Rooted in history and the urgency of now, New Thinking talks to the people working to reform—or remake—the criminal legal system. It’s hosted by Matt Watkins.
What are the challenges facing the hundreds of thousands of people discharged from U.S. prison every year? What are the challenges facing their home communities, which are often poor and under-served? And how did we get here, with millions of Americans--a disproportionate share of whom are African-American--behind bars? New York University Law Professor Anthony C. Thompson tackles these questions in a presentation based on his new book, Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities: Reentry, Race, and Politics.
Gretta Bush and Bobby Davis of High Point Community Against Violence explain how the Drug Market Initiative offers a sustainable and effective strategy for ending violence associated with open air drug markets.
West Huddleston, CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, talks about his group's new web site, why the nation's 2,300-plus drug courts reach only 10 percent of the people they're designed to help, and what's next on the horizon for the drug court movement.
Herb Sturz--the subject of a new book, A Kind of Genius, by New York Times reporter Sam Roberts--talks about innovation, the power of private-public collaborations, the founding of the Midtown Community Court, and his current work at the Open Society Institute.
After visiting the Harlem Community Justice Center, Katherine McQuay and Zoe Mentel of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) talk about reentry, community policing, and the stimulus package.
Roxann Pais, an executive assistant city attorney in the Dallas City Attorney's Office, describes how prosecutors across the U.S. are responding to the crisis in foreclosed and vacant properties.
Ann Fulmer, a lawyer and community activist, explains how mortgage fraud harms neighborhoods—including her own community outside Atlanta, Georgia—and what residents can do to stop it.