John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

   

New York, NY, January 15, 2009 --- Fifteen journalists from print, online and broadcast outlets around the country have been awarded fellowships to attend the Fourth Annual Harry F. Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City on Feb 2-3, 2009. The special fellowships, organized by John Jay’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice (CMCJ), are aimed at encouraging and promoting top-quality journalism on criminal justice.  

“There are unfortunately few opportunities to recognize the agenda-setting role that reporters play in tackling the criminal justice issues facing our communities,” said CMCJ Director Stephen Handelman. “This year’s Fellows represent some of the best reporting talent in the nation, and the impact of their work will be profound in years to come.”  

“The Center is providing an important forum for candid exchanges between journalists, academics and practitioners about the key justice issues of the day. This effort will help journalists in their coverage of crime issues,” said Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  

The Fellows were selected from a wide pool of applicants based on editors’ recommendations and on investigative reporting projects currently underway or in the planning stage related to the theme of the 2009 conference: A New Beginning? Exploring the Criminal Justice Challenges over the Next Four Years.  

The projects cover subjects ranging from police perjury in Chicago, sentencing reform in Baltimore, and the selection process in state parole boards across the U.S. to the innovative use of “crowdsourcing” community web sites to prevent and control crime. The 2009 Fellows are listed below.  

The award-winners will receive financial assistance or stipends that enable them to attend symposium panels with leading criminal justice academics, practitioners and policymakers, as well as special journalism skills workshops and events related to the conference at John Jay, the nation’s leading academic institution for educating on criminal justice. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium, which brings together journalists and criminal justice professionals for candid discussions on contemporary crime and justice trends, is the only national event of its kind.  

Overall support for the conference and fellowships comes from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Open Society Institute and The Pew Center on the States. These organizations did not participate in the review or selection of the fellows.  

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, its faculty are  the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing