Criminal (in)justice

Not only does Donald Trump's personal lawyer maintain that the president doesn't have to comply with a federal subpoena -- he's argued that Trump couldn't be investigated or prosecuted even if he really did shoot someone on Fifth Avenue. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The U.S. uses solitary confinement like no other country in the world, and nowhere more than the Supermax prison in Colorado. Solitary damages prisoners' minds, and the U.N. has called it torture. What happens when prisoners leave Supermax?  Keegan Hamilton is a senior reporter at Vice News. From 'The Alcatraz of the Rockies' to the Streets  Vice 8.28.19 Doing Time in Solitary Is Unimaginably Hard. Getting Out Might Be Harder. Slate 2.3.16 video: Lawyer on Lawyer violence Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjustice Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are you a Criminal Injustice patron? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing on the members feed! Unlock this episode and more exclusive content at patreon.com/criminalinjustice. Sen. Bernie Sanders was decades ahead of the Democratic party on the core ideas that now define progressive consensus on criminal justice reform. Now that the times have caught up with him, what is Bernie proposing? And can he succeed?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court declines to hear a challenge to the state's death penalty law. Dave provides analysis on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are you a Criminal Injustice patron? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing on the members feed! Unlock this episode and more exclusive content at patreon.com/criminalinjustice. Donald Trump's reelection campaign isn't exactly touting his criminal justice platform, but it's not hard to read the tea leaves on what a second Trump term might look like.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The law makes heroin, cocaine, and meth illegal according to their defined chemical structures. But what about drugs made from synthetic compounds, which can be changed with a tiny tweak in a clandestine lab? Can the law just say "close enough?" Jordan Rubin is a legal editor at Bloomberg Law and co-host of the Cases & Controversies podcast. "America's Secret Drug War," August 2019 Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Supervised injection sites provide a venue where addicts can safely use intravenous drugs under medical supervision. The practice saves lives, but in the midst of a deadly opioid epidemic the Justice Department is going after injection sites using laws designed to shut down crack houses. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month and unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are you a Criminal Injustice patron? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing on the members feed! Unlock this episode and more exclusive content at patreon.com/criminalinjustice. Pete Buttigieg entered the Democratic presidential primary race last spring with a message deliberately light on policy specifics. Since then he's rolled out a robust criminal justice  platform, part of a broader package of social reforms -- but will it be enough to win over African American voters skeptical of his record as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, where Buttigieg presided over a string of race-inflected law enforcement scandals?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Dave explains how prosecutors use "drug delivery resulting in death" charges in opioid overdose deaths on WESA's The Confluence. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month and unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Amber Guyger, the off-duty police officer who murdered Botham Jean in his Dallas apartment, has been found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. The trial's resolution -- and surprising displays of emotion in the courtroom -- have sparked almost as much reaction as the crime itself. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Koch Industries and Charles and David Koch – names that are synonymous with right-wing political causes and deregulation of industry. So why is Koch joining with the left to give former inmates second chances? Jenny Kim is Deputy General Counsel and Vice President for Public Policy at Koch Industries. She’ll tell us why Koch has taken up criminal justice reform, and she’ll tell us what she says to Koch critics. Do the Koch Brothers Really Care About Criminal-Justice Reform? Willie Horton 1988 Attack Ad Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are you a Criminal Injustice patron? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing on the members feed! Unlock this episode and more exclusive content at patreon.com/criminalinjustice. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign has offered meaty policy proposals on a variety of topics, and criminal justice is no exception. While many of her proposals on issues like mass incarceration, marijuana, and private prisons line up with those of other candidates, they're distinguished by the way Warren frames them: with a dual emphasis on reforming the system and upholding public safety.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

A crime summit held recently in St. Louis was a virtual who's-who of high ranking city and state government officials. Conspicuously absent from the gathering were the progressive, African American district attorneys of St. Louis and Kansas City, who were excluded despite having been elected to the top law enforcement post in Missouri's two largest cities. We look at the latest in a trend of anti-democratic attacks on reformist elected prosecutors. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Following a string of bank robberies, Portland police put together a photo lineup of suspects -- including one man whose mugshot had been digitally manipulated to remove prominent facial tattoos that were not present on the robber's face as described by witnesses and as shown on surveillance video. Can they do that? Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Urban violence kills thousands of Americans every year.  It accounts for almost three quarters of the murders in the U.S., and it traps a huge number of people in poverty, blight, trauma and despair.  What if there was a way cut murderous urban violence – by half? Guest Thomas Abt says it can be done with the tools we have now. He’s the author of “Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence – and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets.”  Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are you a Criminal Injustice patron? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing on the members feed! Unlock this episode and more exclusive content at patreon.com/criminalinjustice. To understand Sen. Kamala Harris's criminal justice positions, you have to look at each of the three distinct phases of her career: politically ambitious prosecutor in San Francisco, controversial "top cop" AG of California, and Democratic primary contender lurching leftward as consensus shifts on the issues that defined her. Which is the real Harris?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The Justice Department has announced it will seek the death penalty in the case against Robert Bowers, the white supremacist gunman who murdered worshippers in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue last year. Dave discusses the decision on Pittsburgh NPR station WESA. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

To celebrate the launch of our Patreon, we're sharing the first in a series of presidential candidate profiles: a look at frontrunner Joe Biden's amazing transformation from a tough-on-crime conservative Democrat during the '80s and '90s into a decarcerationist and would-be reformer on the 2020 campaign trail.  In future episodes we'll be examining the records and rhetoric of each of the major presidential candidates. To hear the rest of the series, become a $5/month Criminal Injustice member and gain access to our new premium content stream! There we'll be releasing more special series like this one, along with extra bonus episodes and videos just for our Patreon supporters -- and, if you're one of the first 100 to join, you'll get a free signed copy of Dave's 2012 book Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

As reform-minded elected prosecutors gain power across the U.S., they’re increasingly coming under fire from their federal counterparts — most recently, an anti-democratic tirade by U.S. Attorney Bill Barr, who attacked progressive district attorneys for doing what voters elected them to do. Support Criminal Injustice at $5/month to unlock extra bonus episodes and more on the Members feed: patreon.com/criminalinjusticeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Many people make their social media posts public.  Everyone can see them, like a signed billboard visible anywhere in the world. So, what should we think when we learn that *some* police officers, in some departments, have been posting racist messages or memes endorsing violence, visible to anyone on the Internet?  Emily Baker-White is founder of The Plain View Project, an organization that gathered and analyzed thousands of social media posts by police officers, from many police departments. The results reveal much – none of it positive – about the racial and other attitudes of some officers. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands