Losing Track
Opponents claim GPS monitoring violates civil rights; judges not so sure
|
Courts are wrestling with whether electronic monitoring is too intrusive; meanwhile, Europe uses the technology sparingly over civil-rights concerns.
Losing Track
Homeless offenders create gaps in Wisconsin’s GPS monitoring system
|
Ten percent of offenders scramble to find places to plug in bracelets, some cut them off, and local laws make it hard for released sex offenders to find housing.
Losing Track
Electronic monitoring pioneer wants less punishment, more reward
|
Robert S. Gable and his twin brother invented one of the first monitoring systems for criminal offenders; he is dismayed by how they are used today.
Broken Whistle
Long-time judge: Some ‘independent’ doctors routinely rule against injured workers
|
As an administrative law judge hearing worker’s compensation cases in Wisconsin for three decades, Joe Schaeve said he often knew how certain doctors hired by employers and insurance companies would rule even before opening their reports.
Broken Whistle
Joell Schigur warned bosses of possible illegal activity, but Wisconsin courts ruled she is not a whistleblower
|
Dissenting Supreme Court justice called 2015 decision ‘absurd,’ saying it removes protections for employees who disclose information their supervisors already know
Broken Whistle
Two Wisconsin whistleblowers recall journeys from reporting to ‘retaliation’
|
Two state employees say they were humiliated and harassed after reporting suspected fraud in their agencies; ‘You feel rotten,’ Suzanne Weber said
Broken Whistle
Defining Wisconsin’s whistleblower law
|
Whistleblowing traditionally has been seen as a public-private effort to expose wrongdoing, said Patrick Burns, associate director of Taxpayers Against Fraud, whose group works to protect and advance the cause of whistleblowers.
Documenting Hate
Across Wisconsin, recent rises in hate, bias incidents spark concern
|
The contentious 2016 presidential election raised religious and racial tensions, but experts say the fears fueling hate and bias incidents began years earlier.
Documenting Hate
A look at Wisconsin’s ‘hate’ groups
|
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks “hate” groups nationwide, has identified nine such groups operating in Wisconsin. It defines these groups as having “beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.”
Flawed Forensics
Wisconsin inmate says flawed FBI hair, fiber analysis forced him to take plea deal, 50-year prison term
|
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism identifies nine cases with misleading microscopic hair or fiber comparisons; one man serving life for killing a police officer in 1994 says he is innocent.
Flawed Forensics
Several states searching out flawed FBI hair, fiber cases; Wisconsin is not
|
At least three men convicted in Wisconsin have been cleared in separate cases in which DNA testing proved that earlier microscopic hair analysis was wrong
Flawed Forensics
Wisconsin’s tainted hair, fiber cases
|
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has found nine cases in the state involving 12 defendants that featured faulty crime laboratory hair or fiber comparison. Seven cases were flagged by the national task force re-examining cases involving FBI hair and fiber analysts. Two are cases in which DNA testing showed that Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory hair comparisons linking suspects to crime scene hairs were wrong.