Criminal (in)justice

Andrew Cuomo is out as New York governor, after multiple accusations of harassment and abuse from female staff members. Could Cuomo be criminally prosecuted for alleged behaviors that may have crossed the line into sexual assault?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared April 13, 2021.In the US, the local prosecutor – usu the district attorney has a huge influence on the criminal system. The DA influences who gets prosecuted, for what, how long they serve if convicted – even who gets the death penalty. So what happens when the usual tough on crime DA gets replaced – by someone determined to bring transformational change to prosecution? We’ll talk with Larry Krasner, the unlikely Philly DA; his election and attempt to bring that change to an entrenched system is told in “Philly DA,” a multi-part documentary airing on PBS. Krasner’s memoir, “For the People,” about his life and career up to the day of his swearing in, will be published the same day. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Consequences are beginning to catch up with the lawyers who brought former president Donald Trump's election theft conspiracy theories to court.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared March 23, 2021. For years, advocates for better policing have pushed various reforms: consent decrees, civilian oversight, body cameras. But after George Floyd’s death and 2020, is reform still a viable alternative? Or is it defund or bust?Our guest is Christy Lopez, Professor of Practice at Georgetown Law. She headed multiple police reform investigations at the U.S. Department of Justice, and now runs the Innovative Policing Program at Georgetown. Her article, “Defund the Police? Here’s What That Really Means,” ran in the Washington Post on June 7, 2020.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared Feb 9, 2021.Leaving incarceration, and returning to life outside of prison. It’s a difficult process, and many end up back behind bars. What does it take to make it work? What more can be done to support those coming home? We hear it directly from two men who have done it. Mr. F. and Mr. R. (identities withheld) describe their steps into the free world after each served decades in prison.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September,ber 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared December 15, 2020.More US jurisdictions are questioning the use of money bail systems for pretrial release from jail. But many in law enforcement and the bail bond industry say this will damage public safety. Is that true? What really happens when you trash cash bail? Dr. Don Stemen of Loyola University in Chicago is co-author of a new research paper about what really happened when Cook County, Illinois, moved away from cash bail.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The New York DA brings indictments against Donald Trump’s business organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The U.S. Supreme Court wraps up its session with big decisions on juvenile justice, criminal procedure, civil rights and liberties, voting rights, and more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Bill Cosby is out of prison, but not because he's innocent of the rape charges that landed him there. What happened?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

In the world of police reform, accountability for misconduct depends on transparency – and that kind of transparency exists in very few places. So when a state finally does open its files on police discipline, what do we learn? We talk to Sukey Lewis and Sandhya Dirks, two reporters at KQED in San Francisco; their new podcast, On Our Watch, is a deep dive into the inner workings of the police disciplinary process. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

A California man's DUI has been thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that police needed a warrant to enter his attached garage.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Since the murder of George Floyd, cities and towns everywhere have proposed reforms that they hope can transform their police departments. Proposals range from more body cameras to eliminating police departments entirely. But what really works? Which of these will improve public safety, for everyone? Our guests are Nancy LaVigne, Executive Director of the Task Force on Policing of the Council on Criminal Justice, and Walter Katz, Task Force member and Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures.   Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Every day in American courtrooms, forensic science offers evidence to judges and juries: fingerprints, ballistics, shoe prints, even bite marks.  It’s supposed to provide scientific proof of guilt.  But what if it’s a lot less reliable than we think?  Our guest is Brandon Garrett, Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law and author of “Autopsy of a Crime Lab: Exposing the Flaws in Forensics.”  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Hoping to leverage public frustration with rising crime, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner's critics framed his reelection as a referendum on the incumbent's progressive reforms. In the end it was -- but not in the way they had hoped.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Since George Floyd’s death, countless advocates, government officials, task forces and commissions have made demands and proposals for police reform.  But one reform advocate took a novel approach: she went inside the police organization, and joined up.  In her book “Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City” (Penguin Press, 2021) author Rosa Brooks tells the story of joining the police in Washington D.C. – what she learned, and what she came away with regarding police reform.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Today marks the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. How have his death and the resulting groundswell of activism shaped the landscape for criminal justice reform?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Reformers had high hopes that equipping police with body cameras would make officers more accountable. How's that going?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of 2020, many governments, commissions, and organizations have come out with plans to change police departments. What does this look like when the leaders of a reform effort are African American, from law enforcement, and female? Our guest is Karol V. Mason, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and one of the co-leaders of the reform effort that produced a police reform plan called “The Future of Public Safety.” Links:Pres. Karol Mason, John JayFuture of Public Safety (report)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Independent investigations into police killings are supposed to circumvent the apparent conflict of interest that often prevents local prosecutors from bringing charges against local officers. But they don't seem to be any likelier to result in charges, because the law is stacked in favor of police regardless of who's investigating.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

When someone goes to prison, it can destroy the family left behind – and even more so when no one really knows what happened. But then, what does the family do years later, when that family member returns?Our guest, filmmaker Shirley Vernae Williams, tells us the story of Pastor Martin Thomas: the murder he committed, and his quest to make his life worthwhile, after he returns from prison.Trailer: A Break In BelongingAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands