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.
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Prior to the 1970s, children with disabilities seeking education could not attend public schools and were either sent to private schools or state institutions and lived there under horrible conditions. Lawyers went to court using the Supreme Court's Brown v. the Board of Education decision, and argued that disabled children deserved the same equal education that black children won years earlier. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
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While public places are required by law to be accessible to people with disabilities, religious sanctuaries are not. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports on one woman's attempt to get houses of worship to open their doors to the disabled.
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A new NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School poll on sex education shows that while more than 90% of Americans approve of sex education in schools, they don't all agree on how it should be taught. In the first of a two-part series, NPR's Joseph Shapiro takes us to a comprehensive abstinence lecture at a school in Maine, and talks with students about their impressions of it.
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NPR's Joseph Shapiro recently got a first hand look at what it means to be disabled when he broke his ankle and had to use a four-wheeled scooter to move around. He found that even on the streets of Washington, D.C., where improvements have been made to accommodate the disabled, life can be difficult. He takes a tour of downtown with disability advocate Lisa Iezzoni. Read excerpts from Iezzoni's book, When Walking Fails.
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More than 1,100 American troops have been wounded in action in Iraq. Many face long, difficult months of rehabilitation. NPR's Joseph Shapiro profiles one Marine learning to walk again at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
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A new study finds that for nearly 4 million poor people with severe disabilities, a key U.S. government subsidy has not kept pace with rising rents -- forcing many into sub-standard housing. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
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A new Congressional report proposes federal and state guidelines for regulating the growing "assisted living" industry. Assisted living facilities traditionally offer more independence than nursing homes, and aren't as regulated. But as the number of facilities grow, so do the complaints. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
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A massive sandstorm that buffeted Iraq the past few days has calmed, but daytime skies remain dark over parts of Baghdad, obscured by thick smoke from blazing trenches of oil. Public health experts say the pollution from those fires could expose the people to yet another hazard. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports.
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In one New York City neighborhood, residents have taken unusual steps to support a beloved member of the community. As part of NPR's year-long Housing First series, correspondent Joseph Shapiro reports on how Larry Selman's friends are making sure he's financially secure for life. See a clip from a documentary about Selman and his neighbors.
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Research suggests more than 1.1 million teens need treatment for drug abuse. Only one in 10 get help. Experts in the field acknowledge that effective treatment for teens is difficult to find, hard to obtain, and often unaffordable. In a two-part series, NPR examines challenges and pitfalls for teens on the road to recovery. NPR's Joseph Shapiro followed one 16-year-old and the counselor who's helping him get his life back on track.