Crime Survivors Speak

Crime Survivors Speak

By Crime Survivors SpeakSociety & Culture
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Crime Survivors Speak episodes

  • Restoring the Right to Vote

    What does it take to turn restored voting rights into meaningful participation?


    On Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas talks with Naomi Sugie, Professor of Sociology at UCLA, about the barriers people with records encounter when trying to understand their voting eligibility. Millions of Americans with criminal records are eligible to vote, but many don't know it. Confusing state laws, misinformation, and fears of prosecution can prevent people from exercising their rights, even years after completing their sentences.

    This episode of Crime Survivors Speak illuminates the barriers that keep people with records from voting and the importance of ensuring that restored rights are accessible in practice. Drawing on her research and partnerships with TimeDone and JustSafe, Dr. Sugie discusses efforts to help people understand their voting eligibility, the role of trusted community organizations, and why the voices of people directly impacted by the criminal legal system matter in shaping public safety policies.

    Learn more about voting eligibility at TimeDone.org and https://justsafe.org/news/many-states-have-restored-voting-rights-people-convictions-most-people-dont-know/. You can also opt into TimeDone SMS to recieve updates on voting rights.

    28 min
  • Cycles of Peace
    For more than three decades, Chaplain Clementina Chéry has worked to transform how communities respond to homicide, grief, and violence. After her 15-year-old son, Louis D. Brown, was killed in 1993, she founded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute to ensure that families receive the care, information, and support they need in the immediate aftermath of violence and throughout the long journey that follows.
     
    In this episode, Chaplain Chéry joins Aswad Thomas to reflect on Louis's vision for peace, what survivors have taught her about healing, and why accountability and humanity must coexist. She also shares her vision for a National Center of Healing, Teaching and Learning and explains why remembering people whose lives were taken must go hand in hand with supporting the families and communities who remain.
    41 min
  • Healing Inherited Trauma
    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas sits down with trauma-informed life coach, author, and advocate Priscilla María Gutiérrez to explore the lifelong impact of generational trauma—and what it means to become a cycle breaker. Drawing from her own experiences as a first-generation Latina survivor, Priscilla speaks candidly about inherited trauma, substance use, mental health, sexual violence, and the pressure to achieve while silently struggling.
     
    Together, they discuss how traditional mental health and public safety systems often fail survivors—particularly people of color and immigrant communities—and why healing spaces must become more culturally responsive and inclusive. Priscilla also reflects on wilderness therapy, the stigma surrounding diagnoses like borderline personality disorder, and the importance of finding language, community, and self-trust in the healing process.
    36 min
  • The Power of Choice
    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas speaks with Marlee Liss—survivor, restorative justice advocate, somatic educator, and founder of Survivors 4 Justice Reform. After becoming the first sexual assault survivor in North America to have her case resolved through a court-mandated restorative justice process, Marlee has become a leading voice in reimagining how we respond to harm.

    Together, they explore the limitations of traditional legal systems, the importance of survivor agency, and what meaningful accountability can look like beyond punishment. Marlee shares how her experience reshaped her understanding of justice and why expanding survivor choice is essential to healing.

    This conversation invites listeners to consider an approach rooted in dignity, repair, and the possibility of transformation.
    39 min
  • The Victimization to Prison Pipeline

    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas sits down with Sommer Alexander, Texas Chapter Coordinator for TimeDone and a Reentry Peer Support Specialist with the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Drawing from her own lived experience with victimization, incarceration, and reentry, Sommer shares how gaps in support for survivors can too often become pathways into criminalization—what is known as the victimization to prison pipeline.


    Sommer reflects on surviving a violent stabbing, navigating homelessness, and witnessing how survivors with records are routinely denied care, compensation, and recognition. She discusses how these failures played out for her partner and for countless Texans—more than nine million people—living with old records that block access to housing, employment, and safety. From record-expungement events to community education and chapter-building, Sommer offers a grounded look at how system-impacted people are organizing to reclaim their futures.

    Together, Sommer and Aswad explore what real community safety looks like beyond incarceration, why most harm happens between people who know each other, and how trauma care, mediation, and economic stability can prevent violence before it happens.

    27 min
  • Architects of Healing
    In this episode of the Crime Survivors Speak podcast, host Aswad Thomas sits down with Juan Pablo Chavez, Organizing Director at Crime Survivors Speak and a longtime community organizer whose work bridges faith, culture, and survivor-led advocacy.
     
    Juan Pablo shares how surviving violence shaped his calling to justice work—and why so many survivors, particularly in Latino and immigrant communities, face layers of trauma, fear, and exclusion when seeking safety or support. Drawing on more than two decades of organizing at the neighborhood, state, and national levels, he reflects on what it means for survivors to become architects of healing, capable of transforming pain into collective power.
     
    The conversation explores the role of faith in justice work, the importance of Trauma Recovery Centers, and why building relationships with lawmakers is essential to creating real public safety rooted in dignity, healing, and accountability. This episode is a powerful reminder that when survivors speak—and organize—change truly happens.
    28 min
  • Reimagining Justice

    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, Aswad Thomas sits down with restorative justice leader Ghani Songster, who spent 30 years in prison after being sentenced to life without parole as a teenager and has since become one of the nation’s most visionary voices on healing and accountability. Ghani reflects on why hope is not a luxury but a necessity, and how restorative justice creates what our current system cannot: honest dialogue, shared humanity, and pathways to real reconciliation. He describes the transformation that becomes possible when survivors, responsible parties, and communities are finally brought together to heal—not separated by a courtroom. Ghani also shares powerful stories from the circle processes he facilitates, including moments when people on both sides of harm experience mutual understanding for the first time. This conversation invites listeners to imagine a justice system rooted in connection, dignity, and the belief that transformation is possible for all of us.

    43 min
  • Healing is Not a Solo Act

    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, Aswad Thomas sits down with California-based advocate Enako Jefferson, a survivor, mentor, and co-CEO of the Jireh Shalom Foundation. Enako’s story is one of deep faith, loss, and transformation—a journey that has shaped her life’s mission to bring healing to both survivors of violence and those who have caused harm.


    Drawing from her personal experience and decades of advocacy, Enako speaks about the importance of parole reform, trauma-informed justice, and the need to see accountability and compassion as interconnected. She reflects on how community, empathy, and faith can help repair harm and restore lives, reminding us that healing is never a solo act—it’s something we build together.

    30 min
  • Hands on Healing

    In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, survivor advocate and community leader Elle Travis joins Aswad Thomas for a powerful conversation about survival, systemic failure, and the urgent need for change. A survivor of sexual violence, Elle shares how her own experience—compounded by the Detroit rape kit backlog and harmful biases within the justice system—led her to found Hands on Healing Detroit, a grassroots organization that supports survivors and uplifts community healing.


    Together, Elle and Aswad explore how Black women are often denied their status as victims, how trauma and victimization are deeply interconnected, and why true justice must include both accountability and care. Elle offers a message of resilience, reminding survivors that they are not alone—and that healing is not only possible, but powerful.

    34 min
  • From Grief to Groundwork

    Survivors have a unique perspective that can drive meaningful change in policy. In this episode of Crime Survivors Speak, host Aswad Thomas speaks with Dion Green, a survivor of the Dayton mass shooting that claimed his father's life. Dion shares his journey from trauma to advocacy, discussing the importance of survivor resources, community healing, and the establishment of the Fudge Foundation in his father's memory. The conversation highlights the challenges faced by survivors in the aftermath of trauma, the need for support systems, and the impact of gun violence on communities. In this conversation, Dion Green shares his experiences as a survivor of gun violence and his commitment to supporting communities impacted by trauma. He emphasizes the importance of building trust within these communities, advocating for accountability in the gun industry, and the intersections of economic justice and incarceration. Dion also discusses his journey into politics as a means of making change and the significance of maintaining personal wellbeing while engaging in activism.

    36 min

About Crime Survivors Speak

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Transforming our nation‘s safety and justice systems. At a time of increased consensus that American criminal justice needs reform, this show is about who victims of crime are, the safety solutions…