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Criminal (In)justice

Problems with police, prosecutors and courts have people asking: is our criminal justice system broken? University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris interviews the people who know the system best, and hears their best ideas for fixing it. Criminal (In)justice is an independent production created in partnership with 90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR News Station.
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Now displaying: February, 2019
Feb 26, 2019

As reported by WBEZ, there's been a rash of suicides in Chicago's police department, including officers who shot themselves while in uniform and on duty. 

Patrick Smith, "Chicago’s Police Suicide Rate Is Higher Than National Average. What’s Being Done About It?"

Feb 23, 2019

Civil asset forfeiture takes a hit in the Supreme Court: per this week's 9-0 decision, the constitutional prohibition against excessive fines applies to states under 12th amendment due process protections.

Feb 19, 2019

We try to solve the problem of mass incarceration by eliminating mandatory sentences, or by getting rid of cash bail. But what about a better method of providing criminal defense services? Could this cut prison and jail populations, AND secure public safety? There’s a way to do this: use a holistic model for criminal defense services.

Our guest is James Anderson, the director of the Justice Policy Program and the Institute for Civil Justice, and a senior behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation, in Pittsburgh. He’s one of the authors of “The Effects of Holistic Defense on Criminal Justice Outcomes,” which will be published in the Harvard Law Review.

Feb 16, 2019

As reported by George Joseph and Debbie Nathan in The Intercept and The Appeal, inmates at many U.S. prisons are coerced to submit digital voice print samples before being allowed to use the telephone. 

Feb 13, 2019

Following up last week's Jamie Kalven interview (recorded late 2018), an update on major recent developments in the Laquan McDonald case.

Feb 12, 2019

Season 1 fan favorite Jordan Margolis, aka Excuseman: the hero we deserve, but not the one we need.

Feb 5, 2019

Chicago has seen police scandals for decades -- from torturing suspects into confessions to the Laquan McDonald murder and coverup. 

James Kalven has combined journalism and human rights work to spur police reform. Has it worked? And what lies ahead for a city awash in homicides and distrust of police?

Feb 2, 2019

An algorithm can't be racist, right? As it turns out, facial recognition software trained and tested mostly on white people is really good at identifying race and gender... as long as you're white and male. 

New York Times Jan. 24, 2019: "Amazon is Pushing Facial Technology That a Study Says Could Be Biased"

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