Anti-violence worker Cecilia Mannion confronts her desire for revenge after the car her kids are riding in is shot up 20 times. Meanwhile outreach workers in Garfield Park are trying to slow a string of shootings stemming from the theft of an $8,000 necklace. And Joey finally goes to the police station to make an identification, but there are problems ..read more

The gang murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams shook Chicago and affected many of the anti-violence workers on the West Side. As former gang members they sympathized with Jaslyn’s dad, Jontae, his desire to spend time with his daughter and how that put her at risk of violence. Jontae still struggles with the guilt. And when he decided to help police catch his daughter’s killers his gang friends turned on him. **Content warning: This episode contains uses of the n-word ..read more

Gunshot victim Joey struggles to get police to arrest the man he believes seriously wounded him and killed his neighbor. Meanwhile, low-pay and job insecurity make it harder for anti-violence workers to do their jobs and build a life for themselves ..read more

Sirenzo Strong spends his work days trying to talk to gang members in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. Part of his turf is the site of a former housing complex, Rockwell Gardens. When former residents return to the old neighborhood, so do the old gang allegiances and grudges ..read more

Former gang members are out on Chicago’s streets trying to slow the relentless violence. A man shot 11 times hides with his kids at home ..read more

In this bonus episode of Motive, we bring you some excerpts from a special project we created. After a years-long investigation into prisons, we wanted to make something that wasn’t just about people in prison, but also for them. In August of this year we collaborated with radio stations across Illinois to create a broadcast that was heard in prisons statewide. We played sounds incarcerated people requested to hear from the other side of the prison wall, and dedications for sounds that family members thought would be important to their loved ones. People requested simple sounds from the outsid ..read more

From our friends at WAMU and PRX. When 8 year old Relisha Rudd disappeared from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. in 2014, nobody noticed. By the time authorities formally declared Relisha “missing,” 18 days had passed since she’d been spotted at school or the shelter where her family lived. Seven years later, Relisha has never been found. Through The Cracks investigates gaps in our society and the people who fall through them, and in this first season, host Jonquilyn Hill asks if Relisha’s disappearance was, as the city later claimed, unpreventable ..read more

Prisons helped rural towns, while Black communities in Chicago paid a heavy price. Now, rumors swirl that parts of Pontiac prison may close ..read more

In the 1980s Illinois leaders held a competition, where rural towns competed to “win” prisons and the jobs that come with them ..read more

Two Illinois prison guards were tried for beating Larry Earvin to death. We try to make sense of the trial and what it says about prisons ..read more