Criminal Justice
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Video
The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action
The ‘Burning Bed’ killing put domestic violence in the headlines.
criminal-justicelaw-policy
Charu Raman
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Sandra McDaniel
Video
Combating the Myth of the Superpredator
In the 1990s, a handful of researchers inspired panic with a dire but flawed prediction: the imminent arrival of a new breed of “superpredators.”
civil-rightscriminal-justice
David Feinberg
Bonnie Bertram
Scott Michels
Video
The Modern Bystander Effect
Why don’t people intervene when they encounter violence streaming live online?
criminal-justicepopular-culture
Sandrine Isambert
David Feinberg
Catherine Olian
Karen M. Sughrue
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
DNA Clues Solve Crimes . . . With a Privacy Cost
DNA information that is available on genealogy websites is doing more than satisfying curiosity -- it's solving crimes.
law-policycriminal-justice
Bret Sigler
Bret Sigler
Matt Spolar
Mini-doc
Columbine at 20: Media Attention and Copycat Killers
Twenty years after Columbine, we examine the impact the attack has had on today's youths -- and how the media has more recently shifted its coverage of school shootings.
criminal-justicemedia-criticism
Anne Checler
Erik German
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
How A Folk Singer’s Murder Forced Chile to Confront Its Past
Víctor Jara was a legendary Chilean folk singer and political activist, whose brutal killing during a military coup in 1973 went unsolved for decades. Now, his family may finally get justice.
militarycriminal-justice
Sean Mattison
Pilar Rico
Trevor Martin
Emerson Arias Lara
Video
For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business
An inmate population surge in the 1980s led to the growth of for-profit prisons. Today, despite their mixed record, private prison companies are overseeing the vast majority of undocumented migrants.
criminal-justiceimmigration
Anne Checler
Sarah Weiser
Video
Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence
This is the story of cops, African-American pastors, gang members, and academics coming together to create positive change for Boston, while upending notions of traditional policing in a way that is especially pertinent today.
criminal-justicecivil-rights
Scott Michels
Sandrine Isambert
Meral Agish
Video
What History Can Teach Us About Mass Killings
A century ago, a culture rid itself of the problem of mass murder. How did that happen and what can the modern-day world learn from it?
criminal-justice
Anne Checler
Karen M. Sughrue
Erik German
Video
How ISIS Resembles the Doomsday Cults of the 1970s
Can the lessons we learned from extremist cults decades ago be used to fight ISIS recruitment today?
criminal-justice
Anne Checler
Geoffrey O'Connor
Sandra McDaniel
Mini-doc
The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science
With the Trump administration’s move to end a commission investigating flaws in forensic science, Retro Report looks at the history of one now-challenged method: hair analysis.
criminal-justice
Scott Michels
Mini-doc
Remembering Kitty
More than 50 years after Kitty Genovese's murder became a symbol of urban apathy, her partner, Mary Ann Zielonko remembers Kitty's life and impact.
sex-gendercriminal-justice
Catherine Olian
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Argentina's Stolen Babies, and the Grandmothers Leading the Search
The Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women dedicated to finding babies who were taken by Argentina's military regime in the 1970s and 1980s, have reunited their 130th family.
criminal-justice
Anne Checler
Barbara Dury
Meral Agish
Mini-doc
Separated from Parents as a Child, Argentine Man Finds his Family
The story of one man's search for his identity after his parents disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship.
criminal-justice
Barbara Dury
Mini-doc
Sisters Search for Lost Brother Separated by Argentine Dictatorship
Flavia Battistiol has turned to social media in hopes of being reunited with the sibling who disappeared in 1977, when the military junta ruled Argentina.
criminal-justice
Barbara Dury
Video
Lessons from Columbine About School Shootings and Media Misinformation
The killing of twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999 continues to shape how we view and understand school shootings today.
media-criticismcriminal-justice
Anne Checler
Erik German
Olivia Katrandjian
Mini-doc
The Lawyer
A mini-doc about the anatomy of a shaken baby case from the perspective of defense attorney Adele Bernhard.
criminal-justice
Miriam Weintraub
Video
A Mother, a Dingo and an Australian Media Frenzy
In 1982, an Australian mother was convicted of murdering her baby daughter. She was later exonerated, but soon fell victim to a joke that distracted the world from the real story.
Criminal JusticeMedia Criticism
Anne Alvergue
Jennifer Forde
Sarah Weiser
Video
The Murder of US Churchwomen in El Salvador That Exposed a Government Coverup
The murder of four American churchwomen focused attention on the United States' involvement in El Salvador. Decades later, the case continues to take surprising turns.
criminal-justice
Jeff Bernier
Kit R. Roane
Raymond Bonner
Video
How the Shootout at Ruby Ridge Resonates in the Gun Debate Today
When armed suspects stand off against the law today, one event continues to cast a shadow on both sides of the police line: the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge.
criminal-justice
Sandrine Isambert
Erik German
Meral Agish
Video
Flawed Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Crime Lab
Before DNA testing, prosecutors relied on less sophisticated forensic techniques, including microscopic hair analysis, to put criminals behind bars. But how reliable was hair analysis?
criminal-justicescience-technology
Hope Litoff
Anne Alvergue
Scott Michels
Kit R. Roane
Video
The Shame of the Church
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been making headlines for years. Some priests have been punished, but what about the bishops who shielded them?
Criminal Justice
Sandrine Isambert
Harry W. Hanbury
Video
The Preschool Sex Abuse Case that Changed How Molestation is Investigated
The nightmare began in 1983 when a 39-year-old mother called the police department in Manhattan Beach, California and accused a teacher at the McMartin Preschool, Raymond Buckey, of molesting her two and a half-year old son.
media-criticismcriminal-justice
Seth Bomse
Barbara Dury
Sarah Weiser
Video
Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets
Long before Edward Snowden, there was the greatest heist you've never heard of. On March 8, 1971, a group of eight Vietnam War protestors broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole hundreds of government documents that shocked a nation.
criminal-justice
Jeff Bernier
Ben Howard
Bonnie Bertram
Drew Magratten
Olivia Katrandjian
Jonathan Franklin
Video
Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out
After the 1993 murder of a California child, many states passed laws to lock up repeat offenders for life, but today those laws are raising new questions about how crime is handled in America.
criminal-justice
Anne Alvergue
Karen M. Sughrue
Scott Michels
Video
Wrongly Accused of Terrorism: The Sleeper Cell That Wasn't
Six days after 9/11, the FBI’s raid on a Detroit sleeper cell signaled America’s resolve to fight terrorism. But, despite a celebrated conviction, there was one problem — they’d gotten it wrong.
criminal-justice
Peter Klein
Ben Howard
Sandrine Isambert
David Feinberg
Lisa Hale
Peter Klein
Lisa Hale
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
The Tawana Brawley Story
In 1988, the nation learned the truth about the alleged crimes against Tawana Brawley, but the shocking story was far from over.
criminal-justice
Jeff Bernier
Kit R. Roane
Joseph Demma
Ross Tuttle
Video
The Crack Baby Scare: From Faulty Science to Media Panic
In the 1980s, images of tiny, jittery "crack babies" caused social outcry -- crack-addicted pregnant mothers were prosecuted and the media warned that a generation of “crack babies” would plague our country. Turns out… they were wrong.
media-criticismcriminal-justice
Bret Sigler
Jeff Bernier
Kit R. Roane