Joseph Shapiro
Joseph Shapiro is a NPR News Investigations correspondent.
Shapiro's major investigative stories include his reports on the way rising court fines and fees create an unequal system of justice for the poor and the rise of "modern day debtors' prisons," the failure of colleges and universities to punish for on-campus sexual assaults, the epidemic of sexual assault of people with intellectual disabilities, the problems with solitary confinement, the inadequacy of civil rights laws designed to get the elderly and people with disabilities out of nursing homes, and the little-known profits involved in the production of medical products from donated human cadavers.
His "Child Cases" series, reported with PBS Frontline and ProPublica, found two dozen cases in the U.S. and Canada where parents and caregivers were charged with killing children, but the charges were later reversed or dropped. Since that series, a Texas man who was the focus of one story was released from prison. And in California, a woman who was the subject of another story had her sentence commuted.
Shapiro joined NPR in November 2001 and spent eight years covering health, aging, disability, and children's and family issues on the Science Desk. He reported on the health issues of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and helped start NPR's 2005 Impact of War series with reporting from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center. He covered stories from Hurricane Katrina to the debate over overhauling the nation's health care system.
Before coming to NPR, Shapiro spent 19 years at U.S. News & World Report, as a Senior Writer on social policy and served as the magazine's Rome bureau chief, White House correspondent, and congressional reporter.
Among honors for his investigative journalism, Shapiro has received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, George Foster Peabody Award, George Polk Award, Robert F. Kennedy Award, Edward R. Murrow Award, Sigma Delta Chi, IRE, Dart, Ruderman, and Gracie awards, and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Award.
Shapiro is the author of the award-winning book NO PITY: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement (Random House/Three Rivers Press), which is widely read in disability studies classes.
Shapiro studied long-term care and end-of-life issues as a participant in the yearlong 1997 Kaiser Media Fellowship in Health program. In 1990, he explored the changing world of people with disabilities as an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow.
Shapiro attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Carleton College. He's a native of Washington, DC, and lives there now with his family.
-
When scientists study the psychiatric injuries of war, they usually study it in men. But now more women are coming back from Iraq with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Abbie Pickett of the Wisconsin National Guard faces a continuing struggle to get her life back on track. -
Military researchers say 17 percent of troops back from Iraq show signs of problems such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and guardsmen and reservists may be at greater risk than their active-duty counterparts. The suicide of South Carolina guardsman Jeffrey Sloss sheds light on the need to seek help.
-
Maj. Tammy Duckworth lost her legs when her helicopter was attacked in Iraq. Now she wants to fly again. But first she has to get up on a new pair of prosthetic legs and walk for the first time.
-
In a continuing series on caring for the wounded in Iraq, a look at the recovery of Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll, who suffered leg injuries last November in Fallujah. Nicoll's leg was amputated. Now, he has a new prosthetic limb and is already playing basketball and soccer -- and trying out his friend's dirt bike.
-
A continuing look at the recovery of Marine 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal, who was shot several times in the leg in Iraq. In an effort to save the limb, he is undergoing multiple surgeries at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
-
A three-part report follows the recovery of two Marines wounded in Fallujah. 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal and Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll were seriously injured in one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war.
-
Medicare spending on motorized scooters has skyrocketed, creating a boom for businesses selling the devices. Customers say the chairs help them lead meaningful lives again. But some regulators say many people getting the power chairs don't qualify for them; Medicare has promised a crackdown on spending. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
-
For children with Asperger's Syndrome and other mild forms of autism, the world can be an uncomfortable place. A summer camp in Washington, D.C. is teaching some the social skills -- as basic as making friends -- that come naturally to most people. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
-
Every week, advocate Bob Perske visits Richard Lapointe, a mentally disabled man serving a life sentence for raping and killing an elderly woman. Freeing Lapointe is a long shot, Perske admits, but one he's counting on. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
-
The best interest of children is at the center of the debate over gay marriage. Some scientific studies show no developmental differences between children raised by heterosexual and homosexual parents. But critics charge these studies are conducted to support the legitimacy of same-sex marriage. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
