Justice (courts/crime/law)
The murky world of online gambling
A joint project by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes explores the world of online gambling. The industry clears $18 billion annually, but exists in murky legal territory. One group of online poker players had to take it upon themselves to unearth a $20 million cheating scam. But they could not turn to U.S. officials…
Read MoreNYU campus crime reports are misleading
A report by Marc Beja and Adam Playford of Washington Square News (at New York University) brings to light issues with NYU’s reporting of campus crime statistics. Due to how the school defines campus addresses, only three of NYU’s 21 undergraduate dorms qualify as on-campus. “The tightly confined Clery map covers the buildings immediately around…
Read MoreCalifornia slow to investigate nurses with criminal backgrounds
Expanding on an article published in October, ProPublica’s Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times, have found that the California nursing board has been slow to revoke or suspend the licenses of registered nurses with criminal backgrounds in the state. The board relies upon nurses to report their own criminal…
Read MoreDellums calls for review of police in Bailey murder
Mayor Ron Dellums said late Tuesday he is asking state Attorney General Jerry Brown to conduct an independent probe of the police department’s handling of journalist Chauncey Bailey’s killing in August 2007. Read the Chauncey Bailey Project’s online story or see the related video story from KTVU-Oakland, Calif..
Read More‘The System is the Crime’
For JudicialReports.com, Mark Lagerkvist examined the “paradox cloaked in robes” that allows New York judges to accept large campaign gifts from lawyers who have pending cases in their courts. The initial story focused on one law firm that gave $157,000 candidates for Supreme Court – including five-figure contributions to nine sitting justices. The follow-up explored…
Read MoreKansas City Star looks into police department’s secret complaints file
An analysis of Kansas City police department complaint records by Michael Mansur of The Kansas City Star revealed that the vast majority of complaints result in no action. Four percent of complaints referred to Internal Affairs were sustained against officers, a number far below the national average of 10 percent. In response to The Star,…
Read MoreDetective accused of ignoring evidence in Bailey case
Thomas Peele, Bob Butler and Mary Fricker of The Chauncey Bailey Project — a collaboration of those continuing the work of murdered Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey — report that that the lead homicide detective assigned to the slaying ignored evidence that pointed to a broader conspiracy to kill Bailey.
Read MoreTobacco Underground series
A six-part investigative series by The Center for Public Integrity’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) details the booming global trade in illegal cigarettes. Since 1999, the ICIJ has tracked the illegal tobacco trade, and found corporate collusion with the criminal networks diverting tobacco shipments to black markets around the world. Crackdowns starting in 2004…
Read MoreDNA exonerations highlight flaws in eyewitness identifications
The Dallas Morning News spent months looking at Dallas County’s 19 DNA exonerations as well as current felony cases in an investigation that highlights flaws in the witness identification process. Despite known problems with eyewitness testimony, police and prosecutors still rely upon it to secure convictions. “The fallibility of eyewitness testimony revealed by DNA exonerations…
Read MoreConvicted criminals allowed to renew California nursing licenses
ProPublica’s Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, in conjunction with The Los Angeles Times, have found over 115 cases in which the state of California did not seek to restrict or revoke nursing licenses until the nurses had three or more convictions. Twenty-four of the nurses had five convictions, and crimes ranged from Medicare fraud and…
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