The tools.
The courses.
The case, documented.
Research guides, structured analytical systems, email courses, and professional case review built from Clutch Justice investigative methodology. Every product is a discrete tool that does a specific job.
Before the investigation. Before the case. Before anything else.
Evidence disappears in the first 24 hours. Most people lose that window without knowing they had it.
Guides, Templates, and Reference Tools
Fillable templates, structured worksheets, and reference guides built from Clutch Justice investigative methodology. Every product passes the quality test: would someone feel grateful they bought it?
How to Read a Police Report
What each section means, what language signals problems, what is typically omitted and why, and how the narrative differs from what the underlying documentation actually supports.
- Section-by-section breakdown of police report structure
- Language patterns that signal incomplete documentation
- What reports typically leave out and how to find it
- How to compare the report against other primary sources
The Court Records Toolkit
How to find, read, and use public court records. Docket entries explained, how to request what is not online, what the procedural history actually tells you, and how to spot anomalies without a law degree.
- Every docket entry type explained with research actions
- Michigan and federal court record access reference
- How to request transcripts, audio, and sealed records
- 20-item anomaly flag checklist
The FOIA Playbook
Everything you need to file an effective public records request, anticipate exemptions, challenge a denial, and escalate when they stall. Built from active FOIA work across Michigan courts, state agencies, and federal systems.
- How to structure a request that produces results
- The exemptions they use and how to challenge each one
- What to do when they ignore, delay, or partially deny
- Appeal and escalation pathways by jurisdiction
FOIA Request Template Pack
Five pre-written FOIA request templates for the most common true crime and accountability research needs, ready to customize and file. Jurisdiction guidance and exemption anticipation language in every template.
- Police report and incident record requests
- 911 call record and CAD log requests
- Autopsy and medical examiner record requests
- Court transcript and audio record requests
- Law enforcement personnel and disciplinary requests
Case Timeline Builder Template
A structured template for building a case timeline from primary source documents. Forces source citation at every entry so the timeline reflects what the record actually shows, not what anyone says happened.
Michigan Courts Quick Reference Guide
Court structure, jurisdiction, record access, and key terminology for every level of the Michigan court system. Built for researchers and advocates working from public records without legal training.
Structured analytical systems for cases where the official record does not hold.
These tools answer two questions in sequence: does this case have documented markers, and does the evidence record have gaps significant enough to change what it shows.
Wrongful Conviction and Cold Case Evidence Gap System
A two-part analysis: whether a case has documented markers of wrongful conviction, and where the evidentiary gaps are in the existing record. The findings summary and decision tree tell you what to do with what you find including when and how to bring the results to an attorney, advocate, or journalist.
- Wrongful conviction case assessment checklist procedural failures, witness issues, forensic problems, documentation gaps
- Cold case evidence gap analysis checklist what was and was not documented by the original investigation
- Findings summary template formatted for professional use
- Next steps decision tree based on assessment outcomes
- Instructions for bringing findings to an attorney, advocacy organization, or investigative journalist
Wrongful Conviction Case Assessment Checklist
A structured diagnostic for evaluating whether a conviction has documentable problems. Evidence testing, Brady disclosure, timeline integrity, witness impeachment, and procedural failures. Available individually or as part of the complete system above.
Spot the Gap Case Review Checklist
A researcher’s checklist for evaluating whether the popular narrative of a case holds up against the documented record. Works for cold cases, wrongful convictions, and any case where the official story and the primary sources do not match.
Cold Case Evidence Gap Analysis Template
A structured template for mapping what was documented, what was not, and what the gaps mean for the integrity of the official account. Built to work alongside the Gap System or as a standalone research tool.
Something went wrong. Now you need to prove it.
A documentation framework and fillable tracking tool for people dealing with misconduct by Michigan courts, prosecutors, law enforcement, probation and parole, or county agencies.
Institutional Misconduct Tracking Guide and Tool
Most people who are dealing with institutional misconduct lose the record before they know they need it. This guide gives you the framework to recognize a pattern, document it in a format that attorneys and oversight bodies can actually use, and navigate the Michigan-specific complaint pathway for five institution types.
- Five categories of institutional misconduct with Michigan-specific indicators for courts, prosecutors, law enforcement, probation and parole, and county agencies
- Michigan escalation pathways for each institution type — JTC, AGC, MCOLES, MDOC grievance, FOIA, county board
- Master incident log with five fillable entries, document index, and ten-row escalation tracker
- Seven rules for building a contemporaneous record that holds up
Know your judge before you walk in.
Research, complaint strategy, and a decision tree — built from Clutch Justice investigative methodology and direct experience tracking JTC Formal Complaint No. 109.
Judicial Accountability Toolkit
Three documents: how to research any Michigan judge from public records, how to file a JTC complaint that survives screening, and a decision tree that routes your situation to one of four outcomes. Built from direct experience tracking JTC Formal Complaint No. 109 against Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig.
- Document 1: Research Your Michigan Judge — JTC records, financial disclosures, campaign finance, reversal rate, recusal grounds
- Document 2: Filing a JTC Complaint — what the JTC says vs. what actually happens, what is and is not actionable, how to write a complaint that moves
- Document 3: Judicial Red Flag Decision Tree — seven questions, four outcome routes, evidence gathering guide, pre-filing checklist
Six-lesson courses with quizzes and certificates.
Built from Clutch Justice investigative methodology. One lesson per day by email. Code CLUTCH25 takes 25% off any course.
How to Read a Court Record
Court records are public documents. Most people cannot use them not because the information is hidden, but because nobody taught them how the system is organized or what to look for.
Michigan Judicial Accountability Field Guide
Michigan has four institutions responsible for holding its judiciary accountable. They operate on parallel tracks with no central coordination. This course maps all of them.
Institutional Forensics 101
How to reconstruct what actually happened, identify where the record breaks, and map the gaps between process and outcome. The methodology behind every Clutch Justice investigation.
Legal AI Literacy
How to assess AI outputs, identify blind spots, and understand how automation impacts legal records, decisions, and accountability. Built for people working in or around high-stakes systems.
A Citizen’s Guide to Taking on Your Local Government
Records requests, documentation strategy, and the right channels to get attention and action when something isn’t adding up in your local government. Templates included.
Cold Case Research Methods
How to systematically review a cold case from the public record: what documents to request, how to build a timeline from primary sources, and how to identify what the original investigation missed.
The whole kit at a discount.
The True Crime Research Starter Kit assembles the four most-used research guides into one purchase at a reduced price.
True Crime Research Starter Kit
- How to Read a Police Report ($19)
- The Court Records Toolkit ($49)
- The FOIA Playbook ($29)
- FOIA Request Template Pack ($29)
When the tools are not enough and you need the case read professionally.
Forensic case review, archive intelligence, and written findings built to evidentiary standard. Every engagement scoped and priced in writing before work begins.
Not sure which engagement fits? Start with a $350 Case Analysis Session.
60 minutes. Your documentation reviewed directly. A specific next-steps framework based on what the record shows.
In a legal situation right now
Start with the free Evidence Preservation Emergency Checklist. Then the 30-Day Protocol if you need a complete system.
Researching a cold case or wrongful conviction
Start with the Wrongful Conviction and Cold Case Evidence Gap System for the structured assessment, or grab the individual checklists.
Need professional case review
Start with the $350 Case Analysis Session. If the scope is larger, the full services guide has every engagement with pricing and intake.