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Jennifer Smith Richards

Jennifer Smith Richards is a reporter for ProPublica pursuing stories about abuses by powerful government institutions and private businesses throughout the Midwest.

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Jennifer Smith Richards is a reporter for ProPublica. She began her journalism career writing obituaries in West Virginia, then covering small-town southern Ohio. She wrote about schools and education at newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia; Utica, New York; Savannah, Georgia, and Columbus, Ohio. She most recently worked for the Chicago Tribune, where her work exposed student ticketing at school, abusive educators, government misspending, sexual abuse in schools, lapses in police accountability and the mistreatment of students with disabilities. Her stories have prompted new state laws, the prosecution of school officials and the creation of child-protection units in school districts and state education departments.

Jennifer is a graduate of Ohio University and lives in Chicago.

This Cop Got Out of 44 Tickets by Saying Over and Over That His Girlfriend Stole His Car

Chicago police officer Jeffrey Kriv used the same alibi to contest dozens of traffic tickets over the years. A deeper look at his career sheds light on Chicago’s troubled history of police accountability.

The Price Kids Pay

A Chicago Suburb Stopped Ticketing Students. But It Won’t Stop Pursuing a 3-Year-Old Case Over Missing AirPods.

The city’s prosecution of a former student comes as the state considers a ban on ticketing students at school. The case is headed to a jury trial.

The Price Kids Pay

The Federal Government Is Investigating an Illinois School Where Students With Disabilities Were Frequently Arrested

The civil rights inquiry by the Department of Education follows a ProPublica and Chicago Tribune investigation that found the school regularly called police to arrest students.

The Price Kids Pay

New Bill Could End Police Ticketing in Illinois Schools

Students have continued to get costly citations for vaping, fighting and other misbehavior even after state officials directed educators to end the practice.

The Price Kids Pay

The School That Calls the Police on Students Every Other Day

An Illinois school for students with disabilities has routinely used the police to handle discipline, resulting in the highest arrest rate of any district in the country. In one recent year, half of Garrison School students were arrested.

The Price Kids Pay

State Investigation Reveals Racial Disparities in Student Discipline and Police Involvement

The Illinois civil rights probe of the state’s largest high school district comes after ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune documented thousands of police tickets issued to students for minor infractions.

The Price Kids Pay

New Data Gives Insight Into Ticketing at Five Suburban Chicago School Districts

ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune’s unique student ticketing database has been updated. Naperville data reveals signs of racial disparities in ticketing in one school but not in a second.

The Price Kids Pay

A Teen Was Ticketed at School for a Theft She Says Didn’t Happen. Years Later, She’s Still Fighting.

The Illinois student’s long ordeal shows the extraordinary effort it can take to overturn a school-related ticket. Her case — involving a missing pair of AirPods — is heading to a jury trial.

The Price Kids Pay

Illinois Will Investigate Possible Civil Rights Violations in Student Ticketing

The Illinois attorney general’s office said it is trying to determine if a suburban Chicago school district violated students’ civil rights when police ticketed them for minor misbehavior.

The Price Kids Pay

Illinois Will Stop Helping Cities Collect Some School Ticket Debt From Students

Since a Chicago Tribune-ProPublica investigation, school officials say they’re reevaluating when to involve law enforcement in student discipline.