Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Page updated at 05:25 p.m.

Worst case: source documents

Reporter Christine Willmsen obtained thousands of pages of financial statements and billing invoices from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and used them to build databases to conduct analysis.

Willmsen also reviewed depositions, court testimony, psychological evaluations, police reports and sexually violent predator cases across the country. She conducted several dozen interviews and filed more than a dozen requests for public records. She obtained records from many agencies, including DSHS, the Special Commitment Center, the State Attorney General's Office, the King County Prosecutor's Office and several state licensing agencies.

To see the entire series, including video and an interactive timeline, go to: seattletimes.com/priceofprotection