Making Criminal Justice More Just (w/ Radley Balko)

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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.

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