Crimes of the Week is an independent crime-news publication dedicated to reporting notable criminal cases, arrests, investigations, prosecutions, court proceedings, convictions, sentencing developments, and other significant crime-related events.
Our goal is simple: provide readers with clear, useful, and responsibly sourced information about criminal cases without losing sight of the distinction between an allegation and a proven fact.
We cover cases from across the United States and, when relevant to our readers, significant cases from other parts of the world.
Our Mission
Crime stories often develop over weeks, months, or even years. An arrest may be followed by new charges, a bond decision, an indictment, a plea agreement, a trial, sentencing, an appeal, or even the dismissal of a case.
Crimes of the Week aims to make those developments easier to follow.
Rather than treating every arrest as the end of the story, we strive to report the latest verified procedural status available at the time of publication and update our coverage when later developments materially change the case.
Our mission is to provide crime reporting that is:
- Informative
- Clearly written
- Properly sourced
- Fair about allegations and unresolved cases
- Updated when significant new information becomes available
- Focused on facts that are relevant to the individual case
How We Research Stories
Crimes of the Week uses publicly available and lawfully obtained information to research and prepare articles.
Depending on the case, our sources may include:
- Police departments
- Sheriff’s offices
- Prosecutors and district attorneys
- State attorneys general
- The U.S. Department of Justice
- Federal law-enforcement agencies
- Courts and publicly available court records
- Corrections departments
- Government agencies
- Official public statements and press releases
- Established local news organizations
- Established national news organizations
Whenever practical, we prioritize official and primary sources before relying on secondary reporting.
Some cases have extensive public documentation, while others have only limited information available. We do not believe missing information should be filled with speculation.
If a fact cannot be responsibly established from the available sources, we aim to make that limitation clear.
Allegations, Charges, and Convictions
Being arrested, charged, or indicted does not mean that a person has been convicted of a crime.
Crimes of the Week distinguishes between allegations and facts that have been established through a guilty plea, verdict, judgment, or other final court action.
When a criminal case remains pending, allegations are described as allegations.
Charges may also be amended, reduced, dismissed, or otherwise changed as a case progresses. Whenever a significant later development becomes known, we may update an existing article or publish additional coverage reflecting the newer procedural status.
Accuracy and Context
We aim to accurately represent the information contained in the sources used for each article.
Crime reporting can involve rapidly developing investigations, conflicting early accounts, incomplete public records, and legal proceedings that change over time. Because of this, information that was accurate when an article was published may later be clarified or superseded.
When reliable new information materially changes an earlier report, we may revise the article to reflect the most current verified information available.
We also strive to avoid presenting rumor, social-media speculation, or unsupported claims as established fact.
Sources and Transparency
Whenever practical, Crimes of the Week identifies or links to the principal sources used to prepare an article.
Our articles may rely on multiple sources so that information can be compared and significant developments can be verified.
We favor sources that provide direct information about the case, including official agencies, court-related sources, prosecutors, corrections departments, and established news organizations with direct reporting.
We do not consider a large number of sources inherently better than a smaller number of strong, case-specific sources. Source quality and relevance matter more than simply increasing the number of citations.
Corrections
Accuracy matters to us.
If you believe a Crimes of the Week article contains a factual error, outdated case status, incorrect identification, broken source reference, or other material problem, we encourage you to contact us.
Correction requests should identify the article in question and, when possible, include documentation or a reliable source supporting the requested correction.
We review credible correction requests and may update published material when appropriate.
Additional information about our correction process can be found in our Corrections Policy.
Editorial Independence
Crimes of the Week is an independent publication.
Advertising relationships, website service providers, technology providers, and other commercial arrangements do not determine the factual conclusions of our crime reporting.
The presence of advertising on the website does not constitute an endorsement by an advertiser of the content of a particular article, nor does the appearance of an advertisement constitute an endorsement by Crimes of the Week of the advertiser.
Images and Visual Material
Crime reporting frequently involves photographs, booking images, law-enforcement images, court-related material, maps, screenshots, and other visual information.
When an original or appropriately licensed image is not available, Crimes of the Week may use an illustration or other representative visual. We aim to make clear when an image is illustrative rather than an actual photograph of the event or person discussed.
Visual material is intended to help readers understand the story and should not be interpreted as independent evidence of guilt.
Responsible Crime Reporting
Criminal cases involve real people, including victims, defendants, families, witnesses, investigators, attorneys, and communities.
We strive to report significant facts without unnecessarily exaggerating or sensationalizing them.
Some stories necessarily involve violence, disturbing allegations, or other difficult subjects. When those facts are important to understanding the case, they may be reported, but our purpose is to inform rather than to glorify criminal conduct or suffering.
What Readers Can Expect
Readers should expect Crimes of the Week articles to focus on questions such as:
- What happened?
- Where and when did it happen?
- Who is accused or involved?
- What charges were filed?
- What evidence or allegations have authorities publicly described?
- What is the current court or custody status?
- Has the case resulted in a plea, verdict, dismissal, or sentence?
- Have later developments changed the original report?
- Which sources support the information being reported?
Not every case will have answers to every question. Criminal investigations and court proceedings often involve information that is sealed, unavailable, disputed, or simply not yet public.
When reliable information is unavailable, we prefer to acknowledge that limitation rather than invent an answer.
Contact Crimes of the Week
We welcome questions, corrections, source information, and other legitimate inquiries regarding our coverage.
You can contact Crimes of the Week through our Contact page.
For requests involving a published story, please include the article title or URL and enough information for us to identify the issue being raised.
Thank you for reading Crimes of the Week.