Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Getting it Right

Reporting on Youth Violence

Even as crime hits record lows in New York, among teenagers around the nation, gun homicides, gang violence and police shootings of young people are on the rise. Yet while shootings in suburban schools, churches and malls generate media controversy, epidemic levels of teen homicide in cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New Orleans attract scant attention.

Difficult Year after Gun Tragedy

Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Claudia Rowe profiles a local family a year after the death of a son who was accidently shot and killed by his stepbrother. More »

The Port Arthur Massacre, April 28, 1996

By Judy Tierney

Just about everyone remembers where they were when they recall some cataclysmic event in their life. When Hobart man Martin Bryant began indiscriminately shooting people at one of Tasmania’s iconic tourism destinations I was entertaining 35 women at home. I was hosting a “girls” lunch for my journalist colleagues and some friends who held responsible positions in government.

Fighting Crime Together

By Janet Wiscombe

A series of articles exploring how communities adapt to and recover from urban trauma.  Originally published as a series in the Long Beach Press-Telegram from August to November, 1993.

Lethal Impulse

By Jeremy Olson and Erin Grace

Each teen suicide is a puzzle with pieces missing. Gone is the only person who might know the exact reasons. But taken together, these deaths reveal much about the social forces contributing to teen suicide. Originally published in the Omaha World-Herald in May, 2005.

Homicide in Detroit

By Jeff Seidel and Eric Seals

A six-part series that takes a deep look at the impact of homicide on family, police, bystanders and the city itself. Originally published in the Detroit Free Press (Detroit, MI), in 2004.

Columbine

By Dan Luzadder

A series that focused on the victims and community impact of the Columbine High School shootings. Originally published in the Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) in 1999.

A Stolen Soul

By Barbara A. Walsh and David A. Rodgers

A sensitive and thorough portrayal of Yong Jones' struggle to bring her son's murderer to justice against the backdrop of her cultural beliefs. Originally published as a series in the Portland Press Herald, Portland, ME, in May and June, 1998.

Michael's Story

By Leon Alligood and Larry McCormack

A ten-part series about a young man paralyzed by random gunfire, and the family and community that support him.  Originally published as a series in the Nashville Banner in December, 1997.

Path of a Bullet

By Ralph de la Cruz and Paul Hu

A chronicle of the toll that a single 22-cent bullet exacted on individual victims and the broader community.  Originally published in the Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA, on November 10, 1996.

West Kaul Avenue

By Crocker Stephenson, Jack Norman, and Gary Porter

A three-part series showing how entire communities can be victims of poverty and the violence it spawns.  Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 14, 1996.