Resource Center

Stories

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 "teen suicide" ...

  • Struggling to Understand

    The story takes an investigative look at the personal struggles of the recent suicide victims in a small seaside New Jersey town and examined how the school and community at large responded to what is for New Jersey an unprecedented public health crisis. While each case involved a unique set of circumstances, the reporters found that a history of mentalillness, alcohol and drug abuse -- and a community all to willing to turn a blind eye to teen substance abuse -- played a role in the majority of the deaths.

    Tags: suicide; mental illness; drug abuse; youth suicide

    By Shannon Mullen; Paul D'Ambrosio; Tom Costello; Dan Sinni

    Asbury Park Press

    2011

  • Von Maur Shootings

    In December 2007, a young man killed eight people then himself with an assault rifle at the Von Maur department store in Omaha. It was the largest mass murder in state history, a story that made national news. But when other media moved onto other stories, a team of World-Herald reporters spent much of 2008 digging into the issues surrounding such an astonishing act of violence. Some of their findings include: emergency responders were delayed getting to victims due to miscommunications by 911 dispatchers, a troubling suicide spike, and the depth of the gunman's psychological problems.

    Tags: Von Maur murders; teen suicide; massacre; gunman; suicide rate; mental health problems; psychiatric records; treatment centers; shooter

    By Henry Cordes; Joe Dejka; Lynn Safranek; Karyn Spencer

    World-Herald (Omaha, Neb.)

    2008

  • Teen Depression: Diagnosis and Treatment

    The Press Democrat explores the issue of teen depression and treatment, including close looks at two local teens' experiences.

    Tags: suicide; depression; teenagers; mental health; teen suicide

    By Derek J. Moore

    Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)

    2002

  • Teen Suicide: The Silent Epidemic

    Education Week reporter Jessica Portner collected data on teen suicides across the nation and wrote this in-depth piece on how the teen suicide rate is bigger than ever before. She backs up her data with testimonies from experts involved with children or child psychology.

    Tags: Suicide; Teenagers; Death; Murder; Columbine

    By Jessica Portner

    Education Week

    2000

  • It's A Crime: How Mentally Ill Teens Are Trapped in Lockups

    A Post-Gazette four-part investigative series documents "how teens with serious mental illnesses are being warehoused in juvenile detention and corrections facilities because states have closed their adolescent mental hospital units and no one else will take them." The reporter finds that the system is "more punitive than therapeutic," and that "shoddy record keeping, room confinement for minor rules infractions, and lengthy incarcerations all place at-risk teens in greater danger of seriously hurting or killing themselves." The findings are supported by a survey of directors of detention centers across the country. The 172 responses received by the newspaper have confirmed that mentally ill teens face severe problems in juvenile lockups.

    Tags: teenagers; children; juvenile detention; adolescents; suicide; sexual assault victims; abuse; psychiatric disorders; crime; youth; group homes

    By Steve Twedt

    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    2001

  • Kids Behind Bars

    A Press investigation sheds light on the inadequate treatment of juvenile inmates in Michigan. The five-part series reveals the "dire consequences - rapes, assault, attempted suicides - " that children as young as 14 face in "hostile prisons ill-equipped to handle them." The investigation focuses on "Michigan's only private prison, set up for teen-aged boys and young men" and finds that it has "quickly become the most violent prison in the state.." The analysis of the prison's records shows that "in five month, a dozen boys have tried to kill themselves, " but "juveniles were receiving little or no counselling in prison ... even after trying to kill themselves." The reporter draws the conclusion that "the prison was too short-staffed to stop the assaults."

    Tags: FOIA; inmates; juveniles; suicide; rape; assaults; security; crime; murder; misconduct

    By Ken Kolker

    Press (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

    2000

  • Generation Rx

    "Millions of American children -- including children as young as two years old -- are being given powerful antidepressant medications in what amounts to an uncontrolled national experiment. Waters found that while these drugs have not been approved by the FDA for children, their use by children and teenagers has increased 50 percent in the past five years."

    Tags: antidepressants; children; teens; Zoloft; suicide; FOIA; FDA; Prozac; IMS Health; prescription drugs; psychotropic

    By Rob Waters

    The Networker

    2000

  • Pride and Prejudice

    New Times reports "the story of a 17-year old Vietnamese immigrant Loi Nguyen's life and suicide in October 1998 tells of cultural and racial misconceptions, of ignorance and mistrust, and of a young man who became overwhelmed by his new environment, found a gun and shot himself... "

    Tags: special education school system foreign students Asian-American teen taunting

    By Paul Rubin

    New Times (Phoenix)

    1999

  • Drinking Around the Clock

    Teen People sent a network of reporters across the country on one day in May to monitor and record the drinking habits of America's youth. The results span the extent of teen alcoholism, from motivations to disastrous consequences, and even to positive outcomes.

    Tags: alcohol poisoning rehabilitation drunk driving suicide partying underage drinking parental supervision

    By Tina Johnson;Anne Marie O'Neill;Matt Birbeck;Karen Brailsford;Amada Crawford;Andrea Faiad;Todd Foster;Eric Francis;Scott LaFee;Amy Laughinghouse;Grace Lim;Amy Mindell;Margaret Nelson;Ellise Pierce;Robin Reid;Jamie Reno

    Teen People Magazine

    1999

  • No title (id: 12326)

    The Herald-Journal's two-part series takes an upfront, yet sensitive, look at teens and violence. Hitting Home is about teens growing up in abusive homes and Love and War is about teens in abusive relationships. (September 1993)

    Tags: Eimas Weapons Suicide Rape 15 pgs

    By Eimas

    Herald-Journal (Syracuse, N.Y.)

    1993