The Bob Graham Center for Public Service provides a wide variety of programs for students and the larger public on topics related to public service, public leadership and civic engagement.
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Bias on the Bench
April 3, 2017
Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporters Emily Le Coz and Josh Salman discussed the award-winning investigative series, “Bias on the bench,” which reveals Florida’s broken judicial sentencing system on April 3 at 6 p.m. in the Pugh Hall Ocora. Using an unprecedented analysis of more than 80 million records in two statewide databases, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune revealed apparent bias in Florida’s sentencing system.
Published online on Dec. 7, the series went viral, receiving 250,000 hits and more than 1 million requests in the first week alone.
Editorial boards from major newspapers across the state praised the work as groundbreaking, and the New York Times requested permission to republish the data.
As a result of the story, state lawmakers quickly called for more judicial oversight and several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee suggested a mandatory annual review of sentencing.
The pair were interviewed by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Professor Sandra Chance, the journalism department’s McClatchy Professor in Freedom of Information.
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