Any fan of mob movies is likely familiar with one of their central lessons: Don’t be a snitch. Informants have been fuel for Hollywood for decades. In reality, the use of snitches has become a key feature of the US criminal system. In this episode, we hear from a legal scholar who suggests the problems with snitching go far beyond the tattle-tale accusations you see in the movies.

In this episode: 

• Alexandra Natapoff (@ANatapoff), Harvard Law professor and the author of Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of Justice

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Chloe K Li, Amy Walters and our host Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

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