The Appeal

As more and more states seek to abandon cash bail, a system widely seen as unjust and discriminatory, a question has emerged: What should replace it? Increasingly, the answer involves some sort of "risk assessment"––tools designed to predict an arrestee's likelihood of fleeing prosecution or committing another crime. They're also being used in parole and sentencing decisions. Today we are joined by Hannah Sassaman, policy director of Media Mobilizing Project, and Matt Henry, chief technologist and legal counsel at The Justice Collaborative, to discuss this notoriously fraught topic and why relying on algorithms doesn't ensure justice.

In March 2018, police in Sacramento, California killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed 22-year-old, in his grandparents' backyard. A year later, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert's announcement that charges would not be filed against the two officers responsible for his death became the latest flashpoint for the Black Lives Matter movement. This week, we are joined by Appeal staff reporter Aaron Morrison, who will provide the latest on the protests in Sacramento and how activists are working to hold police accountable and seek justice for Stephon Clark.

States throughout the U.S. have recently expanded voting rights to millions of people with felony records previously barred from participating in elections. After a brief moment of celebration, two of them, Iowa and Florida, are now experiencing backlash from Republican lawmakers advocating for policies that would curtail those rights. This week, we are joined by The Appeal's Kira Lerner to discuss the hurdles these movements still face and the forces pushing back against the wave of increased enfranchisement.

Elected in 2017 to much fanfare from progressives, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba promised to transform Jackson, Mississippi, into the "most radical city on the planet." But almost immediately, one of Lumumba's signature reforms—an effort to hold police more accountable for on-the-job shootings—was met with tremendous opposition. This week, we are joined by Jackson reporter and Appeal contributor Ko Bragg to discuss this conflict, the promise and limits of reform, and what lessons can be learned from the ongoing political experiment in Jackson, Mississippi.

A primary demand of the Black Lives Matter movement is more transparency into police misconduct. When an officer improperly arrests, unduly harms, sexually assaults, or kills someone, any previous record of misconduct ought to be a matter of public record. To that end, the state of California recently passed Senate Bill 1421, legislation designed to make police records more readily available to media, civil rights groups, defense attorneys, and the public. But as our guest, Appeal contributor Darwin BondGraham explains, police unions and local governments aren't enacting the law without a fight.

About 1,000 people die in U.S. jails every year. But Erie County, New York, is an outlier, with 24 such deaths since Timothy Howard took over as sheriff in 2005. This week, we're going to talk with Appeal contributor Raina Lipsitz about what's happening in Erie County and what it tells us about the broader problem of people dying in jail.

As the government shutdown drags on, a number of media outlets––from NBC News to USA Today to the Washington Post––have run stories claiming that federal prisoners are eating elaborate steak dinners while prison guards go unpaid. This narrative, while obviously bogus, initially went unchallenged. This week, we are joined by two people who will help debunk it: Amy Ralston Povah, a prison reform advocate and formerly incarcerated person, and Craig Cesal, a federal prisoner in Terre Haute, Indiana, currently serving life.

Following the Alton Sterling shooting in the summer of 2016, the national media briefly turned its attention to Baton Rouge—a city marked by a long history of segregation and racist policing. After the killing, local politicians promised reform but two-and-a-half years on there's been little to no progress—some say the situation has only gotten worse. This week's guests, Appeal contributors Clarissa Sosin and Daryl Khan, join us from Baton Rouge to discuss recent cases of police brutality and how reformers are working to push back, long after the national spotlight has faded.