We Don't Have to Choose

This past January, our office began implementation of a new policy regarding how we will consider statements obtained through interrogations of youth. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is joined by Andrew Markquart and Morgan Kunz to discuss how this policy was developed and reflect on the first six months of implementation.

This episode of We Don't Have to Choose explores the Hennepin County Attorney's Office's approach to Youth Diversion. Experts weigh in with both data and scientific reasoning for this approach and one of our Youth Diversion practitioners joins us to illustrate the impact of these programs on young people, their families, and the community at-large.

This episode of We Don't Have to Choose takes a look at the Hennepin County Attorney's Office's "Emerging Adults" division. County Attorney Mary Moriarty and guests Morgan Kunz and Chris Freeman outline the idea behind creating an "Emerging Adults" division and its effectiveness in creating better public safety outcomes.

This episode of We Don't Have to Choose takes a look at Minnesota's "Raise the Age" law. Former Minnesota State Representative Sandra Feist and Deputy Hennepin County Attorney Sarah Davis join Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to discuss what this law means and how it will be implemented.

In this episode of We Don’t Have to Choose, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and guests Rana Alexander and Bridget Liverca take an in-depth look at how our office is spreading the word about what Extreme Risk Protection Orders can do to help make our communities safer, and how the public and law enforcement can use these “red flag laws” to save lives.

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose features in-depth conversations around the limitations of eyewitness identification in legal proceedings along with reflections on the case of Marvin Haynes. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and guests Andrew Markquart and Clare Diegel discuss what our office has learned from that case and the steps we’ve taken to prevent cases like Marvin’s from happe...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose features Jennifer White—Director of Community Affairs, Siri Lokensgard—Director of the Domestic Abuse Service Center, and Sonita King—Victim Services Specialist for a conversation around the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s approach to ensuring we provide excellent service to both victims and witnesses.

This episode of "We Don’t Have to Choose" discusses the Hennepin County Attorney's Office's approach to expungement and how we utilize that tool to improve public safety and give individuals more options to be successful.

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose features conversations with Sarah Davis, Morgan Kunz, and Josh Peterson reflecting on the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s approach to responding to auto theft committed by young people.

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features Arlington County Prosecutor Parisa Dehgahni-Tafti and Philidelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. Parisa Dehghani-Tafti is the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church. Parisa was first elected to a four-year term in November 2019, followed by being elected to her second consecutive term in 2023...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features independent journalist Jessica Pishko. Jessica Pishko is an independent journalist and lawyer who has been writing about the criminal legal system for a decade with a focus on the political power of law enforcement officials. Since 2018, she has been focused on American sheriffs and their role—past and present—in perpetuating mass...

This episode of We Don't Have to Choose features Dr. Robert Kinscherff, Executive Director of the Center of Law, Brain, and Behavior at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kinscherff was a contributor to the amicus brief submitted to the US Supreme Court by the American Psychological Association (APA) in Roper v. Simmons (2005) and has been involved in bringing science to juvenile and criminal justice...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features internationally recognized criminologist, bestselling author, and leading voice in violence prevention Dr. James Densley. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Metro State University and Co-Founder of The Violence Prevention Project Research Center ("The Violence Project") at Ha...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features civil rights attorney Alec Karakatsanis. Alec is the Founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps. He has pioneered constitutional civil rights cases to challenge the size, power, profit, and everyday brutality of the punishment bureaucracy across the United States. Alec graduated from Yale College in 2005 with a degree in...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features investigative journalist Radley Balko. Radley Balko reports on criminal justice, the drug war and civil liberties. He was a senior writer and investigative reporter at the Huffington Post, and a reporter and senior editor for Reason magazine, and investigative reporter for the Washington Post. He is author of the books "Rise of th...

This episode of We Don’t Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features the executive director of the National Network for Safe Communities, Sasha Cotton. Sasha joined the National Network for Safe Communities in September 2022 as a Senior Strategy Director and has spent the fifteen months getting to know NNSC’s partners, work, and staff, with a vision and plan to strengthen and grow the organization...

Episode 4 of We Don't Have to Choose with Mary Moriarty features Professor James Forman Jr. James Forman Jr. is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He attended public schools in Detroit and New York City before graduating from the Atlanta Public Schools. After attending Brown University and Yale Law School, he worked as a law clerk for Judge William Norris of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals...

Episode 3 of We Don't Have to Choose with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty features nationally renowned crime data analyst and co-founder of AH Analytics, Jeff Asher. Jeff served as the crime analyst for the city of New Orleans and has served on both the local and national level. His work has been featured on multiple outlets like fivethirtyeight and the NY times.

Episode 2 of “We Don’t Have to Choose” with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty features therapist and trauma specialist Dr. Resmaa Menakem. This episode focuses on understanding how the legal system deals with racial trauma. As a practitioner of Somatic Abolitionism, Dr Menakem and County Attorney Moriarty peel back layers to get at the core of the legal system’s relationship with racial traum...

Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU. Professor Barkow teaches courses in criminal law, administrative law, and constitutional law. Her book, Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration, was published by Harvard University Press/Belknap in the spring of 2019. She has wr...