A report advocating death penalty reforms finds that false confessions in capital cases can be limited by recording the questioning of suspects.
Meet the Doctor Who Gave $1 Million of His Own Money to Keep His Gun Research Going
Since Congress pressured the CDC to stop funding research on gun violence, Dr. Garen Wintemute has donated more than $1.1 million of his own money to keep his research going. ––– by Lois Beckett, ProPublica Federal funding for research on gun violence has been restricted for nearly two decades. President Obama urged Congress to allocate…
A Modern Day ‘Harvest of Shame’: Uncovering the Abuse of Blue Collar Temp Workers
A Modern Day ‘Harvest of Shame’
Temporary Work, Lasting Harm
Since the 2008 recession, companies have increasingly turned to temporary employees for factory, warehouses and construction jobs. The trend carries a human cost.
Admissions Directors at Public Universities Speak Honestly (and Anonymously) About Their Goals
Many public universities, suffering from state budget cuts or hungry for prestige, have made it a priority to attract out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition, and those who will help boost the schools’ place in college rankings.
To Dodge Law, High-Cost Lender Offers Cash for Free
TitleMax, one of the fastest growing high-cost lenders in the country, has found a clever way around laws passed by several Texas cities: offer an initial loan at zero percent interest.
Second Chances Underscore Flaws in Death Investigations
A chronic shortage of qualified forensic pathologists allows even questionably competent practitioners to remain employable. The absence of trained practitioners is so acute that many jurisdictions don’t look closely at the doctors they employ.
A Powerful Legal Tool, and Its Potential for Abuse
Material witness orders are meant to help prosecutors compel testimony from problematic witnesses in criminal cases. But the orders, which must be signed by judges, are supposed to be used only in extraordinary circumstances, as a kind of last resort, often when prosecutors fear a potential witness might flee instead of testifying.
The Sweeping Presidential Power to Help Prisoners That Holder Didn’t Mention
In unveiling the new “smart on crime” initiative, US Attorney General Eric Holder skipped mention of the sweeping power the president has to shorten or forgive a federal prisoner’s sentence.
A Case to Make Prosecutors Personally Accountable
This case shines a light on the issue of what are known as material witness orders, a poorly understood aspect of New York’s criminal justice system in which people who are potential witnesses to crimes can be detained, evaluated and perhaps compelled to disclose what they know.
A Prosecutor, a Wrongful Conviction and a Question of Justice
A recent investigation by ProPublica looking at more than a decade’s worth of court records found that New York judges don’t routinely refer prosecutorial misconduct to state panels that handle attorney discipline, even when they overturn convictions and upbraid prosecutors for constitutional violations.
Law Designed to Clean Up ‘Nuisances’ is Costing Innocent People Their Homes
How could someone who’s neither accused nor convicted of a crime be forced to give up their property because of anothers misdeeds?
A Prosecutor on Trial
While revelations of misconduct might result in people being freed from prison or granted new trials, action is almost never taken against the offending prosecutors.
Feds Won’t Go Undercover to Prove Housing Discrimination
HUD studies have found that African Americans and Latinos are discriminated against in one of every five home-buying encounters and one in every four attempts to rent an apartment.
Who Are We at War With? Sorry, That’s Classified
In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.” So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.
Not Authorized to Prescribe Drugs? Medicare Pays Anyway.
Hundreds of thousands of times each year, Medicare pays for prescriptions purportedly written by massage therapists, athletic trainers, interpreters and others who aren’t allowed to prescribe drugs, according to a new federal report.