Wood for the Trees

In early 2021, the UK government introduced a wide-ranging crime and policing bill that included a number of measures related to protests. In response, thousands of people marched on cities across the country, demanding that parliament kill the bill. Their view was that the proposed laws would give police too much power to shut down protests. That bill is now law.

Cait speaks to Kevin Blowe from The Network for Police Monitoring about the impact of the new law.

For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

South Africa has been called 'the protest capital of the world' but it has also been the site of brutal protest policing - both pre and post the advent of democracy. 

I spoke to Busisiwe Zasekhaya, formerly of Right2Protest, to understand the state of protest policing in the country. 

For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

The police have a duty to protect our right to protest while maintaining public safety. Too often they get the balance wrong. 

Edward Maguire  is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University and the author of a guidebook on policing protests safely. 

He talks to Cait about crowd psychology, the history of protest policing, and his advice for police who take on these challenging events. 

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Prof Muntingh is the Director of the Dullah Omar Institute, a human rights organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa.  He's been involved in criminal justice reform for three decades. We spoke about:

•  Wins and fails in African criminal justice 
• The cheapest way to cut crime
• Tackling torture in prisons

And even why a man was imprisoned for burying his cat. 

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Professor Mark Osler used to push for heavy sentences for narcotics trafficking as a federal prosecutor. Now he helps prisoners petition for clemency.  How's that for a plot twist? 

In this episode we discuss:
-  Whether the justice system can have an impact on drug use
- Why narcotics should be treated more like white collar crime
- The notion of compassionate prosecution.

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Prison is supposed to protect, deter,  and rehabilitate. But what if isn't a very effective way of doing those things? My guests offer two different visions of how the prison system could be re-imagined - including a glimpse of a Norwegian prison that looks nicer than most college dorms. 

Featuring

Dr David Scott - abolitionism activist and scholar from the Open University

Are Hoidal - former warden of Halden Prison in Norway

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Prisons don't do what we want them to do. Should we ditch them? Or perhaps reimagine them?

Cait speaks to abolitionist and criminologist David Scott about why he hopes for a world without prisons. 

Then she interviews Are Hoidal, former warden of Halden Prison in Norway, about a different approach to imprisonment that seems to yield better results. 

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

A conversation with Ronan Levy, industry pioneer and CEO of Field Trip Health,  a company that offers psychedelic-enhanced psychotherapy. 

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For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Drugs kill hundreds of thousands of people a year. The war on drugs hasn't solved the problem. Could legalisation be the answer?

Featuring: 

Dr Keith Scott  - retired general practitioner and co-founder of the South African Drug Policy Initiative

Jonathan Caulkins - professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and co-director at RAND's Drug Policy Research Center

Music by: Lexin Music from Pixabay

Support the show

For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com

Drugs kill hundreds of thousands of people a year. The war on drugs hasn't solved the problem. Could legalisation be the answer? 

Featuring: 
Dr Keith Scott  - retired general practitioner and co-founder of the South African Drug Policy Initiative

Jonathan Caulkins - professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and co-director at RAND's Drug Policy Research Center

Support the show

For background reading and a list of references, visit cantseethewood.com