End of Season Note to Listeners

07/25/19 • 0 min

The Appeal

Thanks for all your support! We'll be back in September.

Thanks for all your support! We'll be back in September.

Previous Episode

Episode 47: The Media's Misguided Fentanyl Hype

In recent years, lawmakers and the media have dusted off the 1980’s War on Drugs script to respond to an uptick in overdoses caused by a new, potent, heroin-like substance called fentanyl. Military officials are considering classifying it as a “weapon of mass destruction,” and highly regarded media outlets like 60 Minutes have spread the fable that police can be badly harmed from merely touching the drug. This week’s guest, Appeal contributor Maia Szalavitz, explains how medical professionals and reformers are pushing back against this media-fed panic.

Next Episode

Episode 48: The Rise of Registries

Earlier this year, lawmakers in New York proposed a bill that would bar people convicted of multiple sex offenses from ever using New York City’s subway system again. The plan, which would inflict a form of banishment in the name of public safety, has echoes elsewhere in the criminal legal system. Sex offender registries increasingly include children under the age of 18, and some states permit children as young as 7 to be registered. But a growing body of evidence suggests that our reliance on registries—not just for sex crimes but also for terrorism, gun, and drug offenses—may allow politicians to look like they’re taking action while actually doing little to curb abuse. To discuss the rise in registries, we are joined by Appeal contributor Guy Hamilton-Smith and Elizabeth Letourneau, professor and director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.