Courses, guides, templates, and research tools built from three years of Clutch Justice investigations. The methodology made teachable. Everything you need to read the record, file the request, and understand what the documents actually show.
Use code CLUTCH25 at checkout for 25% off any course. One use per customer. Works on all paid courses.
Court records are public documents. Most people can't use them — not because the information is hidden, but because nobody taught them how the system is organized or what to look for. This course closes that gap.
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 — how each works, where each fails, and how to use all four together.
Institutional forensics is the practice of understanding how systems fail. This course teaches you how to reconstruct what actually happened, identify where the record breaks, and map the gaps between process and outcome.
Built for people working in or around high-stakes systems. Learn how to assess AI outputs, identify blind spots, and understand how automation impacts legal records, decisions, and accountability.
If something isn't adding up in your local government, this course shows you what to do next. Records requests, documentation strategy, and the right channels to get attention and action. Templates included.
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.
DMCA Takedown Kit and Know Your Ordinances guide. Two practical tools available immediately at the course catalog.
Everything you need to file an effective public records request, anticipate exemptions, challenge a denial, and escalate when they stall. Built from three years of active FOIA work across Michigan courts, state agencies, and federal systems.
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 included in every template.
How to find, read, and use public court records — docket entries explained, how to request what isn't online, and what the procedural history of a case actually tells you. Built for true crime researchers, families, and advocates who are reading court records without a law degree.
What each section of a police report means, what language signals problems, what is typically omitted and why, and how the narrative in a report differs from what the underlying documentation actually supports. Written for a non-attorney audience.
A structured diagnostic for evaluating whether a conviction has documentable problems — evidence testing, Brady disclosure, timeline integrity, witness impeachment, and procedural failures. Built for families, advocates, and researchers.
A true crime 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 don't match.
A fillable structured worksheet for mapping what evidence exists in a cold case, what is missing, what was never tested, and what FOIA requests would surface it. A working document you fill in for a specific case.
A structured spreadsheet for reconstructing a case timeline from primary sources. Date, source document, what it says, what it contradicts. The Clutch Justice methodology applied to a fillable working document you maintain as you research.
How the Michigan court system is structured, what each court handles, how appeals work, what the JTC and ADB do, how to find public records in each system. Michigan-specific, built for researchers and advocates navigating the system for the first time.
The three essential guides bundled at a discount — everything you need to start reading primary sources on a case you care about. The FOIA Playbook, the Court Records Toolkit, and How to Read a Police Report.
Judicial discipline trends, ADB actions, notable rulings, and court system performance data analyzed and published once a year. A reference document for researchers, advocates, and policy teams. Grant-fundable for watchdog buyers.
Standalone deep-dive PDFs on the most significant Clutch Justice investigations — full record analysis, timeline, source appendix, and Rita's verdict. Starting with OCCK, Rachel Dorn, and Louis Conradt.
A private community for true crime researchers, wrongful conviction advocates, and public records investigators. Weekly case notes from Rita, FOIA Q&A, and a space for serious researchers to share methodology and findings.
Early access to Rita Ruins Everything installments, behind-the-scenes investigation notes, and work-in-progress analytical pieces before they publish. For readers who want more than the weekly briefing.
Start with the True Crime Research Starter Kit if you're new to reading primary sources on a case. Start with Course 01 if you want the full methodology. Start with the FOIA Playbook if you have a records request you need to file right now.