Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

When Cops Are Killed

By Stan Alcorn

For the Dart Center staff, the murder of four Lakewood, Washington police officers last month, and the subsequent death of the suspected killer, brought back memories. One recalled her own experience covering an officer's death as a police reporter in Los Angeles and feeling unprepared to deal with the grief of the people she was working with in the police press room — not to mention her own reactions. More »

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.

Breaking Bad News

This booklet is intended to offer informal guidance in circumstances where journalists, their editors or managers are required to tell next-of-kin of the death of a colleague.

What Rape?

By Jeremy Kohler

This story documents the repeated failures of the St. Louis police to respond adequately to serious allegations of sexual abuse. Originally published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August, 2005.

Aftershocks of a Crime Spree

A series describing the impact of a string of armed robberies on its many victims, including the trauma experienced by the police officer who shot and killed the suspect.  Originally published in the Detroit Free Press in 2001.