How should citizens think about criminal justice before reacting to the latest headline?

In this Season 3 Systems Explained episode of The Redemption Project, Brandon Burley introduces a clearer way to understand criminal justice: not as one agency, one courtroom, one sentence or one viral case, but as a long chain of decisions made by different people, under different rules, with different incentives.

The episode explains why public conversations about criminal justice often collapse the entire system into a single moment. A crime happens, a sentence goes viral, someone is released, or a case ends badly, and people quickly declare that “the system worked” or “the system failed.” But criminal justice is not one thing. It includes policing, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, courts, corrections, supervision, policy, implementation and public accountability.

This episode introduces several habits for thinking more clearly: slowing the moment down, asking where in the system a decision occurred, separating individual failure from system design, resisting the power of a single anecdote, remembering that outcomes lag behind policy decisions, and recognizing that implementation matters more than intention.

The episode also explains why emotional discipline matters. Fear, anger and outrage can make criminal justice debates easier to spread but harder to understand. The goal is not to stop caring. The goal is to notice when emotion is doing the thinking.

This episode is part of TRP’s Systems Explained season, built to help students, voters and everyday citizens understand public systems without the noise.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Jay Martinez joins The Redemption Project for a Season 2 Redemption Story about gang life, cartel involvement, federal prison, faith, transformation and what it means to use a painful past to point others toward Christ.

Jay grew up in El Paso, Texas, in a home marked by violence, fear and instability. As the oldest child, he describes trying to protect his younger siblings while his family unraveled. By his early teens, he had joined a gang, believing it would protect his family and give him the belonging he was missing. Instead, it pulled him deeper into violence, crime, drugs, weapons and the street life that would shape much of his early years.

His story moved from local gang activity to drug trafficking, meth manufacturing, prison and eventually cartel-connected federal charges. Jay says he once chased money, power, cars, drugs and status, only to realize none of it could fill the emptiness inside him.

But his story did not end there.

While facing a federal indictment and a long prison sentence, Jay began turning back toward the God he says had been calling him since he was young. He describes reading Scripture, working on himself, rejecting the old life and finding purpose in telling others about Jesus. After serving years in federal prison, Jay came home and began sharing his testimony in churches, schools, online programs and now through his own segment, “Criminals to Christ,” on the Talking Live radio program in the North Georgia and Chattanooga area.

This conversation is about more than crime and prison. It is about childhood trauma, gangs, identity, repentance, grace, spiritual transformation and the responsibility that comes when a man who once pulled people toward destruction begins calling them toward life.

This is a story about what happens when someone stops running from God and starts using his voice to lead others toward Christ.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

What does a state legislature actually do?

In this Season 3 Systems Explained episode of The Redemption Project, Brandon Burley explains how state legislatures work, why they matter and how they shape daily life far more than many citizens realize.

Using Tennessee as the main example, this episode breaks down the role of the legislative branch inside state government. Governors may propose priorities and sign or veto bills, but legislatures write bills, debate policy, amend proposals, pass budgets, create state laws and decide which issues move forward or die in committee.

This episode explains why the legislature is not just a background part of government. It is where many of the most important state-level decisions begin: education funding, criminal law, transportation, health care, taxes, public safety, local government authority, state agency rules and constitutional amendments.

Topics include state representatives, state senators, committees, bills, amendments, votes, budgets, veto overrides, checks and balances, local versus state authority and why state legislative races deserve more public attention.

This episode is part of TRP’s Systems Explained season, built to help students, voters and everyday citizens understand government without the noise.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Alan Roberts joins The Redemption Project for a Season 2 Redemption Story about addiction, shame, recovery, pardon, second chances and what it means to help others find the way out.

Alan grew up with a stable family and a strong moral foundation, but drinking, marijuana and later cocaine opened the door to a much deeper addiction. After a medical procedure introduced him to pain pills, opioids became the drug that grabbed hold of his life. What began with hydrocodone eventually escalated into OxyContin, prescription fraud, IV drug use, repeated arrests, jail, halfway houses and the painful cycle of getting his life back only to lose it again.

But Alan’s story did not end in the cycle.

After multiple attempts at recovery, Alan entered a path that finally took root. He credits accountability, recovery community, people who believed in him and God’s work in his life for helping him stay clean. His sober date traces back to August 2011, and he describes a turning point when he decided he was staying clean no matter what happened next, even if court, jail or prison were still ahead.

Years later, Alan stood before Tennessee’s Board of Parole seeking a pardon. He describes the process as intimidating, but ultimately received a call from Gov. Bill Lee telling him his pardon had been granted. That moment became part of a larger story: not simply of a record being addressed, but of a life rebuilt in public view.

Today, Alan helps others through recovery work in East Tennessee. He is connected with New Purpose, intensive outpatient services, Foundation House, men’s and women’s recovery housing, and ongoing work with people trying to escape the same kind of addiction that once nearly destroyed him. His story is about more than getting clean. It is about becoming a living answer to the question so many people still ask: can people really change?

This is a story about addiction, humility, recovery, pardon and the power of someone once written off becoming the person who helps others recover.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

What can a governor actually control?

In this Season 3 Systems Explained episode of The Redemption Project, Brandon Burley breaks down the real powers and limits of a governor, using Tennessee as the main example.

The short version: governors are powerful, but they are not all-powerful. They can propose budgets, appoint executive branch leaders, sign or veto legislation, issue certain executive orders, declare emergencies, direct state agencies and command the state National Guard unless it is federalized. But they cannot create laws alone, pass a budget by themselves or force local governments to act beyond the authority state law gives them.

This episode explains how governors work inside a constitutional structure with built-in limits. The legislature still writes and passes laws. Courts can review whether laws or executive actions are constitutional. Local governments retain their own powers. Federal agencies handle federal issues. Understanding those boundaries helps citizens know when praise, blame or expectations are being aimed at the right office.

Topics include state budgets, vetoes, cabinet appointments, executive orders, emergency powers, National Guard authority, state agencies, local government limits, federal versus state responsibility and why local and state elections often give citizens the most direct influence.

This episode is part of TRP’s Systems Explained season, built to help students, voters and everyday citizens understand government without the noise.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Chad Roberts joins The Redemption Project for a Season 2 Redemption Story about childhood brokenness, addiction, crime, incarceration, faith, treatment and what it means to become the kind of man he once needed.

Chad grew up in a home where drugs, violence and spiritual darkness were part of his early life. He says his father introduced him to marijuana and alcohol when he was young, and by his teenage years, Chad was selling drugs, using meth and eventually manufacturing it. His life moved through addiction, arrests, jail, broken relationships, fatherhood, military service, relapse and a long pattern of running until he says he had nothing left.

But Chad’s story does not end there.

After a series of arrests, court cases and spiritual breaking points, Chad entered treatment, rebuilt his life through faith and began helping other men in recovery. He now works with a men’s recovery program, is pursuing counseling certification in Georgia and speaks openly about the mentors, pastors and father figures God placed in his life when he needed them most.

This conversation is about more than getting sober. It is about generational brokenness, accountability, discipleship, fatherhood, tough love, second chances and the long road from survival to service.

This is a story about what happens when a man who once helped spread destruction becomes part of someone else’s recovery.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Katie Growden joins The Redemption Project for the first episode of Season 5: Tennessee Good Work.

Katie serves as the Tennessee state manager for Save the Children Action Network, an advocacy organization working at the grassroots level to connect people with the systems and policies that affect young children and families. In this conversation, she explains why voter participation matters, why many registered voters still do not make it to the polls, and how ordinary citizens can begin asking better questions of the people seeking public office.

The discussion covers Tennessee’s low voter turnout, the importance of local elections, how voters can research candidates, why primaries matter, and how civic engagement becomes more accessible when people are given clear tools instead of shame or confusion.

This episode fits the heart of Season 5: highlighting people who are helping others, strengthening communities and reminding citizens that public life is not only about conflict. Sometimes good work looks like helping people understand that they are smart, important and have something to say.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Civil Miller-Watkins joins The Redemption Project for a Season 4 Civic Conversations episode about her campaign for the U.S. Senate, her background as an eighth grade math teacher, and the issues she believes Tennessee families are carrying to the kitchen table.

Miller-Watkins lives in Fayette County in rural West Tennessee and describes her campaign through the lens of education, family, health care access, jobs, rural hospitals, student safety and the future facing Tennessee’s children and grandchildren. In the conversation, she discusses her family’s history in politics and civil rights, her time serving on the school board, her experience reading budgets and writing policy, and why she believes representation should include rural Tennesseans, young people, working families and communities that may not always feel heard.

The conversation also covers school safety, common-sense gun policy, whether elected officials can be both leaders and representatives, how candidates should reach outside their usual echo chambers, and why she uses the phrase “your vote is your voice.” Miller-Watkins argues that civic participation begins one voter at a time, and that voting shapes everything from schools and jobs to health care, roads, public safety and local quality of life.

This episode is part of TRP’s Civic Conversations season, where candidates and public figures are given space to explain how they think, what they prioritize and how they would approach public service.

The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

What happens when Tennessee gubernatorial candidates from different political lanes are asked the same voter-submitted questions, under the same rules, in the same room?

That was the purpose of this live roundtable from The Redemption Project: give voters a structured, fair conversation instead of another campaign soundbite.

Most of the questions were submitted and voted on by viewers. The candidates discussed Tennessee’s future, public policy, leadership, government responsibility, and where they believe the state should go next. The final question focused on reducing recidivism and improving reentry, an issue close to the heart of TRP’s mission.

One of the most revealing moments came during the yes/no/maybe section, where candidates from very different political perspectives agreed far more often than many voters might expect. Their short explanations showed not only what they believe, but how they think about governing.

The Redemption Project exists to tell redemption stories, explain civic systems clearly, host fair public conversations and highlight people doing good work.

TRP is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

Watch or listen to the full conversation and decide for yourself.

by Brandon Burley and The Redemption Project

When federal marijuana classification changes, many people assume practical rules shift immediately.

In reality, state law, workplace standards, and enforcement decisions often continue operating under separate timelines for much longer than headlines suggest.

I am a retired detective and criminal justice / government educator based in Tennessee. I am a commentary write for Tennessee Lookout and a weekly columnist with Knox TN Today. My work examines public policy, public safety systems and civic responsibility. My reporting and commentary have also appeared in Governing, The Arizona Capitol Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Police1, among other state and regional outlets.