On May 23, a judge found the second officer tried in the death of Freddie Gray not guilty.  In this bonus episode, Criminal Injustice host David Harris discusses the verdict on 90.5 WESA's Essential Pittsburgh with host Paul Guggenheimer.

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For decades, police in the U.S. have used force under the Supreme Court’s rule that they can do as much as appears “reasonably necessary” to accomplish their lawful goals. But after almost two years of national attention on police shootings of blacks, a major police professional organization has proposed, for the first time, that police use force less often and with more restraint. Is this a turning point?

Chuck Wexler is Executive Director of the Police Executives Research Forum, based in Washington, D.C.

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America is No. 1 in the world when it comes to incarcerating its own citizens. With one-in-three black men in the U.S. likely to go to prison during his lifetime, the system begs for reform, burdens taxpayers, and weakens our country - particularly our communities of color. After decades of resistance, the system may see changes and shrinking prison populations because of bipartisan support for improvement.

Marc Mauer is Executive Director of the Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project.

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When someone dies or has their constitutional rights violated in an encounter with the police, police can be sued. But why are these suits so tough to win, even in the worst cases of police misconduct? And what does the multiple millions of dollars in damages every year say about the state of police abuse in the U.S.?

David Rudovsky is a national leader in civil rights and civil liberties litigation. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a founding partner in Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg.

Find more at criminalinjusticepodcast.com.