Justice (courts/crime/law)
Wayne County has failed to pay out nearly $4 million in restitution payments
An investigation by the Detroit Free Press has found that Wayne County “has collected nearly $4 million in court-ordered restitution from convicted burglars, sex offenders and other criminals but failed to pay that money to thousands of their victims.” While county officials have claimed that victims are difficult to locate, the investigation found that county…
Read MoreInvestigation exposes child porn ring
An investigation into the child porn industry by Isaac Wolf of Scripps Howard News Service has led to hundreds of American convictions, and those running the ring are now in jails in Eastern Europe. Wolf had unprecedented access to the backers of these porn sites. The investigation identified 30,000 customers of these sites in over…
Read MoreJustice influenced by prosecutors’ conduct
USA Today’s Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy documented 201 criminal cases across the nation in which federal judges found that prosecutors broke laws and ethics rules. “They caught some prosecutors hiding evidence, found others lying to judges and juries, and said others had broken plea bargains.” The abuses resulted in both the wrongful incarceration of…
Read MoreLoophole allows attorneys to exploit Illinois residents facing foreclosure
A loophole in state and federal laws has made it easy for some attorneys to take advantage of Illinois residents struggling to keep their homes, according to an investigation by the Chicago Tribune. In 2006, Illinois and other states passed legislation that banned charging upfront fees for loan modifications. But the law doesn’t apply to…
Read MoreBreaks by judge, police kept gang leader on the street
A violent Milwaukee youth who was a leader in a notorious street gang got breaks from the juvenile court system that kept him on the street were he committed new crimes, an investigation by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich revealed. The newspaper reported in July that miscommunication between federal and state authorities later resulted in…
Read MoreMajority of sexual abuses charges linked to women employees at juvenile facilities
An investigation by Laura Burke of the Texas Observer revealed that female employees account for most of the perpetrators of sexual abuse in Texas’ juvenile facilities. Relatively few investigations and convictions have been made, and some attribute this to the perception that sexual abuse perpetrated by women is considered relatively harmless, and often consensual. As…
Read MoreNightclubs linked to sex trafficking continue to flourish
An investigation by The Palm Beach Post found that operators of nightclubs linked to sex trafficking by the FBI not only still are in business in Palm Beach County — they are expanding. The Post also found one of the clubs was issued a Florida liquor license only because regulators failed to identify its operator…
Read MorePatients in Peril series
From a violent patient allowed to roam free to a pregnancy case that violated policy at every turn and nurses who falsified documents to cover their mistakes, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation exposed a raft of problems at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, home to the county’s most vulnerable residents. Reporters Meg Kissinger and…
Read MoreThai Workers Victims of Human Trafficking In Utah
Lee Davidson reported how Thai workers recruited to work on Utah pig and chicken farms were victims of human trafficking. Read “A Story of Modern Slavery in Utah.”
Read MoreTrouble plagues N.C. State Bureau of Investigation
A 4-part series by The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) reveals deep trouble at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The series finds an agency in line with prosecutors wishes, agents and analysts who ignore or twist the truth, and reliance on junk science. The director of the SBI was removed from her post…
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