State To Study Ways To Reduce Prison Population

State leaders and criminal justice experts are launching a new effort to reduce Ohio's prison population through an examination of crime, courts, probation and incarceration. A year-long study will analyze thousands of records to examine how sentences handed down for serious crimes affect prison populations and life after prison. The study will be conducted by the Council of State Governments Justice Center. A similar effort in 2011 had mixed results, in part because of  Ohio's opioid crisis and  pushback from judges and prosecutors.