Podcasts about criminal legal system

La Raza Database Research Project is bringing awareness to police violence against Latinos.This show is made possible by you! To become a sustaining member go to https://LauraFlanders.org/donate Thank you for your continued support!Description: You wouldn't know it from the data, but Latinos are the second most likely demographic to be killed by law enforcement in the U.S, relative to their population. We only have these statistics now thanks to the work of La Raza Database Research Project, a group of volunteers in Southern California who are bringing awareness to systematic police violence against the Latino population. They estimate that almost 6,500 Latinos have been killed by police between 2000 and 2022 – but the data has been missing until this moment. In this unusual installment of our monthly “Meet the BIPOC Press” series, Laura and Senior Producer Jeremiah Cothren sit down with LF&F Social Justice Reporting Fellow, Roberto Camacho, who interviewed members of the Research Project to figure out why Latinos are so frequently misrepresented. Camacho also spoke with the mother and sister of César Antonio Rodriguez, a young man tragically killed by the Long Beach Police Dept in 2017 and misidentified in police records. Camacho is a Chicano multimedia journalist focusing on criminal justice reform, immigration and Chicano/Latino issues. He originally reported on this story for Palabra.Guests:• Ivette Xochiyotl Boyzo: Research Project Manager, La Raza Database• Roberto Camacho: Journalist; Social Justice Reporting Fellow, Laura Flanders & Friends• Jeremiah Cothren (Co-host): Senior Producer, Laura Flanders & Friends• Jesus M. Garcia: Research Project Statistician & Demographer, La Raza Database• Rosa Moreno: Mother of César Rodriguez• Priscilla Rodriguez: Sister of César Rodriguez Watch the episode cut airing on PBS stations across the country at our YouTube channelSubscribe to episode notes via PatreonMusic In the Middle:  “Rhythm of Your Dream” by Nation Beat from their album Archaic Humans released on Rope a Dope Records, Listen & Learn more.  And additional music included- "Steppin"  and "All The Ways" by Podington Bear. Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•  Corporate Prison Reform Will Not Keep Us Safe: A Report from Los Angeles, Watch / Listen•  Black Journalists on Police Violence: Reporting from the Ground Up: Watch / Listen  •. Emergent Strategies for Abolition: Andrea J. Ritchie's Toolkit for Activists: Watch / ListenRelated Articles and Resources:• Project Looks to Unfold True Count of Nations Killed by Police, by Keith Mizuguchi, July 2, 2024, KQED•  La Raza Database Project Seeks a True Count of Latinos Killed by Police but Determingin identity Complicates Accurate Reporting, by Roberto Camacho, May 1, 2024, Palabra•  San Diego community demands more from law enforcement than non-binding policies to increase police accountability, by Roberto Camacho, June 9, 2022, Prism Reports  Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Today, Hunter spoke once again with Nikki Baszynski of the Wren Collective to talk about the Criminal Legal System in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This time, they discussed an update about youth representation in the county, and they also did a deep dive into how the county jail is denying prisoners in person visits and recording their conversations with family.   Guest Nikki Baszynski, Principal, Wren Collective   Resources: Wren Collective Report https://www.wrencollective.org/_files/ugd/8fe8f0_72700fa56eda43d78203966a3fbff476.pdf Other Reporting on Cuyahoga County Jail Issues https://signalcleveland.org/cuyahoga-county-jail-death-medical-care/ https://signalcleveland.org/how-cuyahoga-county-jail-video-visitation-works/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20county%20ended,only%20virtual%20options%20to%20visit. https://signalcleveland.org/cuyahoga-county-has-no-plans-to-bring-back-in-person-visits-for-friends-and-family-at-the-jail/ https://signalcleveland.org/in-an-about-face-cuyahoga-county-is-now-considering-allowing-in-person-jail-visits/   Today, Hunter spoke once again with Nikki Baszynski of the Wren Collective to talk about the Criminal Legal System in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This time, they discussed an update about youth representation in the county, and they also did a deep dive into how the county jail is denying prisoners in person visits and recording their conversations with family.   Guest Nikki Baszynski, Principal, Wren Collective   Resources: Wren Collective Report https://www.wrencollective.org/_files/ugd/8fe8f0_72700fa56eda43d78203966a3fbff476.pdf Other Reporting on Cuyahoga County Jail Issues https://signalcleveland.org/cuyahoga-county-jail-death-medical-care/ https://signalcleveland.org/how-cuyahoga-county-jail-video-visitation-works/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20county%20ended,only%20virtual%20options%20to%20visit. https://signalcleveland.org/cuyahoga-county-has-no-plans-to-bring-back-in-person-visits-for-friends-and-family-at-the-jail/ https://signalcleveland.org/in-an-about-face-cuyahoga-county-is-now-considering-allowing-in-person-jail-visits/     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home    Resgitser for the ABA Public Defense Summit Here https://events.americanbar.org/event/770bddad-346e-4f89-85f1-3e5b1d92b4ba/regProcessStep1    

Today, Hunter is joined by professor Ráchael Powers to discuss Marsy's Law. For those unfamiliar, Marsy's Law is one of many types of Victim's Bill of Rights law that exist around the country. These laws are designed to give victims of crime more rights in the criminal legal system. The only problem? They often directly conflict with the rights of the accused. Today, Ráchael joins us to talk about a report she published for the NACDL about the dangers of Marsy's Law.   Guests: Ráchael Powers Resources: Contact Ráchael https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/powersro https://x.com/rpowerscrim?lang=en Read the Report https://www.nacdl.org/Document/JusticeforNoneHowMarsysLawUnderminesCrimLegalSys   Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home  

Today, Hunter is joined by Dr. Julie Mack and Randy Papetti to discuss Shaken Baby Syndrome. Also known as Abusive Head Trauma, Shaken Baby Syndrome started out as an untested hypothesis meant to help parents keep their children safe. However, police and prosecutors quickly realized the power SBS had to secure convictions. Since then, dozens of people's convictions have been overturned as courts around the country realize that SBS is an unfounded, junk science that does not belong in the criminal court room.   Guests: Dr. Julie Mack, Radiologist Randy Papetti, Attorney   Resources: CATO Institute on Shaken Baby Syndrome https://www.cato.org/events/shaken-baby-syndrome-examining-evidence-shadow-execution Randy's Book on Shaken Baby Syndrome https://www.amazon.com/Forensic-Unreliability-Shaken-Baby-Syndrome/dp/0998904333 Feigned Consensus: Usurping the Law in Shaken Baby Syndrome/ Abusive Head Trauma Prosecutions https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&context=articles Swedish Study on SBS https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28130787/ Robert Roberson https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/09/15/texas-shaken-baby-syndrome-baby-death-robert-roberson?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAl4a6BhBqEiwAqvrquptUxczfL4EwGv2aXhKkzhV8LiaHBriGbcdDzCJtXwd7ypeophvb0xoCCckQAvD_BwE https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/robert-roberson-shaken-baby-texas-death-row-evidence/     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home  

Today, Hunter is joined by Nancy Farrell and Dee Miller of the New York Vet Defense Program. Previously on the show, Hunter and other guests have described the power of veteran and other treatment courts. However, we have often lamented at the limited scope that this courts offer veterans who need help but just not drug or alcohol treatment. With this program, Nancy and Dee offer veterans the culturally competent mitigation and service connection that helps Vets escape the criminal legal system.   Guests: Nancy Farrell, Director, New York Vet Defense Dee Miller, Program Coordinator, Vet Defense   Resources: Connect With NY Vet Defense 585 219 4862 Email Info@NYSDA.org Website https://www.nysda.org/page/VetsDefTest   Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home  

"Turning A Moment Into A Movement" Friday November 1, 2024 8:30 PM EST TOPIC: VOTING MATTERS w/ Angela Davenport Executive Director of VAAC - Voting Access for All Coalition / votingaccessforall.org The Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) gives a voice to those impacted by the Criminal Legal System. Voting is a key element of civic engagement and a critical part of the democratic process. Your vote holds elected officials accountable for their actions. It forces them to listen to you and the issues that most concern you. Voting is a critical right we must protect, and that begins by exercising our right to vote in elections at every level of government. Please join us for this conversation. Turning A Moment Ino A Moment Team: -Jay Love Host: Founder and Creator of Turning A Moment Into A Movement, The Justice for Gerard Movement, Board member of Michigan Coalition of Human Rights, G100 Prison Reforms & Reintegration Global Advisory Council Member -Rev. Tia Littlejohn: Behavioral Therapist, Founder of the Choice Zone, G100 Global Chair G100 Prison Reforms & Reintegration, Co-Chair & Executive Board member of Michigan Coalition of Human Rights, Author, www.thechoicezone.com -Attorney Hugo Mack: Former Prosecutor Candidate for Washtenaw County, H Mack Law / Call the Freedom line: 734-239-3118www.hmacklaw.com.... It's your hook up! -Alexanderia Hudges: Mental health and human rights Activist, Master's degree student at Wayne State University, and Board member with the Michigan Coalition of Human Rights https://linktr.ee/AlexandriaJHughes -Trische' Duckworth: Executive Director/Founder of Survivors Speak, Founder/ Lead Consultant of Value Black Lives, Social Worker, Justice Advocate, Board member of Michigan Coalition of Human Rights, https://www.survivorsspeak.info I do not own the rights to the music. No copyright infringement intended. Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer (Fair Use) under section 107 Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. To learn more about The Justice for Gerard Movement go to: www.change.org/Justice4Gerard --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/momentintoamovement/support

In this episode, Executive Director of the Western Riverside Council of Governments Kurt Wilson talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about community development, disproportionate minority contact deficiencies within the criminal legal system, and regional governance and collaboration.    About Kurt Wilson: Dr. Kurt Wilson serves as the Executive Director of the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), bringing over 25 years of local government leadership experience. A native of the Inland Empire, Dr. Wilson has held senior management roles in five cities across the West Coast and served in both state and federal capacities, including two gubernatorial appointments from former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. His career highlights include guiding the City of Stockton through a financial recovery from bankruptcy to becoming one of the most fiscally healthy large cities in the U.S. Dr. Wilson is also an educator, teaching courses in public policy and government operations, and has held leadership roles such as Vice President of the California affiliate of the International City and County Management Association.  Learn more about Kurt Wilson via https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-wilson/ Podcast Highlights: "There was a time in our history... that once someone is convicted of doing something, we sort of throw them away... and then when they come out, having been in that environment, we're somehow surprised that things didn't get better." -       Kurt Wilson on the topic of the evolution of reintegration processes into society, post-incarceration.  "A lot of equity efforts fail because they're presented in a way where there's a clear winner and subsequently a clear loser. The person who feels as if they're being attacked, or that they're likely to lose is inherently going to push back. We see that in issues of race, we see that in issues of policing, all of our social issues, it's a very similar theme where we're not starting from the same place. By understanding that from the get-go, you're able to come up with some concepts to make a little bit more sense." -       Kurt Wilson on the topic of equity efforts and how framing can affect public perception of key issues.   Guest: Kurt Wilson (Executive Director, Western Riverside Council of Governments) Interviewers: Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean's Chief Ambassador) Esa Hasan (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean's Ambassador) Music by: C Codainehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Minimal_1625https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/PhaseCommercial Links:https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpphttps://spp.ucr.edu/mpp  This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: https://spp.ucr.edu/ Subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast. 

Y'all, this episode is really special to me. My guest Joia and I have BEEN THROUGH IT and she has always been in my ear supporting my growth and development. I am so happy to introduce you to the amazing Joia Thornton. Friend, sister, daughter, auntie, advocate, actress, non-profit founder, and leader fiercely rooted in her faith. we dive deep into the complexities of navigating workplace dynamics as Black individuals, particularly focusing on the challenges we sometimes face working within communities of color. The reality that not all "skinfolk are kinfolk", am I right?!Here are three key takeaways that I believe will resonate with many of you:Self-Preservation Over Institutional Loyalty: Joia emphasizes the importance of prioritizing our own well-being over the institutions we work for. Too often, we find ourselves sacrificing our mental health and personal growth in the name of loyalty to organizations that do not have our best interests at heart. It's crucial to recognize that we are replaceable in these spaces and to focus on creating our own paths and projects that reflect our true selves.The Power of Intrapreneurship: One of the most empowering concepts we discussed is intrapreneurshipthe idea of creating something meaningful within an organization that you can claim as your own. Joia encourages us to leverage our unique skills and perspectives to initiate projects that not only benefit the organization but also serve as a testament to our contributions and capabilities. This approach not only enhances our professional profiles but also fosters a sense of ownership and pride in our work.Navigating Conflict with Grace: We explored the painful reality that sometimes our greatest challenges come from within our own community. Joia shared her insights on how to handle conflicts with other Black colleagues, emphasizing the need for grace and understanding. It's essential to recognize that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences, and extending compassion can lead to healing and growth for everyone involved.This episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating the complexities of race and identity in the workplace. Join us as we unpack these themes and more, and let's continue the conversation about how we can support each other in our professional journeys.Thank you for tuning in! Remember, the Impostrix podcast is now available on the Alive Podcast Network app, offering ad-free content from nearly 100 other black-hosted podcasts. Connect with Joia on IG @JoiaInATL and follow her work fighting to end the death penalty @FLOCCJustice and www.floccjustice.org. Check in with Whitney on Instagram and Facebook @ImpostrixPodcast, and join our community on Facebook by searching for Impostrix podcast.THANK YOU to Chris @DigitalREM for keeping our episodes sounding and looking nice!

Send us a textWhat if a single phone call could turn your entire world upside down? In this heartfelt episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason are in conversation with  Shawn Barrera-Leaf, whose family faced a seismic shift in August 2017. Just as Shawn was preparing for her eldest son's wedding, she received the shocking news that her youngest son, an aspiring doctor, had been arrested on a serious charge. Listen as Shawn opens up about the initial shock, confusion, and emotional turmoil that enveloped her family during this unimaginable time.Join us as we navigate the complexities of the criminal legal system through Shawn's eyes. She shares the family's journey through accountability, court proceedings, the significant financial and emotional strains, and the critical role of mental health counseling in helping them cope. You'll hear about the stark realities of mandatory minimum sentencing and the often-overlooked human aspects of legal battles. Shawn's story sheds light on the resilience required to endure and the importance of supportive people and networks that provided solace during their darkest days.In the latter part of our conversation, we explore Shawn's inspiring involvement in advocacy work. Discover how connecting with Michigan Citizens for Justice and founding United Voices for Sex Offense Reform provided her with a sense of purpose and community. Celebrate with us the power of unity and collective action as we reflect on the hope and strength that can emerge from connections amidst significant adversity.About Shawn:Shawn Barrera-Leaf, a Michigan native, began her journey into criminal justice advocacy in 2017 when her son's conviction drastically altered their lives. As the Executive Director of United Voices for Sex Offense Reform (UV4SOR) a national nonprofit, Shawn leads the organization to challenge punitive laws, raise awareness about the harm inflicted by the carceral system, and promote healing. UV4SOR's advocacy efforts convey that justice is not about retribution, but about restoring dignity, hope, and the belief in second chances. She serves on the board of CURE-SORT and is actively involved in the steering committee of the National Coalition Against Conviction Registries comprised of 30+ organizations working together to abolish the Sex Offense Registry and its regime. Shawn can be reached at sbleaf@uv4sor.org or through thewebsite UV4SORSupport the show

Shain Filcher, Esq. (they/he/she), Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of NY sits down with Deborah Lolai, Esq. (she/her), Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School's LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia School of Social Work to discuss Deborah's near decade of experience as a Public Defender and Founding Director of the LGBTQ Defense Project at The Bronx Defenders, the challenges LGBTQ+ people face at all stages of prosecution within the criminal legal system, career changes, and how academia can serve to enhance social justice movements.

Today, Hunter is joined by Kathrina “Kasia” Szymborski Wolfkot from the Brennan Center for Justice. On today's episode, Hunter and Kasia explore a rare area for hope on the show: State Courts. While much of the focus of teaching and discussion about our legal system starts and ends with the Supreme Court, state courts offer a path to meaningful, major changes to our criminal and constitutional legal systems.     Guests: Kathrina (Kasia) Szymborski Wolfkot, Senior Counsel, Brenan Center for Justice, Managing Editor of the State Court Report     Resources: Commonweatth v Mattis https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html New Yorker on State Supreme Courts https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/10/can-state-supreme-courts-preserve-or-expand-rights State Court Report https://statecourtreport.org/       Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home  

Today, Hunter sat down with Duci Goncalves and Lael Chester to discuss how Massachusetts has started to reimagine how the criminal legal system treats emerging adults. As most of us remember, we didn't always make the best choices as children, and that questionable decision making didn't just improve the moment we turned 18. Yet in the criminal legal system, 18 is treated as a magic number where suddenly we assume you are a fully developed adult. With new brain science, we understand that 18 is not some magic number, and those between the ages of 18-25 still have a developing brain. To adhere to our understanding of modern brain science, Massachusetts is setting out on a new path to how the legal system handles emerging adult offenders.   Guests: Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel, Youth Advocacy Division, Committee For Public Counsel Services, Massachusetts Lael Chester, Director, Emerging Adult Justice Project, Columbia University Justice Lab   Resources: Lael's Faculty Page https://justicelab.columbia.edu/people/lael-chester Massachusetts Changes LWOP for Emerging Adults https://www.bostonpoliticalreview.org/post/mass-supreme-court-raises-life-without-parole-sentencing-from-18-to-21#:~:text=January%2015%2C%202024%2C%20marked%20a,sent%20waves%20throughout%20the%20nation. Commonwealth v Robinson https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703587.html Commonwealth v Mattis https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html Emerging Adult Innovation with CPCS a) Website page on the national EAJ Developmental Framework project: https://www.eajustice.org/ea-developmental-framework b) Announcement of the launch of the project: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c6458c07788975dfd586d90/t/642b478230438b045ee02455/1680557954756/Columbia+Justice+Lab+Announcement+of+EAJ+Innovation+Sites+3.31.23.pdf c) JJIE article: https://jjie.org/2023/05/11/1442839/ Emerging Adult Information https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2021/07/22/reimagine-juvenile-justice-emerging-adults-gen-z/ideas/essay/ Raise the Age Campaign  https://www.raisetheagema.org/   Contact Hunter Parnell:                                             Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN  *Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today's episode features Jonathan and Sy talking with Pastor Rasool Berry. They discuss:-        The importance of acknowledging and understanding your own and your community's power-        The social and spiritual forces behind the opposition to CRT or DEI (or whatever they're calling it today)-        Pastor Berry's incredible documentary about Juneteenth and Christian faith-        When to leave communities that push back against racial justice-        And after the interview, Sy and Jonathan reflect on the work it takes to pass on a tradition like Juneteenth well, and the truly, literally unbelievable levels of ignorance whiteness creates in people-        Plus, they discuss the Daniel Perry pardon, and the threads that connect it to the Donald Trump convictionsMentioned in the Episode-        Our anthology - Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics and Christianity in the era of Trump and Beyond-        An abridged version of Pastor Berry's article from the anthology.-        His subsequent article, “Uncritical Race Theory”-        The documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom-        Resources for screening Juneteenth and inviting speakers involved with the film-        The soundtrack for Juneteenth-        Pastor Berry's podcast, Where Ya From?-        The article on Daniel Perry Sy put in our newsletter-        The Texas Monthly article about how legally unusual Perry's pardon wasCredits-        Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.-        Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.-        Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.-        Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.-        Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.-        Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy Hoekstra.-        Production by Sy Hoekstra and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes, the first three ascending and the last three descending – F#, B#, E, D#, B – with a keyboard pad playing the note B in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Rasool Berry: There was a lot of nicknames and still are for Juneteenth. One was Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, but Jubilee Day. And when I discovered that, that's when I said we got to get involved in this process. Because you mean to tell me that these formerly enslaved people at a time when it was illegal to read, that they understood enough of the story that they picked out this festival, that it was this reordering of society, the kingdom of heaven coming back to earth. And in the context of this, of their faith, they saw God doing a jubilee in their lives?[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]IntroductionSy Hoekstra: Welcome to Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. I'm Sy Hoekstra.Jonathan Walton: And I'm Jonathan Walton. Today, hear us talk to Pastor Rasool Berry about his thoughts on the movement against CRT, or DEI, or whatever the term for the moment is right now when you listen to this. We're also [laughs] going to talk about his incredible feature length documentary called Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom, which is available for free on YouTube right now. And then after the interview, hear our thoughts on the pardon of Daniel Perry and the conviction of Donald Trump in our segment, Which Tab Is Still Open?Sy Hoekstra: The 34 convictions of Donald Trump.Jonathan Walton: All of them.Sy Hoekstra: All of them [laughs]. We're going to talk about each one individually…Jonathan Walton: Exactly.Sy Hoekstra: …the specific business record that he destroyed, whatever.Jonathan Walton: [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Don't be afraid, we're not going to do that. By the way, I said at the end of last week that the guest this week was going to be Brandi Miller, and then we realized that we had to do the episode that was about Juneteenth before Juneteenth. So Brandi Miller's going to be in two weeks from now. And this time [laughs], it's Pastor Rasool Berry.Before we get to that, just a reminder, we need your subscriptions. Please go to ktfpress.com and become a paid subscriber on our Substack. Your support sustains what we do, and we need that support from you right now. We've been doing this as a side project for a long time, and like we've been saying, if we want this show to continue past this season, we need to get a lot more subscribers so that we can keep doing this work, but not for free as much as we've been doing it.So go and subscribe. That gets you all the bonus episodes of this show, which there are many, many of at this point. And then it also gets you access to our new monthly subscriber conversations that we're doing. Jonathan and I will be having video chats with you to talk about all the different kinds of things that we talk about on this show, answer some questions, just have a good time. And if you cannot afford a subscription, if money's the only obstacle, just write to us at info@ktfpress.com. We will give you a free or discounted subscription, no questions asked. But if you can afford it, please, ktfpress.com. Become a paid subscriber. We need your support now.Jonathan Walton: Pastor Rasool Berry serves as teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York. He's also the director of partnerships and content development with Our Daily Bread Ministries. Pastor Berry graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in Africana Studies and Sociology. He's also the host of the Where Ya From? podcast sponsored by Christianity Today, and the writer, producer and host of Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom. Let's get to it. Here's the interview.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Pastor, thank you so much for joining us on Shake the Dust today.Rasool Berry: Oh, well, I'm glad to be here with you all, back at it again, Keeping the Faith.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. Yes, exactly [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Amen. Amen.The Importance of “Mapping” PowerSy Hoekstra: So, you wrote this fantastic essay for… so, well, actually, it was originally for your blog, I think, and then we kind of took it and adapted it for the anthology. And it was about critical race theory, and you broke down a lot of the history and sort of the complex intellectual background of it and everything. But you talked specifically about something that you said, critical race theory and the Bible and the Black Christian tradition in the US all help us do something really important, and that thing is mapping power. Can you talk to us a little bit about what power mapping is and what the importance of it is?Rasool Berry: Yeah. I first kind of got wind of that framework when we were launching a justice ministry at our church. And two friends Gabby, Dr. Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes and her husband, Dr. Andrew Wilkes, who do a lot of great work with justice, actually walked our church through thinking about mapping power in our church as a way of evaluating what types of justice initiatives did it make sense for us to engage in, in light of what we had in the room. And so for instance, when I was in my church in Indiana, a lot of the parishioners worked at Lilly who's headquarters is in Indiana. And so when they decided to do something for the community, they ended up opening up a clinic in the church building, which still exists and serves the local community, because they all had medical backgrounds.So when they do mission work, they do mission work with a medical component, because that's a effective way of mapping power. Where our church in Brooklyn average age is about 28, 29 and they're more artsy. So we're not opening up clinics, you know what I mean? But what we can do is events that help inspire and help engage with people. And then eventually with our pastor's leadership started something called Pray March Act, which looks to be a place to mobilize churches around issues of justice in New York City. So what is oftentimes overlooked in Christian spaces, and I really am indebted to Andy Crouch and his book, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, for really surfacing the need for us to have a theology of power.That this is something that oftentimes especially evangelical churches, or more kind of Bible oriented or people kind of churches, there's a sense in which we don't know how to think about power. And I believe, I suspect this is one of the reasons why the church has been so susceptible to issues like sexual abuse, to egregious theft in money, is because we are not really conditioned to think about power, which is really ironic because the scriptures really do point to… I mean, we literally have two books, First and Second Kings, and those books are pointing to you have the king, this king was a good king, and it impacted the kingdom of Israel this way. This king was a bad king, and then this is what happened.And so it's wired in the text, right? Amy Sherman in her book, Kingdom Calling, Dr. Amy Sherman points to this when she points to the proverb that says, “when the righteous prosper, the city rejoices.” And it's this idea, when she says righteous, she's not thinking about it in the kind of traditional pietistic aspect of righteousness, but she's talking about “tzedakah” in the Hebrew, which has this connotation of justice. Because when people who are put in positions of power and influence, when they do right by the people underneath them when they do right, that people celebrate. Versus when there's somebody who's a tyrant that's in office, the people groan because there's that sense of they recognize we've mapped power dynamics, and somebody who's going to do ill is going to have a disproportionate impact on all of us.And so power mapping is bringing to surface the awareness of what is it that we have in the room. And it's also a very humbling way of being aware of our own power, right? Like how do I show up as a man in a space, in certain things? Like I know if I get up and I'm about to preach that there's some different dynamics depending on who I'm talking to in a room. Like if I'm in a predominantly Black context that's younger, then the locks might actually kind of give me some street cred. Like, oh, that's kind of cool. But if I'm in a older, traditional space, looking younger is going to be more of a uphill climb to say, okay, what's this guy coming at? And if I'm in a White space, versus but I also recognize that when our sisters come up, that there's a whole different type of power mapping situation.And so all of these things are helpful in being aware of how we show up and how that matters. And Andy's kind of thesis is that unlike the kind of post Nietzschean postmodern suspicion and critical view of power that only sees it as a negative, that God has actually given us and ordained us to exert influence and power in redemptive ways. But we can only do that if we map it, if we're aware of it, and if we use it in a way that's not just for our own self or comfort or glory, but for those who we're called to serve.Sy Hoekstra: Can I ask, just for some like to get specific on one thing, because I'm not sure this would be intuitive to everyone. You said if we map power, then we might not end up in the same situations that we are with, like abuse scandals in the church?Rasool Berry: Yeah. Yep.Sy Hoekstra: And I think I… where my mind goes is I think we would react differently to the abuse scandal. I don't know if the abuse scandals themselves would… those happen unfortunately. But I think where the power mapping might come in, is where so many people are then just deferring to whatever the person in, the pastor's narrative is. Is that kind of what you're talking about, like the reaction?Rasool Berry: I think it's on both sides.Sy Hoekstra: You do? Okay.Rasool Berry: Yeah, because for instance, if I am aware, very aware of power dynamics with children and adults, I would see the value in a practice of not leaving an adult in a space with a child by themselves.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, I see. You might put systems in place ahead of time. Yeah, yeah.Rasool Berry: Right. So there's the sense in which we can put policies in place that recognize… it's the same thing why we put the labeling system on kids when they check into childcare, right? Like you put the little label so that some random person can't just come and pick them up because a kid can't defend themselves. Or they may not have the capacity to understand what's going on if somebody just random comes up and says, “Hey, your mom and your dad told me to come get you,” and then they believe that. And so we have systems that we put in place to recognize those power dynamics. And I think unfortunately, that in a lot of our church context and culture there's an overly naive sense of, and really sometimes idolatrous view of pastors and leaders that essentially say, well, they're good and they're godly people, so there isn't a need for accountability, or there isn't a need for, you know…And so no, it's like, well, in the same way that we have trustees in certain churches, or there's a elders board, depending on what your church polity is, that polity should reflect a sense of accountability and transparency so that there is an awareness on the front end as well as on the backend that when it does come to bring people into account, that there's also an awareness of a power dynamic at play there too.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense especially when [laughs] we throw those things out, all we have are the systems of hierarchy and social dominance that exist to define what power is, right?Rasool Berry: Right.Jonathan Walton: So the train just keeps going.The Social and Spiritual Forces behind the Fight against CRT/DEIJonathan Walton: So leaning into that a little bit, you wrote an essay focusing on CRT power mapping and things like that. But it feels like nobody in the Trump camp really had an idea of what CRT was, and it didn't even really matter to them what it was.Rasool Berry: Right.Jonathan Walton: So what do you think is at the core of what's going on with White people when they reject CRT or DEI or whatever the—conscious—whatever the term would be?Rasool Berry: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: What do you think the underlying concern is?Rasool Berry: Well, you know, after… and it's so funny because when I wrote that first piece, I wrote it as a way… [laughs] I wrote it just to get it off my chest. And in my mind, almost nobody was going to read it because it was like a 20-something minute read, and I just didn't care because I was just like, “I'm getting this off my chest,” and this is the last I'm going to say about it. Like I thought that was going to be just this thing, just so I can point people to, if anybody asks. I did not intend, nor did I think that it was only going to kind of position me as this person that people were listening to and reading and resonating with about it. So that was funny. But then what ended up happening, and especially after I was on the unbelievable? podcast with Justin Brierley, kind of in this debate format with Neil Shenvi, who's kind of been one of the most outspoken evangelical Christian critics of critical race theory. Critics is probably too mild of a term, kind of a…Jonathan Walton: Antagonist.Rasool Berry: Antagonist, even stronger. Like this doomsday prophet who says that, who's warning against the complete erosion of biblical norms because of the Trojan Horse, in his mind, of critical race theory. In the midst of that conversation, that kind of elevated, it was one of their top 10 episodes of the entire year, and it just kind of got me into these spaces where I was engaging more and more. And I kind of sat back and reflected, and I had a few more interactions with Neil on Twitter. And I ended up writing a separate piece called “Uncritical Race Theory.” And the reason why I did that, is I went back and I was curious about what kind of insights I could get from previous instances of the way that there were being controversies surrounding race in America in the church, and how the church talked about those debates.So I went back and I read The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark Noll, who looked at and examined the actual debates during the time of the antebellum period of pro-slavery Christians and anti-slavery Christians, and he analyzed that. Then I went back and I read The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby, who looked at the pro-integrationist and segregationist arguments in the church. And what I found was that there was incredible symmetry between what was argued in each of those instances, going all the way back to the 1800s, to the 1960s, to now, and there were two things that emerged. The first was that the primary response from those who were supportive of slavery in the 1800s, or those who were supportive of segregation in the 1960s was to claim first of all, that the opposing view were not biblically faithful, or were not even concerned about biblical fidelity.So this is different than other types of discussions where we could say, even going back to the councils, right? Like when there's some type of, like during the Nicaean Council or something like that, they're debating about how they're understanding the text about certain things. Whereas is Jesus fully God, is he man, is he both? But there's a basic premise that they're both coming at it from different aspects of scriptures. What I noticed in the American context is that there was a denial that the side that was kind of having a more progressive view was even biblically faithful at all.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Christian.Rasool Berry: The second part is related to the first, is that there was this allegation that there was outside philosophies that was actually shaping this impetus because it wasn't clearly the Bible. So in the 1800s that was the claim, “Oh, you're being influenced by these post-enlightenment ideas.” In the 1960s it was straight up Marxism, communism. You see the signs. “Integration is communism.” Like you see the people protesting with that, and of course the new version of that is kind of the remix of cultural Marxism, or these type of things. And so what I acknowledged in each of those scenarios is that part of the problem is that there is such an uncritical understanding of race that it causes, I think especially those in a dominant culture or those who've been susceptible to the ideologies of White supremacy, which can be White or Black or other, There's a tendency to see any claim that race is a problem as the problem itself because there's an underlying denial of the reality of racial stratification in our society, and the what Bryan Stevenson refers to as the narrative of racial difference or what is more commonly known as White supremacy. So when your default position is that you are introducing a foreign concept into the conversation when you talk about the relevance of race in a scenario, then it causes… that sense of uncritical nature of the reality of race causes you to then look upon with suspicion any claim that there's some type of racial based situation happening. And that is what I call, it is really ironically uncritical race theory. It's the exact opposite of what critical race theory is trying to do.And so I think that that's my take on what's happening. And then I think that's more of the scientific sociological, but then there's also a spiritual. I am a pastor [laughter]. And I have to end with this. I have to end with this, because in some ways I was naively optimistic that there was, if you just reasoned and show people the right analogies or perspectives, then they would, they could be persuaded. But what I have since realized and discovered is that there is a idolatrous synchronization of what we now know of different aspects of White Christian nationalism that is a competing theological position and belief system that is forming these doctrinal positions of what we now kind of look at as American exceptionalism, what we look at as this sense of the status quo being… all the things that are moving toward an authoritarian regime and away from democracy, that that is all solidifying itself as an alternative gospel.And I think that at the end of the day, I'm looking at and grieving about mass apostasy that I'm seeing happening in the church as a result of an unholy alliance of political ideology and Christian symbols, language, and values expressed in this kind of mixed way. And that's what is really being allowed to happen with this unmapped power dynamic, is that people don't even realize that they're now exerting their power to kind of be in this defensive posture to hold up a vision of society that is actually not Christian at all, but that is very much bathed in Christian terms.Jonathan Walton: I want to say a lot back, but we got to keep going, but that was good.Sy Hoekstra: We got to… [laughs]. Yeah. I mean, we could talk forever about what you just said, but we could also talk forever about your documentary. So let's transition to that.Rasool Berry: [laughter] You all are like exercising restraint.Sy Hoekstra: Yes.Jonathan Walton: I am.Rasool Berry: Like, “oh, I want to go there.” I just threw steak in front of the lions [laughter].Why Pastor Berry Made a Documentary about JuneteenthSy Hoekstra: But it's because, I mean, the documentary's interesting in a way... It's sort of like, okay, you've seen this movement of mass apostasy and everything, and you've had all these people tell you you're not faithful. And with this documentary in some ways, you're just sprinting on down the road that you're on. You know what I mean? It's like sort of [laughs], you're just going straightforward like we need to remember our past. We need to learn about power dynamics in American history. So you wrote this—[realizing mistake] wrote— you were involved in, you're the kind of narrator, the interviewer of this documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom. And you went to Galveston and you went to Houston, Texas to learn more about the history of Juneteenth and the communities and the people that shaped the celebration and everything.And I guess I just want to know how this got started and why it was so important for you to engage in what was a very significant project…Rasool Berry: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: …to teach people about this kind of history that I think the movement against CRT or DEI or whatever is quite actively trying to suppress.Rasool Berry: And these two stories are very much intertwined…Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Absolutely.Rasool Berry: …in ways that I didn't even fully anticipate in some ways. In some ways I knew, in some ways I didn't. But I grew up in Philly, where there was not growing up a significant Juneteenth awareness or celebration or anything like that. So I had heard about it though when I was very young, the concept of it. I had a classmate whose middle name was Galveston, and I was like, “That's a weird name. Why is your middle name Galveston?” [laughter] He told me that it's because his mom had told him about this situation where there were Black people that didn't know they were free for two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. I was like eight years old when I first heard that, but filed that away.It wasn't really until more recent years with the, just massive racial justice movement spurred on by the murders of Tamir Rice and George Floyd and others, Sandra Bland. And so, as that movement started to gin up, conversations about race that I was kind of plugged into, I heard about this 90-something year old woman that was appearing before Congress…Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Rasool Berry: …and challenging them to make Juneteenth a national holiday.Sy Hoekstra: I can't believe you got to interview her. She was amazing.Rasool Berry: Yeah. And I was like, why would a 90-something plus year old woman be like this committed to this? So I started looking into it and realizing, I think both spiritually and socially, that there was incredible potency and opportunity in the recognition, the widespread recognition of Juneteenth. I'll go socially first. Socially, the reality has been the United States has never had a moment where we collectively reflect on the legacy of slavery in our country. And if you do the math, from the first enslaved people that we have documented coming into the States in 1619 until if even if you go to the abolition of slavery in 1865 or 1866 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, that's about 244 years.If you go from 1865 to now, it's like 159 or so years. So we still have way more time in our society that has been shaped by this most intense version of a caste system and brutal slavery that had global, it literally reshaped the globe. And sometimes we forget. I live in Brooklyn where most of the Black folk are Afro-Caribbean. When you think of Jamaica, you think of Usain Bolt or Bob Marley. Do you realize that all of those people are from Africa, like our African descent people. That like the native people of Jamaica would've been Native Americans. So the legacy of slavery and colonialism has literally reshaped population centers in our world. That's how significant it was.And so to not have a moment to reflect on all of it, the implications of how the legacy still shapes us, but also the progress of what we've seen happen and how we are not in that same place is a missed opportunity. But on the contrary, to put that in place is an opportunity for reflection that I think could really help ground us toward being a more perfect union, toward us being a unified people. Because we're basing it on the same story and information, which increasingly in the age of misinformation and disinformation, that the erosion of us having a shared narrative is really upon us. So I think it's interesting and important from that standpoint. Spiritually, it was even more dynamic because one of the… so there was a lot of nicknames and still are for Juneteenth. One was Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, but Jubilee Day.And when I discovered that, that's when I said, “Okay, Our Daily Bread, we got to get involved in this process.” Because you mean to tell me that these formerly enslaved people at a time when it was illegal to read, primarily because they didn't want people to read the Bible, that they understood enough of the story of the Old Testament, that they picked out this festival in Leviticus 25, this ordinance that God had put in place, that on the Jubilee year, the Sabbath of all Sabbaths, I call it the Super Bowl of Sabbaths [Sy laughs]. Seven years times seven, forty nine years plus one, fifty. That on that day that it was this reordering of society, the kingdom of heaven coming back to earth, which simultaneously anticipates the wickedness and the brokenness of human systems in power, but also projects and casts vision about the kingdom of heaven, which would allow for equity and equality to take place. So debts were forgiven, lands were returned, and people who were in bondage primarily because of debt, that was the main reason back then, they would be set free. And in the context of their faith, they saw God doing the jubilee in their lives. So what that gave was the opportunity for us to talk about and reintroduce in many faith traditions the relationship between spiritual and physical freedom, and see that in the Bible story those things were wedded.What's the major account in the Old Testament is the Exodus account. Like it was both physical and spiritual freedom. And in the same way we see that is why Jesus, when he reveals himself and says, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” notice when John the Baptist starts to waver because he's expecting this conquering king. He's still in prison and he says, “Hey, are you the one or we should expect another?” Jesus points to physical and spiritual aspects of liberation in his response. “Tell John what you see. The blind receive sight. The sick are healed. The gospel is preached. Blessed is the one who is not ashamed of me.” So in the sense of that, what we see elements of the kind of seeds of in the gospel is this aspect of the physical and spiritual liberation being tied together.And that is what Jubilee gives us opportunity to explore and investigate. And I think lastly, seeing the role of the Black church in bringing out that insight, I think is particularly valuable in a time where oftentimes those contributions are overlooked and ignored.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, absolutely. I think being able to watch the documentary was transformative for me. Mainly because I'm 38 years old and it's being produced by people who look and sound and act like me. It's interviewing the people who came before us, trying to speak to the folks that are younger than us. And each generation I think has this, this go around where we have to own our little piece of what and how we're going to take the work forward. You know what I mean?Discerning Whether to Leave Communities that Push back on Discussions about RaceYou interviewed Lecrae in the documentary and he's taken that work forward, right? And you both say that you've had the experiences of believing you are loved and accepted in these White evangelical spaces until you started talking about racial justice issues.And so I feel like there's these moments where we want to take the work forward, and then we're like, “All right, well, this is our moment.” Like Opal was like, “Hey, I'm going to do Juneteenth.” Where now you're like, “I'm going to do something.” [laughs] So I wonder, like for you, when you have to make decisions about how to stay, not to stay or just leave. What is the effect of constantly engaging in that calculus for you?Rasool Berry: Oh, man! It's exhausting to do it. And I think it is valuable to count the cost and realize that sometimes you're best suited to reposition yourself and to find other ways to express that faithfulness. At other times, God is causing you to be a change agent where you are. And I think how to navigate through that is complicated, and I think it's complicated for all of us, for our allies who see the value of racial justice as well as for those of us who are marginalized and experience, not just conceptually or ideologically the need for justice, but experientially all of the things through macro and microaggressions that come up, that weigh and weather us and our psyche, our emotions, our bodies.And I think that it's important to be very spiritually attuned and to practice healthy emotional spirituality as well as, best practices, spiritual disciplines, all the things that have come alongside of what does it mean to follow Jesus. I was recently reflecting on the fact that in the height of Jesus' ministry, when it was on and popping, he's growing, the crowds are growing in number, it says that he went away regularly and left the crowds to be with God. And then the verse right after that, it's in Luke, I can't remember which chapters, I know the verse is 16 and 17. And then it talks about how he had power as a result of going away to do more. And there's this relationship between our needing to rest and to find recovery in the secret place in the quiet place with God in order to have the energy to do more of the work.And that's a lot to hold together, but it's really important because otherwise you can end up being like Moses, who was trying to do justice, but in his own strength at first when he kills the Egyptian, and then he tried to go to his people being like, “Yo, I'm down!” And they're like, “You killed somebody. We don't want to hear from you.”Jonathan Walton: [laughs] Right.Rasool Berry: And then he flees. Because he tried to do it in his own strength. And then when God reveals himself at the bush, now he's totally broken and not even confident at all in himself. And God has to say, “No, the difference is going to be I'm with you.” So I think in my own journey, I've been one of many people who've had to evaluate and calculate where I've been in order to kind of see where there are opportunities to move forward. For instance, I was on staff with Cru for 20 years and then as the opportunities to work with Our Daily Bread, and I remember specifically the podcast Where Ya From?, that we launched and then Christianity Today got connected to it.They were eagerly looking, or at least supporting the idea of us having conversations about faith and culture and race and all these things. Whereas in my previous environment, I felt like that was not something… I didn't even feel like it, I experienced the pullback of talking about those things. So it has actually, by repositioning myself to kind of be able to be in spaces where I can tell these stories and advocate in these ways, it has been a better use of my energy and my time. Now, even in that other space, everything isn't perfect. It's still the same type of challenges that exist anywhere you go in the world where you're a minority in race and racial difference is prominent, but at least it's a opportunity to still do more than I could do maybe in a previous position. And all of us have to make those type of calculations.And I think it's best to do those things in the context of community, not just by yourself, and also with a sense of sobriety of encountering and experiencing God himself. Because at the end of the day, sometimes, I'm going to just say this, sometimes the answer is leave immediately. Get out of there. At other times, God is calling you to stay at least in the short term time. And it's important to be discerning and not just reactive to when is the right situation presenting itself. And the only way I know to do that is by doing it in community, doing it with a sense of healthy rhythms and time to actually hear the still small voice of God.Sy Hoekstra: Amen.Jonathan Walton: Amen.Sy Hoekstra: Because you really can err in either direction. Like some people, “I'm getting out of here right away,” without thinking. Meaning, when you're being reactive, when you're not being discerning…Rasool Berry: Right.Sy Hoekstra: …you can get out right away or you can have the instinct, “No, I'm going to stick it out forever,” even if it's bad for you, and it's not going to accomplish anything.Rasool Berry: Yup, yeah.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Which I think leans into jumping all the way back the critical versus uncritical.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah [laughs]. There you go.Jonathan Walton: Like if we're not willing to lean into the radical interrogation of the systems and structures around us that inform our decisions each day, we will submit to them unconsciously, whether that be running when we should resist or whether that be resisting where we actually should flee. So yeah, thanks for all that.Where you can Find Pastor Berry's workSy Hoekstra: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. And so we will have links to both of the articles, to the documentary, which is entirely free on YouTube.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: So you're just wasting your life if you're not watching it, really [laughter]. And a couple other things you talked about, we'll have links. But is there anywhere that you want people to go to either follow you or your work online?Rasool Berry: Yeah. So the other thing that what we did with the Juneteenth documentary, because the response was so strong and overwhelming, really, people wanted to host screenings locally. And so we did a few things to make that more possible. So you can actually go on our website experiencevoices.org/Juneteenth. And you can fill out like a form to actually host a screening locally. And we have designed social media so you can market it, posters that you could print out, even discussion questions that you can use to host discussions. And sometimes people invite some of us from the production on site. So I've gone and done, I've been at screenings all the way from California to Texas to Wisconsin and here in New York.So you can reach out to us on that website as well if you're interested in hosting a screening with the director or one of the producers or myself, and we can kind of facilitate that. Also be looking at your local PBS stations. We partnered with PBS to air screenings so far over a hundred local channels.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, wow.Rasool Berry: And have aired it. Now, the PBS version is slightly different because we had to edit it down to fit their hour long format. And so the biggest version is the PBS version doesn't have Lecrae in it [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Oh no [laughs].Rasool Berry: We had to cut out the four-time Grammy winner. Sorry Lecrae [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Rasool Berry: You know what I mean? But it just so happened that way it, that it was the best way to edit it down.Jonathan Walton: You had to keep Opal.Rasool Berry: Had to keep Opal, had to keep Opal [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: I feel like Lecrae would understand that, honestly.Rasool Berry: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was so gracious. And actually, the other thing that Lecrae did, I had told him that we were working with Sho Baraka, a mutual friend of ours, to do the music. And he said, “Yeah, I heard something about that.” He's like, “I have a song I was going to put on Church Clothes 4, but I feel like it would be a better fit for this. If you're interested, let me know and I can send it to you.” I'm like, “If I'm interested? Yes, I'm interested.” [laughter] Yes. I'll accept this sight unseen. And so he sent us this incredible song that features, well actually is listed as Propaganda's song, but it features Lecrae and Sho Baraka. And you can get the entire Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom soundtrack 13 tracks, poetry, hip hop, gospel, rnb, all on one thing. And wherever you listen to your music, Spotify, Apple Music, anywhere, you can, listen to it, stream it, buy it, and support this movement and this narrative. So yeah. And then personally, just @rasoolb on Instagram, @rasoolberry on, I still call it Twitter [Sy laughs]. So, and we're on Facebook as well. That's where folks can follow me, at rasoolberry.com, website. So thanks for having me.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, pastor, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.Jonathan Walton: Thanks so much, man.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Reflecting on the InterviewSy Hoekstra: Hey, Jonathan, you know what's really useful, is when in the middle of an interview with one of our guests, we say, “Oh no, we don't have time. We'd really like to get into this, so we have to move on to another subject.” It's really useful when we have these little times that we're doing now after the interview to talk more about the subjects than we did with the guests [laughter]. This works out well for us.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Why don't you tell everybody what you're thinking after the interview with Pastor Berry?Passing on a Tradition Well Takes Significant WorkJonathan Walton: Yeah. I think the biggest thing for me that I took away among a lot of the nuggets that he… nuggets and like big things that got dropped on me while we were listening, was like the amount of work that he went through to make this film. Like traveling to Galveston. There's a lot in the documentary that reminds me of how much it costs us personally to create things that are moving. To be able to have these conversations, sit down with these people, smell the smells of these folks' homes. That's just a big thing, particularly for me, like not having… I grew up with the Juneteenth story and needing to think through my own traditions and what I'm going to pass to my kids and stuff like that.It's just I'm challenged to do that work so that I have something substantial to pass on to Maya and Everest. And to the folks who listen to the preaching that I give or the stories I write, or the books I'm going to write, just so I can communicate with the same amount of intimacy that he did. So, Sy how about you? What stood out for you?The Literally Unbelievable Racial Ignorance of WhitenessSy Hoekstra: I think what stood out for me was actually right at that point where we said we really wanted to talk more about something, I really did have more thoughts [laughs]. When he was talking about the thing that underlies the fight against CRT and DEI and all that sort of thing. Being just a straight up denial of any sort of racial caste system or racial stratification in our country, I think that point is extremely important. That so much of our disagreements about racial injustice, at least on the intellectual level, not on the emotional and all that kind of thing, the intellectual level that come down to a difference in beliefs about the facts of reality in America. It is literally just do you think racism is happening or not? Because if you do think that it's happening, then everything has to change [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And there's not a lot of room… you'll have to do a lot more like kind of active denial. A lot more having a very active lack of integrity [laughs] to continue in the way that you're thinking when you believe that there is no racism in America if you find out that there is. Which kind of explains why there's so much resistance to it. But I think one story that sort of illustrates how this dynamic works a little bit that just, this is something that happened to me that this reminded me of. I was an intern right after college at International Justice Mission, and I read Gary Haugen's book, The Good News About Injustice, where the intro to this book is about his childhood growing up in kind of suburban, I think he's outside of Seattle, somewhere in Washington. A suburban Christian home, things were pretty nice and easy and he just did not know anything about injustice or anything in the world. Like oppression, racism, he did not know anything about it. And then the book takes you through how he discovered it and then his theology of what God wants to do about it and what the organization does and all that kind of thing. But just that intro, I remember talking to one of the other interns who was at IJM m when I was there, who was a Black woman who was ordained in the Black Baptist Church and had grown up relatively low income. And I was talking to her about this book because I read that intro and I was like, “yes, I totally resonate with this. This is how I grew up, check, check. That makes sense. I understand all of it.”And it makes sense to a lot of the people who support IJM, which are a lot of suburban White evangelicals. She told me, she read the intro to the book and her immediate reaction was how, there is no way that anyone could possibly be this ignorant. It is not possible [laughs]. And I was like, [pretending to be hurt] “but I was” [laughter]. And there's this wrench in the gear of our conversations about justice where there's a large spectrum of White people who are, some engaging in actual innocent good faith about how much nonsense there is, like how much racism there is in America, and people who are engaging in complete bad faith and have ignored all the things that have been put right in front of them clearly.And it is just very difficult for a lot of people who are not White to understand [laughs] that there are actually… the level of ignorance of a lot of White people is unbelievable, by which I mean it literally cannot be believed by a lot of people. And I don't know, that's just, it is a complication in our conversations about race that doesn't really change what you have to tell people or how seriously you should take your conversations or whatever. It's just a note about what you might need to do to bring people kind of into the fold, by which I mean the fold of the truth [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes. This is true of like a lot of White people. And the sad part is that it can also be true of a lot of people of color…Sy Hoekstra: Well, yeah.Jonathan Walton: …who say, “I'm just going to deny, because I haven't experienced.” Or, “We have opted into the system of ignorance and don't want to engage.” And so I'll tell a story. Priscilla was at the airport this week.Sy Hoekstra: Your wife.Jonathan Walton: My wife Priscilla, was at the airport, not a random woman [laughter], was at the airport this week. And someone said, “Yeah, everyone who came to this country, like we're all immigrants.” And Priscilla said, “Actually some people came here as slaves.” Then the person says, “No, that's not true.” And it's like, what do you say to that? When someone just says slavery doesn't exist? And that's literally why we celebrate Juneteenth. So I don't know what this person's going to do on Juneteenth, but when there's a collective narrative and acknowledgement that this happened, and then there's a large group, James Baldwin would say, ignorance plus power is very dangerous.If there's a large group that's ignorant and or like intentionally not engaging, but also has power and privilege and all the things, the benefits of racial stratification without the acknowledgement of the reality of it, which is just a dangerous combination.Sy Hoekstra: So when somebody says something like that, like that didn't happen, people didn't come over here as slaves, I think it is possible that they legitimately don't know that I suppose [laughs], or that they think it's a conspiracy theory or whatever. My guess is, tell me what you think about this. What I would imagine happened there was, “Oh, I never thought about the fact that Black people are not immigrants. And so I'm just going to say no.” Do you know what I mean?Jonathan Walton: Oh yeah. Well, I agree. I think some people even, so let's say like, I write about this in 12 Lies. Ben Carson says that we all came here as immigrants, even if it was in the bottom of a ship. He says that. And I think that is a, to be kind, a gross misrepresentation of the middle passage [laughs], but I see what he's trying to do. He's trying to put Black folks in a narrative that fits in the American narrative so people can, so he's not othered. Because what happens when you acknowledge enslavement is that you have to acknowledge all that. They all come with each other. It's like being at a buffet and there is literally no other menu. Like once you say, once you go in, you can't order one plate. If you talk about slavery, you're opening up all the things and some people just don't want to do that. And that sucks.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Which Tab Is Still Open: Daniel PerryJonathan Walton: It's true. And [laughs], I think this feeds into a little bit of this segment [laughs] that we have aptly called Which Tab is Still Open. Because out of all the things in our newsletter and our podcast, there's stuff that comes up for us and it's just still hanging on our desktops, we still talk about it offline. So for Sy, like for you, which one, which tab is still open?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. We're going to talk about Daniel Perry and Donald Trump today.Jonathan Walton: Fun times.Sy Hoekstra: So I recently had an article in the newsletter that I highlighted as one of my resources, that is about the case of Daniel Perry, which I think kind of flew a little bit under the radar in the fervor of 2020. But he was a known racist, meaning we have now seen truckloads of social media posts and text messages and everything revealing his out and out racism, his fantasies about killing Black Lives Matter protesters, all these kinds of things. Who in the summer of 2020, during those protests, drove his car through a red light into a crowd of protesters. And he did not at that moment hurt anyone, but another, an Air Force vet, Daniel Perry's also a vet, but another Air Force vet named Garrett Foster, walked up to him carrying, openly carrying his, in Texas, legal assault rifle.He didn't point it at Daniel Perry, but he was carrying it. And he knocked on the window and motioned for Perry to roll his window down, and Perry shot him through the window five times and killed him. He was convicted of murder in 2023 by a jury. And the day after he was convicted, governor Greg Abbott republican governor of Texas said that he wanted his case to be reviewed for a full pardon, so that the pardons board could send him a recommendation to do it, which is the legal way that a governor can make a pardon in Texas. And that happened a couple weeks ago. Daniel Perry walked free with all of his civil rights restored, including his right to own firearms.Texas Monthly did some really good reporting on how completely bizarre this pardon is under Texas law, meaning they very clear, they kind of laid out how these pardons typically go. And the law very clearly says that a pardon is not to be considered for anyone who is still in prison, like hasn't finished their sentence, except under very exceptional circumstances, which are usually that like some new evidence of innocence has come to light.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And the actual materials that the board reviewed were basically just his defense case where like him arguing that he was doing what he did out of self-defense. He was standing his ground, and that he was afraid of Foster and therefore allowed to use deadly force. In any other case, the remedy for that, if you think that's your defense and you were wrongly denied your defense by the jury is to appeal. Is to go through the appeals to which you have a right as a criminal defendant. And in this case, he became a bit of a conservative cult hero and the governor stepped in to get him out of jail. It was so bizarre. So the weird thing here is, for me at least, for these cases, for the cases surrounding like where someone has been killed either by the police or by an individual, it has always been pretty clear to me which way the case is going.Like if you're someone who's actually taken a, like me, gone to law school, taken a criminal law class, you've studied murder and then like the right to stand your ground and the right to self-defense, and when you can use deadly force, most of these cases are pretty predictable. I knew that the killers of Ahmaud Arbery and Walter Scott and Jordan Davis were going down. I knew that people were going to get off when they got off. Like those were not confusing. And that isn't because the law isn't racist or whatever, it's just the law doesn't take race into account at all. It just completely ignores, it has nothing to do with the cases, according to the law. So it's like this one was stunning.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Because if it had gone to the appellate judges, the judges who actually are thinking about like the whole system and the precedents that they're setting would say, “Hey, in an open carry state like Texas, we do not want to set a precedent where if someone who is legally, openly carrying a gun walks up to you, you can kill them.” That is not a precedent that they want to set. But this is not an appellate case, so we're not setting that precedent, we're just letting this racist murderer go. That's it.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And that is like what effectively Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons in Texas have conspired to do. And I didn't know this was coming actually. I hadn't heard the news that he was calling for the pardon when it happened, but it's wild. And I just kind of wanted to give that additional context and hear what you're thinking about it, Jonathan, and then we'll get into Donald Trump a little bit.Normalizing Punishing Protestors and Lionizing MurderersJonathan Walton: Yeah, I mean, I think first thing for me is like this is a PG podcast. I won't use all the expletives that I would like to use. The reality of like Kyle Rittenhouse lives in Texas now. George Zimmerman, after he killed Trayvon Martin, he was in other altercations with people with guns. So this is not a person or a scenario that is new, which is sad and disappointing. But the reality of an institution stepping into enforce its institutionalized racism, is something that feels new to me in the environment that we're in. And what I mean by that is like, I think we now live in a society that desires for protestors and folks who are resistant to the system that oppresses and marginalizes people, if you believe that is happening.There are individuals and institutions that desire to punish that group of people. It is now normed that that group of people can be punished by anybody.Sy Hoekstra: If you're in the right state.Jonathan Walton: Well, I won't even say the right state, but I almost think if you can get caught in the zeitgeist of a certain media attention, then you will be lauded as someone who did the right thing.Sy Hoekstra: Oh yeah. Even if you might still end up in jail.Jonathan Walton: Even if you might still end up in jail, like you'll become a hero. And so the circumstances have been created where protesters can be punished by regular members of society, and then their quote- unquote punishment could be pardoned in the court of public opinion, and so much so you could end up being pardoned by the institution. There are going to be more protests on campus. There are going to be more protests in light of Trump's conviction and potential election. The chances of political violence and protests are very high, highly probable there're going to be thunderstorms. And what we're saying is like, let's give everybody lightning bolts [Sy laughs]. And we all know if this is a racially stratified society, which it is, if it's a class stratified society, which it is, then we will end up with things like Donald Trump getting convicted and becoming president.Sy Hoekstra: And the racial stratification is important to remember because people have pointed out, if there had been a Trump rally and someone had been killed, that like, not a chance that Greg Abbott does any of this, right?Jonathan Walton: The hallmark of White American folk religion is hypocrisy. If this were a person of color, there's no way that they would've got pardoned for shooting someone at a protest.The Criminal Legal System was Exceptionally Kind to Donald TrumpSy Hoekstra: And this is the connection to the Donald Trump case [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: Because despite the fact that he was convicted, he has been treated throughout this process in a way that no poor or BIPOC would, like no poor person or any BIPOC would ever be treated by the New York State courts. I can tell you that from experience [laughter] as an actual attorney in New York state. Donald Trump had 10 separate violations of a gag order, like he was held in contempt by the court and required to pay some money, which is significant, but nobody does that and doesn't spend some time in jail unless they are rich and famous and White. It was shocking to watch the amount of dancing around him and his comfort that the system does. And this is, pastor Berry mentioned Bryan Stevenson, another Bryan Stevenson quote.I've mentioned, we've mentioned Brian Stevenson so many times on this show [laughter]. But it's true. One of the things he says all the time is that the system treats you better if you're rich and White and guilty than if you're poor and BIPOC and innocent.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And, that's the demonstration. So the Trump indictments happened when we're recording this yesterday. Or the convictions, I mean. And in terms of what it'll do to the election, probably not much. In terms of what it'll like [laughs], like Jonathan was just saying, like this is the situation that we're in here. We don't have a lot of political analysis to bring you about this case because I don't think there's much political analysis to do except to continue to point out over and over again that this is not the way that people are treated by the criminal justice system. This is an exception to what is otherwise the rule.Outro and OuttakeOkay. I think we're going to end there. Thank you all so much for joining us today. Our theme song, as always is “Citizens” by John Guerra. Our podcast Art is by Robyn Burgess. Transcripts by Joyce Ambale. And thank you all so much for joining us. Jonathan, thanks for being here. We will see you all again in two weeks.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Jonathan Walton: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was like the amount of work that he went through to make this film. I'm challenged to do that work so that I have something substantial to pass on to Maya and Everest, just so I can communicate with the same amount of intimacy that he did.Sy Hoekstra: So now you're going to go make a documentary about Juneteenth, is what you're saying?Jonathan Walton: [deep exhale, and Sy laughs] At least a reel [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: A reel… yeah, those are pretty much the same I'd say. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ktfpress.com/subscribe

What happens when a career in law enforcement collides with unexpected personal and legal challenges? In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason discover Joe and Amy's extraordinary journey. Joe, a former law enforcement officer, shares his story of camaraderie and disillusionment within the justice system. He opens up about his middle-class upbringing in Michigan, his educational and athletic pursuits, and what he saw in the system that led him to adopt a more empathetic view towards incarcerated people. Joe recounts the bewildering experience of facing allegations that challenged his understanding of the law and his own actions. Explore the profound impact on Joe and Amy's life as they navigate post-incarceration challenges, from probation and registry restrictions to societal judgment. Learn how they built a supportive relationship and a loving environment for their son, despite encountering significant hurdles like employment difficulties and community stigma. Together, Joe and Amy's story is a testament to the power of resilience, the strength of familial support, and the ongoing fight for justice and fair treatment. Organizations mentioned in the episode:United Voices for Sex Offense ReformWomen Against RegistrySupport the Show.

In the chilling expanse of Moscow's outskirts, a towering menace known as "The Hippopotamus" orchestrates a reign of terror, leaving a trail of unspeakable horrors, until a relentless pursuit by law enforcement seeks to end his gruesome spree, unveiling the dark psyche of one of Russia's most feared serial killers. Subscribe on your favorite podcasting apps: https://talkmurder.com/subscribeSupport us on patreon: https://patreon.com/talkmurderSee our technology: https://talkmurder.com/gearContent warning: the true crime stories discussed on this podcast can involve graphic and disturbing subject matter. Listener discretion is strongly advised.Fair use disclaimer: some materials used in this work are included under the fair use doctrine for educational purposes. Any copyrighted materials are owned by their respective copyright holders. Questions regarding use of copyrighted materials may be directed to legal [@] Talkocast.com

New book tells stories of women whose children were charged with murder. We talk about the experiences of women in the Massachusetts criminal legal system.

Rhythm & News Podcast interview with Nneka Payne, CHOOSE 180's new CEO, about their new role and the work their organization does for youth impacted by the juvenile criminal legal system. Interview by Chris B. Bennett. 

When we think of motherhood, the images that typically come to mind are those of joy, love, and celebration. But what happens when the journey to motherhood unfolds in a place designed for punishment, not nurturing? Our guest, Brittany, exposes the stark and heartbreaking realities of becoming a mother in prison. We journey with her through the heartache of pregnancy behind bars, the profound isolation, and the harsh judgment of society. Is it possible to find healing and self-discovery in such a bleak environment? Brittany's story says yes. She recounts the harrowing experience of giving birth shackled to a hospital bed, waking up to a corrections officer in the room, and then embarking on a journey toward self-discovery and healing. Her story peels back the layers of the prison system, highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing the underlying issues that lead to incarceration. Finally, we delve into Brittany's life post-incarceration and the impact it had on her relationships and personal development. Brittany's story is not just one of struggle and hardship, but also one of resilience, self-reflection, and determination. This episode underscores the importance of looking beyond assumptions and recognizing the potential and humanity of individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. Brittany's story is a testament to the power of hope and the human capacity for change.   About Brittany:   Brittany is a determined advocate for human rights, youth justice, and legal policy reforms at the state, national, and international level. She has worked as a Justice Advisor for CTJA since 2021. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, and she is currently pursuing a J.D and Masters in Public Policy at UConn. Brittany personifies the power of education as an alum of Yale Law School's Access to Law Fellowship and a Frederic Bastiat Fellow of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Brittany brings her unique blend of lived experience and scholarship to her many leadership roles; she serves as Project Manager of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee with the Tow Youth Justice Institute, Smart Justice Leader with the ACLU of Connecticut, International Justice Exchange Project lead with the Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy, a member of the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison, and Assistant Director of the National Prison Debate League.Support the show

Our guest is Richard Saenz, who is a senior attorney in the criminal justice and police misconduct strategist at Lambda Legal. He focuses his work on the criminal legal system, coordinating litigation and policy work on behalf of incarcerated people and against the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people. Richard has been featured in the Washington Post, NBC News, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Advocate. 

In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber & Jason talk with Cierra Cobb, a paralegal, activist, and advocate for incarcerated people and their families. From her heart of resilience and strength, Cierra takes us on a poignant journey of survival and action.In a world grappling with a global pandemic, Cierra reconnects and marries Jeffrey, an old friend who has been falsely convicted of a crime and incarcerated.  Jeffrey's troubling capital case, paired with the lack of a substantial defense strategy from his legal representation, sheds light on the imbalance, injustice, and bureaucracy within the American criminal legal system. His story illustrates the gravity of plea bargaining and the oft-ignored challenges posed by both systemic racism and the underfunding of public defense offices.Learn about her work as an advocate and prison jail coordinator with Emancipate NC and her podcast, The Blacklight Mass Incarceration Show. Cierra's story is a rallying call to all - to remain steadfast, champion what you believe in, and never yield in the face of adversity. Support the show

How can the Church work for the flourishing of all society? Often, Christians care deeply for those within our church and see those outside its walls as “causes” or “issues” rather than image bearers with equal dignity and need. Our criminal legal system has replaced the Church as the first and longest responder to violence. How can the Church assume its rightful place in caring for the most marginalized, lock arms with our neighbors to learn from AND serve them, and build a culture where our response to violence and harm centers love rather than punishment, police, or prisons? Join us for a conversation designed to inspire and equip God's people to move from understanding to engagement, from passivity to action, from listlessness to love. Join CCDA members, Jamila Hodge & Sam Heath, of EJUSA for this informative webinar.

Despite survivor-affirming awareness around sexual violence, child sexual abuse, most notably when it's a family member or friend, is still a very taboo topic. There are approximately 42 million child sexual abuse survivors in the U.S. and millions of bystanders who look the other way as the abuse occurs and cover for the harm-doers with no accountability. I'll be in conversation on today's show with documentary filmmaker and survivor of child sexual abuse, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who's book Love WITH Accountability invites diasporic Black people to join her in transformative storytelling that envisions a world that ends child sexual abuse without relying on the criminal legal system. Learn more about Aishah Simmons' work here: https://linktr.ee/afrolez — Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post Accountability for Sexual Violence Away from the Criminal Legal System w/ Aishah Simmons appeared first on KPFA.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit this week against the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department over unlawful traffic stops. The suit alleges that Black drivers are four to seven times more likely than white drivers to be pulled over and that Latino drivers are twice as likely. Reset hears more about the suit from Alexandra Block, Senior Supervising Attorney for the Criminal Legal System and Policing project at ACLU Illinois.

Shain Filcher, Executive Director of the LGBT Bar of NY sits down with Richard Saenz (Senior Attorney and the Criminal Justice and Police Misconduct Strategist at Lambda Legal) to discuss Protected & Served? a community survey of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV, the need for updates to the criminal legal system both in New York state and nationwide, and the relationship between the criminal legal system and the overall LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. To read the 2022 Protected & Served? report, visit www.protectedandserved.org. 

The Path - Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada. Module 6: Indigenous Peoples in the Criminal Legal System.Jennifer David is a senior consultant and leads an area of service called Truth and Reconciliation at NVision Insight Group, a majority Indigenous-owned company with First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous shareholders and staff.  From Omushkego, Jennifer is a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation and has a journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, where she currently lives. She oversees the development and delivery of all Indigenous cultural awareness learning opportunities under the banner of The Path.Andrea Menard is a Métis Nation of Alberta citizen who has worked for various organizations that range from academic, government, Treaty-making, and legal non-profit and legal regulatory work, and teaches Reconciliation and Lawyers at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law as well as In Search of Reconciliation Through Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School. Co-founder of the Indigenous Lawyers' Forum, an Alberta-based networking group for Indigenous lawyers, legal academics and law students, Andrea is also on the Board of Directors for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA), and on the Canadian Bar Association's National Indigenous Advisory Group - Criminal Justice. Michael Michel on LinkedIn: I'm happy to share that my third publication, titled "Indigenous… Canadian Bar Association - Understanding the Truth and Engaging in Reconciliation (cba.org) Bigstone Restorative Justice | Justice réparatrice de Bigstone – RJ Pilot (rjalbertacourts.ca) John Borrows, Recovering Canada: The Resurgence of Indigenous Law - McGill Law Journal https://www.aptnnews.ca/investigates/inside-corrections-are-structure-intervention-units-a-safe-alternative-to-isolation/further reading:Overincarceration of Indigenous people: a health crisis | CMAJhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/opinion-andre-bear-maintaining-legal-system-obstructing-justice-indigenous-1.6781527

The Justice for Gerard Movement presents.... "Turning A Moment into a Movement" Topic: Understanding "Generational Trauma" and its relationship to the Criminal Legal System? How can we use the acknowledgement of Trauma to impact real Change? Join The Justice for Gerard Movement....Jay Love, Trische' Duckworth, Attorney Hugo Mack, Rev. Tia Littlejohn, .....along with our guest: Sam Riddle and Alyshia Dyer .... for this timely conversation -Sam Riddle, Political Director Michigan National Action Network -Alyshia Dyer, Candidate for Washtenaw County Sheriff 2024 Alyshia Dryer grew up in Ypsilanti and has been a law enforcement professional for the past decade. Alyshia worked in two different divisions at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office with the majority of her career spent serving in the road patrol division. Her time serving in law enforcement highlighted for her the need for change in our local legal system and she now holds two degrees in Public Policy and Social Work from the University of Michigan. Alyshia is running a community-driven people-powered campaign to increase safety and reduce harm caused by our local legal system. https://www.dyer2024.com/ To learn more about The Justice for Gerard Movement....... www.change.org/Justice4Gerard I do not own the rights to the music. No copyright infringement intended. FAIR USE NOTICE This video may contain copyrighted material; the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available for the purposes of criticism, comment, review and news reporting which constitute the fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, review and news reporting is not an infringement of copyright. Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer (Fair Use) under section 107 Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/momentintoamovement/support

In this episode, we talk with Victoria Palacio, Deputy Director of State Strategy at the Legal Action Center. Mrs. Palacio discusses the work of the Legal Action Center, its participation in the OSAH campaign's Roundtable, the latest findings from a survey conducted by the Black Harm Reduction Network, the impact of housing on harm reduction efforts and justice-involved populations, the importance of language in advocacy, and the future projects of the Legal Action Center. Mrs. Palacio also speaks about the work of the Legal Action Center's “No Health=No Justice” campaign, a multi-state advocacy and organizing strategy that works to support de-carceration efforts to ensure that people are not criminalized for conditions related to their health. The campaign involves close partnerships with Legal Action Center's local and state partners, including Alabama Justice Initiative, Black Futurists Group, Illinois Alliance for Reentry & Justice, Just City Memphis/Decarcerate Memphis, Lifeline 2 Success, National Incarceration Association, Northeastern University School of Law/Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, RestoreHER, Restoring Rights and Opportunities Coalition of Illinois/Heartland Alliance, Safer Foundation, Southern Center for Human Rights, The Ordinary Peoples Society, Voices for a Second Chance, and Women on the Rise. Read the article at: https://www.opportunityhome.org/resources/housing-is-a-solution-why-housing-matters-to-harm-reductionists-and-criminal-legal-system-and-health-care-reform-advocates/ Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3” URL: www.youtube.com/audiolibrary

Anger used to be her driving force. Today she is motivated by love to tear down the criminal legal system and rebuild something just in its place. Brittany Lovely joins the #JustUs Speaks Podcast!

She went to prison for a crime she didn't commit. Now she's committed to using her legal work to help others who are directly impacted. Keeda Haynes sits down with the #JustUs Speaks Podcast.

This week on Everyday Injustice we have NCAJ (National Center for Access to Justice) Policy Director Lauren Jones talking about their work on behalf of criminal justice reform. “NCAJ uses data, research and policy analysis to expose how the justice system fails to stand up for equal justice- and all too often, functions as a source of oppression.” We talk about their creation of the Justice Index and look at policy areas like fines and fees, where just about every state is failing to produce actual equity and justice. Listen as Lauren Jones highlights how states have failed to provide justice in numerous areas.

Can people incarcerated afford to wait for small, gradual change? What happens to the people incarcerated if the system breaks? What is the right balance between the needs of the current case vs the needs of the future case? How do Public Defenders counter the decades long strategy of the Conservative legal movement with their own strategy? All these questions, and more, are pondered by Hunter and his guest today, Jeff Blackburn. During his career, Jeff worked as a criminal defense attorney, impact litigation lawyer and helped to found and operate the Texas Innocence Project. Through it all, Jeff's aimed to foster and execute a strategic vision for indigent defense and civil liberties that counter's the work of prosecutors and police. In his eyes, public defenders and other justice minded individuals are in the conflict business and the must learn to value the future battles as much as the current ones. To fail to do so will leave them fighting a battle against an enemy that already made the fight unwinnable, but what is the right balance? Hopefully, this discussion and the myriad of questions that arise from it will spark your own thinking about how to move towards more strategic levels of thinking. Guest: Jeff Blackburn, Criminal defense and Impact attorney, Co-Founder, Texas Innocence Project Key Takeaways: Jeff's career [8:30] What is impact litigation [16:24] Victory in the Tulia Case and the Lesson's learned from it [17:20] The Texas Innocence Project [21:54] Impacts of the Tim Cole Case [26:00] Learning strategy from the history NAACP Legal Fund [28:30] Countering the Conservative Legal Movement [33:38] Is Incrementalism Enough [38:30] How to balance current case vs future case [46:00] The structural/historical obstacles in many state [53:20] What happens if the system breaks [57:40] Is education the way to solve this [1:01:00] The case for hope [1:10:00]   Resources: Tulia Case: https://www.aclu.org/other/racist-arrests-tulia-texas https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2002-04-19/85638/ https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/5-million-settlement-reached-in-Tulia-lawsuit-8757623.php https://www.salon.com/2003/04/09/tulia_2/ Tim Cole's Case https://innocenceproject.org/cases/timothy-cole/ Jeff Calling out Dallas' Wrongful Conviction Issues https://innocenceproject.org/deconstructing-dallas-the-county-with-more-dna-exonerations-than-any-other/ Why Jeff Left the Innocence Project https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-innocence-project-founder-quits-accuses-colleagues-of-selling-out-2440927 More of Jeff's Work austinchronicle.com/news/2008-04-04/608555/     Contact Hunter Parnell:   hwparnell@publicdefenseless.com   Instagram   Twitter   www.publicdefenseless.com  

Today, a mom shares her story about how her struggle to pay for childcare led to her family losing their home. And how having a crime on her record made it that much harder to rebuild her life. Reversing the spiral toward homelessness.

The “Our Voice” podcast heads to Atlanta, Georgia, in this episode. Host Neil Volz – Deputy Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), welcomes guest host David Ayala – Executive Director of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM). FICPFM is a network of over 50 civil and human rights organizations led by people living with criminal records and their family members. As the leader of a national movement focused on dismantling the ineffective and destructive aspects of America's mass incarceration system, Executive Director Ayala shares his vision of a world where prisons – as we currently know them – no longer exist. Pamela Winn – Founder and President of the non-profit RestoreHER – joins the show as a featured guest, along with Charlotte Garnes – CEO and Founder of the non-profit ReNforce, and Robyn Hasan – Executive Director of the grassroots organization Women on the Rise. Together, these three female leaders describe their new coalition – Informing Marginalized People Power and Cultivating Transformation (IMPPACT). The mission of IMPPACT is to educate and inform formerly incarcerated people of their voting rights and the power of voting.

In 2015, Missoula County began taking critical steps to address issues like overcrowding at the Missoula Detention Facility and over-incarceration. Chelsea Wittmann, the Safety & Justice Challenge coordinator at the Community Justice Department, is uniquely equipped to discuss these issues. Chelsea started as a detention officer at the jail, then worked for the County Attorney's Office before landing in her current position.This week, the commissioners talked with Chelsea about how the County and other stakeholders are evaluating the criminal justice system in our community. Tune in to learn how the County is approaching these complex topics with community input and strategic, evidence-based programs.Links mentioned in this episode: Jail Diversion Master Plan - 2022 Update Safety and Justice ChallengePretrial, Diversion and Reentry ProgramsThank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!"Tip of the Spear" is the ethos that guides our work at Missoula County. It reminds us to lead with innovation, represents our can-do culture and encourages us to work toward solutions even for challenging issues. The "Tip of the Spear" podcast aims to tell the stories of how we do that.

It's been more than a week since Adam Howe died by apparent suicide in his jail cell. And his death is raising questions about the systems in place for those struggling with mental health who are involved in the criminal legal system in Massachusetts. We dive into the story for this week's From the Newsroom.

Prosecutors are immensely powerful, especially now, after the overthrow of Roe. They decide which cases to bring, what charges to make and what sentences to ask for. Until this year, only internal committees could investigate misconduct, even after hundreds of exonerations and allegations of abuse. After years of grassroots effort, New York now has an independent commission, but the process was hard, and there's still no power to punish. In this episode, reporter Kizzy Cox reports on how New York's new Independent Commission on Prosecutorial Misconduct came to be, and Laura talks with Andrea James, executive director for the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Sakira Cook, Co-Interim Vice President at Color of Change, about what prosecutors can do, or not do, especially when it comes to implementing new abortion bans.“I'm not trying to  indict every district attorney, I'm sure that there's probably some good ones who really go to work to do their job and be fair, but for those [that don't], there should be a system in place, to make those bad District Attorneys terrified to do anything wrong.” –Roger Clark, Community Activist, Vocal-NY“Reform is a high priority for us in our movement to reimagine safety in America and redefine, or transform, the way that the criminal legal system operates in our country.” –Sakira Cook, Co-Interim Vice President, Color of Change“What's the appropriate accountability for somebody that locked you up for 25 years, and took away your whole life?…This commission is the right thing to do. I'm proud of it” –Derrick Hamilton, Co-founder, Family & Friends of the Wrongfully Convicted“Commissions are absolutely necessary because who else, but the people who are most directly affected—the people like myself who have been to a prison, the people like Sakira, who have family, who they have been caring for and loving who have been in prisons for decades—who else can raise these issues and expand the dialogue about what's necessary?” –Andrea James, Executive Director, National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women & GirlsGuests: Bill Bastuk, President, It Could Happen to YouSakira Cook, Co-Interim Vice President, Color of Change Roger Clark, Community Activist, Vocal NYNick Encalada-Malinowski, Civil Rights Campaigns Director, Vocal NYDerrick Hamilton, Co-founder, Family & Friends of the Wrongfully ConvictedAndrea James, Executive Director, National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women & GirlsDavid Soares, District Attorney, Albany County, NYYour support makes it possible for us to continue uplifting the hard work of community organizers like you heard today who's work benefits us all.   It takes a lot to keep this reporting available to millions on public television, community radio and as a podcast.  Go to Patreon.com/theLFShow and join today as a monthly contributor, or go to  LauraFlanders.org/donate for more options.  Thanks for listening!

Throughout her career, Seema Gajwani has been working to improve criminal and juvenile justice systems across the country, running the Criminal Justice Program at the https://www.publicwelfare.org/ (Public Welfare Foundation) in Washington, D.C. before entering her current role at the https://oag.dc.gov/ (D.C. Office of the Attorney General).  On this week's episode of TraumaTies, hosts Bridgette Stumpf, Executive Director at https://www.nvrdc.org/ (NVRDC), and Lindsey Silverberg, Head of Services at https://www.nvrdc.org/ (NVRDC), talk about restorative justice with Seema, who serves as Special Counsel for Juvenile Justice Reform and Chief of the Restorative Justice Program Section at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia D.C.   This episode digs deep into the practices and principles of restorative justice, the flaws of the current justice system, and how restorative justice is leading to positive, lasting change.    Featured GuestName: https://onestandardofjustice.org/seema-gajwani/ (Seema Gajwani) What she does: Seema is Special Counsel for Juvenile Justice Reform and Chief of the Restorative Justice Program Section at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia D.C. She oversees juvenile justice reform initiatives, focusing on diversion, restorative justice, and improved data collection and analysis. Prior to this, Seema ran the Criminal Justice Program at the Public Welfare Foundation in D.C., funding efforts to improve criminal and juvenile justice systems across the country.  Company: https://oag.dc.gov/ (D.C. Office of the Attorney General) Episode Highlights[4:00] The roots of restorative justice: Restorative justice has a deep and ancient heritage, with principles originating from native indigenous cultures in the Americas, Western Africa, and New Zealand. [15:19] Restorative justice for all ages: Studies have shown that restorative justice is not just beneficial for younger demographics, but also for adults. [20:25] Guilt vs. shame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psN1DORYYV0 (Brené Brown's research) explains that shame aligns with the thought “I am a bad person.” But guilt is productive because it aligns with the thought “I did a bad thing. I'm not a bad person.” However, the core of the justice system is often rooted in shame, criminalization, and isolation — which can lead to more violence.  [24:34] Balancing accountability and empathy: Danielle Sered's book, https://www.amazon.com/Until-We-Reckon-Violence-Incarceration/dp/1620974797 (Until We Reckon), explains that true accountability is actually taking responsibility for your behavior — which doesn't often happen in our justice system.  [32:14] The juvenile justice system: According to Seema, we've lost sight of what we're trying to accomplish through the system — to help kids learn from their mistakes.  [34:07] Restorative justice is a step toward real transformation: Seema shares a story about how communication between those in a conflict eventually led to a successful restorative justice conference.    Connect with the Network for Victim Recovery of DC☑️ Follow us on https://twitter.com/NVRDC (Twitter), https://www.facebook.com/NetworkforVictimRecoveryDC/ (Facebook), http://www.instagram.com/nvrdc (Instagram) & https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvrdc/ (LinkedIn). ☑️ Subscribe to TraumaTies on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/traumaties/id1612126516 (Apple Podcasts), https://open.spotify.com/show/5PbJbBq6IIiDvA2DLPy79R?si=48ea896c4d324fde (Spotify), or https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90cmF1bWF0aWVzLmNhcHRpdmF0ZS5mbS9yc3NmZWVk (Google Podcasts). Brought to you by Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC), TraumaTies: Untangling Societal Harm & Healing After Crime is a podcast that creates space and conversations to dissect the structural and systemic knots that keep us from addressing trauma. Rooted in a belief...

The courtroom can be a traumatizing place for survivors, who can experience retraumatization by having to relive and retell experiences. In addition, the outcome of the courtroom process is often not what they hoped or expected from the criminal justice system. Don't miss this episode of https://www.nvrdc.org/traumaties-podcast (TraumaTies) as hosts Bridgette Stumpf and Lindsey Silverberg dive deep into trauma-informed justice with Kristin. They talk about what it's like to represent survivors in court; the best trauma-informed practices that can make courtrooms more accessible and welcoming to survivors; and emerging trends in alternative justice and harm reduction like restorative justice practices.    Featured GuestName: https://www.nvrdc.org/bios/#kristin (Kristin Eliason) What she does: Kristin is the Legal Director at NVRDC, where she oversees a legal staff of 13. She has over a decade of experience representing survivors of various types of violence in protective order matters and higher education campus proceedings under Title IX and the Clery Act. She also worked representing victims of a variety of crime types in the assertion of their crime victims' rights in criminal cases. Company: https://www.nvrdc.org/ (Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)) Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristineliason/ (LinkedIn)   Episode Highlights [03:14] Strong motivations: Today's guest, Kristin Eliason, explains how her personal lived experiences influenced her interest in law and victims' rights issues. [06:39] Learning from experience: Kristin shares some of the biggest lessons she learned both as a law school student and as a lawyer, and how her own experience as a survivor informed how she navigated the field. [12:31] How attorneys can help survivors: Victim advocacy is different from victim representation. [19:03] Giving survivors a voice: Kristin and hosts Lindsey and Bridgette discuss how victims' rights lawyers, as actors with power within the legal system, can help uplift survivors' voices. [25:42] The system does not incentivize accountability: Restorative or transformative justice can be effective ways of repairing harm caused by crime. [28:58] Societal shifts: Kristin discusses the injustices within the carceral system that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light.  [31:23] Managing expectations: How can you have trauma-informed conversations about alternative justice options with survivors who may be coming in with misconceptions about the legal system? [37:50] The right approach: Kristin discusses why a justice system based on punishment is not trauma-informed and can amplify harm caused to all involved.  [45:01] Our legal system is not accessible: Before we can even get to a trauma-responsive system, we must allow people into that system by addressing accessibility issues. [49:26] The trauma-informed courtroom: While we want to change the system, we still have to operate within the one we have now. Kristin weighs in on what judges can do differently to make that system better.   Connect with the Network for Victim Recovery of DC☑️ Follow us on https://twitter.com/NVRDC (Twitter), https://www.facebook.com/NetworkforVictimRecoveryDC/ (Facebook), http://www.instagram.com/nvrdc (Instagram) & https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvrdc/ (LinkedIn). ☑️ Subscribe to TraumaTies on https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/traumaties/id1612126516 (Apple Podcasts), https://open.spotify.com/show/5PbJbBq6IIiDvA2DLPy79R?si=48ea896c4d324fde (Spotify), or https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90cmF1bWF0aWVzLmNhcHRpdmF0ZS5mbS9yc3NmZWVk (Google Podcasts). Brought to you by Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC), TraumaTies: Untangling Societal Harm & Healing After Crime is a podcast that creates space and conversations to dissect the structural and systemic knots that keep us from addressing trauma. Rooted in a belief that survivors of crime deserve respect...

We continue our journey by looking at a system where we rarely consider our children, the criminal legal system. When parents enter this system and are waiting in jail, how do we support their children and the unexpected caregiver now responsible for taking care of them? In this episode we gain the worldview of Debra Vines, Founder and CEO of The Answer Inc. who helps us explore this issue as she shares her story on how coming in contact with the criminal justice system impacted her family.Email us your ideas and thoughts on this topic at policy@erikson.edu 

Alexandra Block, Senior Supervising Attorney for Criminal Legal System and Policing at ACLU of Illinois, joins Steve Bertrand, in for Lisa Dent, on Chicago Afternoon News to discuss Mayor Lightfoot's newest curfew in Millennium Park. Thursday through Sunday any minor in Millennium Park after 6pm must be accompanied by a responsible adult following a deadly […]

A rare look through the eyes of someone whose life has intersected with the law and justice system over decades. For 15 years Chene' has been juggling the aftermath of many things including post-arrest, incarceration, and reintegration into society. The effects have rippled outward into her family's lives, professional affiliations as well as community service positions. What she has to say will be shocking to many, it will be a relief for some and even better a wake-up call for anyone who believes they know what life is really like. Chene' has lived experiences from outside-in and inside-out. In all areas of her life, in one way or another she shares just a snippet of what life has been like after she has completed her own judgment and sentencing. She is an amazing person, wife, mother, and friend to many who work on all sides of the criminal legal system and continues to be brave enough to speak up and out for those whose voices are muffled by the political and economic downward spiral we call the Criminal Legal System. Listen in and feel free to connect via our website www.therestorativecommunity.org or on our Facebook page Restorative Community Coalition.

A comprehensive new database designed to evalute everything from what Oklahomans are being charged with to who is taking plea deal and what kinds. In the moment, no one in Oklahoma has a comprehensive look at Oklahoma's criminal legal system or the prison and jail populations. Listen along with us today as we are joined by Ryan Kiesel to learn about HB 3848 and how data can cure some of Oklahoma's self inflicted wounds after decades of over-incarceration.

"We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes." -Bryan Stevenson- We have been sold a bill of goods when it comes to the way the criminal justice system addresses “crime,” and so many things that pull people into that system are minor and could often be viewed as not criminal at all. -Jessica Henry- Associate Professor at the Department of Justice Studies at Montclair State University While police get must of the blame when discussing Injustices within the Criminal Justice System. Once arrested, the case goes to the prosecutor, who then has the ability to decide whether or not to pursue the case. Most prosecutors don't use that discretion. Instead, they rely on whatever the police claim is the case. Because of the prevalence of plea bargaining, that can make the police the arbiters of both who gets arrested and who gets convicted. If everyone is pleading guilty, then the prosecutors are not doing their jobs and screening cases, then whatever the police say often stands. That's a huge problem. You also have a prosecutorial mentality that prioritizes gaining convictions as the win, as opposed to seeking justice; and prosecutors will take all kinds of measures to secure those convictions. You have public defenders that are often drowning in caseloads, then there are some criminal defense lawyers who don't do their jobs well, and poor defendants are stuck with whoever gets assigned to them. Again and again, we see the criminal justice system reinforcing divisions that come from poverty. We can go to look at pretrial detention and bail reform, and we can't forget the Judges… This week on Turning A Moment Into A Movement….. Attorney Hugo Mack will be exploring the Topic: Is the Criminal Legal System is Guilty? Disrupting Criminalization! Join Jay Love from The Justice for Gerard Movement along with the panel: -Trischè Duckworth, Survivors Speak -Rev Tia Littlejohn, Life Coach & Behavioral Interventionist, Activist, Health and Wellness coach -Ally Hughes, Behavioral Therapist , Michigan Liberation and Accountability Dearborn …and our Guest Panelist: Valerie Kelley-Bonner, Executive Director of SOAR, Radio Talk Show Host; Justice Advocate To Learn more about The Justice for Gerard Movement go to: www.change.org/Justice4GERARD

Joshua B. Hoe interviews Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell about her time on the bench and about her book "Her Honor."You can find complete show notes on our website https://decarcerationnation.com/

In an engaging, insightful conversation, criminal justice reformer Nick Turner breaks down the ways the US criminal legal system perpetuates centuries-old racial and economic inequality. He joins TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers to outline why the best way to actually deliver justice and safety is to shrink the system and recognize the humanity of those caught in it.

In the opening episode of Season 3, Amber and Jason speak with Nicole, a sixteen-year-old girl who authentically shares the experience of having her life turned upside-down at age twelve when her father was arrested, incarcerated and eventually placed on a public registry. Her journey winds from the initial shock, how she was treated at school, to visiting her father while he was incarcerated, to what happened when he was finally able to come home. She also covers how probation restrictions and public registration affect the entire family and what the adults dealing with children with incarcerated parents can do to help. Her most fervent wish in telling her story is to make sure that other kids facing this difficult road know that they are not alone.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

In an engaging, insightful conversation, criminal justice reformer Nick Turner breaks down the ways the US criminal legal system perpetuates centuries-old racial and economic inequality. He joins TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers to outline why the best way to actually deliver justice and safety is to shrink the system and recognize the humanity of those caught in it.

In an engaging, insightful conversation, criminal justice reformer Nick Turner breaks down the ways the US criminal legal system perpetuates centuries-old racial and economic inequality. He joins TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers to outline why the best way to actually deliver justice and safety is to shrink the system and recognize the humanity of those caught in it.

Alec Karakatsanis is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, a non-profit organization that challenges systemic injustice in a legal system built on white supremacy and economic inequality. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.civilrightscorps.org/ https://www.facebook.com/civilrightscorps.org https://twitter.com/CivRightsCorps https://www.instagram.com/civrightscorps/ https://thenewpress.com/books/usual-cruelty https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions/ Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 4. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. Alex Duran joins Jason to share with us his transformation from inmate to criminal justice reformer. He now manages a $20 million annual fund on behalf of Galaxy Gives dedicated to ending mass incarceration in the US.  To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.galaxygives.com/ https://www.galaxygives.com/fellowship billy@galaxygives.com https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the year came to a close, Amplified Voices hosts, Jason and Amber took some time to reflect on everything that 2021 threw at the world. In this candid conversation, they walk listeners through the year;  covering podcast production, behind-the-scenes information, personal triumphs, advocacy victories, guest insights, and so much more. Fans will enjoy a sneak-peek of what's in store for Season 3 as the show continues to serve as a platform to uplift the voices of individuals and families impacted by the criminal legal system in 2022 and beyond.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 4. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. John Fetterman, Lt. Governor of PA, joins Jason to talk about using compassion, mercy, and second chances to reform our criminal justice system. To learn more and get involved, go to: https://johnfetterman.com/ https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alex Duran joins Jason to share with us his transformation from inmate to criminal justice reformer. He now manages a $20 million annual fund on behalf of Galaxy Gives dedicated to ending mass incarceration in the US.  To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.galaxygives.com/ https://www.galaxygives.com/fellowship billy@galaxygives.com https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason sat down with autism advocate, Nick Dubin to discuss his personal experiences involving his early life, autism diagnosis and ultimately his encounter with the criminal legal system.  Nick also spoke of his desire and work towards using his personal experiences to help others on the spectrum, and his new book.About: Nick Dubin was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (now ASD-level 1) in 2004. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Oakland University, a Master's Degree in Learning Disabilities from the University of Detroit Mercy, and a Specialist Degree in Psychology and Psy.D. from the Michigan School of Professional Psychology. He has authored many books on autism spectrum disorders including Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety. His latest book is entitled Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Disabilities, and the criminal justice system. Nick is also on the board of Legal Reform for Intellectually and  Developmentally Disabled (LRIDD). Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

In this bonus interview, Justine sits down with Sandra Brown, the criminalized survivor who you heard from in Chapter 6. Sandra was recently released from prison, where she worked on rebuilding herself over the course of 21 years, and is now working toward her Ph.D. This conversation has been edited for time and clarity.   Resources: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, use a safe computer and contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at www.thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-7233. You can also search for a local domestic violence shelter at www.domesticshelters.org/. If you have experienced sexual assault and need support, visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) at www.rainn.org or call 1-800-656-HOPE. Ask Governor Kathy Hochul to grant Nikki clemency: https://www.change.org/p/president-trump-freenikki  Have questions about consent? Take a look at this guide from RAINN at www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent. Learn more about the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act at www.nysda.org/page/DVSJA.  Learn more about criminalized survival across the U.S. at https://survivedandpunished.org/. Read Justine's Dec. 2020 article on criminalized survival in the U.S. at https://newrepublic.com/article/160589/women-prison-domestic-violence-survivors. Support incarcerated survivor Tanisha Williams by visiting https://standwithtanisha.com/. Support incarcerated survivor Tomiekia Johnson by visiting https://www.change.org/p/gavin-newsom-grant-commutation-for-incarcerated-survivor-tomiekia-johnson. Read Sandra Brown's writing by visiting https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004441651/BP000023.xml. Learn more about incarcerated survivor Kelly Harnett's story at https://www.survivedandpunishedny.org/kelly-harnett/. Follow the We Stand With Nikki campaign on Instagram at @westandwithnikki, on Twitter at @standwithnikki and on their webpage at www.westandwithnikki.com.   Justine van der Leun is the host and lead reporter. This series is produced by Justine van der Leun and supervising producer Kristen Lepore. The associate producer is Giulia Hjort. The production assistant is Rory James Leech. Additional reporting by Kristen Lepore and Giulia Hjort. Mixing and sound design by Kegan Zema. Music by RRA aka Sara Abdelaal. Fact checking by Justin Kloczko. Additional audio engineering by Ivan Kuraev. Story editing by Jackie Danziger. Story consulting by Amy Metsch. The executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Spiegel & Grau.   Believe Her is created in partnership with Spiegel & Grau. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram at @spiegelandgrau. Follow Justine on Twitter at @justinevdl and on Instagram at @jvanderleun. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. If you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, please join our Believe Her podcast community on Bookclubz at www.bit.ly/believeherbookclubz and our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/believeher/.    Interested in bonus content and behind the scenes material? Subscribe to Lemonada Premium right now in the Apple Podcasts app by clicking on our podcast logo and the "subscribe” button.   Stay up-to-date on everything in the Lemonada world by becoming a superfan at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/believeher shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Mirella Ceja-Orozco, Co-Executive Director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund. She shares how her upbringing led her to a career dedicated to being a fierce advocate for immigrants' rights. She also shares historical and current trends in immigration law. Lastly, she describes how the US Immigration System and Criminal Legal System are embedded in one another.   As mentioned in this episode:  https://www.newsweek.com/ice-deports-92-somalians-plane-human-rights-747557 https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/12/13/minnesota-somali-deportation-fears-raw-rising  

Come meet Tracie Bernardi, a formerly incarcerated activist and co-founder of Once Incarcerated, an organization designed to help  justice impacted families and individuals navigate through collateral damage.  Tracie talks Jason and Amber about her experience with the criminal legal system as a young 19 year old woman who was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She talks about how she ultimately spent 23 years of those years incarcerated with 7 years in solitary confinement. Now, she's back home and doing amazing work in the community.  Tracie is a Smart Justice Leader with ACLU CT and was recently featured in an article on their website.    Once Incarcerated's Website: https://onceincarcerated.org/ACLU CT article  featuring Tracie: https://www.acluct.org/en/news/everyone-will-be-better-if-connecticut-ends-solitary-confinementSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

Erika has studied human rights, law, criminal justice, Peace and Conflict studies, and more. She was involved in creating the Red Hook peacemaking program, and she was the director of restorative practices at the Center for Court Innovation, for over a decade she oversaw CCI's restorative initiatives across a broad range of disciplines. You will meet Erika (1:45), hear about her experiences in the courtroom (7:40), and learn how she lives restoratively (25:24). She discusses her law experiences (31:48) and working in schools (54:10). Finally, she unpacks her privilege (1:06:00) and answers the closing questions (1:14:45).Learn more about the Redhook Peacemaking Program:https://www.courtinnovation.org/publications/red-hook-peacemaking-programRedhook Peacemaking Program Doc: https://narf.org/nill/documents/2014_red_hook_peacemaking.pdf CCI Healing from Conflict: Restorative Approaches and a Path Forward for Justicehttps://www.courtinnovation.org/publications/healing-conflict-restorative-approaches-and-path-forward-justice Watch clips of the podcast: http://youtube.com/c/amplifyrj See all our workshops and courses at http://amplifyrj.com/learn Future Ancestor Collective (Community Gatherings): http://tiny.cc/ARJcommunity Rep Amplify RJ Gear at http://amplifyrj.threadless.com You can connect with Amplify RJ:Email list: http://tiny.cc/ARJemail Instagram: http://instagram.com/amplify.rjLinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/restorative-justice Facebook: http://facebook.com/amplifyrjTwitter: http://twitter.com/amplifyrjWebsite: http://amplifyrj.comReading list: http://amplifyrj.com/reading-list

Learn more about Professor Sylvia Rich here.Additional readings & ressourcesClick here to access the private bill Senator Pate introduced relating to Mandatory Minimum Penalties (S-207).Click here to access the fact sheet on Mandatory Minimums introduced by Senator Pate.Sylvia Rich (2016). Corporate Criminals and Punishment Theory. Canadian Journal of Law &Jurisprudence, 29, pp 97-118 doi:10.1017/cjlj.2016.4

News of the Bogus: 0:33 – Garbage In, Gospel Out: How Data-Driven Policing Technologies Entrench Historic Racism and ‘Tech-Wash' Bias in the Criminal Legal System https://www.nacdl.org/Document/GarbageInGospelOutDataDrivenPolicingTechnologies 9:08 – Virgin Media Subscribers Told to Pay “Thousands of Pounds” to Settle Piracy Lawsuits https://torrentfreak.com/virgin-media-subscribers-told-to-pay-thousands-of-pounds-to-settle-piracy-lawsuits-210920/ 12:42 – Wind Turbine Blades Can't Be Recycled, So They're Piling Up in […]

In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason speak with Mark who authentically shares the shock, pain and sense of brokenness that he and his close relatives felt when they discovered sexual harm had occurred within their family. This incident abruptly plunged his elderly father into the criminal legal system, ultimately revealing that he had dementia. Mark describes how he and his father encountered severe injustice on one hand and acts of kindness on the other, as they were forced to navigate a system that is ill-prepared to accommodate individuals with Alzheimer's and Dementia.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

In this episode, Jason and Amber speak with Morgan Godvin,  a freelance writer, scholar and advocate who spent time behind bars after she sold her best friend heroin and he died of an overdose. In a matter of days, Morgan found herself grappling with the death of her friend while also navigating an unrelenting justice system. Morgan shares her story of addiction and struggle, highlighting how she quickly became aware of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal legal system. She explains how our nation's reliance on incarceration exacerbates addiction and often charges family members, friends, and others who share drugs as murderers while doing nothing to help. In February of 2020, Morgan was appointed to serve as a commissioner on Oregon's Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. In January of 2021, she was appointed by the Oregon Health Authority to the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council where she was one of 21 Oregonians determining the grant funding that came in tandem with drug decriminalization. You can learn more about Morgan at https://www.morgangodvin.com/A listing of her published writings can be found at: https://www.morgangodvin.com/portfolioWatch Morgan's appearance on CNN here: https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/11/14/from-addiction-to-advocacy-for-drug-decriminalization.cnnSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/amplifiedvoices)

In this special episode Megan hosts Christopher Bruce, Political Director for the ACLU of Georgia, to discuss trends, issues and solutions to problems involving race in our criminal legal system. Christopher was pivotal in Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's Criminal Justice Reform initiative, especially regarding bail reform, and he and Megan discuss some of the ways continued reform is necessary in Georgia. Why is the United States the world leader in incarcerated people per capita? How is unconscious bias playing a role in our criminal justice system and what can we do about it? All that and more on this week's episode of The Georgia Politics Podcast. Connect with Christopher Instagram @attorneycbruce Facebook @ChristopherDeuceBruce Connect with the ACLU of Georgia Online at acluga.org Facebook @ACLUofGA Twitter @acluofga Instagram @acluofga Connect with The Georgia Politics Podcast on Twitter @gapoliticspod Megan Gordon-Kane @meganlaneg Proud member of the Appen Podcast Network. #gapol

This week we watch Aliens from 1986, and dive into the “controversy” that is Kelly’s opinion of it! Our horror movie discussion revolves around Ripley’s strength in the face of adversity, the strong female presence in the film, and the homoerotic undertones of this debatably more action than horror movie! *Content Warning: Sexual Violence, gaslighting, and how the Criminal Legal System fails survivors Hosts: Charlene Bayer & Kelly Wright Producer: Charlene Bayer Editor: Kelly Wright Logo Design: Kelly Wright Featured Film: Aliens (1986) Featured Cocktail: Concentrated Acid Featured Products: Horror Candles: etsy.com/NightmareCandleCo use code DRINKANDSCREAM for 10% off your purchase! And MadLab Dsitilling’s Premium Vodka was used in today’s drink! Drinking and Screaming is a queer and feminist weekly horror movie review podcast that’s typically released every Monday. If you’d like to support our show, please subscribe for free in iTunes’ Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts from) and leave us a review! Tell your friends about us! Drinking and Screaming will always be free for everyone, for more information visit our website at www.drinkingandscreaming.com. You can support the show and buy Drinking And Screaming merch at https://drinkingandscreaming.threadless.com/ For our fans that want to help make this show the best it can be, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/drinkandscream. Reach out to us if you have any movies you want us to review, cool cocktail suggestions, or any other ideas you want to share! It’s our goal to feature local products and ingredients in our cocktails whenever possible, and we are happy to partner with local distilleries and breweries! Thanks for listening to Drinking and Screaming, and remember: Always Scream Responsibly! Our theme music is courtesy of: “Ouroboros” and "Classic Horror 3" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Find out more at https://drinkingandscreaming.pinecast.co Find out more at https://drinkingandscreaming.pinecast.co

Today's guest hosts are Brent J. Cohen and Charlotte Hancock, Executive Director and Communications Director for Generation Progress. With a new President in office and the balance of power in Congress shifted, many advocates and activists hope that bold action will be taken to shrink the criminal legal system and invest in communities to end the gun violence epidemic—which both disproportionately impact young people, especially young people of color. Young people between the ages of 18 to 35 make up only 30 percent of the U.S. adult population, but they represent 60 percent of adult arrests and 42 percent of adult prison admissions. The consequences have lifelong implications for the young people caught up in this system—and the impacts fall hardest on Black and Latinx communities. To discuss what it will take to solve these public health crises and address the harms that these systems have had on individuals and communities, Brent and Charlotte are joined by two expert guests.  They are Hassen Bashir, an advocacy associate with the team at Generation Progress, who is focused on criminal legal system reform and gun violence prevention, as well as Greg Jackson, the national advocacy director at the Community Justice Action Fund. Greg's Twitter handle is @GregoryJackson and the handle for the Community Justice Action Fund is @CJACTIONFUND.  Generation Progress' website is GenProgress.org and their Twitter handle is @GenProgress.  Brent's Twitter handle is @BrentJCohen and Charlotte Hancock's handle is @Charlatanne.

Takema Robinson interviews Dolfinette Martin and Syrita Steib-Martin of Operation Restoration about race, personal stories of incarceration, the need for someone to speak up for women, and COVID-19 amidst the uprisings of protests across the US.

Takema Robinson interviews Dolfinette Martin and Syrita Steib-Martin of Operation Restoration about race, personal stories of incarceration, the need for someone to speak up for women, and COVID-19 amidst the uprisings of protests across the US.

Takema Robinson interviews Sibil Fox and Rob Richardson “FoxandRob” about their 21-year fight as an incarcerated family and continued work to help other families suffering from the hardships associated with crime and punishment.

On this week's episode of The Renaissance Narratives Podcast we will unpack “America's Karma.” How the recent events of Black Brutality, Terror, and Imhuamnity date back to the Founding of America. We also will discuss REAL solutions, Accountability, Healing, Mobilization, Strategic Economic empowerment, and the need for New Narratives in our Criminal Legal System. I also share a personal poem entitled “Sean Carter-G Woodson” a narrative shaping portrayal of facing Miseducation, Economic Independence, and Revolutionary hustle.

Takema Robinson interviews Will Snowden, Director of Vera Institute of Justice - New Orleans, about race and incarceration during COVID-19 and in the wake of protests springing up across the US.