cited for crimes and costs were hundreds of thousands of dollars more than state programs annually.
Tags: Community Youth Investment Program; Deschutes County; Ore.; juvenile delinquents
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Kids These Days
Indianapolis Monthly depicts the devoted work of a long-serving judge, James Payne, at the Juvenile Court Complex in Indianapolis. The story looks at some common patterns in juvenile delinquency cases, and draws the conclusion that 'kids will behave if they receive proper guidance." The article quotes statistics that show the average age of youth delinquents has dropped from 15 1/2 to 13 1/2 in recent years. The reporter examines how, according to clinical psychologists, permanent exposure to violence can influence children's minds.
Tags: courts; judges; crime; police; child violence; children; teenagers; guns; weapons; drugs; parental discipline
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The Children's Hour
Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette examines how "the Web has opened the floodgates on child pornography," and delves into the horrors that sexually abused children and their families have gone through. The four-part series finds that "preying on children to feed adult fantasies, pornographers are spreading sexually explicit images faster and farther that authorities can handle." The investigation uncover the results of a recent study, which finds that "1 in 5 children [has been] sexually solicited on the Web," and that 25 % of children have seen pornographic websites. The story also details how undercover FBI agents "pose as children to attract the predators" on the Internet. The series profiles a notorious criminal,John MacMullen, who has drugged and raped eight girls and two women, and five other sentenced pedophiles.
Tags: children; Internet; crime; courts; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Perevention; FBI; computers; sexual abuse; rape; pedophiles; police
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"Juvenile Justice: Pain and Promise"
This reprint of a special report continues an award-winning 1998 investigation into Arkansas' juvenile justice system, which documented the "physical, sexual and emotional abuse of delinquent children locked up in state facilities." Two years later, a follow-up inquiry reveals how problems persist despite legislation and reform inspired in part by the original report.
Tags: crime; drugs; sex offense; probation; detention centers; youth; rehabilitation
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Troubled Kids
A year of persistent reporting gained inside access to the Juvenile Court System, laying the foundation for an in-depth investigation that revealed an unsettling statistic: a third of kids in trouble with the law suffer from mental disabilities, the majority of whom go without treatment due to lack of facilities.
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT CAR juvenile crime; mental health; Department of Children and Family Services delinquency
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Charlie Squad
The Baltimore Sun reports about "the lives of 14 of Maryland's toughest juvenile delinquents as they went through one of the state's highly acclaimed boot camps and then returned home on probation.... 'Charlie Squad' ... documented a pattern of assaults by camp guards while the teenagers were in handcuffs and leg shackles. Even worse, once the delinquents were released to their communities, they quickly resumed lives of crime - peddling drugs, shooting heroin, stealing cars and resorting to violence, while easily ignoring required meetings with probation officers and drug counselors."
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Who's Guarding The Kids?
The Bee investigated the death of a local juvenile delinquent in an out-of-state camp. The found a lack of oversight by government bureaucracies who did little to protect the 1,000 California youths sent to such camps.
Tags: Juvenile; State Government; Department of Social Services
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Juvenile Justice: The War Within
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette investigated widespread physical, sexual and emotional abuse of juvenile delinquents in state custody. Over the years, abuse was rarely investigated and records of incidents were routinely destroyed.