Problems can be solved. This episode is all about solving the problems related to the gap between outcomes for black communities as compared to white communities.
Race and racial tensions dominate the headlines. Very little of the news or arguments focus on how to make things better. This episode is all about solutions.
Dr. Richard A Johnson III is the director of the Booker T. Washington Initiative. He has been instrumental in crafting policies to help break the school to prison pipeline, and how to improve public safety, public works, healthcare. and housing.
Criminal justice is a tough issue. It’s easy to say “lock ’em up!” It’s so easy, in fact, that that’s exactly what nearly every politician says. But unless you’re going to lock ’em all up forever, you have to think about what happens when a convicted criminal is released.
In this episode of the Personal Responsibility Lawyer podcast, I interview Prof. Rachel Barkow (@RachelBarkow), author of Prisoners of Politics (click the link to buy on Amazon). Prof. Barkow teaches at New York University Law School, where she is the Vice Dean and Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy. Her resume is exceptionally impressive, and I unintentionally gave it short shrift when I introduced her in this episode. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was on the Harvard Law Review. After law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence Silberman of the DC Court of Appeals, and then for Antonin Scalia at the United States Supreme Court. She then served in private practice before entering academia. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Perhaps most important for Prof. Barkow’s criminal justice expertise, she was appointed by President Obama as a Commissioner on the United States Sentencing Commission, where she served from 2013-2019. Since 2010, she has been a member of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel.
It would be silly of me to try to recap this whole episode here, but let’s hit a few highlights. First, while we may think that putting more people in prison makes crime go down, it doesn’t. Arguably, the opposite happens.
Second, we have a lot of penalties that extend beyond the time that a person is in prison, and those things often make it next to impossible for a person to earn an honest living. Obviously, that makes crime more attractive.
Third, longer sentences aren’t the answer (at least for crime prevention) because that’s not what deters crime. The fear of getting caught is what deters crime.
There’s a bunch more. Listen and enjoy this episode! And don’t forget to subscribe!
Finally, a quick reminder that the Personal Responsibility Lawyer is sponsored by my law firm, Lovins Trosclair. We help people who have been through terrible tragedies, serious injuries and even deaths resulting from the irresponsible choices of others. Call us at 512-535-1649 or go to our website, www.LTLegalTeam.com if you need us. We are here to help.
Plea bargains. They’re just fair, arms length deal between the government and someone who committed a crime, right? Well, sometimes it might be. But if you get caught up in the criminal justice system, there are forces at work that you probably never contemplated.
Only a very small percentage (less than 5%, depending on the jurisdiction) of criminal cases actually go to a jury trial. That number alone means that the plea bargaining system is driving the criminal justice bus.
And whatever drives the bus in our criminal justice system needs to be fine tuned to deliver justice. Hence the “justice” in criminal justice. Well, the system is very efficient, but does it produce justice?
And whatever drives the bus in our criminal justice system needs to be fine tuned to deliver justice. Hence the “justice” in criminal justice. Well, the system is very efficient, but does it produce justice?
In this episode of the Personal Responsibility Lawyer podcast, I talk to Clark Neily, Vice President of Criminal Justice a the Cato Institute. Clark tells us why we should have grave concerns about whether justice is the primary product of the criminal justice system. The 6th Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to a public trial. But when someone tries to exercise this right, prosecutors often retaliate. In some sense, it’s understandable. They have cases to move and trials take up a lot of time and resources. If even half of those accused took advantage of their 6th Amendment rights, the system would grind to a halt without massive structural changes.
Clark talks about the reality of the problems, why the system can be terribly coercive to innocent people–and even guilty people–and proposes several things we can do to make the system work better and produce more justice. Among the solutions is the return of conscientious acquittal, which is now more often referred to pejoratively as jury nullification.
If you find criminal justice issues important, following Clark on Twitter is a must. You can do that here.
He also wrote a book a few years ago called Terms of Engagement that I highly recommend. (We will all overlook the fact that I called it “Judicial Engagement” during the interview. He was too kind to call me out for it!)
I hope you find this episode as interesting–and a bit frightening–as I did. If you do, please review the podcast on iTunes.
