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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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Criminal (In)justice
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Now displaying: November, 2017
Nov 28, 2017

Criminal Injustice returns with a new season on Jan. 9, 2018. Until then, we're reposting some of our favorite past episodes. This episode originally appeared Sept. 5, 2017. 

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After Ferguson, investigations revealed that the entire criminal justice system in St. Louis County – not just the police department – levied massive amounts of fines and fees on its poorest citizens in order to fund itself.  It was a wake-up call, but one organization was already there working on these very issues.

Thomas Harvey is the co-founder and executive director of Arch City Defenders.

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 21, 2017

An important rule of legal ethics is the obligation to keep client information confidential. Lawyers say that rule is fundamental to the attorney client relationship, so clients can speak freely. But what happens when following that rule keep someone else – an innocent person – in prison? That’s what happened to Alton Logan, who sat in prison in Illinois for 26 years, even though two lawyer who represented the guilty man knew the truth all along.

We talk to Berl Falbaum, who helped Logan tell his story.

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 18, 2017

Sexual abuse allegations against Alabama Judge Roy Moore have dealt a blow to the Republican candidate's Senate campaign. But could he also face criminal charges? 

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 14, 2017

When bad behavior by a police officer makes news, police often say that it’s just about one bad officer. But police departments seldom make the character of each officer the biggest factor in who they hire.

Sheriff Jack Serier of Ramsey County, Minnesota explains how his department made character-driven hiring the centerpiece of local reform.

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 10, 2017

Many people are incredulous at the Louisiana Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal over the conviction of a man who asked police during his interrogation to "give me a lawyer, dog."

According to an opinion written by one of the justices, the request was too ambiguous to count as an invocation of the suspect's Miranda rights. David explains why that's actually correct -- for reasons entirely unrelated to the vernacular usage of "dog."

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 7, 2017

Three years after Ferguson, criminal justice reform has spurred discussion about police, courts and incarceration. PAC leader Whitney Tymas sees prosecutors as the key to fundamental change. She explains how her organization tackles local elections and what they’re trying to accomplish.

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

Nov 2, 2017

What do the indictments of two former Trump campaign aides, and the guilty plea entered by a third, tell us about the status of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation?

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.

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