In this episode of Cardinal Direction, host Jessica Dobrinsky sits down with Vikrant Reddy, senior fellow at Stand Together Trust, to explore one of the most consequential and complicated issues in American life: how we punish, how we forgive, and what justice actually requires. Drawing on his experience launching the Right on Crime initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Reddy explains how criminal justice reform can resonate with conservatives and libertarians, especially through the lens of overcriminalization, in which regulatory violations can land ordinary people in the criminal justice system.

The conversation moves from big-picture principles to practical takeaways for states like West Virginia. Reddy argues that public safety and constitutional rights are not competing priorities, but mutually reinforcing ones—and that effective reform starts with “swift and certain” accountability rather than simply harsher sentences. They also discuss policing, rural-versus-urban realities, and why opioid and drug policy challenges should not default to an ever-expanding criminal justice response.