2018 Azbee Awards of Excellence
Category
Print > Government Coverage > Upper Midwest
Awarded to
Lorelei Laird, Legal Affairs Writer; Jason Tashea, Legal Affairs Writer; Kevin Davis, Assistant Managing Editor
Entry details
ABA Journal
Issue date (if applicable):
Publication name: ABA Journal
Publishing company: American Bar Association
Website home page: www.abajournal.com
Please describe the publication's mission and readership:
The flagship magazine of the American Bar Association, the ABA Journal is a general interest legal publication covering the trends, people and finances of the legal industry. Its audience includes the more than 400,000 members of the ABA, readers of ABAJournal.com, those engaged on social media, and podcast listeners.
Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:
The government rule book is law, so government is a priority for the ABA Journal. Our January, February and March issues present exemplary coverage of government issues.
“The Gideon Revolution” chronicles how public defenders, who represent those who cannot afford a lawyer, have been underfunded and overworked for years. Across the country, caseloads exceed national guidelines, diminishing these attorneys’ ability to provide an effective defense. These lawyers are filing dozens of lawsuits seeking more funding for their offices. Lorelei Laird sorts through these suits in a feature story that synthesizes the complex funding problems and illuminates struggles lawyers have in properly representing the indigent.
“Age Appropriate” is Laird’s look at juvenile justice reform, which has become a bipartisan movement. She uncovers the forces leading to this shift by examining 20 years of data that show the harsh juvenile sentencing laws of the 1990s didn't create their intended outcomes. A challenge in reporting this story was connecting with former juvenile offenders and establishing a rapport that would allow them to open up during interviews.
“Calculating Crime” skewers the use of algorithms to assess risk in criminal courts. Use of these tools has become more common, but is not widely understood, so Jason Tashea sorted through the complex science. His reporting required significant translation between statisticians, legal scholars and companies to explain their concepts of fairness and due process. Since publication, Tashea has been invited as an expert in algorithmic decision-making at the Government Accountability Office and the National Academies of Science.
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ABA Journal
Category
Print > Government Coverage > Upper Midwest
Description
Publication name:
ABA Journal
Company:
American Bar Association
Winner Status
- National Gold Award
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