007-978
ATHENS, Ohio -- A locally-produced radio documentary on juvenile crime will air at over 50 public radio stations around the country this July. Sandra Sleight-Brennan, award-winning radio producer and assistant professor of telecommunications at Ohio University, produced the half-hour special "Second Chances," a look at innovative approaches to ending juvenile crime being made at Hocking Valley Community Residential Center in Nelsonville.
"It feels good to know that a story I've done has merit nationally," says Sleight-Brennan, senior radio producer for Ohio University's School of Telecommunications. "Radio can tell stories so powerfully, and it's important for a society to hear their own stories."
Sleight-Brennan won a pair of national awards last year for her series "America's Women: A Legacy of Change." She won first place for best radio documentary series in the large market category in the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television's 21st Annual Commendation Awards. She also won first place in the "Documentary-Audio" category in the Broadcast Education Association's 1996 Juried Faculty Production Competition.
"Second Chances," will air on the award-winning Soundprint weekly radio series.
The new documentary features the Nelsonville juvenile rehabilitation center where young offenders are gaining confidence and feelings of self-worth through new approaches to ending juvenile crime, according to Sleight-Brennan.
"The approach of the center is to look at the whole child. It looks for strengths the kids already have, not weaknesses to correct," says Sleight-Brennan.
The Nelsonville center has a 35 to 45 percent higher success rate than other juvenile rehabilitation programs in the nation, according to Sleight-Brennan. The center uses writing therapy and parental counseling, among other techniques, to lessen the chances youths will continue to commit crimes.
"Second Chances" aired in the Athens area on WOUB-AM 1340 AM on Tuesday, July 15, at 2:30 p.m.