New Thinking, from the Center for Justice Innovation

Center for Justice Innovation
  • 4.8 (56)
  • POLITICS

New Thinking is a podcast about justice—and injustice—in America. It’s about the people working to fix a justice system that falls so short of our ideals, and the people organizing to build something new in its place. It’s hosted by Matt Watkins and produced by the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly Center for Court Innovation).

  1. AI and Justice: The Neutrality Myth

    1D AGO

    AI and Justice: The Neutrality Myth

    The justice system is awash in purported AI solutions—for everything from prisons to courtrooms. But how do we separate AI’s real promise from the hype? And how do we ensure the technology helps, rather than sets back, the cause of fairness and justice? Roy Austin, Jr., is the former Vice President of Civil Rights at the tech giant, Meta. He was also a prominent official in the Department of Justice under President Obama. He now heads up the Howard Law Artificial Intelligence Initiative. “We have this fantasy that there is a neutral in this world and that’s what we are aiming for,” Austin says. “But there is no neutral.” Full show notes Follow the new AI and Justice Consortium Learn more about the Center for Justice Innovation’s work on AI and the justice system

    34 min
  2. Punishment Isn't Safety

    JAN 14

    Punishment Isn't Safety

    Emily Galvin Almanza says, for the most part, the criminal justice system has only one setting: punishment. But punishment isn’t safety. It isn’t even accountability. Galvin Almanza makes that case in her new book, The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. But the book isn’t only about problems; it’s also about solutions. “We don’t have to fall prey to the worst aspects of our history,” contends Galvin Almanza. “We can build something better.” Full show notes

  3. Punch: The Real-Life Restorative Justice Story Behind the Broadway Show

    09/29/2025

    Punch: The Real-Life Restorative Justice Story Behind the Broadway Show

    This is a story, not so much of forgiveness, but of something richer, more complicated, and even more deeply human. A story about moving forward after the worst loss imaginable, with the person who thrust that loss upon you. Hear from Jacob Dunne, whose one punch killed 28 year-old James Hodgkinson outside of a bar in Nottingham, England; from James’s parents, Joan Scourfield and David Hodgkinson; and from Nicola Fowler, the restorative justice facilitator who has been a part of their journey since its beginning. ‘Punch,’ the play based on their story, has just opened on Broadway. Full show notes (photos + transcript) Learn more about how the Center for Justice Innovation is using restorative justice to respond to instances of serious harm and violence. Learn more about the Manhattan Theatre Club production of ‘Punch.’ Learn more about the Common Ground Justice Project that Jacob, Joan, and David are collaborating on.

    50 min

  4. 05/27/2025

    Trauma 360

    Vicarious trauma is the trauma you absorb working with traumatized people, especially when you’re both inside of already traumatizing systems. Treatment not jail, diversion from harmful system-contact… Making justice reform work on the ground relies on an abundance of frontline staff: from mental health counsellors to peer mentors. But many of those staff, at our organization and at others like us, are hurting: navigating human suffering—trauma—on all sides. Full show notes

    55 min

  5. 11/12/2024

    Drug Testing and the Ordeal of Probation

    Think of probation as an enormous testing period: will you be able to adhere to the thicket of conditions governing your daily life? Fail at any of them and you could be sent to prison. At the heart of this testing ethos is drug testing: almost all of the almost three million people on probation in the U.S. are drug tested—peeing in a cup, generally under the observation of a probation officer. The tests are time-consuming, expensive, and traumatic. There is also little evidence justifying their use. Full show notes Special issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter on drug testing and supervision Hear our 12/23 episode: ex-NYC probation commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi calls for probation’s “incremental abolition”

    43 min

  6. 08/14/2024

    Inside Literary Prize: And the Winner Is...

    A brief, moving excerpt from the recent award ceremony at the New York Public Library announcing the inaugural winner of the Inside Literary Prize, the first major U.S. book award to be judged exclusively by people who are incarcerated. Hear from Freedom Reads founder and CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, and from this year’s winner… And please be sure to listen to our earlier episode, profiling the work of some of the judges for this prize: ‘Inside Literary Prize: Shakopee Women’s Prison.’

    12 min

  7. 08/01/2024

    Inside Literary Prize: Shakopee Women's Prison

    “They actually care. They want to hear about what we think, the ones that they have shut away.” The Inside Literary Prize is the first major U.S. book award to be judged exclusively by people who are incarcerated, some of the most prolific readers in the country. Yet the walls we erect around incarcerated people also disappear them from conversations about culture, politics, and history—conversations to which they can make vital contributions. In this special episode, hear a behind-the-scenes portrait of what a day of judging sounded like in Minnesota’s Shakopee women’s prison. Full show notes

    38 min

  8. 05/06/2024

    Mental Health and Anti-Blackness

    What would it mean to decriminalize mental health—to stop criminalizing the symptoms of what is very often untreated mental illness? And what would it mean to put racial justice at the center of that effort? The outcomes of the criminal legal system being what they are, those two questions are really inseparable. Full show notes

    43 min
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4.8
out of 5
56 Ratings

About

New Thinking is a podcast about justice—and injustice—in America. It’s about the people working to fix a justice system that falls so short of our ideals, and the people organizing to build something new in its place. It’s hosted by Matt Watkins and produced by the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly Center for Court Innovation).

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