The Best Criminal Justice Reporting of 2009

by Matt Kelley · 2010-01-22 06:53:00 UTC
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Each year, John Jay College of Criminal Justice honors great reporting on crime, courts and prisons. This year, top awards recognized reporting that cuts at the heart of two key issues: wrongful convictions and long-term solitary confinement.

In the Austin Chronicle, reporter Jordan Smith gets inside the story of a couple convicted for allegedly abusing children at a day care center. Fran and Danny Keller have spent 17 years in prison under these allegations, which they adamantly deny. In his story, Smith turns up evidence that suggests the Kellers are not guilty after all -- and in fact were convicted based on allegations coerced from the children.

When it comes to wrongful convictions, hysteria in child care situations and false sex assault allegations are common. In one of the more high-profile cases of late, two Ohioans were exonerated -- after 15 years in prison -- from charges of molestation at a childcare center. The 2009 documentary Witch Hunt, which explores the wrongful convictions of several Californians likewise accused of sexual assault in a day care setting, and Capturing the Friedmans, are also examples of great documentary work like Smith's on the issue.

John Jay's series award went to George Pawlaczyk and Beth Hundsdorfer of the Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat for a set of stories on Illinois' Tamms Correction Center -- which claims to house the state's "worst of the worst." Over 50 prisoners at Tamms have been held in solitary confinement for more than 10 consecutive years, the series revealed -- and many of them are there for exhibiting symptoms of mental illnesses they can't control. As a result of the series, the Illinois Department of Corrections announced reforms in the facility's policies, especially those relating to prisoners suffering from mental illness.

Congrats to the winners of this year's John Jay College Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Awards -- and thanks to all reporters who worked in 2009 to shed light on these enormously important issues.

Photo Credit: Austin Chronicle

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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