STORY

   JOAN GARRETT MCCLANE

  & TODD SOUTH

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

DOUG STRICKLAND

 

MULTIMEDIA

MARY HELEN MILLER

 

DESIGN & GRAPHICS

MATT MCCLANE

 

WEB

KEN BARRETT

This series was reported and written over nine months. More than 150 people were interviewed. Some were shadowed for months. Other research included hundreds of pages of police and court records, books and research papers from universities and the U.S. Department of Justice. Photographers and reporters traveled on night-time ride-alongs with police, went door-to-door to talk to community members, met with gang members, drove to North Carolina, talked to numerous national experts and were present for court hearings and police interviews with witnesses. Subjects provided personal documents including diaries and records from psychologists, schools, juvenile court and the Tennesse Department of Children’s Services. Most interviews were recorded on audio. Quotes italicized in the series were recounted to the reporter from a source who was present. Quotes in quotation marks were words heard by a reporter or taken from court transcripts.