Making Criminal Justice More Just (w/ Radley Balko)

08/24/22 • 47 min

We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals.

And yet the American criminal justice system is anything but just, and a full accounting of just how bad it is can be pretty harrowing. The criminal justice system is the most direct application of violence by government on its citizens, and it's overrun by corruption, self-interest, racism, and brutality.

To talk about just how bad things are and how we can build a more humane system, I'm joined by journalist Radley Balko (@radleybalko). For years, he's been the top writer in the country when it comes to investigating, exposing, and cataloging the horrors and corruption of the American criminal justice system.

Radley and I talk about the state of our system, the prospects for reform in the wake of the widespread protests after the murder of George Floyd, and why many in the liberty movement tend to turn into law and order, bust some heads conservatives whenever those pushing back on police violence and state injustice get even the slightest bit unruly.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

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Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

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Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

We can argue at length about the proper role of government. But if we're to have any state at all, one of its clear jobs is to protect us from crime, and to punish criminals.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

Get full access to Aaron Ross Powell at www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discuss this episode with the host and your fellow listeners in the ReImagining Liberty Reddit community: https://www.reddit.com/r/ReImaginingLiberty/

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

Previous Episode

The Post-Liberal Conundrum (w/ Michael Tolhurst)

A lot of people seem to be pretty down on freedom right now. Some take it so far as to blame liberty, and political liberalism, for not just our economic woes, but also for allowing our culture to drift away from some kind of socially conservative, right-leaning, often religious imagined ideal. These “post-liberals” have found intellectual purchase, writing talked-about books, headlining conferences, and catalyzing a new reactionary movement.

But do their arguments work? Or are they in fact self-defeating?

My guest today is Michael Tolhurst (@MikeTolhurst), senior director of research at the Institute for Humane Studies. Michael has graduate degrees in philosophy and political science, and today's conversation features a bit from both.

We talk about the problems of post-liberalism, and why so many are ready to throw away liberty to force their peculiar cultural preferences upon the rest of us.

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

Get full access to Aaron Ross Powell at www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discuss this episode with the host and your fellow listeners in the ReImagining Liberty Reddit community: https://www.reddit.com/r/ReImaginingLiberty/

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.

Next Episode

Liberalism vs. Leftism (w/ Akiva Malamet)

What's the relationship between libertarianism or radical liberalism and the ideas of the left? Most place them in clear and direct opposition, and argue that liberty advocates should have more affinity for conservatism, at least in its American variety.

My guest today argues otherwise. Akiva Malamet (@akiva_malamet), a writer and philosopher, and contributor to my old website, Libertarianism.org.

We discuss the shared concerns those of us who see radical liberty have with the political left, but also draw important distinctions between socialism and liberalism.

(Here's the article on libertarian and leftist views of power that Akiva and I discuss.)

ReImagining Liberty is a project of The UnPopulist, and is produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte.

Join the ReImagining Liberty Discord community and book club.

Music: Finding the Balance by Kevin MacLeod | Link | License

Get full access to Aaron Ross Powell at www.aaronrosspowell.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discuss this episode with the host and your fellow listeners in the ReImagining Liberty Reddit community: https://www.reddit.com/r/ReImaginingLiberty/

Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.