Los Angeles Times Writers Win Pulitzer for Series on Homeless People with Mental Illness

Los Angeles Times writers Alex Raskin and Bob Sipchen have won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of 10 editorials examining the issues faced by homeless people with mental illness, the Associated Press reports. The series was credited with prompting state legislators to pass laws improving follow-up care for people with mental illness and requiring courts to consider a person's psychiatric history before sentencing, according to the Associated Press. "The main point of our editorial[s] was that it's possible to help homeless people get off the streets. The only reason it's not happening is not because of a lack of way, but a lack of will," Raskin said (Nguyen, Associated Press, 4/8). The complete series of editorials can be found online.