The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/focus/)
This section features the best criminal justice reporting around the nation, produced by our media partners and collaborators, and journalists who have participated in the Criminal Justice Reporting Fellowship programs sponsored by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, TCR’s parent organization. For a more comprehensive list of Fellows’ work, please check out the “programs” section—and monitor this site for information on upcoming programs and how to apply!
Treating minor gun crimes as future homicides has helped to cut down on violence in Houston, and a key tool for investigators is the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, now much improved from the original program first introduced by the feds in 1999.
A poignant essay by a father in San Quentin prison begins The Crime Report’s second installment of prison letters, rap verses and essays in honor of Father’s Day. The material was provided by The Beat Within, a San Francisco-based prison writing workshop.
To mark Father’s Day on Sunday, The Beat Within, a San Francisco-based prison writing workshop, asked inmates of juvenile detention facilities to “write the letter you always wanted (or maybe never wanted) to write” to their Dads. Here’s a first sampling of the letters they produced.
The seizure last month of more than a metric ton of cocaine in Puerto Rico is the latest indication of what may be the Caribbean’s revival as a major drug trans-shipment hub in the Western hemisphere.
An investigation by The Trace reveals most dealers located near a recent burglary did not recall being contacted under ATF’s recently established automated “fflAlert” system. The ATF says it is still modifying the system to “increase its effectiveness.”
Los Angeles police and social workers believed the young girls picked up as prostitutes could best be helped through the juvenile court system. Then they realized little would change until they went after the traffickers who had made L.A. County one of the top child sex-trafficking hubs in the U.S.
Banamex USA has avoided prosecution by acknowledging its lack of oversight over more than $142 million in suspicious remittances between 2007-2012. But the fine imposed by the Justice Department last week amounted to little more than a “slap on the wrist,” says an analyst.
Child porn offenders deploy an ever-evolving arsenal of tools, including encryption, peer-to-peer networks and the Dark Web, in a cross-border technological “arms race” that is outstripping law enforcement’s ability to track and catch them.
Colombian President Juan Santos, who met President Trump at the White House last week, says the U.S. needs to change its hardline drug policy to focus on harm-reduction and the wider illicit activities conducted by transnational crime syndicates.
As the landmark Supreme Court ruling, “In re Gault,” marks its 50th anniversary this week, advocates reflect on how it transformed the juvenile justice system—and what remains to be done.