Rachel Dissell

I'm a reporter for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, where I've worked since 2002. For most of my career I've worked on justice system issues, including investigating and change-making pieces on sexual assault, teen dating violence, the juvenile justice system. Many of my stories have led to changes in laws or police department policies, including a series of stories lead to more than 5,000 sexual assault kits being tested and more than 500 indictments in unsolved cases, some two decades old. My recent lead poisoning reporting with colleague Brie Zeltner alerted the community to the woeful job the city was doing to respond to and prevent the toxin causing damage to the city’s most vulnerable children. I also teach at Kent State, my alma mater. I live in Cleveland with my husband Tim, photojournalist and kids Otto and Willa and niece Angelisa.