The Marshall Project's 'Testify' series finds most repeat defendants commit nonviolent crimes

What leads someone to commit a crime multiple times? Some might think of defendents with multiple charges as "career criminals" but a new analysis by The Marshall Project examines the circumstances that bring defendants back to Cuyahoga County's courts over and over again. They found that most repeat defendents commit nonviolent crimes borne out of untreated addiction and mental illness, as well as poverty. 

This hour on the "Sound of Ideas," we're going to spend some time diving into the latest from the Marshall Project's Testify series, which is an investigation into the Cuyahoga County court system. 

Later this hour, Ideastream's Rick Jackson talks to crime writer Daniel Stashower, who has a new book out chronicling one of the most gruesome cases in Cleveland's history and the famed Cleveland Safety Director Eliot Ness.

-Wesley Lowery, Contributing Editor, The Marshall Project 
-Ilica Mahajan <<Ih-lih-kah Ma-haa-jan>>, Computational Journalist, The Marshall Project
-Rick Jackson, Senior Host, Ideastream Public Media 
-Daniel Stashower, Author, "American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper"