WKSU 89.7 presents Justice Matters, an examination of Ohio’s criminal enforcement system, its challenges and opportunities for reform.
Justice Matters will highlight the challenges within the system and bring awareness to potential solutions that are being implemented here and elsewhere. A key project objective is to uncover issues of racial injustice and inequity.
The series runs through the Summer of 2021.
Have a comment, suggestion or question? Email us at justicematters@wksu.org.
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The gunshot-detection microphones the Dayton Police Department uses dispatched officers to West Dayton more than 2,200 times over the past two years. -
Sam Stokes had barely written a word of poetry until one night in his prison cell, as much out of frustration as inspiration, he picked up a notebook and a pencil. -
A year after Black Lives Matter protests spilled into the streets of cities across the United States, how much change has occurred to achieve racial justice? -
Nearly 1 million residents of the state have felony convictions. For our Justice Matters series, we speak with some of them who have been living with the consequences, while we identify some calls for change. -
Ohio lawmakers say they want to reform the criminal justice system while continuing to introduce bills that enhance penalties and create new offenses. -
The Ohio Supreme Court has more impact on people's daily lives than the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Although bipartisanship isn't seen frequently these days, there seems to be some agreement from both sides of the aisle on the need to reform bail in Ohio. -
Even with bipartisan support to reduce Ohio's prison population, state lawmakers are increasing the number of felonies and penalties defendants face.
Previous Reporting on Criminal Justice Reform Challenges and Opportunities
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Kabir Bhatia/Ideastream Public MediaThe program, introduced just before the coronavirus pandemic, provides ex-offenders who qualify a speedier path to clearing their records. The standard process is overwhelmed by the number of applicants. -
M.L. Schultze/Ideastream Public MediaGov. Mike DeWine launched the Expedited Pardon Process three years ago. With the help of law schools and streamlined screening, it’s designed to shave years off the normal pardon process. The bar to qualify is high, but for those who do, it offers a speedier path to a new start.
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Who qualifies, who doesn't and how many have been able to take advantage of the expedited pardon program. -
In 2020, the parole board made decisions on 953 people up for parole, 151 were granted release. There’s no information on how many of those were “old law inmates” or any details on who received parole. -
Sam Stokes shares poetry he wrote in prison and talks about he hopes to inspire others through his performances. -
Growing up, Wesley Dirmeyer read more than a lot of his friends, but he started living and breathing books once he went to prison. -
For Da'Jon Carouthers, the biggest contrast between free life and incarcerated life is the noise. -
Before Jonathan Young began writing poetry through the ID13 Prison Literacy Project, he spent a long time trying to "fit in" with others around him. -
Over the past few years, police departments across the country have grappled with what to do when a video in their possession captures the use of deadly force by a police officer. After 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by a Cleveland police officer in 2014, the city of Cleveland initially withheld footage from a public surveillance camera on the city-owned Cudell Recreation Center. -
Cardell Belfoure had been writing poetry for several years before joining the ID13 Prison Literacy Project while incarcerated at Grafton Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio. -
Officially, the new docket in Administrative Judge Brendan Sheehan’s Cuyahoga County courtroom is called the violence intervention program. Unofficially, it’s the gun docket.
