Perversion of Justice

“Julie K. Brown’s important book offers not just a definitive account of the Epstein case, but a compelling window into her own experiences as a dogged reporter at a regional newspaper, facing off against both powerful interests set against her reporting, and a wider moment in which local news is a precious and vanishing resource. The book is subtitled “The Jeffrey Epstein Story,” but its lessons about courage in the face of adversity, and the crucial role of journalism in holding the powerful to account, go far beyond that case.” - Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Catch and Kill

”[Brown’s] description of both the hard work of investigation and the perilous current state of newspapers adds an important dimension to the story.” - Tampa Bay Times

“Brown pulls back the curtain on her life behind the headlines.” - Daily Beast

“A gripping journalistic procedural… Spotlight meets Erin Brockovitch… Brown’s book is richer for including lots of reportorial impasses and rabbit holes; it shows what a painstaking and often maddening process investigative journalism is.” - Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times

“Class, as much as the dismal state of journalism, is the great undercurrent in Perversion of Justice and gives this scrappy book its heart.” - Laura Miller, Slate

Julie K. Brown is an investigative reporter with the Miami Herald. During her 30-year career, she has worked for a number of newspapers, focusing on crime, justice and human rights issues. As a member of the Herald’s prestigious Investigative Team, she has won dozens of awards, including a George Polk Award in 2018 for “Perversion of Justice,” a series that examined how a rich and powerful sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, managed to arrange a secret plea deal and escape life in prison – even though he was suspected of sexually abusing more than 100 underage girls and young women. The series, and her subsequent dogged coverage of the case in 2019, led to the resignation of President Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, Epstein’s arrest on new federal charges in New York and reforms in the way that prosecutors treat victims of sex crimes.

Brown previously won acclaim for a series of stories about abuses and corruption in Florida prisons. The stories led to the resignations of top agency officials, firings of corrupt corrections officers and an overhaul in the treatment of inmates with mental and physical disabilities, as well as women in Florida prisons. That series also won a Polk Award. A native of Philadelphia, she is a graduate of Temple University.

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