Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied
Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied
For months, the Philadelphia criminal justice system has been undergoing a major overhaul. Read the four-part Inquirer investigative series that sparked the reforms - and all the follow-up developments.
For months, the Philadelphia criminal justice system has been undergoing a major overhaul.
Read the four-part Inquirer investigative series that sparked the reforms - and all the follow-up developments.
Part 1
With Philadelphia's court system in disarray, cases crumble as witnesses fear reprisal and thousands of fugitives remain at large.
Kareem Johnson stood over Walter Smith and executed him. He fired so close that Smith's blood splashed up onto Johnson's Air Jordan baseball cap.
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Tangled trail of collapsed cases and shattered lives
- After repeated arrests, Omar Cash did little time. Now he’s charged with murder.
Part 2
Intimidation on the streets is changing the way trials are run. "People are frightened to death," the D.A. says.
Witness intimidation pervades the Philadelphia criminal courts, increasingly extracting a heavy toll in no-show witnesses, recanted testimony and collapsed cases.
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Busy lawyers. Balky victims. Botched logistics.
- Getting a case to court can be a trial in itself
Part 3
Tens of thousands of Philadelphia fugitives are on the streets, abetted by the city's deeply flawed program.
The robber had a gun in his hand and a smirk on his face.
"Y'all gonna make me kill you," he said. "Where's the safe?"
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Fugitive trackers say their job is like "emptying the ocean with a spoon"
- The law's in their favor, but the numbers aren't
Part 4
Just 23 years old, John Gassew has been arrested 44 times, mostly on charges of sticking a gun in people's faces and robbing them.
More
Since this series ran
A system under scrutiny - and reform
For decades, fugitives thumbed their noses at judges in Philadelphia. But now something remarkable has happened: Criminal defendants are showing up for court.
Frightened witnesses
Two men got serious prison time after being spotlighted in an Inquirer series on Philly courts.
Fugitives from Court
Philadelphia should cap off its overhaul of its court system by creating indicting grand juries and trying fugitive defendants in absentia, a veteran former prosecutor said Monday. In a double-barreled presentation to a state Senate advisory panel, Walter M. Phillips Jr. said the moves would crack down on witness intimidation and send a strong signal encouraging defendants to show up for court.
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D.A. wants 'zone courts' for Phila.
- The D.A. wants to assign 100 prosecutors to 6 neighborhoods.
A SYSTEM UNDER SCRUTINY - AND REFORM
Frightened witnesses
Fugitives from Court
Editorials/Op-ed pieces
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