A team of five reporters for the Philadelphia Inquirer has been documenting serious problems in Philadelphia’s court system for more than two years for their groundbreaking series, “Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied.” Their investigation found that the city had the highest violent crime rate among America’s 10 largest cities and among the lowest conviction rates for big cities. Nearly two-thirds of all defendants accused of violent crimes in Philadelphia have been allowed to walk free.
University of Missouri journalism professor Debora Halpern Wenger interviewed the reporting team about their investigative techniques.
Read the case study.
Read the NICAR tip sheet the Philadelphia Inquirer team put together.