Jessica Contrera

Washington, D.C.

Enterprise reporter

Education: Indiana University, BA in journalism

Jessica Contrera is an enterprise reporter who writes about lives being shaped by major events and issues in the news. Her in-depth coverage of child sex trafficking in America won the 2022 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics and was a finalist for the 2022 Michael Kelly Award. She continues to investigate the criminal justice system's treatment of children and vulnerable communities. She has covered inequality's toll during the pandemic, the effects of social media on teenagers and quite a few delightful stories about dogs. She is a three-time Livingston Award finalist and a part of
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Latest from Jessica Contrera

A school cop admitted to sexually abusing two students. He got probation.

Jamel Bradley, who worked for years as a Richland County school resource officer despite multiple complaints about sexual misconduct, was ordered to register as a sex offender. 

September 3, 2024

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

A school cop was accused of sexual misconduct with kids. He kept his job for years.

In South Carolina, Deputy Jamel Bradley remained a school resource officer despite complaints that he was preying on girls at Spring Valley High.

September 2, 2024

New Orleans ordered to pay $1 million to teen sexually assaulted by officer

A federal jury found the city of New Orleans responsible for what a police officer did to a 15-year-old in 2020.

August 21, 2024
Nicole, right, and her mother filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of New Orleans in 2021.

NOPD planned to arrest officer hours before he sexually assaulted teen, official says

The New Orleans independent police monitor testified Tuesday that she was told that a warrant for Officer Rodney Vicknair had been issued and expected his arrest.

August 20, 2024
The teen, who is being identified by The Washington Post by her middle name, Nicole, was allegedly assaulted by the New Orleans police officer who took her for a rape kit. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)

Sex-trafficking victim Chrystul Kizer gets 11 years for killing her abuser

The decision ends a six-year legal saga that tested the limits of the court’s leniency toward trafficking survivors who commit crimes.

August 19, 2024
Chrystul Kizer attends a hearing in the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., in 2019.

A teen sexually abused by a cop sued New Orleans. Now the trial begins.

A jury will decide if New Orleans is responsible for the sexual assault of the 15-year-old by one of its police officers. He first met the girl when he took her for a rape exam.

August 19, 2024
Nicole, who is being identified by her middle name, was 14 when New Orleans police officer Rodney Vicknair took her to the hospital for a rape exam in 2020. He pleaded guilty to abusing her in 2022.

Child sex-trafficking victim who killed her abuser will finally learn her fate

Chrystul Kizer was 17 when she shot Randall Volar III, who filmed his abuse of her. A Wisconsin judge will decide whether she deserves prison or a counseling program.

August 15, 2024
Chrystul Kizer attends a November 2019 hearing in Kenosha, Wis.

Ex-South Bend officer faces decertification after Post sex abuse investigation

Indiana law enforcement officials plan to revoke the police certification of Timothy Barber, who’d kept it despite pleading guilty in 2022 to sexually abusing a teen in his patrol car.

June 17, 2024
A selfie sent by then-South Bend police officer Timothy Barber to a young woman he met while on the job. Along with sexually abusing a teen in his police car, records show he used his work computer to text multiple teens and young women.

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.