Every Victim Deserves a Story
In a city with hundreds of homicides every year, it's easy to lose track of all the victims. The Los Angeles Times and the LA Daily News, however, have made extensive commitments over the past year to telling the victims' stories. The Times' "The Homicide Report" is a blog by Ruben Vives and Jill Leovy chronicling all of the approximately 1,000 homicides that occur in Los Angeles County each year, only about 10 percent of which are ever mentioned in the main newspaper. Here Leovy describes some of the difficulties she's had collecting the information:
The coroner provided a basic list of victims. But much of the information about the killings had to be wrung from police agencies spread across 400 square miles, or from crime scenes or victims' families. I worked mostly out of my car, fanning to the south and east of my office.
Many agencies were not used to releasing details. One police press official was surprised to learn that victims' names were public information: No reporter had ever asked him for that, he said.
When I first presented a list of victims to the state Department of Motor Vehicles for photos, the clerks were baffled. Twenty young people every week? "What is this?" one asked. "Did a plane crash?"
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/homicidereport/
The Daily News' "Los Angeles Homicide" features powerful audio slideshows of family members of homicide victims talking about their loved ones. It also includes profiles by Jason Kandel, Rick Coca and Rachel Uranga of L.A. residents who are making a difference in the battle against crime. Of special note is the "It's a Crime" blog, which offers quick insights by Kandel, Coca and Brent Hopkins about the worlds of cops and crooks. http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/editorial/homicides/homicides.html