Everyday Injustice

Silverio Strong spent 32 years incarcerated off and on from the time he was 12. Finally, he got involved in a robbery and attempted murder and received a 20 year sentence. On Everyday Injustice he talks about going from the troubled young man to someone who helps mentor others and has put together a successful life following his release from prison. He is now a spokesperson and board member for Hu...

Earlier this season on Everyday Injustice, we spoke with Flint Taylor who highlighted his years of fighting to expose the Chicago Torture Scandal. We also spoke with former Illinois Governor George Ryan who ended the death penalty in Illinois in part due to the torture scandal. And this week we talk more about the torture scandal and the death row 10 with four guests, two of whom were past survivo...

Prosecutorial misconduct continues to be widespread in the courts across the country. As a report from a decade ago discovered – with over 800 instances of documented prosecutorial misconduct, much of it serious with grave effects, courts, district attorneys, and bar associations “rarely hold prosecutors accountable for their misconduct. In fact, the whole system incentivizes misconduct by using “...

Last year Assemblymember Ash Kalra authored a landmark bill that addresses racial discrimination in criminal sentencing and convictions. The California Racial Justice Act, which will prohibit racial discrimination in convictions and sentences. The act will prohibit it in all convictions and sentences. It also creates a process to challenge racial bias in trial or following conviction. “California’...

When the California Supreme Court ruled in March in the Humphrey decision, that the judges are required to consider a person’s ability to pay when setting their bail amounts, a big question was whether that would lead to more pretrial release or whether judges would simply detain more people without bail, citing a public safety concern. In a new policy brief released in late May by the nonpartisan...

Sacramento area Attorney Keith Staten, heads up the Sacramento Conflict Counsel joins Everyday Injustice to discuss policing and his reaction to the Chauvin verdict. He also discusses issues in Sacramento, problems with the Community Police Review Commission as well as some of the high profile cases like Joseph Mann and Stephon Clark.

Last week, Larry Krasner who was among the first wave of progressive DA’s to be elected in 2017, won a resounding reelection in the Democratic primary after a former Deputy DA, who he had fired in 2018, attempted to take him down with the help of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). However, he won with 65 percent of the vote. The primary was widely seen as referendum on whether a wave of prosecut...

Cynthia Rodriguez, a retired public defender is running for DA in Yolo County, California - a relatively small county, next to Sacramento and the home of UC Davis. She is taking on four time incumbent Jeff Reisig. In 2018, Reisig narrowly averted defeat when he beat Public Defender Dean Johansson by a very narrow margin. Reisig has recently taken on a reformist tone, though he signed onto the lett...

On May 6, the Vanguard held a special live webinar featuring LA District Attorney George Gascón and Alameda Public Defender Brendon Woods on Policing and Race in America. Listen as two leaders in criminal justice reform discuss the conviction of Derek Chauvin, what has and has not changed since Rodney King and the future of policing.

La Tasha Williams is running for judge in Dauphin County Pennsylvania. She interned in a public defender’s office and has worked as a prosecutor most recently. According to her campaign page: “I am running to be your next judge on the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas because I am deeply committed to being a positive change agent in our system of justice. If elected, I promise to consistently b...

Recent polling by Data for Progress for the Appeal taken between March 5 and March 7 found public opinion since the murder of George Floyd has shifted to support for alternatives to policing and the ways in which communities can reimagine safety outside of armed officers. They found, “As many as half of the individuals killed by law enforcement have a disability; and people with an untreated menta...

In less than 100 DAs, Manhattan will elect a new DA which would only be the fifth in the last 80 years, replacing four term incumbent Cy Vance. There are a host of progressive candidates vying for the Democratic nomination including Assemblymember Dan Quart. Earlier this month, Dan Quart release his public safety plan and one of his commes was: “We do not have to choose between a fairer and a safe...

George Ryan was a Republican Governor of Illinois. He started his career as an advocate for the death penalty. But during his time as Governor, between cases of wrongful convictions and a torture scandal in Chicago, he came to the conclusion that the death penalty was flawed and first he put a pause on the death penalty, then he commuted the sentences of everyone on death row to life and ended the...

It was the 80s, and child sex cases and ritual cult cases were the paranoia. As the petitioners put it, at "the time in which the allegations arose - what has been deemed a period of "near hysteria" about child sexual abuse in the United States - the allegations were believed and continued unchecked throughout the prosecution of the three adults." That coupled with faulty science and lack of under...

Cy Vance announced he would not seek reelection after four terms as DA of NY. Whoever succeeds him will be just the fourth DA in the last 80 years. Vance has left a mixed legacy - pushing through some reforms, tussling with former President Trump, criticized for mishandling high profile sexual predator cases and failing to reform Rikers and other problems. Aboushi is one of several reformers vying...

A few years ago Ronnie Greene told the stunning story of the police shooting and killing completely innocent families fleeing the horror of Katrina on a bridge in New Orleans. Two innocent people died. Several others severely injured. The police claimed to have been shot at first and sought attempted murder charges against some, but the charges did not hold. What eventually emerged was a stunning...

Kim Foxx is trying to reform one of the most notorious counties in the Country - see what she is doing about issues like wrongful convictions, police shootings and bail reform. Kim Foxx took over in the wake of the Laquan Macdonald killing and revelations in Chicago - a city that has had its share of scandals from the torture scandal and Lt. Jon Burge to the federal report on policing to one of th...

Everyday Injustice checks in with Laura Conover who was elected in the fall as Pima County Attorney in Arizona. She talks about her first few months on the job, what she has been able to accomplish and what she is still looking to accomplish.

Justin Brooks has headed the California Innocence Project since 1999. Over that time, the US has learned a lot about wrongful convictions and while it remains exceedingly difficult to free people wrongly convicted, the existence of wrongful convictions in the criminal legal system has helped to bring about reform. Listen as Justin Brooks talks about the state of wrongful convictions and cases like...

In January Alec Karakatsanis argued before the Supreme Court of California on the need to end cash bail in the Humphrey case. The civil rights lawyer, social justice advocate founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps, a Washington D.C. impact litigation nonprofit. Listen as Alec discusses with Everyday Injustice about the Humphrey case and injustice of cash bail.

July protests in San Luis Obispo where protesters blocked a local freeway turned into an arrest of Tianna Arrata and several co-defendants who face criminal charges in San Luis Obispo. After a local judge recused the DA's office and local prosecutor Dan Dow for bias, the AG's office has continued the prosecution. Everyday injustice talks with Curtis Briggs, Brian Ford, and Vince Barrientos of Pier...

Mike Schmidt won the Willamot District Attorney last summer, preparing to take over in January, when the outgoing incumbent resigned and he was appointed to start immediately. Right after his win, Portland was hit with protests, federal troops and turmoil. Schmidt talks to Everyday Injustice about the experience, what he has done as prosecutor and the situation on the ground in Portland.

Diana Becton is a former judge, appointed as DA in Contra Costa County and then won in her own right. With the appointment of AG Xavier Becerra by Biden to a federal post, the AG has become one of the most coveted posts with a lot of people maneuvering behind the scenes to get the appointment from Governor Newsom. Becton recently received the endorsement by the Legislative Black Caucus. She talks...

It started with the murder of Fred Hampton in 1969 but tracks the Chicago Police torture cases which started with Andrew Wilson, a death row prisoner who was tortured by officers including the infamous Area 2 Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. Attorney Flint Taylor who was in his early 20s in 1969 was there for it all and captures it beautifully in the book, "The Torture Machine," which he notes...

Cristine Soto Deberry is former Chief of Staff under both SF District Attorney George Gascon and Chesa Boudin as well as Deputy Chief of Staff to Gavin Newsom when he was Sacramento Mayor. In the fall, she became executive director of the Prosecutor's Alliance, a non-profit seeking to bring reform the criminal justice system as an alternative to the California District Attorney's Association. Four...