PAULINE'S PICKS: LATimes.com Launches Interactive Homicide Report

By: Pauline Millard Crime reporting is a big part of any newspaper, local or large. Sometimes, though, digesting all the information about an area can be a little overwhelming, especially in a big city.

The Los Angeles Times recently launched an interacrive homicide map that is a visual interface to the Homicide Report The Homicide Report is Jill Leovy's is making an effiort to chronicle every homicide in Los Angeles County.

As of July 30, The Times counted 496 homicides in L.A. County. While the Homicide Report focuses on the individual victims, this tool helps users analyze the broader trends within that figure.

For instance, by simply looking at the first page, it seems that most homicide victims in L.A. are Hispanic males who are killed by gunfire and, strangely, mostly on Sundays.

The new feature allows readers to filter homicides by the victim's race, gender, cause of death, and other parameters. They can find homicides near an address or a ZIP code

Another added feautre is that readers can view photos of victims, where they are available, and link to Leovy's reports. Some reports are accompanied by user comments.

How has your paper used databases and interactivity to explain trends? I'd love to see it.


Here are some of my past Picks:

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Newspaper's Database Examines Safety of Hudson Valley Bridges

Alex Beam Acts Out Hate Mail on Boston.com Podcast

Washingtonpost.com Catches a Candid Campaign Moment