Podcast appearances and mentions of Rachel Barkow

Could the Trump administration suspend habeas corpus? On this week's Insider episode, Preet is joined by Rachel Barkow, CAFE Contributor and professor at NYU Law School, while Joyce is out. In an excerpt from the show, Preet and Rachel discuss Trump advisor Stephen Miller's comments about suspending the constitutional right to habeas corpus.  Also on the Insider docket: –  Reflections on the legacy of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who passed away last week at age 85; and – The Justice Department's court filing asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. CAFE Insiders click HERE to listen to the full analysis. Not an Insider? Now more than ever, it's critical to stay tuned. To join a community of reasoned voices in unreasonable times, become an Insider today. You'll get access to full episodes of the podcast and other exclusive content. Head to cafe.com/insider or staytuned.substack.com. Subscribe to our Substack. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. This podcast is brought to you by CAFE and Vox Media Podcast Network.  Executive Producer: Tamara Sepper; Supervising Producer: Jake Kaplan; Associate Producer: Claudia Hernández; Audio Producer: Nat Weiner; Deputy Editor: Celine Rohr; CAFE Team: David Tatasciore, Matthew Billy, Noa Azulai, and Liana Greenway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Melissa Murray is in for Ali Velshi and is joined by Columnist & Editor for MSNBC Daily Hayes Brown, Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA), UCLA School of Law's Richard L. Hasen, NYU School of Law's Rachel Barkow, Co-Founders of The Contrarian Norman Eisen and Jennifer Rubin, Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine Katherine Spillar, Politico's Josh Gerstein, and Professor of Law at University of Michigan Law School Leah Litman.

With less than 5 percent of the world's population and almost a quarter of its prisoners, the United States indisputably has a mass incarceration problem. The Constitution contains numerous safeguards that check the state's power to lock people up. Yet since the 1960s, the Supreme Court has repeatedly disregarded these limits, bowing instead to unfounded claims that adherence to the Constitution is incompatible with public safety.In Justice Abandoned, Rachel Barkow highlights six Supreme Court decisions that paved the way for mass incarceration. If the Court were committed to protecting constitutional rights and followed its standard methods of interpretation, none of these cases would have been decided as they were, and punishment in America would look very different than it does today.Barkow shows that sound public policy, fundamental fairness, and the originalist methodology embraced by a majority of sitting justices demands overturning the unconstitutional policies underlying mass incarceration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Presidential pardons have become a tool of favoritism and politics.

In this episode of Everyday Injustice, we sit down with Rachel Barkow, a law professor at NYU and an expert on criminal justice reform. We discuss President Biden's final clemency actions, the larger implications of mass incarceration, and her upcoming book, Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration. Barkow offers a critical look at the failures of our criminal legal system, the role of progressive prosecutors, and the Supreme Court's role in shaping mass incarceration. Professor Barkow offered a critical look at the state of criminal justice reform, the failures of the Supreme Court, and President Biden's last-minute clemency decisions. Barkow expressed disappointment with Biden's handling of clemency, noting that while he commuted 37 federal death row sentences and granted some relief for nonviolent drug offenders, he ignored hundreds of cases recommended by the Justice Department. She criticized the flawed clemency process, which requires prosecutors to review their own past cases, making positive recommendations rare. Discussing the political backlash against criminal justice reform, Barkow argued that progressive prosecutors like Chesa Boudin and Pamela Price were vulnerable because they failed to enact structural reforms. While some jurisdictions elected reform-minded prosecutors, the movement faced well-funded opposition and public fear over crime rates. She noted that lasting change requires legislative reforms, not just individual elections. Barkow's upcoming book, Justice Abandoned, examines six Supreme Court cases that fueled mass incarceration, including Terry v. Ohio, which enabled stop-and-frisk policing, and U.S. v. Salerno, which allowed pretrial detention based on “dangerousness.” She argued that the Court has repeatedly ignored constitutional principles in favor of political expediency, contributing to the rise of mass incarceration. Despite setbacks, Barkow remains hopeful that public awareness and political momentum can lead to long-term reforms. She urged advocates to focus on institutional changes that can outlast political cycles and to challenge harmful Supreme Court precedents that continue to shape the justice system today.

Did the Supreme Court lay the legal foundation for mass incarceration? CAFE Contributor & NYU criminal law professor Rachel Barkow joins Preet to discuss this very question which she explores in her new book, Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration. You can now watch portions of our episodes on YouTube! Head to CAFE's Youtube channel and subscribe.  Stay Tuned in Brief is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Please write to us with your thoughts and questions at letters@cafe.com, or leave a voicemail at 669-247-7338. For analysis of recent legal news, join the CAFE Insider community. Head to cafe.com/insider to join for just $1 for the first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosts Renato Mariotti and Asha Rangappa are joined by NYU Professor Rachel Barkow to talk about the eroding institutional checks on executive power, and ask: Can Trump fire anyone at will? Subscribe to our Patreon here, where paid members will get access to exclusive portions of this show: patreon.com/reallyamericanmedia Asha, a Yale University National Security Law professor and former FBI special agent, and Renato, a former federal prosecutor, analyze just how far Trump has gone to undermine the independence of executive agencies. Rachel Barkow, author of Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration, breaks down the Supreme Court's pivotal role in defining the limits of executive power—and explores the historical precedents that Trump's “Unitary Executive Theory” is threatening to undo.  Rachel walks us through the story of Humphrey's Executor v. United States, a seminal 1935 Supreme Court case that affirmed Congress's authority to restrict the President's power to remove certain agency officials. Barkow also discusses how the modern Supreme Court could change these longstanding precedents, and lead to a cascade of global consequences. But it's not just about what's happening in Washington—the trio decodes how these transformations might impact average Americans, industries, and financial institutions. And we'll tackle the broader human implications and moral considerations of these power plays.  Be sure to join us next week, as Asha and Renato continue to bring clarity to the complex issues that can't be boiled down to simple sound bites, right here on It's Complicated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump and Musk are on a self-declared mission to destroy the bureaucracy and the “deep state" — and they're taking aim at the government's independent agencies. CAFE Contributor and administrative law expert Rachel Barkow breaks down why an almost 100-year-old Supreme Court precedent is at risk of being overturned and the danger for the rule of law. Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the show, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski speaks with Fareed about Ukraine's future and how Europe is responding to President Trump moving closer to Moscow.   Next, NYU law professor Rachel Barkow joins the show to discuss the vulnerabilities of the US justice system and the remaining checks on the president.    Then, Marc Dunkelman, author of the new book “Why Nothing Works,” speaks with Fareed about how the progressive movement has not been able to achieve sweeping change, despite arguing for progress through good governance.    GUESTS: Radek Sikorski (@sikorskiradek), Rachel Barkow @RachelBarkow), Marc Dunkelman (@MarcDunkelman) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 55 The Power of the Presidential Pardon: Traditions and Turning Points Recent presidential pardons by both sides of the political aisle are unprecedented in their purposes, which were wielded both to reward and protect. That's according to Rachel Barkow, Charles Seligson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University School of Law. A prolific author who is recognized as one of the country's leading experts on criminal law and policy, Rachel joins host Matt Adams for a timely discussion exploring the historical use of presidential pardons, the standard vetting process for requests and how the pardons issued in January by the both the outgoing and incoming presidents diverge from traditional uses of the power. They also speculate on how — and if — the process could change in the future, should a president have the interest in altering authority granted by the Constitution. You won't want to miss this enlightening episode.

CAFE Contributor Rachel Barkow reflects on the pardons issued by President Trump and former President Biden, highlighting the flaws in the pardon process and necessary reforms. Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rick Wilson, Barbara McQuade, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Donald Trump's latest administration picks, Rachel Barkow and Rep. Jim McGovern on presidential pardon power, Michele Goodwin and Marc Hearron on Republican efforts to expand the reach of state abortion bans, Imara Jones on what trans Americans are doing to prepare for another Trump administration, and Paola Ramos on Donald Trump's mass deportation plan.

In this excerpt of CAFE Insider, CAFE Contributors Elie Honig and Rachel Barkow discuss how President Biden and former president Trump have used the pardon power. In the full episode, Elie and Rachel break down President Biden's decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, and President Biden's track record with the death penalty. This is the latest installment in a series of special episodes exclusively for members of CAFE Insider. Each week, Elie Honig and special guests will tackle one major legal or policy issue, helping you stay informed. For a limited time, get 40% off your membership for the first year, by heading to cafe.com/November. You'll get access to two full episodes of the podcast each week and other exclusive content. This podcast is brought to you by CAFE and Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Wednesday night by federal prosecutors. The bombshell charges include bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. Elie Honig is joined by former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade to break down the news. In this excerpt, they break down the strengths and weaknesses of the charges and Adams's potential defenses. In the full episode, Elie and Barb discuss Barb's experience prosecuting a corruption case against the former mayor of Detroit and the process by which New York Governor Kathy Hochul could remove Adams from office if he refuses to resign. This episode kicks off a new series of special episodes for members of CAFE Insider. Each week, Insiders will get a second episode of the podcast co-hosted by Elie Honig and other CAFE contributors, Joyce Vance, Asha Rangappa, Barb McQuade, and Rachel Barkow, as well as occasional guests. Each episode will tackle one major legal or policy issue, bringing you all the analysis you need to stay informed in 30 minutes or less. We'll do this in the coming weeks, so let us know what you think. Write to us at letters@cafe.com.  CAFE Insiders click HERE to listen to the full analysis. To become a member of CAFE Insider head to cafe.com/insider. You'll get access to two full episodes of the podcast each week and other exclusive content. This podcast is brought to you by CAFE and Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law at NYU School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. From 2013 to 2019, she served as a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2010 to 2020, she was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel and co-chaired Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's transition committee on police accountability in 2021. She is also amongst the most cited legal scholars of all time.  For a transcript of Rachel's note and the full archive of contributor notes, head to CAFE.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now, twice a week, CAFE contributors will examine the intersecting worlds of law, politics, and current events. Join Joyce Vance, Barbara McQuade, Asha Rangappa, Rachel Barkow, and Elie Honig as they break down the complex legal issues shaping our country today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On a special episode of Stay Tuned, Preet Bharara is joined by his CAFE Insider co-host and former U.S. Attorney, Joyce Vance, CAFE contributor and CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, and CAFE contributor and NYU law school professor of constitutional law and administrative law, Rachel Barkow. They break down the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity and the implications for the Trump criminal prosecutions. Why did the Court rule in favor of Trump? Will special counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump be able to move forward? And how might the decision impact Trump's New York conviction and the charges against him in Georgia and Florida? They also discuss other high-profile Supreme Court rulings related to January 6 prosecutions and the so-called “administrative state.”  In the bonus, exclusively for members of CAFE Insider, Preet and the group analyze the Supreme Court ruling that preserved, for now, access to emergency abortions. Sign up to listen. For show notes and a transcript of the episode click HERE.  Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on Threads, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 669-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special episode of the CAFE Insider podcast, Joyce Vance interviews Rachel Barkow, while Preet is out. Barkow, who recently became a CAFE contributor, is a professor at NYU Law School and author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. She also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2013 to 2019. In this excerpt from the show, Barkow discusses the high stakes of the forthcoming oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a case that asks the Supreme Court justices to overturn the long-standing Chevron doctrine that says courts should defer to federal agencies' interpretation of ambiguous laws. In the full episode, Barkow further discusses other consequential administrative law cases before the Supreme Court:  – CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America, which could invalidate the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and – SEC v. Jarkesy, which asks whether SEC enforcement actions are consistent with the 7th Amendment's right to a jury trial. Preet will be back next week. Stay informed. For analysis of the most important legal and political issues of our time, become a member of CAFE Insider: www.cafe.com/insider. You'll get access to full episodes of the podcast, and other exclusive content. This podcast is brought to you by CAFE Studios and Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Preet speaks with Rachel Barkow, a Professor at NYU School of Law and a leading voice on criminal justice issues, about President Biden's decision to pardon everyone convicted on federal charges of simple marijuana possession. How big of a deal is this? And what does it mean for the rest of Biden's criminal justice reform agenda? Stay Tuned in Brief is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Please let us know what you think! Email us at letters@cafe.com, or leave a voicemail at 669-247-7338. References & Supplemental Materials: “Statement from President Biden on Marijuana Reform,” White House, 10/6/22 Drug Scheduling, DEA.gov “John Boehner: From Speaker of the House to Cannabis Pitchman,” NYT, 6/3/19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professor Rachel Barkow stops by Supreme Myths to talk about our mass incarceration crisis, it's causes, and possible solutions.

Renato and Patti discuss recent reports that Trump is considering pardoning his family and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.  They were joined by NYU Law Professor Rachel Barkow, who has written about Trump's use of the pardon power.

The first in a series on electing prosecutors - an interview with Rachel Barkow about the role that politics plays in electing prosecutors, and what to know and what to ask candidates for that office. Her book, Prisoners of Politics, can be found here: https://bookshop.org/books/prisoners-of-politics-breaking-the-cycle-of-mass-incarceration/9780674919235   For more of her bio: https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&personid=20660   Music by Evan Schaeffer

With justice systems across the country scrambling to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lot of talk about what justice is going to look like when the virus ends. But what has the response actually consisted of—especially from prisons and jails, which have emerged as epicenters of the virus—and is there any reason … Continue reading Justice and the Virus with Rachel Barkow →

Rachel Barkow, vice dean and professor at New York University's School of Law, discusses how Governors can use clemency powers to slow the spread of COVID-19 in prison and jail populations, as well as, slow the spread to prison staff and family. Data for Progress Report: GOVERNORS MUST USE CLEMENCY POWERS TO SLOW THE PANDEMIC OUR LEADERS HAVE THE POWER TO RELEASE PEOPLE IN PRISON. NOW THEY MUST USE IT by Rachel Barkow Get 15% Off from M.M. LaFleur! M.M. La Fleur is offering Electorette listeners 15% off of their first order when they use code ELECTORETTE. Just visit MMLaFleur.com/Electorette and enter code ELECTORETTE for this exclusive listener discount! Read more about M.M. LaFleur's "Ready to Run" program here. Support the Electorette Rate & Review on iTunes: https://apple.co/2GsfQj4 Support Electorette on Patreon for $2/month: http://bit.ly/Electorette-Patreon Also, if you enjoy the Electorette, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review on iTunes. Also, please spread the word by telling your friends, family and colleagues about The Electorette! Want to support the Electorette so that we can bring you more great episodes? You can help us produce more episodes with just $2/per month on Patreon. Every bit helps! Patreon.com/Electorette WANT MORE ELECTORETTE? Follow the Electorette on social media. Electorette Facebook Electorette Instagram Electorette Twitter The Electorette is a proud member of the DemCast Network! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've unlocked this bonus episode, originally available only to Patreon subscribers: David Eil interviews Rachel Barkow about her book, Prisoners of Politics.

“Tough-on-crime” is possibly the most abused political slogan – almost as bad as proposing a balanced budget by eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse.”Unlike empty promises to cut spending though, politicians actually keep their promises to go hard on the “bad guys.”From a public choice perspective, acting tough on crime is the perfect ploy for a politician. Here's why:Prison sentences are expensive long term, but cost little up front. The politicians gets a quick boost in the polls, and society pays the majority of the cost later, once the perpetrators are released.In short: A good mob needs a good scapegoat.Tough on crime was the strategy that George HW Bush used to hammer Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.It's also why Bill Clinton took time off the campaign trail to oversee the execution of a mentally disabled man in 1992.Lastly, it's why Trump frequently mentions atrocities committed by illegal immigrants in his speeches to packed arenas.Rachel Elise Barkow is a professor of regulatory law and policy at NYU and author of Prisoners of Politics [Buy it on Amazon] – a comprehensive look at how our criminal justice system has turned the United States into the leader in incarceration. Barkow has come to the conclusion that mass incarceration is a product of too much democracy and not enough data.Barkow's Q&A with the Cato Institute's Clark Neily (formerly of the Institute for Justice) is a fascinating survey of the abuses of power by federal prosecutors, who have turned plea bargains and mandatory minimums into coercive tools to deny the accused their right to a jury trial.The Framers are rolling their graves.While there are some silver linings, such as a bi-partisan reform that passed the Senate last year, the bitter truth is that the overall trend is toward more prisoners, more plea bargains, and more politics as usual.New statutes consistently make it easier for law enforcement to do their job. Prosecutors are captured by special interests in law enforcement, and judges and politicians are afraid to appear lenient in the event that they let the next Willie Horton off the hook.While no one wants to bring back Dukakis' “weekend furloughs” for murder convicts, there are a range of common-sense reforms working their way through state and federal legislatures. These include clemency for non-violent, non-serious offenders, as well more data-driven proposals to reduce recividism rates.A Necessary Function of the Administrative State?Barkow's solution to the mass incarceration crisis involves a greater role for the administrative state — the bureaucratic arm of the executive branch, which I've covered extensively on my show.While most of my coverage has been negative, Barkow sheds some light on the question of when rule-by-expert might be preferable to pure democracy or congressional lawmaking. Congress could write the laws, but members of both parties seem to prefer scoring cheap political points through scapegoating over fixing a broken system.Would an administrative agencies tasked with reforming the criminal justice system be subject to the same lobbying and electoral pressures as Congress?Can data-driven experts fix the criminal justice system – or do we perhaps need a mass lesson in jury nullification?Is more democratic participation or less needed to keep our prisons from filling up due for non-violent offenses?

Rachel Elise Barkow’s *Prisoners of Politics* reveals a broken criminal justice system behind mass incarceration

What are the values and purposes behind the pardon power? How has President Trump used this executive power in his first term and how might he use it in the future?  Harry talks with an expert panel including Robert Bauer, former White House counsel and professor, Margaret Love, former pardon attorney, and Rachel Barkow, professor of Law at New York University and a former member of the United States Sentencing Commission.

On this episode of Stay Tuned, "Crime & Politics," host Preet Bharara answers your questions about: -- Prosecutors’ personalities -- The Supreme Court’s decision in Flowers v. Mississippi, a capital case dealing with a prosecutor’s removal of black people from the jury pool. -- Preet also shares a letter from Steven Martin, a leading prison reform advocate and former guest on Stay Tuned, who wrote in with his thoughts on Preet and Anne’s conversation on the CAFE Insider podcast about the Justice Department’s argument that detained migrant children need not be provided soap and toothbrushes.  Rachel Barkow, an expert on criminal justice, NYU Law professor, and author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration, joins Preet for a wide-ranging conversation that covers sentencing reform, how we measure a prosecutor’s success, clemency power, and more. [Interview begins 11 minutes into the episode] Bonus clips from the interview are available for members of the CAFE Insider community  Sign up to receive free references and supplemental materials for Stay Tuned episodes, a weekly newsletter, and updates from Preet. As always, tweet your questions to @PreetBharara with hashtag #askpreet, email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 699-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. 

Rachel Barkow contends criminal justice policy is a “prisoner of politics,” driven by appeals to voters’ worst instincts and an aversion to evidence of what actually works. Defined by its severity and unfairness, the criminal justice system, she says, is counterproductive to the goal of public safety it claims as its justification. In her new … Continue reading The Pathological Politics of Criminal Justice →

Glimpsing the nightly news or scrolling through your Twitter timeline on any given day, it might seem like the U.S. on the cusp of achieving bipartisan, comprehensive criminal justice reform. In reality, however, many of the reforms being proposed or enacted are relatively modest in scope. In this episode, Daniella and Ed are joined by Emily Bazelon, staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, and Rachel Barkow, professor at the New York University School of Law, who have both authored new books exploring system-upending ways to end the cycle of mass incarceration. Bazelon and Barkow consider the role of the prosecutor in these reforms as well as ways to insulate justice reform from political influence or populist whims.

Rachel Barkow, the author of "Prisoner of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration," explains how dangerous it is to base criminal justice policy on the whims of the electorate, which puts judges, sheriffs, and politicians in office. Instead, she argues for an institutional shift toward data and expertise, following the model used to set food and workplace safety rules. America’s criminal justice policy reflects irrational fears stoked by politicians seeking to win election. A preeminent legal scholar argues that reform guided by evidence, not politics and emotions, will reduce crime and reverse mass incarceration. The United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, a form of punishment that ruins lives and makes a return to prison more likely. As awful as that truth is for individuals and their families, its social consequences—recycling offenders through an overwhelmed criminal justice system, ever-mounting costs, unequal treatment before the law, and a growing class of permanently criminalized citizens—are even more devastating. Barkow’s prescriptions are rooted in a thorough and refreshingly ideology-free cost–benefit analysis of how to cut mass incarceration while maintaining public safety. She points to specific policies that are deeply problematic on moral grounds and have failed to end the cycle of recidivism. Her concrete proposals draw on the best empirical information available to prevent crime and improve the reentry of former prisoners into society. Prisoners of Politics aims to free criminal justice policy from the political arena, where it has repeatedly fallen prey to irrational fears and personal interest, and demonstrates that a few simple changes could make us all safer.

Josh interviews Rachel Barkow about her new book "Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration" You can find show complete notes on our website http://decarcerationnation.com/

In this episode, Rachel E. Barkow, Vice Dean and Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy at New York University School of Law, discusses her new book, "Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration," which will be published by Harvard University Press in March 2019. Barkow begins by explaining the problems with our criminal justice system, and how it satisfies neither the deterrence nor the retributive justifications for justification. Among other things, she provides specific examples of how it imposes punishments without public safety benefits or proportional justifications. Then she explains the political and institutional factors that caused our criminal justice system to go off the rails. And she closes with a series of suggestions about how it can be fixed. Barkow is on Twitter at @RachelBarkow. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A week after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, his former clerk Rachel Barkow shares fond memories of a mentor with whom she didn’t always agree politically. And legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar suggests that Scalia didn’t always remain true to his originalist principles.You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com. Podcast production by Tony Field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A week after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, his former clerk Rachel Barkow shares fond memories of a mentor with whom she didn’t always agree politically. And legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar explains why Scalia didn’t always remain true to his originalist principles. You can listen to past episodes of Amicus here. Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members. Consider signing up today! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here.  Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Our email is amicus@slate.com.  Podcast production by Tony Field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices