Dark secrets of Florida's juvenile justice system: A Miami Herald investigation | Miami Herald

Guided by this data, reporters requested more than 600 incident reports, mostly detailing substantiated allegations of excessive or unnecessary force, inappropriate conduct with youths or medical neglect. The Herald then procured hundreds of completed investigations.

The FDLE records were merged with the hiring database to identify former guards and police officers now overseeing children.

Reporters reviewed an assortment of other DJJ records, including surveillance videos, victim and witness statements, inspections, letters from public defenders, personnel files and statements from employees.

Also reviewed: police, criminal and civil court records, FDLE arrest histories, prison records and autopsy reports.

Reporters interviewed DJJ administrators, administrators from other states, private providers, consultants, judges, prosecutors, defenders, lawyers, university professors and former youth workers, among others. Journalists traveled throughout the state, as well as to New York City.

Because the records involved juveniles, names and other identifiers were redacted. Public defenders, private defense attorneys, civil litigators and confidential sources helped link reporters with some former detainees.

These stories were produced with financial assistance from the National Health Journalism Fellowship, a program of the Center for Health Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in Los Angeles.