John D. Harden

Washington, D.C.

Metro data reporter

Education: University of Texas at Arlington, Journalism/Public Affairs

John D. Harden is a metro data reporter for The Washington Post. He joined The Post after four years working for the Houston Chronicle as a data and breaking news reporter. While in Houston, he was part of a reporting team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Harden's award-winning work spans many subject areas. He has mapped Houston’s racial divide, crystal meth use in the city and Texas’s immigration patterns. He has shown where jobs are lost in urban areas and where farms are lost in rural ones.
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Latest from John D. Harden

How The Post investigated police officers accused of sexually abusing kids

The Washington Post has spent more than a year examining police officers accused of sexually abusing kids. Here’s how we reported the Abused by the Badge series.

September 3, 2024

‘The perfect storm times three’: Crime, political chaos divide Oakland

A run of bad news has revived some of the most pernicious stereotypes about Oakland. But its image as crime-ridden and dysfunctional obscures the whole story.

July 31, 2024
Edward Escobar of the Coalition for Community Engagement leads a chant during a protest outside City Hall on June 23 in reaction to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s absence since the FBI raided her home.

Two killed, child injured in shooting that pushes D.C. past 100 homicides

D.C. surpassed the benchmark 41 days later than in 2023, which saw a generational spike in violence.

July 18, 2024
Police at the scene after four were shot near the intersection of 22nd Street and Alabama Avenue SE on Thursday.

A day in one of D.C.’s ‘heat islands’

The Kingman Park neighborhood in northeastern D.C. has some of the hottest temperatures in the city, data shows. The Post documented how residents are coping.

June 26, 2024

An officer sexually abused a teen in his police car. How will he be punished?

South Bend police officer Timothy Barber met a teen at an Indiana Chick-fil-A and then sexually abused her in his patrol car. What punishment does he deserve?

June 12, 2024
Anne in front of the St. Joseph County Courthouse, where she spoke at the September 2022 sentencing hearing for Barber.

Abused by the badge

Hundreds of police officers in the United States have sexually abused children, a Post investigation found. In many cases, the officers have avoided prison time.

June 12, 2024

Authorities identify four officers killed serving warrant in Charlotte

“They were good ones, people that you could trust, people that you could count on,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said at a news conference.

April 30, 2024
Killed during the shootout Monday were, clockwise from top left: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Joshua Eyer; Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks Jr.; and North Carolina Department of Adult Correction officers Sam Poloche and William “Alden” Elliott.

A police officer took a teen for a rape kit. Then he assaulted her, too.

New Orleans police officer Rodney Vicknair sexually abused a teen girl he met on the job. He is one of hundreds of officers arrested for child sexual abuse.

March 14, 2024

In states with laws targeting LGBTQ issues, school hate crimes quadrupled

School hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people have sharply risen in recent years, climbing fastest in states that have passed laws restricting LGBTQ student rights and education, a Washington Post analysis of FBI data finds.

March 13, 2024

Half of Black D.C. residents lack easy access to health care, analysis shows

The numbers underscore the troubled state of health outcomes for Black residents in the nation’s capital, who for decades have been disproportionately affected by illness.

January 3, 2024
Christy Webster, 63, wipes a tear away as she discusses her health concerns at her D.C. home.