Criminal Justice
Punished: Louisville Teens Charged As Adults Are Almost Always Black
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Of 126 individuals charged as “youthful offenders” in Jefferson County, 117 of them — 93 percent — were black.
KyCIR In 2019: Our Year In Investigations
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In 2019, the KyCIR team broke news on politics, horse racing, criminal justice and more. Take a look back with us at some of the year’s biggest and most impactful investigations.
Criminal Justice
For Louisville Offenders And Victims Alike, A New Label: ‘Public Nuisance’
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Louisville’s public nuisance ordinance is intended to provide a way to bust up drug houses and crime dens. But police and code enforcement officials have been increasingly focused on residential locations where crimes are reported — regardless of whether the victim or the offender lives there.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer ‘Confident’ In LMPD Rape Investigations
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KyCIR’s investigation found rape cases in Louisville are sometimes rejected by a prosecutor and “cleared by exception” before much investigating.
season one
Prosecution Declined
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LMPD asks prosecutors to review their rape cases and decide whether they should make an arrest. More often than not, the prosecutors say no.
KyCIR, WFPL To Add News Staff Through Report For America
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The KyCIR reporter will cover social services, youth and the legislature in Kentucky.
Listen to the first season of Dig
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A woman told Louisville police she was raped in January 2018. She expected them to quickly try to arrest the suspect. But an officer on the scene that night didn’t seem to believe her. The detectives weren’t convinced that a crime occurred. And a prosecutor rejected the case well before an arrest was even under consideration.
Environment
Our Reporters Want To Hear Your Ohio River Questions
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Text “OHIO” to 859-208-2408 to share with our seven-newsroom collaborative. KyCIR is teaming up with six other news organizations to cover what might be the most under-appreciated water asset in the country: the Ohio River. The Ohio River provides drinking water for 5 million people, and it’s a thoroughfare of business, supporting jobs and communities. But it’s also among the most polluted rivers in the country. The project “Good River: Stories of the Ohio” will delve into the past, present and future of this river and its region.
Man Convicted Of Murder After Police Chase Left Two Kentucky Teens Dead
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A jury in Hardin County this week convicted a man of two counts of murder and recommended he serve life in prison for his role in a crash last year that killed two teenagers. Shawn Welsh was being chased by three police agencies in October 2018 when he sped a stolen Chevrolet pick-up truck through a red light and collided with a Honda Accord being driven by Jacob Barber. Barber, 18, and Katarina Peeters, 17, were killed in the crash. Two other teenage passengers in the car were seriously injured, but survived. “We got justice for our kids,” said Barber’s mother, Sharon Combs, after the verdict.
Criminal Justice
New Court Ruling Could Make Expungement Unaffordable For Some Kentuckians
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People who can’t afford to pay expungement fees might be prevented from clearing their criminal record under a recent Kentucky court ruling.