‘The Truth Still Matters’: Justice Department Inspector General Highlights Non-Partisan Work
March 22 2024
‘There Is Truth; It’s Based on The Facts. And If People Have the Facts, They Can Then Debate,’ Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz Says, Describing the Unit’s Mission
Transparency and accountability key to credibility of inspectors general across government.
Journalists: Handle Trauma With Help, Not Overwork
Feb. 29 2024
Don’t Let Your Newsroom Over Rely on Resilience
Newsroom leaders: Ask your people how you’ll know they need help. It’s better than waiting and assuming, psychologist Gretchen Schmelzer says.
Investigating Juvenile Justice Via Podcast
Feb. 23 2024
Award-Winning Serial Podcast Series Examined Flawed Juvenile Justice Policies in Tennessee
Reporter Meribah Knight did a deep dive into Tennessee’s fractured juvenile justice system, which ensnares many youth for far too long for minor offenses.
Crime Reporting Requires ‘Racial Lens’
Feb. 13 2024
Crime Reporting Lacks Critical Analysis Of The Criminal Legal System
A system ‘inherently biased against people of color’: Criminal justice reporting must include critical analysis, says Alanah Odoms, executive director, ACLU of Louisiana.
When Local Governments Fail To Halt Gun Violence, Community Advocates Fill The Void
Feb. 09 2024
‘Going Door-To-Door, Block-To-Block’ To Treat Root Causes Of Violence, Says Ernest Johnson, Director and Co-founder of Ubuntu Village NOLA
Violence ‘interrupters’ hitting streets in New Orleans to cut gun deaths, says Ernest Johnson, director and co-founder of Ubuntu Village NOLA.
Press ‘Crucial’ To Demystifying Nation’s Juvenile Court System
Feb. 05 2024
Closed Juvenile Court Proceedings Pose Challenges To News Coverage
Media’s portrayal of juveniles in court system ‘very important’ to outcomes, says Ranord Darensburg, chief judge of Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.
Reporters Must ‘Corroborate What The Police Are Telling Us’
Jan. 31 2024
‘The Police, Frankly, Sometimes Are Wrong’
Finding the truth requires testing initial police accounts, says Tony Plohetski, investigative reporter at Austin American Statesman and KVUE.
Law Enforcement Officials Urge More Engagement With Journalists
Jan. 29 2024
Critical Coverage Of Law Enforcement Has Strained Police Recruitment, DA Jason Williams Says
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says, “there is no such thing as no comment.”
Missing People Of Color ‘Shunned’ By The Media, Advocates Say
Jan. 29 2024
Missing White Women Get Disproportionate Attention While 40% Of Those Missing Are People Of Color
‘We are met with silence’: Natalie Wilson, co-founder of Black & Missing Foundation, describes common response from news outlets.
Dealing With Police A ‘Challenge’ In Post-George Floyd Era
Jan. 23 2024
Police ‘Backlash’ Tests Criminal Justice Reporters, KYW News Radio’s Kristen Johanson Says
Kristen Johanson, veteran crime reporter at Philadelphia’s KYW News Radio told journalists: “It's very different than what we all probably signed up to do in the first place.”
Former AG Alberto Gonzales: Justice Will ‘Prevail’ In Trump Prosecutions
Jan. 19 2024
G.W. Bush’s Attorney General Calls Donald Trump’s Vow of Retribution ‘Dangerous’
Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales believes the criminal justice system will prevail in the face of Donald Trump’s 91 felony counts.
Consequences of Trying Children as Adults Often Ignored
Jan. 18 2024
Young Offenders Prosecuted As Adults Often Subjected To Solitary Confinement
Prosecuting children as adults discounts future development, says Bianca van Heydoorn, executive director Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project.
Race And Crime Reporting: Communities Of Color Disproportionately Represented
Jan. 18 2024
Cassie Owens: ‘To Make An Unprecedented Cultural Change Is Not Light Work’
Reporters are too quick to accept police narratives reinforcing racial bias, says AP reporter Gary Fields.
‘Gun Violence Is A Human Story’: Advocates Appeal For Empathetic Reporting
Jan. 18 2024
Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting Seeks Change
Gun violence reporting can expose victims to additional trauma, says trauma surgeon Jessica Beard.
‘There’s A Way To Make It Less Adversarial:’ Law Enforcement And The Press
Jan. 16 2024
‘Bad News Does Not Improve With Age:’ Ex-Philly Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey Urges Prompt Response To Press Inquiries
Improving press-law enforcement dealings requires commitment to availability, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner says.
DOJ’s Rachel Rossi: Journalism ‘Critical’ to Righting Justice Inequities
Jan. 11 2024
Reporters Make 'Justice Gap' Visible to Communities, Policymakers
Journalists are key to expanding justice to low income, communities of color, says Justice Department Access to Justice Director Rachel Rossi.
No Place Immune from Mass Violence: Secret Service Official Calls for Public Intervention
Nov. 16 2023
Three-Quarters Of Attackers Raised Concerns Before Strikes
Lina Alathari, director of U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, tells journalists that public reporting of threatening behavior is key to curbing mass violence.
What James Comey Regrets – And What He Doesn’t
Oct. 06 2023
Former FBI Director Jim Comey Talks Trump, Clinton
Comey explains why he’s still “optimistic about America” and what he would've done differently after Mar-a-Lago.
Getting to the Root of the Juvenile Justice Story
June 06 2023
Connecting With the Youth and Families Represented by Statistics
For Rachel Dissell of the Marshall Project and Signal Cleveland, reporting on kids in the system must include why and how they got there.
From Trump to Hunter: How to Cover Hot Investigations
May 18 2023
These are the questions to ask when trying to assess an investigation into a politician, Protect Democracy experts say.
The Path Toward Authentic Juvenile Justice
Feb. 21 2023
Zero-Tolerance Policies Don’t Work. What Does?
Ruth Rosenthal and Christina Quaranta have studied the effects of over-policing youth. They want journalists to communicate more effective solutions.
5 Records Requests Every Crime Reporter Should File
Feb. 02 2023
FOIA for Criminal Justice and Public Safety Reporters
How to FOIA the FBI, get records from state police and do it at a cost that won’t bankrupt the newsroom, according to Mark Walker of The New York Times.
What Bosses Need to Know About Trauma
Feb. 01 2023
Does Your Newsroom Over Rely on ‘Resilience’?
Journalism needs emotionally intelligent leaders to help reporters deal with acute and repeated trauma.
Trading Trauma for a Hopeful Future
Jan. 30 2023
Journalists Must Prioritize Context When Covering Crises
Austin American-Statesman Editor Manny García believes communities deserve reporting that doesn’t just focus on trauma and violence but empowers them to act.
Journalists, Know Your Rights at Police Scenes, Protests
Jan. 27 2023
First Amendment to 14th: An Outline for Reporters and Photographers
The First Amendment protects free speech, but there are limitations. Here’s what you need to know from lawyer and photojournalist Mickey Osterreicher.
In Crime Coverage, Context is Key
Jan. 25 2023
Journalists Should Report on Crime as a Systemic Problem, Experts Say
How to get away from “one-off incidents that often dominate the nightly news and headlines, and actually look to the systems behind it.”
Reporter Tools: The Jail Data Initiative
Jan. 23 2023
Does Your Audience Know What’s Happening at the Local Jail?
The Jail Data Initiative enables journalists to analyze demographic trends in jails county-by-county.
What Journalists Get Wrong About Race and Crime
Jan. 20 2023
Don’t View The Police As Experts, Reporter and Ex-Cop Says
Journalists still prioritize white victims of crime, The Trace reporter Alain Stephens said. Stanford’s Cheryl Phillips shared how to use data to dig into disparities.
Shimon Produpecz—What You Learn Covering Too Many Mass Shootings
Jan. 20 2023
How to Get Answers from Police and Minimize Harm to Victims
CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz has covered mass shootings from Pulse nightclub to Uvalde elementary school. These are the hard lessons he’s learned.
How Journalists Are Improving Crime Coverage
Jan. 17 2023
Many Newsrooms Have Started By Dropping Police Mugshots And Coverage Of Petty Crime
“There are few elements in American society that are more determinative of what happens in criminal justice policy than what you all put on the air,” Carroll Bogert of the Marshall Project said.
Beyond the Blotter: Understanding Crime Trends
Jan. 17 2023
Journalists Must Look Beyond Crime Rates To Clearance Rates
“There's a ton of context in criminal justice which is getting lost, in my opinion, as a result of that need for urgency,” in TV news, said Walter Katz, vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures with a 17-year tenure as a public defender.
What Journalists Need to Know about Facial Recognition
Jan. 03 2023
What Keeps the Experts up at Night?
Facial recognition technology and other AI is a threat to democracy, “Coded Bias” filmmaker Shalini Kantayya and Center for Democracy & Technology experts say.
How Supreme Court Reporters Set Themselves Apart
Nov. 28 2022
An ‘Exclusive Club’ Covers the Supreme Court. Here’s a Look Inside
The leak of the Supreme Court’s draft abortion ruling was unprecedented. Now, Supreme Court reporters think the beat is changing.
Supreme Court 2023: Where to Dig for News
Nov. 16 2022
Pay Attention to Cases the Supreme Court Hasn’t Yet Agreed to Hear, Attorney Advises
80% of the Supreme Court Bar are white males. For better coverage, journalists should interview other lawyers — and historians.
Better Reporting on Mental Illness
July 26 2022
Be a Listener, a Witness, and a Voice for the Unheard.
Police shooting stories usually feature a hero and a villain. An Insider series made the behavioral healthcare system the villain.
Covering Criminal Justice?
Feb. 08 2022
Keeping Teens From Crime: What Works?
Dec. 03 2021
Chicago’s “Choose to Change” Program Reduces Arrests of Youth for Violent Crimes
At the University of Chicago Crime Lab, researchers explore ways to keep at-risk kids out of crime – and partner with schools to put theory into practice.
A War on Minority Women?
Dec. 01 2021
Women’s Drug Arrests Are Up 216% Since 1985
U.S. is an outlier in how many women it imprisons. Many are abuse survivors languishing in a criminal justice system built for men.
Community Gun Violence
Nov. 23 2021
What Is to Be Done?
While homicides spiked in the U.S. during the 2020 pandemic, they didn’t increase in other countries. Are guns, “de-policing” or is cynicism about policing to blame?
Better Coverage of Criminal Justice
Nov. 23 2021
Criminal Justice Beat Much More Than Cops and Courts
As the nation wrestles with ways to change its criminal justice system, reporters need to keep one eye on the streets and the other on the legislature. Tips for finding sources and data on the beat.
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