Dispatches: The Power of Investigative Journalism
News and notes from Pacific Standard staff and contributors.
Investigations
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The FBI's Long, Alarming History of Investigating Black Musicians
The agency's reported investigation of rapper Meek Mill's latest prison sentence seems to be an exception to a rule.
Private Eyes Behaving Badly
How is the criminal justice system compromised when our investigators need investigating?
Playing the Odds in Catching Wildfire Arsonists
A small but significant number of wildfires are intentionally set. The fire starters often share characteristics but aren’t always cut from the same cloth.
Keystone Cops at the Police Lab
Compromised crime laboratories are a national scandal that can't be set straight until the labs are independent of law enforcement.
Re-Mapping Forensic Science’s Future
A critical report from the National Academy of Sciences calls for national standards in forensics science, validation of new technology and crime lab ethics.
Debunking Arson Indicators
Sidebar: 'Flashover defense' gets two arson convictions reversed in the 1980s.
Arson Convictions, Fire Investigations Feel the Heat
As decades of flawed and unscientific fire investigation techniques call arson convictions into question, new recipes emerge for a system-wide overhaul.