After six years and 150+ interviews, Criminal Injustice is wrapping up. Dave and producer Josh Raulerson look back on what the show has accomplished and what it's meant to them.

While we're taking an indefinite hiatus from posting new episodes, the full back catalog will live on at criminalinjusticepodcast.com. Thanks to our wonderful listeners and everyone who has supported the show over the years!

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As listeners know, Dave has a great day job: teaching law school. On this special episode we’ll meet some of his law students from the University of Pittsburgh, learning what drew them to the law, and what’s on their minds.

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On Criminal Injustice, we’ve examined a host of changes and reforms that have altered the criminal justice landscape. But nothing – nothing – can match the change brought to every aspect of the system by the use of DNA to uncover wrongful convictions.

Links:

• The Innocence Project
• Christina Swarns

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In Episode 55, we brought you a conversation with Kevin Sharp: a former federal judge who gave it up because he had to sentence young men like Chris Young to cruel and unjust mandatory sentences. Several years later, we have an update: we talk with Kevin Sharp, and this time with Chris Young too.

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Grand juries are a handy tool for prosecutors, providing a ready pretext for any potentially controversial decision to bring charges or, as is often the case with police accused of crimes, not bring charges. Do grand jury proceedings serve any purpose, or are they just theater? Dave explains on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence.

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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced in January that he will retire this year, giving President Biden a chance to name his replacement. Dave reviews highlights from Breyer's 38 years on the bench.

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The criminal legal system has left us with too little justice, and too much mass incarceration, racial disparities, and lifelong burdens on those it touches. But few groups suffer as much under the system’s burdens as young black people. 

How America criminalizes black youth – we discuss it with Professor Kristin Henning, author of “The Rage of Innocence: How American Criminalizes Black Youth.”

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This month the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments concerning enforcement of the controversial "heartbeat" law that effectively bans abortion in Texas. Dave provides analysis as a guest on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence.

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The news is out: 2020 saw a 30% rise in murders, nationwide. 2021 isn’t looking good, either. Some want us to turn back to the aggressive policing of the past. But is there a better way to stem the tide of gun violence? What actually works? 

We look at the evidence and get real information on what to do, right now, to stem the violence, with Ciera Bates—Chamberlain, Executive Director of Live Free Chicago – Live Free Illinois, and Thomas Abt, Senior Fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice. Both are members of the Council’s Violent Crime Working Group

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona was larger than life – America’s Toughest Sheriff. But when he became an anti-immigration profiler of Latinos, they organized and resisted – and that changed everything. We talk to veteran journalist Jude Joffe-Block, co-author of “Driving While Brown: Sheriff Joe versus the Latino Resistance,” published in 2021 by the University of California Press.

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Dave previews some of the big cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court this session -- first with Kevin Gavin on 90.5 WESA's "The Confluence," then continuing with extra podcast-only analysis of cases not covered in the segment.

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We know that every part of the criminal justice system needs transformational change. We’ve heard this about police, prosecution, the courts, and prisons. But what about public defense systems? 

We talk to Jonathan Rapping, founder and president of Gideon’s Promise, a national organization supporting public defenders, and the author of “Gideon’s Promise: A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice,” (Beacon Press, 2020). 

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While crime remains down overall, over the last year we've seen a startling spike in the U.S. murder rate. What's going on?

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When something goes catastrophically wrong with a police action, we ask whose fault it was.  Who made the mistake? Focusing on who’s to blame is a key question for justice.  But what if we want to prevent similar errors going forward?  How do we fix the system that allowed the mistake to happen? 

We look at root cause analysis in the Criminal justice system with three people who were part of a Sentinel Event Review Board in Tucson, AZ.

• Tonya Strozier
• Chad Kasmer
• John Hollway
• Tucson Sentinel Event Review Board Report

 

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As the country looks for better alternatives to police for people in crisis, Eugene, Oregon’s CAHOOTS is the model. So what happens when a much bigger city tries this approach?

In this episode, we talk to Colorado Public Radio journalist David Sachs, who has been reporting on the STAR program, in Denver – an attempt to do for his city what CAHOOTS did for much smaller Eugene. His work on STAR has been heard on NPR, and has been published in Denverite.

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A pair of articles in USA Today (paywall) and the New York Times raises the question: do police officers face any real consequences for making false statements to cover up criminal abuse?

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When people experience a mental health crisis or homelessness, the best person to help may not be a uniformed and armed police officer.  So, who ya gonna call? We talk to journalist Rowan Moore Gerety, who has investigated the CAHOOTS program, in Eugene, Oregon.  His story, “An Alternative to Police That Police Can Get Behind,” was published in The Atlantic.

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Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared September 17, 2019.

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.” 

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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is suing his chambermate, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), over the latter's participation in the January 6 rally that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Brooks's defense is... not great.

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Criminal Injustice returns with new episodes in September 2021. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite interviews. This episode originally appeared April 27, 2021.

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 Belonging

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