Community Safety

The Arizona Department of Child Safety received more than 9,000 reports regarding child safety from Pima County residents during fiscal year 2016. About 2,100 of those reports resulted in children being removed from homes.

Cristian Fernandez was propelled to international notoriety when he was just 12, when he fatally beat his 2-year-old brother. But, after seven years of incarceration, how does a 19-year-old begin to move on?

When Jessica Porten sought help for postpartum depression, she wasn't expecting the nurse to call the police to escort her to the ER. She now believes moms need far better help for their mental health needs.

We recently spoke with Brenda Woods-Placky, director of the Climate Matters program at Climate Central, to discuss how journalists can best report on the science and health impact of climate change.

Times-Picayune reporter Jonathan Bullington offers a behind-the-scenes look at his reporting with colleague Richard Webster on the trauma experienced by kids growing up in New Orleans' "Triangle of Death."

This story was produced as part of a project for the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, a program of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

Read related stories in this series here.

Disturbed by stories about the rape and beatings of teens by supervisory staff and fellow detainees, Miami-Dade’s state attorney is asking a grand jury to investigate the Florida juvenile justice system.

On a Monday in early October, the top administrator at the the Manatee Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Bradenton, Florida issued a terse order to subordinates: “Do not flush.”

The effort is bringing together civic leaders, police, educators, community groups and religious leaders. The goals are to curb gang-related crime, help children stay out of gangs, and deal with emotional aftermath of violence.

While many students seem unaffected by the violence, medical experts say the mere knowledge of killings can cause them to experience their own trauma and lose their sense of safety.