The News & Observer didn’t set out, when it launched an investigation of the North Carolina probation system, to replay that office’s failings in the murders of UNC student Eve Carson and Duke student Abhijit Mahato.
The newspaper already had reported at the time of the deaths last spring that the two suspects in the Carson case were on probation for previous crimes and had escaped all but cursory supervision by probation officers in Durham and Wake counties.
The purpose of the series that ran last week, said Senior Editor Steve Riley, was to look beyond those cases to see whether the same kinds of deficiencies afflict routine probation management by the state. “The main question for us was, are they giving that little attention to other cases and, if so, what can we show?” he said. “It was just a question of digging a little deeper.”
The answer, in short, was yes. The series found that 580 people have killed in North Carolina while under the supervision of probation officers since the year 2000. If probation officers had been paying more attention to the probation violations, deaths might not have occurred.
But the investigation did veer back to the Eve Carson case when the paper discovered that the state probation office had shut down a computerized warning system that would have alerted probation officers, before Carson’s killing, to new arrests of the suspects in her murder. Had that warning system been up and running, a probation regional manager told The N&O, her slaying might have been prevented.
The N&O got a lot of reaction to the series last week, mostly from readers who were appalled at the state’s lax administration of a system that’s supposed to keep convicted felons from committing crimes again. John Dupree of Bonsal said his daughter had been a probation officer for several years. “Some of the stories coming out we knew about long ago,” he said. “While I don’t always agree with The N&O, this is a fine and necessary function of a newspaper, to be the watchdog for the public. To say the situation is a disgrace is mildly putting it.”
The three-day series was based on the newspaper’s examination of court and corrections records of criminals who have been convicted but released on probation, rather than sent to prison.
The paper found that the state has lost track of 14,000 of the 114,000 people on probation in North Carolina. Nearly 2,200 committed serious crimes while on probation, including the 580 who killed people. Those records were sitting in offices of the head of the state probation system, unread until The N&O asked.
“Disgusting is the only word that fits” said reader Nancy McGrew. “Shame on them.”
Not all readers were entirely satisfied with the work. Terry Grunwald of Raleigh said the reporters should have examined more thoroughly the state’s explanation for why it didn’t purchase the computer system that would have flagged the suspect in Carson’s killing. “I would have appreciated more context here. Were there legitimate reasons for axing his specific proposal? Would it have been a violation of ‘purchasing rules’? Was it too expensive and ‘prone to errors’? Including the independent analysis of an objective information systems professional would have strengthened the piece. I have to wonder: Was that shortcut due to budgetary constraints at the N&O?”
Riley said those were fair questions, but even so, the state still delayed until recently developing such a computer alert system for probation violations.
Several readers wanted the paper to hold accountable the person ultimately responsible for the probation failings — Gov. Mike Easley. Easley declined to be interviewed and instead released a statement saying more probationers should be sent to prison. That seemed to me a facile response, and I agree that the series should have held Easley more accountable for the problems that occurred under his watch.
Grunwald raises a legitimate question regarding the effect of staffing cuts. N&O newsroom staffing has declined over the last several years from 250 to 161 currently.
But I’d say this series demonstrates a continuing commitment to performing the watchdog function. It’s the second major investigative project this year, after the mental health series last spring that has brought about reforms in the state mental health system. The probation project took about six months and involved three reporters — Joe Neff, Anne Blythe and Sarah Ovaska — and a team of 11 more researchers, photographers, artists and editors. It is expensive work.
I think it’s a good sign for readers that, after longtime investigative reporter Pat Stith retired in October, the paper chose to fill his position rather than save the expense.
Some readers took note of that, too. “I’m so happy that, with all the budget cuts at newspapers, the News & Observer decided to spend a lot of time, effort and money on this project,” wrote David Elstein of Chapel Hill. “This is why I subscribe to the paper. Local TV would not do a story like this, especially with so much depth. I was afraid that when Pat Stith left, there would not be any more investigative stories. Glad I was wrong.”
Correction: In last Sunday’s column, I misspelled the last name of Joseph M. Sansom.
