Generation Putin, Ten Years Later
This week Jessica Partnow offers a look at the state of youth activism in Russia from 2012 to today. She revisits her reporting from Ukraine and Russia and speaks with the people in those stories against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. First, she shares the story of re-connecting with her childhood pen pal Sasha, a Ukrainian boy who witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and is now fighting to protect his country from the...
Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid-19 and Prisons In a two-part series, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. For Part 2, we talk about why vaccines aren’t an effective solution to ending COVID in prisons, and we also look at how re-entry has become harder...
Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid 19 and Prisons – Encore In this encore episode, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. In part one, we focus on California. We take a look at why a prison, like San Quentin, is such a perfect environment for infectious diseases,...
70 Million: An Effort to Hold Prosecutors Accountable
Making Contact · 70 Million: An Effort to Hold Prosecutors Accountable Prosecutors hold immense power in the criminal justice system. They decide who to charge with what crime, when to offer deals, what sentences to recommend, and much more. Aside from legal statutes, ethical and constitutional rules govern what prosecutors can and cannot do. But a system that incentivizes bringing criminal cases to trial—and winning them—can...
70 Million: Where Juvenile Detention Looks More Like Hanging Out
Making Contact · 70 Million: Where Juvenile Detention Looks More Like Hanging Out There’s a place in rural St. Johns, Arizona, where teens who have encounters with officers of the law can play pool, make music, and get mentored instead of going to jail. It’s called The Loft, and it’s the brainchild of a judge who wanted to save the county hundreds of millions of dollars and divert young people towards the support many were not...
U.S. Anti-Torture History After 9/11
Making Contact · U.S. Anti-Torture History After 9/11 In today’s program, we turn our attention to the history of torture in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks. Sociology professor Lisa Hajjar traces the post-9/11 history of torture through the victories and defeats, and to the ways in which torture and the fight against it have altered the legal terrain on torture, not only in the United States, but potentially on a global scale....