{ "id": "1994-december-crime-tops-car-agenda-for-94", "slug": "1994-december-crime-tops-car-agenda-for-94", "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1994-december-crime-tops-car-agenda-for-94.html", "year": 1994, "month": "December", "monthNum": 12, "headline": "Crime tops CAR agenda for '94", "kicker": "This just in", "author_name": "Gwen Carleton", "author_title": "", "affiliation": "NICAR", "summary": "In 1994, CAR reporting concentrated on crime coverage, with notable investigations including the Wisconsin State Journal's examination of crime and socioeconomic factors in Madison, analysis of juvenile crime patterns in Southern California, and USA Today's study of prosecutor effectiveness disparities across cities.", "keywords": [ "crime", "investigation", "enforcement" ], "topics": [ "Crime & Justice", "Investigative Methods", "Data & Databases" ], "technologies": [ "Excel", "FoxPro", "SPSS" ], "full_text": "Judging from the clips we've seen, computer-assisted journalists made a strong showing in 1994. Stories made possible by computer analysis appeared nationwide, tackling a multitude of topics. Not surprisingly in the year of the Brady Bill, the Crime Bill and \"Three Strikes, You're Out,\" crime was an especially popular topic.\n\nAs we reported in September's Uplink, the Wisconsin State Journal continued its award-winning \"City of Hope\" series into 1994. The series, which focuses on urban problems in Madison, looked at several aspects of crime this year: where the most crimes occur, how shortages in affordable housing aggravate the problems and the connection between unemployment and crime.\n\nStaff reporters did their analyses with the help of one personal computer running some inexpensive local police records through Excel, FoxPro and SPSS software. Yet, they have become such authorities on crime statistics that the police now refer some inquiries to the State Journal.\n\nMeanwhile in Southern California, Rebecca Fairley Raney took a close look at youth violence in her three-day San Bernardino Sun series, \"Too violent, too young.\" The series described how a system designed to reform truants is straining to keep juvenile murderers off the street.\n\nRaney analyzed thousands of San Bernardino arrest records. She found that, although the number of teens arrested remained level between 1982 and 1992, the severity of their crimes changed dramatically. Car theft, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon made the top ten list of juvenile crimes, displacing relatively minor offenses such as truancy and curfew violation. The numbers portray an increasing number of youths unfettered by discipline and desperate for respect, and a legal system that only can deal with the worst among them.\n\nUSA Today reporters Laura Frank and Sam Vincent Meddis looked at federal prosecutors across the nation in their special report, \"Unequal justice.\" They found that, although the number of U.S. attorneys nearly doubled during the last decade, convictions fell. The reporters compared different cities according to the number of prosecutors, the number of cases prosecuted and convictions per million. They discovered wide disparities.\n\nAccording to the USA Today analysis, different crime rates drain resources at different rates, and an avalanche of federal laws promote selective enforcement. As a result, neighboring districts can differ dramatically with regard to who they prosecute and how harshly they punish. The article also cites legislative efforts to increase oversight, at least one of them provoked by the newspaper's investigation.\n\nAnother analysis, this one by Jon Schmid and Joseph Neff of the Raleigh News & Observer, examined the probable impact of the celebrated \"Three Strikes, You're Out\" proposal in North Carolina.\n\nThe story, which appeared as the state legislature weighed a \"Three Strikes\" bill, found the law would do little for the state. Only one criminal in 2,000 current would have been affected, according to Schmid and Neff's analysis of FBI data and North Carolina Corrections Department data.\n\nOf the 177,505 people entering state prisons between 1972 and 1992, only 91 committed three violent crimes - and more than half of those criminals remain in prison. Schmid and Neff showed that only a tiny proportion of crimes might have been prevented by a \"Three Strikes\" law. Just five criminals are currently in jail for committing four violent crimes.\n\nThe reporters used charts and graphs to illustrate the age of most violent offenders, as well as the crimes third-time offenders committed. They also talked to politicians, criminologists and convicted felons concerning the crime bill's likely impact on the state.\n\nElsewhere, other papers went beyond police, FBI and prison statistics to look at more unconventional types of crime. Paul D'Ambrosio of the Asbury Park Press compared the Social Security Administration's Master Death List with voter records to see just how many of New Jersey's dead are showing on voting lists.\n\nD'Ambrosio found 370 dead people registered to vote in the area he examined; one even changed party posthumously.\n\nAn examination of local death records showed some of those listed as deceased by the election board actually are alive and well. D'Ambrosio found other instances where the election board probably passed a dead person's registration on to another voter with a similar name. However, scores of other posthumous votes remained a mystery.\n\nD'Ambrosio pointed out the Motor Voter law, which will go into effect Jan. 1 will make it more difficult to remove questionable voters from the rolls.\n\nReporters from the (Greensburg, Pa.) Tribune-Review examined crime in another specialty area - the rent-to-own industry. Reporters Sharon Santus and David Josar discovered rent-to-own stores in their area typically charge customers more than 200 percent interest for items such as TVs, furniture and refrigerators. Moreover, the stores use bullying repossession tactics when customers fall behind on their inflated bills.\n\nA computerized mapping system at the University of Pennsylvania's library revealed nearly two-thirds of the stores were located in areas with large minority populations and large percentages living below the federal poverty level. The computer analysis showed what consumer advocates had been trying to prove: that rent-to-own store operators target minority and poor sections of the community. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office intends to use the research to help negotiate a settlement with several rent-to-own operators in the state.\n\nThese stories are just a sample of the quality work we've seen throughout 1994. Thanks to all of you for your submissions - be sure to stay in touch in the new year.", "provenance": { "extracted_by": "pre-v2", "extracted_at": "", "verified": true }, "similar": [ { "slug": "1999-september-tipsheets-on-crime", "score": 0.339 }, { "slug": "2002-november-december-data-boosts-crime-stories", "score": 0.331 }, { "slug": "2005-january-february-readmetxt-2", "score": 0.302 }, { "slug": "2005-january-february-readmetxt-4", "score": 0.293 }, { "slug": "1997-march-crime-connections", "score": 0.288 } ], "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1994-december-crime-tops-car-agenda-for-94.html", "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1994-december-crime-tops-car-agenda-for-94.json" }