Joaquin Sapien
Joaquin Sapien is a reporter at ProPublica covering criminal justice and social services.
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Joaquin Sapien was one of the first reporters hired at ProPublica in its first year of publishing in 2008. Since then, his journalism has explored a broad range of topics, including criminal justice, social services, and the environment. In 2019, he was a co-producer and correspondent for “Right to Fail,” a film for the PBS documentary series Frontline. The film was based on his 2018 examination of a flawed housing program for New Yorkers with mental illness, which appeared in the New York Times. The story immediately prompted a federal judge to order an independent investigation into the program. It won a Deadline Club Award and a Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability.
In 2015, Sapien wrote about care for troubled children, beginning with a story in the California Sunday Magazine on a group home that descended into chaos. His work helped an abused boy receive a $12 million jury award and led to the closure of another embattled home in Long Beach.
Past areas of focus include New York City Family Court, prosecutorial misconduct, traumatic brain injury, natural gas drilling, and contaminated drywall used to rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Sapien’s work has earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and Investigative Reporters and Editors. He was a four-time finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Before joining ProPublica, Sapien was a reporter at the Center for Public Integrity.
For New York Families in Custody Fights, a ‘Black Hole’ of Oversight
Critics say a state office’s professed inability to review the work of mental health experts in Family and Matrimonial Court leaves children at risk.
Did Jury in Etan Patz Murder Case Receive Improper Information?
Lawyers for man convicted in case of notorious missing boy to seek hearing on report of jury contamination.
Dysfunction Disorder
NYC paid millions for flawed mental health reports. Family court judges relied on them routinely. Parents and children lived with the consequences.
Uncommon Contract Holds Promise for California Group Home’s Too Familiar Ills
Better wages and added money for schooling could stabilize staff and improve care at large San Francisco home for vulnerable children.
Call in Congress for Family Court Reform
The briefing will explore the need to better protect victims of domestic violence in custody cases.
Wrongfully Convicted Louisiana Man Asks Justice Department to Investigate New Orleans Prosecutors
Unsuccessful before the U.S. Supreme Court, a man who served 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit asks the Justice Department to hold prosecutors accountable.