Episode 24: BLM Four Years On - Racism in the Criminal Justice System

12/06/18 • 22 min

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It's been over four years since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and the issue of racism in the criminal legal system remains as stark and urgent as ever. Our guest, professor at American University College of Law, Appeal contributor and author, Angela J. Davis, recently edited an anthology on race and the US criminal system called 'Policing the Black Man' that lays out, in no uncertain terms, just how wide the gap is between the experiences of white and black Americans in everything from policing to bail to conviction rates. She joins us to discuss what the data says––and what's being done to correct it.

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Episode 23: The Pseudoscience behind Forensic Science

We’ve watched the scene play out in countless police dramas: slick scientific experts with the latest gadgets and technology finding the Bad Guys with forensic pattern matching: Bite marks, fingerprints, a marking on a fired bullet or handwriting on a note. But how scientific are these methods? And how much do prosecutors and judges wildly oversell their reliability? This week, we are joined by Jessica Brand, Legal Director at The Justice Collaborative and Appeal contributor to discuss some of the pseudo-science behind forensic science.

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Episode 25: How Some Cities Are Fighting Back Against ICE

With the swearing in of President Trump in January 2017 came an aggressive rightward shift in America’s immigration policy, specifically with regard to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Our guest, Appeal senior reporter Debbie Nathan, has been documenting how municipalities throughout the United States, especially those in deep red Texas, are pushing back using everything from mass protests to direct action to lawsuits.