criminal justice
Ohio bill lowering police officer minimum age gets support from young officers
Police officer trainees and current law enforcement accentuated the positives of companion bills at the Ohio Statehouse to lower the minimum age to become a police officer from 21 to 18. Pataskala Police Department officer Cami Finley is currently completing her field training in a job she said she felt “called” to as a high […]
U.S. government failed to properly count deaths of people in prisons and jails, Senate report says
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice did not properly count nearly 1,000 deaths of incarcerated people in jails and prisons, according to a bipartisan report released Tuesday by a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee. The 10-month investigation by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, found that DOJ […]
U.S. Senate Republicans pan Democrats on crime, say they’ll introduce their own bill
WASHINGTON — A small group of U.S. Senate Republicans sought to draw attention to U.S. crime rates Wednesday, saying they plan to introduce a bill that would direct more resources to state and local police departments as well as require the Government Accountability Office to study the amount of time it takes crime labs to […]
Judicial reforms recommended, could face uphill battle
A new report recommends sweeping changes to the justice system in Ohio, with hopes of rectifying systemic issues and stemming wrongful convictions. But the changes still need to have legislative support before they can come to fruition. The Ohio Supreme Court put together the Task Force on Conviction Integrity and Postconviction Review, which spent the […]
Facts over fearmongering, and why we need actual bail reform
Summer is in full swing. Are you worried about sharks as you order your ice cream cone? Shark attacks increase alongside ice cream sales, but one does not cause the other. The real variable is summertime weather, which drives us to beaches and ice cream stands. Recognition that this is correlation — not causation — […]
Ohio Republicans introduce bill that would criminalize ‘swatting’
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. A new bill in the Ohio Senate would criminalize ‘swatting,’ which […]
Hundreds rally at Ohio Statehouse for more crime victim protections
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. More than 100 crime survivors and families of killed loved ones […]
Cranley, Fedor tout social justice platform in Columbus campaign stop
“There’s no bull crap with them. They tell the truth. They tell it like it is.” That’s the one good thing about prison, Robert McClendon explained. You get a good radar for bull crap. You can see it coming from around the corner, he said, and there’s none of it when it comes to the […]
Social workers could bolster emergency services
In 2019, more than one in seven calls received by the Shaker Heights Police Department were related to mental health — over 5,000 mental health calls in total. Shaker Heights Police Chief Jeff DeMuth expects this number was even higher in 2020 due to increased stress and depression caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To deal […]
Feds expand Pell Grant program for prisoners working on college degrees
WASHINGTON — Prison inmates around the U.S. are getting the chance to do something that was almost unheard of a generation ago: pursue a college degree while behind bars and with financial support from the federal government. Inmates in 42 states and Washington, D.C., can now get federal grants to work with colleges and universities […]
Millions paid out to Ohioans who were wrongfully convicted, imprisoned
The state of Ohio will pay a Cleveland man nearly half a million dollars as compensation for wrongly imprisoning him for nearly two decades. Anthony Lemons will receive $491,000 for the 17 years he spent in prison following a wrongful conviction for murder in 1995. Lemons is among a growing list of exonerated former prisoners […]
Marriage shouldn’t negate rape, bill supporters say
Supporters of a bill removing a loophole for spousal rape and sexual assault say the state needs to stop the double-standard that exists when it comes to sex crimes. Heather McComas-Harrison said she spoke from experience when imploring a House committee on Thursday to pass House Bill 121, to remove language in Ohio law that […]