New Thinking, from the Center for Justice Innovation
New Thinking, from the Center for Justice Innovation
Center for Justice Innovation
New Thinking is a podcast about justice—and injustice—in America. It’s about the people working to fix a justice system that falls so short of our ideals, and the people organizing to build something new in its place. It’s hosted by Matt Watkins and produced by the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly Center for Court Innovation).
The War on Drugs Returns to Oregon
Morgan Godvin was at the frontlines of Oregon's decriminalization fight. For now, she says progress towards a health-based approach to drug use "has fallen prey to fear-based policy."
Mar 19
28 min
Gideon at 60: Deconstructing Mass Supervision
Vincent Schiraldi used to run probation in New York City; now he’s asking whether it should even exist. Schiraldi says some of the roots of mass supervision—and its connection to mass incarceration—can be found in a surprising place: the Supreme Court’s 1963 Gideon decision. It recognized, but failed to adequately support, a poor person’s right to a lawyer. Hear the final episode in our “Gideon at 60” series. Full show notes
Dec 16, 2023
36 min
Gideon at 60: Uncivil Justice
A profile of the fight to secure lawyers for people facing eviction and the radical impact that is having in Housing Court. With its 1963 Gideon decision, the Supreme Court guaranteed a lawyer to any poor person facing prison time. For criminal cases, the decision was both sweeping and critically incomplete. On the civil side, the campaign for a right-to-counsel is taking a different approach—it's slow and piecemeal, but it's also working. This is the second episode in our series on the legacy of the Gideon decision. Hear the first episode here. Full show notes
Nov 16, 2023
24 min
Gideon at 60: The Unfunded Mandate
Sixty years on from a landmark Supreme Court decision, how can public defenders organize for genuine change?
Apr 4, 2023
38 min
When Young People Go to Prison for Life
Rather than arrests and incarceration, what do young people who commit harm actually need?
Feb 14, 2023
58 min
Emphasizing the Harms
A recent training for Manhattan prosecutors was a drumbeat on the harms of incarceration; hardly the typical message prosecutors receive. It was part of a wider effort by D.A. Alvin Bragg to expand the use of alternatives such as treatment and restorative justice. But in a newly-cramped climate for criminal justice reform, can that effort become a reality?
Nov 4, 2022
27 min
Evicting Evictions
Housing is a human right. What if we designed our systems—beginning with Housing Court—to embody that?
Jun 28, 2022
20 min
Reform and Its Discontents
What if much of what is packaged today as "reforms" to the criminal legal system are extending, not countering, that system's harmful effects?
May 9, 2022
34 min
Why Data Doesn’t Stick
Data makes a powerful case against the criminal justice status quo, but who's listening?
Mar 24, 2022
37 min
Can We Close Rikers?
NYC has pledged to close its notorious Rikers Island jail by 2027, but obstacles abound.
Jan 25, 2022
34 min
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